7. Steph

CHAPTER 7

Steph

I woke to incessant banging on my front door. There was nothing quite like being startled awake when pregnant to make it a dire emergency to get to the bathroom. It would have to be a priority over whoever was about to bang my door down.

My house was located inside a gated community, so there were only so many people who could gain access. Once I finished going to the bathroom, I made my way downstairs in time to see my sleep-addled brother sling the front door open.

“What the hell?” I yelled and caused him to take a startled step backward.

“Sorry to barge in, but it is an emergency.” I hit the last step just as Monica, Ollie’s mom darted inside with a flustered Denmark in tow.

“What’s going on, Monica?”

She leveled me with a grim look that did not bode well for things to come. “We need to talk in private for a minute, honey.”

“Okay,” I answered hesitantly before wrapping my arms around Denmark. “Hey, buddy, go put your things away and let me talk to your grandma for a minute. Then, I’ll get you something for breakfast.”

“Already ate,” my precious boy grumbled. “Momma Steph?” He asked as he stopped three steps up.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Do you not want me anymore?”

“Oh, buddy! I don’t know what’s happened, but I swear to you that you are my favorite person on this planet and nothing has changed about that. I will always, always want you in my life.”

The small smile he offered as his cheeks tinted pink warmed my heart. “Good because you’re the only mom that I want.”

I clutched a hand over my heart as he turned to go upstairs. My watery eyes made it hard to make out what Monica thought of that, since her face was blurred. She took hold of my hand and escorted me to my husband’s at-home office before turning back to my brother. “Keep your nephew busy until we’re done.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Steph, you should have someone with you…”

“She does have someone with her!” Monica snapped at Steve. “Trust when I say, my interests lie with whatever makes my grandson safe, happy, and whole. That is and always has been your sister – who I also happen to adore. Now, go make sure our boy is kept occupied and we’ll fill you in later.”

To my surprise, Steve nodded at my mother-in-law and turned to go do just that. Then Monica shut and locked the office door behind us and guided me over to the loveseat that sat along the wall that faced Ollie’s mahogany desk.

“From the looks of things, I woke you this morning,” Monica started. I nodded, unable to find my voice as nerves settled in. “Good. Then I get to break the news to you gently.”

“I already know about Ollie’s affair.”

“Not that.” She stated it coldly, but the sentiment was not meant for me. Monica was pissed at her son for the shit he pulled. It was no secret that Ollie’s parents hated his ex- girlfriend. They had mentioned numerous times over the years that they wished he had met me first because she was always a no-good troublemaking floozy and that their son had always been blind to her bullshit right up until she took off on him. Apparently, he was still blinded by the dazzling aura she created.

“That no-good tramp has spilled the beans to the media, only she’s laid it on thick and full of lies.”

“It’s no lie that she’s been sleeping with my husband for months.”

“No, I suppose not from everything we heard from you when we picked Den up. That isn’t what she’s lying about, though. She is telling the media that you were the reason she was pushed out in the first place. She claims she went to Hollywood to chase her second dream after you home-wrecked the first one.”

“What? I didn’t even know Ollie back then. She had already been out of their lives for nearly four years when we went on our first date.”

“We all know that, sweetheart, but the woman is a C-rate actress and she pulled out the Oscar-worthy performance she never bothered with for the big screen, which is why it probably seemed believable enough for the gossip rags to run with her woe-is-me story.”

“Oh my God! Poor Den. Does he know?”

“He knows something is going on since the vultures have already landed in town. We had to fight through the media to get to your house. There were more than a few camped out in front of our home this morning and several outside the gates of your community when we rolled up. I won’t put it past them to get someone to let them through eventually, but at least you will have the ability to call the police and have them removed as the neighborhood is not accessible to the public.”

I nodded my head as everything sank in. “People really believe her?”

“I’m afraid so.” Monica patted my leg. “Don’t worry, we’ll get the record set straight.”

