A Stolen Heart

by Beverley Hollowed

  “Well let’s get you home and get these two sleeping beauties to bed,” Alycia said noticing that Mia had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

  “Where is Mathew?” Emma asked as they drove back to her house.

  “He is staying with my folks for the weekend,” Jeff replied from the front of the car. “But he is so excited to have Mia home. It is all he has talked about for the last few weeks. When was she coming home? He has missed her so much. In fact we all did. We missed all of you.”

  “She can’t wait to see him either,” Emma said looking over at her daughter, who was fast asleep in the car seat on the far side of the back seat. “We missed you too. It’s great to be home.”

  But even as she said the words, she knew she didn’t mean it. She knew the minute the plane lifted off the runway in Dublin she was making a huge mistake. She ran over saying goodbye to Zach the night before over and over again. And every time she wished she had just been brave enough to say yes.

  But she had made her bed and now she had to lie in it.

  She sat quietly in the back of the car for the rest of the journey, lost in her thoughts. She hadn’t even noticed Alycia was still talking to her.

  “Emma!” Alycia called suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts. “You okay sweetie? You were miles away.”

  “I am okay,” Emma reassured her friend and smiled. “Just tired. The last two weeks have been a nightmare. And I guess it just catching up with me.”

  “I know sweetie,” Alycia replied sympathetically. “You have been through so much, what with your dad and Mia being so sick.”

  “I know,” Emma sighed deeply as she glanced over at Mia fast asleep in Matthew’s car seat. “I really thought I was going to lose her.”

  “How is she doing now” Alycia asked. “When Jenna rang and told us how sick she was, well we were out of our minds with worry. But I am sure her Daddy was watching over her.”

  Her words hit Emma like a sledgehammer. She realized she was going to have to tell Jeff and Alycia about Zach. She knew she had to and she also knew Jeff was not going to be happy. He and Jonathan had been so close, like brothers really and Emma was afraid of how he would react to her obvious betrayal of his friend.

  “Emma” Alycia’s voice said pulling her from her thoughts. Emma realize she hadn’t answered Alycia’s question. “Are you sure you are okay, you don’t seem yourself.”

  “Yeah, just tired I guess.” Emma replied and smiled. “She is doing fine now. She gave us quite a scare.”

  When they reached Emma’s house, Jeff and Alycia helped her inside with the kids and her bags.

  “I dropped by some groceries earlier” Alycia said as they walked into the house. “So I’ll make some coffee and we can catch up properly.”

  “You’re a star,” Emma replied to her friend taking Mia from her. “I am going to get this young lady up to bed.”

  “I want Lulu” Mia said lifting her head up and scanning around for her doll. The one Zach had bought her.

  “You can get Lulu tomorrow” Emma said softly as she carried Mia towards the stairs. But Mia was not going to take no for an answer.

  “No!!!” Mia wailed. “I want Lulu”.

  Emma placed Mia sitting on the bottom step and went to the bags to look for Lulu. After trying three bags she finally found Lulu buried at the bottom of the fourth one.

  “Lulu” Mia cheered when she saw her doll and held out her arms eagerly for her. She wrapped her arms around her tight when Emma handed it to her like she had just been reunited with a long lost friend.

  “She is a very pretty doll” Jeff said as he brought the last of Emma’s belonging from the car. “What’s her name?”

  “Her name is Lulu” Mia informed him proudly. “Zach bought her for me. He said she would mind me until he comes to visit and he said he will bring me something nice.”

  Emma heart almost stopped. She knew she was going to have to tell them but she hadn’t figured on Mia beating her to it.

  “That was very kind of him, is he your new friend?” Jeff said as a wave of panic swept over Emma, she could feel her cheeks burn brightly. She knew she would need to have this conversation but just right now she hadn’t got the energy. Emma hoped Mia would just say yes to Jeff’s question and that would be the end of it but of Mia being Mia, she didn’t.

