by Tey Holden
“Thanks.” Addy didn’t say much more. She knew that accepting her condition was hard for Karen and that she was coping as best as she could.
***
Two days later, the two men Addy hired to clear the attic came over and began to bring the boxes and trunks down. They moved the furniture around and things were neatly arranged to be accessible for Karen. Although the living and dining rooms looked like a bomb had gone off with everything spread everywhere, this was preferable to Karen climbing up into the attic and possibly getting hurt.
Most of the items belonged to Aunt Charlotte, but there were many things that belonged to Karen’s mother and father as well. There were also personal belongings of years past. When Karen’s dad passed away she came back to Scotland for the funeral and to liquidate all his assets. When his house sold, the furniture sold with the house, but everything went into storage. All of that came with them to the cottage, after she and Addy came back from trotting around the world and decided to settle back in the cottage.
A lot of stuff from the past surfaced, some good, some not so good. Addy was delighted with some of the finds. After all, the attic was where she had found the old Scotch recipe, from Karen’s grandfather that was making them so much money. Addy was looking out to see if there was any other buried treasure to be found. Karen kept kidding her about it. A couple of times, Karen screamed excited as she found certain things and Addy came running only to find that it was another tease from Karen. “Baby you are too easy!”
“And you are just a plain mean, awful woman. Sometimes I wonder why I love you.”
To which Karen would reply. “Because I’m sexy and you like the way I shake my butt when I dance.”
“Ha, ha.” Addy made funny faces as Karen grinned still rummaging through all the old stuff. Addy enjoyed the teasing. It was true she did like the way Karen moved her butt when she danced. There was a song called ‘Yeaa’ that Karen danced years back with JP, at the party in her flat. The song had a Middle Eastern sound to it and thus, when danced, it required the moving of the hips like a belly dancer.
Addy didn’t know until that day that, while in college, Karen had taken belly-dancing classes for exercise and probably to meet other women. The point was that Karen knew how to move her hips like a belly dancer and, as Addy would describe Karen’s butt as the ‘low’ type, she found it extremely fascinating and sexy to see Karen perform her hip-butt shake. Seeing Karen do her thing had taken them many times straight to the bedroom. “Baby, when I see you move your butt like that, I get all turned on and just want to be all over it!”
Karen always laughed. “I don’t know what you see there. I barely have any to show. You on the other hand—.”
“Sometimes is not a matter of substance. I find yours cute, tight and perfect.”
Karen loved to get Addy all hyped up, so she’d conveniently use her lower ‘attribute’ to lure Addy in. The song was conveniently very accessible on her iPod.
***
Among the many things in the boxes, there were many picture albums of Karen as a child and growing up. Addy was enchanted. “Oh my God! Look how cute you were! You were adorable, like a little doll! I can imagine our little girl looking just like you. She will be beautiful! Aaww! Look at you here! Ker, oh my God! This is precious. I hope our baby looks like you.” And on and on she went. At times Karen would stop doing whatever she was doing just to look at Addy. Karen loved to see her so happy. And while Addy wanted the baby to have Karen’s looks, all Karen wanted was that the baby would turn out to be like Addy and have her great sense of humor and happy disposition on life.
There was an interesting find for Addy, for which Karen was not too thrilled. “Karen, is this your mom?”
Karen looked up. “Yes.” Karen had tired of rummaging through the boxes and was now browsing the web on her tablet. She didn’t want to look at her mother’s pictures. Although she now knew she had nothing to do with her mother’s death, looking at her pictures was like opening old wounds and doors that she was not ready to face yet.
“Lady Catherine McGill Larsen. You look like her. She was a beautiful woman. Did she go by Lady? Did she use her title as a surname?”
They had forgotten all about the title matter, after the feud with Karen’s family over the property. “Addy, I don’t like to talk about that matter. I hate all that stuff and what it represents. You should know that by now.” When Addy didn’t reply, Karen reflected. “I’m sorry Addy. I shouldn’t have replied like that. I understand you are curious. After my mother died, everyone wanted me to claim the title and assume my role in society. I didn’t want to do that. I think nobility titles are undeserved. Those things belong to a past that, thankfully, does not exist anymore. I don’t believe in any of that crap, and I don’t care for it now, or ever will. That is one of the reasons I left here and the reason Aunt Charlotte wanted to bring me back. She thought I shouldn’t—.
“My God, Karen, and to think that we almost sold all of this to International Hotels. How could you not have tried to stop it?”
“Addy, I think I left it to fate. When you decided to sell everything, but this place, I couldn’t believe it. I thought that it was as if this place had a hold on me.”
“It does. You just don’t see it, do you?” Addy thought for a minute. “Look, you left here to get away from your family and went to America. There you found me. In turn, look what happened, it was me who convinced you to come to the reading of the will, to stay, to not to sell, and who proposed coming back here. I didn’t know anything regarding your family, the estate, or the nobility title.” Karen listened attentively. “This was meant to happen because this is where you belong. Can’t you see it? And this is where our baby will be born because this is where your roots are and hers will be. Incidentally, I just thought that by deciding to have this baby, you are actually producing an heir. Oh my God! And if this child is a girl, she will inherit this property. ”
Karen rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she has roots here and somewhere in Sweden!” Since the insemination had been in Sweden, presumably, the sperm donor was Swedish. “However, did you just hear what your oracle mouth just said as you explained how fate brought me back here?”