  “No he is Mommy’s friend,” she replied still absorbed in her doll. Then as if a memory came back to her she smile. “He is funny, and he brought me out to get ice-cream and to the park. He pushes me on the swings really high.”

  Jeff turned to Emma with a confused look on his face. Emma wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

  “Have you met someone?” he asked, tears dancing in his eyes and just the thought of his best friend being replaced.

  “Jeff that’s Emma’s business,” Alycia replied surprised by her husband’s directness. “And it’s absolutely nothing to do with us.”

  “I know that,” he said hoarsely as he quickly coughed and cleared his throat. Emma could see he was upset and she felt like a totally bitch. This wasn’t how she wanted to tell them. But she knew she had to be honest with them now.

  “We need to talk” Emma said to them both knowing that putting off the conversation was no longer an option. “But not right now, let me get her to bed first and then I promise I will tell you everything”.

  She hurried up stairs with Mia in her arms and quickly dressed her for bed then tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

  “Mommy will Zach be my new daddy?” Mia said as Emma switched of the bedroom light. Emma returned to Mia’s bed and sat down.

  “What makes you say that?” Emma asked as she stroked the hair from Mia’s face.

  “Well Matthew has a daddy,” Mia explained as she knotted her fingers together nervously. “And Andrew has a daddy, but I don’t. Maybe Zach could be my new daddy.”

  “Well Zach is very special,” Emma said unsure of how to answer her little girl. “And he loves you very much, just like daddy did and he will always be there for you so I guess he is like a new daddy.”

  “Why doesn’t he live with us then?” Mia asked. Emma had to smile at her daughter complete innocence.

  “Because he lives in Ireland” Emma said. “That’s where his job is. But he can still love you. Just like Nana loves you very much even though she lives very far away too.”

  “I hope he visits soon” she replied sleepily. “I want Mattie to meet him. I wish he was here right now.”

  “He will, sweetheart” Emma said and kissed her forehead. “Now night, night sleep tight.”

  “Don’t let the bed bugs bite” Mia replied and turned over and closed her eyes.

  Emma stood up and walked towards the door. She turned and watched Mia lying in the bed, who was now fast asleep. She wished she could look at things as simply as Mia did. But she couldn’t and now she had to go downstairs and have a conversation that she really didn’t want to have.

  “Dad, if you can hear me?” she whispered looking to the heavens. “Help me get through this.”

  Chapter 33

  Emma quickly headed back down to Jeff and Alycia, who were waiting for her in the kitchen. When she got back down Alycia had changed Lily’s nappy and was giving her a bottle.

  “She was getting a little restless,” Alycia said as Emma walking into the kitchen.

  “She is well past her feeding time,” Emma said as she sat down across from Alycia and Jeff at the kitchen table and poured herself a coffee from the fresh pot Alycia had just made. “But she has been really good these past few weeks. She is such a good baby.”

  “So who is this Zach?” Jeff blurted out like an angry father questioning wayward daughter about her latest boyfriend.

  “Jeff!” Alycia exclaimed surprised by her husband’s behaviour. “That Emma’s business and has nothing to do with us”.

  “It’s just it hasn’t been a year since...you know” he said unable to look at either Alycia or Emma. “It just s
eems rather soon.”

  “Jeff this is none of our business.” Alycia snapped, angrily at her husband.

  “It’s ok Alycia” Emma said. She was touched that Jeff felt he still needed to look out for his pal. He was a good friend. But she realized she had to tell him the truth about Zach and the fact that he is really Mia’s father. She knew that Jeff was going to be angry with her because of Jonathan. And she understood that completely but still it wasn’t going to change the fact that Zach was really Mia’s father.

  “Zach isn’t someone new,” she began nervously as she picked at her table mat. “Zach is from my past. I met Zach just before the wedding. I never meant for anything to happen but it just did. We had a thing. Well it was more than a thing really but I swear I never meant for it to happen it just did.”

  “Did Jonathan know about this fling” Jeff asked surprised by what she was telling him.