“What?”
“All I heard was that if it hadn’t been because of you, nothing of what has happened would have happened! As a matter of fact, the idea of having a child was also yours!”
Addy remained silent and later smiled. “If that is true, either I am your fate, or the one leading you to it. Either way, I will now tell you what I think should be done to lead you further into your fate. I think that you should call Phillip and tell him to finalize all that paperwork to claim your title so that you can pass it on to our child, if she is a girl, come the day.”
“Oh, God! Woman, are you ever going to stop having all these crazy ideas? Do you think I’m just going to put on a happy face and say ‘Okay let’s do it’ to something I’ve rejected all my life? I only resuscitated that corpse at that trial so that we could keep the property. Now I don’t intend to do anything about it. Just let it rest, Adriana Marcos, because my dear, that is my final answer!”
Karen got up and walked to the kitchen. Addy, on the other hand, continued to talk. “Oh, you know what? I don’t really care what you do. You can reject it for the rest of your life, if that is what you want.” Karen looked back, all of a sudden lost, not knowing what new twist Addy was going to give to this matter.
“So what’s your point? Why were you then proposing that I reclaim it?”
“Because it’s not yours to give away.”
Karen continued to stare very thoughtfully. “I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“It’s a family thing. It belonged to your mother, and if you don’t want it, it belongs to our child, if she is a girl. And by the way, I think our baby will be a girl! I think that if your mother used the title, it was probably because she was proud of the family name. It was your choice not to use it, as the brat you are. Ho
wever, have you considered the possibility that your mother might have wanted it go to her granddaughter? And that in any event, she should have the right to accept it, or reject it? Just as you did?”
“What?” Karen chuckled. “You definitely have a screw loose today! To begin with, and to end this conversation, I never even thought of having a kid, so it’s not like it would have gone anywhere beyond me. And my mother probably knew it!”
“Well, in my opinion, you can reject it all you want to, but I also believe that you have to give the same option to your child. You don’t know if she will reject it, or accept it.”
“Well, she can claim it later, if she wants it. And look at us, arguing about the stupid thing when we don’t even know for sure that the kid is going to be a girl. Addy, it’s just a stupid title. There’s no money attached to it. There’s just this property, which the kid will get anyway. The title is an empty pompous thing.”
“It’s prestigious, and although you did not take advantage of its, maybe our child will. You really have no idea, if one day, that title may open doors for her.”
Karen remained quiet and serious. It was true, a nobility title was prestigious and a door opener in certain circles. The fact that she never wanted it was because she never thought she’d fit the mold of the nobility, and she ran from it as far and as fast as she could. “Whatever!”
“Does that mean you’ll call Phillip?”
“I didn’t say that. I don’t know. I’ll think about it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore tonight, please. I don’t even know why I put up a fight anymore with you! Look at me! Pregnant and now the Lady thing! Ugh! What will you have me do next? Shave my head?”
“Actually, if a woman could get away with being bald, it would be someone as gorgeous as you.”
Karen rolled her eyes and looked the other way to hide her annoyance and then her smile, still, Addy saw her. All her life, she hated when people told her she was beautiful. Maybe it was because she knew she was and saw no point in people telling her. However, for the strangest reasons on earth, she loved it when Addy told her she was beautiful. Karen’s reply was that beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and that she only wanted to be beautiful to her.
Karen grinned. “Flattery is not going to get you anywhere, Ms. Addy.” Karen still thought that Addy was trying to convince her to claim the title by now being sweet to her.
“Have I told you lately how beautiful you are, and how much I love you?” Addy got close to her and fluttered her long, dark eyelashes.
Flattery did get her somewhere that night. It always did.
***
Two days later, Addy heard Karen on the phone. “Phillip, there is something I would like to do. Since this is your ‘cup of tea’ I thought you might help me.” She told him. As she did, she walked into the kitchen and reclined on the threshold of the door, knowing that Addy was there to listen. Karen smiled when Addy walked up to her and stared into her eyes.
When she was done talking to Phillip, she closed her eyes and leaned her forehead to Addy’s and caressed Addy’s face with her own. “You are either my perdition or my redemption. Whichever you are, I surrender.” Addy threw her arms over Karen’s neck and kissed her. “You surrender?” Addy raised her right eyebrow, in the way that she knew Karen liked.
“Yes.” Her heart pounded as the brown eyes burnt her with desire.
Addy laced her hands through Karen’s hair. “I’m your redemption, green eyes, and I claim your heart and your soul.”
Karen’s eyes looked like ping pong balls again. Addy loved it when that happened. It only meant that she was anxious, this time with desire. “You’ve already had both for a long time, Ms. Marcos. So, what are you planning to do with me now?” Karen’s eyes were incredibly dark. She took Addy’s face in her hands loving the feel of Addy’s hold on her.
“I’m so wet right now that, if I were pregnant, I’d think my water broke.” Addy said in such a serious tone that it made Karen burst into laughter. “Upstairs, now, Ms. Marcos.” Pregnant and all, I can still charm her! As they went up the stairs, Karen teased her. “Since I will be reclaiming the title, at your request, I may need to be referred to as ‘your highness’ from now on.”
Addy laughed. “Ha, ha, dream on, cutie!” On the top landing, she turned and grabbed Karen by her waist. “Consider yourself twice lucky today.”
“Oh, yeah? Why twice?”
“One, you are getting laid big time and two, I’m keeping your secret.”
Karen bit her lower lip trying not to laugh at how terribly cute and sexy Addy looked. “And what exactly is my secret, since you appear to know more about me than I do?”
“That you are no lady.”
“Oh my God! You are so going to pay for this!”
“I know, which will prove my point.”
Karen kissed her with passion and brought her gently onto the bed basking in her beauty and laughter. She combed her short hair back. Somehow the front of her hair was always loose over her forehead. “Gorgeous woman, you are mine.”
Addy looked at her smiling. “Always.”
Three weeks later, Karen received notice from Phillip. All the paperwork had been filed to secure her title.
***
In the conversation with Phillip regarding the matter of the nobility title, they also discussed financial legal work. Karen accepted his proposal but explained the terms she and Addy had discussed. Also, there had been talk about whether she would need to travel, which Karen immediately rejected because she did not like being away from Addy. As for the matter of whether she would have to occasionally go down to the Edinburgh office to meet and discuss issues with clients, she reluctantly agreed, as long as it was kept to a minimum.
The next few months of the pregnancy were delightful. Morning sickness was gone, and she began to focus on the work that Phillip sent her and stopped concentrating so much on her condition. She was busy and felt good all around, in addition, because she had gained very little weight during the past few months, her pregnancy barely showed. Her clothes pretty much still fit. Around the house, she could get away with wearing drawstring pants and big sweaters for which she was extremely happy. “So far so good, if I can just keep it like this, we’ll all be fine.” Addy always smiled at any positive comment. There was no point in predicting what she knew would be happening after the sixth month when the baby started to grow.
The possibility of having to meet with clients and going to the office during the following months required acquiring appropriate work attire for Karen to wear. Until now, she had only gone to the office once during her third month, but she knew that as the work progressed she might have to meet with some of the clients. Addy had been trying for weeks to get her to go shopping for maternity clothes, but Karen had refused. During her fifth month, she had one unavoidable meeting, and this was when she could hardly find any clothes that still fit and had to wear her slacks unbuttoned.
“This is why I’ve been insisting that we needed to go shopping. I just hope that when you get up from the chair your zipper is not wide open.”
While at the meeting, Karen was so worried about her zipper coming open that when she came home, she walked up to Addy and reluctantly made her pronouncement. “Okay, Adriana, you win again. We are going shopping for maternity stuff.”
“Good grief! What happened? Did your zipper burst open?”
Karen grimaced. “No, but I was so self-conscious about the possibility of it happening, thanks to a certain someone mentioning it, that I thought it would happen. Besides, when I buttoned up, I had difficulty breathing.” Addy couldn’t keep a straight face and laughed.
***
Shopping for maternity clothes was quite an experience, which was aggravated by the fact that neither one of them liked to shop. Shopping was done when absolutely necessary, and fortunately, because price was never a problem, they always found something quickly. Just approaching the maternity section raised the hair on Karen’s neck. “I ca
nnot believe for the life of me that I’m shopping in this department. If someone had shown me a picture of me at this precise moment years ago, I would have denied to the death that it was me. I feel like I’m in some sort of alternate universe.” As Karen spoke, she browsed through the racks of clothes. “Look at this stuff, for God’s sake, I can’t wear this. I’d look like a blimp!” Then she’d look at something else, “and this, who would wear this?” People who heard, looked at Karen in shock while Addy politely smiled at everyone.
While Karen ranted and ridiculed every item in the maternity section, Addy kept picking up items from the racks in different sizes. “Here, stop complaining and go in there and try these on. We don’t even know what size you are, we need to get some idea to start somewhere.”
“Well, why didn’t you ask? I could have told you! It is probably the giant, or the gigantic size, or wait! Is there a hippo or an elephant size? Because that is precisely the one I might need. Give me those!” She took the clothes from Addy’s hand and with a menacing face walked towards the dressing rooms. Addy rolled her eyes and exhaled when Karen finally went into a dressing room.
Once inside, she took forever. “How are you doing in there? Does anything fit? Can I come in to see you, or will you be coming out?”
Karen pulled the curtain of the dressing room to the side and poked her face out. Menacing green eyes came face to face with Addy, who was standing outside. Addy smiled and bit her upper lip trying not to laugh. “Don’t even think about me coming out there dressed like this! I’m resolved to maintain my dignity at whatever cost!”
Addy chuckled. “Can I, at least, come in, to see how things fit?”
“If I had wanted you to see me like this, I would have joined the circus.”