  “No, he never knew. I think he knew I had doubts but I don’t think he realized how serious things were,” Emma explained suddenly unable to look at either of them. “In fact, the truth is, I fell in love with him. I loved him more than anyone I had ever met before. I would have spent the rest of my life with him but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “What about Jonathan?” Jeff asked.

  “I loved Jonathan too” Emma replied. “But with Zach, well it was just different.”

  “So are you seeing this Zach again?” Jeff asked sound a little less calm.

  “Well it’s complicated,” she replied, searching for the right words to say.

  “I understand, I do, you are still a young woman and you have needs,” he said much to both Emma and Alycia’s surprise.

  “Jeff” Alycia exclaimed with a nervous laugh. “I really don’t think this is any of our business. Emma is a grown woman. And she is a free agent. If this Zach makes her happy. Then I am happy. ”

  “Jonathan was my best friend” Jeff snapped back at Alycia in a tone that Emma had never heard him use before but she didn’t like it. She didn’t like that he felt she had to answer to him either.

  It was only because Alycia was her friend and they had been so good to her since she lost Jonathan that she felt she owed them the truth. But she wasn’t going to explain herself to him.

  “And he was Emma’s husband,” Alycia snapped back. “But he is gone.”

  “I am only worried about Emma and his two daughters,” Jeff said raising his voice at Alycia in a way Emma had never heard before. “I promised him I would look out for them if anything ever happened to him, and that’s what I am doing. Introducing this guy to the girls is too soon. Especially Mia, she is at a vulnerable age. The last thing she needs is some guy pretending to be her daddy”.

  “He doesn’t have to pretend!” Emma blurted out, unable to listen to anymore of his lecture.

  “What do you mean?” Alycia asked as Jeff just stared at her blankly.

  “He doesn’t have to pretend to be her daddy,” Emma said suddenly quieter. “Because he is her daddy.”

  “I don’t understand,” Alycia said staring at Emma in complete shock.

  “Zach is Mia real father” Emma said. “I got pregnant before the wedding, before Jonathan came over to Ireland. I didn’t know I was pregnant when I married Jonathan but when I found out I knew she was Zach’s.”

  “Maybe you were wrong,” Alycia suggested as she nervously glanced at Jeff whose face was white as a sheet. He dropped his face into his hands as he tried to take in what Emma had just said.

  “I thought maybe I was but the dates were not right for her to be Jonathan’s,” Emma admitted as a sudden tear trickled down her face. She quickly brushed it away. “So I lied about the dates to everyone and when she was born I got a DNA test done secretly just to be sure and they confirmed what I already knew in my heart.”

  “Did Jonathan know?” Jeff finally asked unable to look at Emma.

  “No,” Emma said sadly. “Jeff I am sorry, I swear I loved Jonathan. I never meant to hurt him but he is gone now. Mia has a chance to get to have a father again. Her real father and I can’t stand in their way any longer. I lied to Zach once and I stood in his way I will not do it again.”

  “I need time to take this in,” he said standing up from the table. He walked towards the door but stopped before he left. Then without turning back to her he said. “You are not the person I thought you were.” Then he left.

  “You know you could have told me,” Alycia said softly after a few moments silence.

  “I didn’t tell anyone,” Emma replied. “And it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. In the beginning, my head was such a mess. When I found out I was pregnant, I was going to tell Jonathan the truth but he seem so excited. And the truth was I was hurt by Zach and I guess I just wanted to be loved and Jonathan loved me. And I loved him too but...”

  “But you loved Zach more,” Alycia finished for her.

  “I didn’t realize how much until I saw him when I went home,” Emma admitted. “I thought all that was in the past. Even when I lost Jonathan, Zach was the furthest thing from my mind. When I went home, he was the last person I was expecting to see. But there he was and all those memories came rushing back.”

  “And does he feel the same?” Alycia asked.

  “I think so,” Emma sighed as she closed her eyes and pictured Zach face the night before when she told him she wasn’t staying. “He wanted us to stay.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Alycia asked.

  “Because I was scared,” Emma admitted and laughed nervously. “And I had to think of the girls. What if it didn’t work out? They would have been pulled out of their life and for what? Something that might not even work out.”

  “How serious was it?” Alycia asked. “Back then, I mean. Were you really in love with him or was it just a passing thing. I mean you still married Jonathan so what made you pick Jonathan over him.”

  “I thought he didn’t want me,” admitted Emma. “We were planning to go away together and I was ready to give everything up for him. I know that sounds crazy but I was willing to do that. I loved him so much. But I guess the faiths conspired against us and things fell apart.”

  “Must have been so hard for you.” Alycia said reaching over and taking Emma’s hand.

  “I was heartbroken but I was still going to come clean to Jonathan,” Emma blinked back the tears that were pooling in her eyes as she thought of the day her life fell apart. “The morning of the wedding I was going to tell him the truth. I thought I owed him at least that much. But things were so hectic that before I knew it I was walking down the aisle and it was too hard I couldn’t go through with it. It seemed the easiest option to make. And eventually I was happy again, I really was. My life with Jonathan was all I needed and I never regretted marrying him. Not even for a second. I did truly love him.”

  “But you still love this other guy, right?” Alycia said.

  “Yes,” Emma said and the words surprised even her. “I guess I never stopped. But I have blown it again.”

  “You could go back,” Alycia suggested. “If he does love you, I sure it’s not too late.”

  “I can’t take a chance like that,” Emma replied.

  “Why not? You were going to take that chance before,” Alycia replied. “And now there isn’t so much to lose.”

  “But I am basing everything on three crazy weeks I had five years ago,” Emma replied. “But this time if it doesn’t work it will be the girls that could be hurt. I am afraid to take a chance.”

  “Sweetie, you gotta do what’s best for you,” Alycia said as she stood up and picked up her handbag. “You can’t put your life on hold because of the girls either.”

  Alycia kissed and hugged Emma and headed for the front door.

  “Do you think Jeff will be able to look at me again?” Emma asked as she followed Alycia to the front door.

  “He is just upset” Alycia said pausing at the door. “It’s just he still misses Jonathan so much. They had been friends for s
o long and sometimes it’s hard for him. The thought of him being somehow replaced is hard for him to accept but I’ll talk to him”.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Emma said sadly.

  “You don’t worry about anyone except yourself Em,” Alycia said again as she hugged Emma once more. “You need to what is right for you. You deserve to be happy. About time you got that ‘Happy Ever After’ you truly deserve.”

  Alycia hugged her once again and walked down the garden path and headed for her own house.

  Emma locked up the house and headed for bed. She was exhausted. She lay there in her bed and as sleep closed in, her thoughts were filled with Zach. All she could remember was his beautiful smiling face. She missed him already. Could she really let him be part of her life again?

  Chapter 34

  Jack pulled the car over to the curb and switched of the engine. He turned to Jenna and smiled at her

  “You sure you are doing the right thing?” he asked her and she undid her seatbelt.

  “Well one of them has to see sense,” she replied. “I’m telling you I was talking to her last night and she is miserable. I know she didn’t say it straight out but I know Emma and I know she misses him. And he wasn’t much better when we met him the other night in the pub. But at least he wasn’t drinking. Emma said he told her he drank a lot when they last broke up. When I saw him there I have to admit I thought the worst but thankfully he was just there returning the last of Joanna’s things. At least he has enough sense to stay away from that bitch.”

  “That maybe so,” Jack replied. “But I don’t know if we should get involved.”

  “Jack, she is my friend,” Jenna replied looking straight into his eyes. “And she is hurting. I can’t sit here and do nothing. I have to try. She deserves to be happy.”

  She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

  “You do understand, don’t you?” she asked.

  “I guess so,” he replied with a smile and kissed her back. “Good luck.”