“What’s the point in doing that? I’ve probably already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion by now.”

Monica’s tight lipped frown confirmed my theory.

“How could he do this to me? How could he put me in this position?” I questioned out loud. “Worse yet, how could he do this to his son? I know that woman has no qualms about stepping on everyone, including her own child, to get where she wants to be, but…”

“He has Caleb working on it, sweetheart. He never wanted this.”

“Didn’t he, though?” I asked. “He went there. He started an affair with her, whether she held it over his head, or something else to make it happen, he went there to begin with. He’s been traipsing all over the damn country with that woman for months, Monica.”

Ollie’s mother dropped her head as she sighed. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with that boy or what kind of hold that witch has on my son, but I never thought he’d be stupid enough to throw his marriage or his son’s security away for that cheap… cheap… whore!” She finally choked out.

“Well, she has a bigger hold on him than I ever did. Apparently, all this time, I’ve been the nanny with a wedding ring.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is. My brother warned me in the beginning that it was the only reason Ollie was interested in me.” When his mother appeared skeptical of that, I laughed. “Did I ever tell you about our disaster of a first date?”

“No, I don’t think you did.”

“Well, let’s just say that neither of us was interested in the other at first. Ollie was indifferent and acted as though he wanted to be anywhere else other than sharing a meal with me.”

Monica appeared taken aback by that. “What changed?”

“I told him that I was about to graduate with a degree in early childhood education and that I’d been working in both a daycare with infants and toddlers and a preschool program with kids the same age as his son. Not that I knew he had a son at that point, but that was when the tables turned on our date. Suddenly, your son was engaging and wanted to know all about my future plans, and he told me about Denmark. He claimed that his son was sick and that was why he was a bit of a grouch at first.

“He also told me that he had a hard time taking dates seriously at first because too many were only after him, or wanted to use his son to get closer, because they were really after access to his bank account.”

“Well, that last bit was true. After Julia left,” Monica had the good grace to wince at using the woman’s name in my presence. “Well, after the witch, he went on a string of horrible dates and even had some show up to the house unannounced, trying to get an in with Denmark. I hate to say it, but many of them were just after my son’s money. It’s why we all held our collective breaths when he moved you in with them so quickly and then let those same breaths out when you signed that prenup.”

I thought back, remembering that time in my life. “That was when you started to warm up to me,” I stated. There was no blame or accusation, only understanding. If women had tried to use Den’s child to get close to him for his money, I’d probably be wary of anyone new arriving on the scene and infiltrating their little family of two as well.

“You really think my son was capable of marrying you just to have a caretaker for his child?” Monica asked, but I could tell she was mentally flipping through memories, searching for the same signs of affection that I had searched for. She wouldn’t find any.

“Yes, I do. Looking back, everything I thought was perfectly fine was just a well-crafted story for outsiders to eat up. Until recently, I don’t even think Ollie ever told me he loved me, and it’s sad that I’m only just now realizing this after four years with the man. How did I not see that before, Monica? Am I that gullible?”

“Oh, honey, I’m not sure what the truth is in this situation, but I know one thing for absolute certain. My son does love you. He might have tried to talk himself out of it so he would never have to be hurt again, but sometimes, it takes losing a thing – a person – to understand the hold they truly had on your heart.”

“Well, it’s a shame that it’s too late for him to correct the course he was on. Although, I suppose he’s finally back with the person he hated to lose the most anyway.”

“Is it too late?”

“You can’t seriously be asking that. Monica, he had a months-long affair with that woman, was caught kissing her in public, and now she has dragged my reputation through the mud. I did nothing wrong, but everyone who cares to follow that crap around the world will have this opinion of me being a horrible person. Not her – the actual home-wrecking, child abandoner – ME. They will be looking at me like I did something wrong when the only thing I ever did wrong was trust a man with my heart who had no intentions of treating it with respect, let alone love.”

Monica’s only response then was to pull me into a hug and hold me there for a few minutes. “I’m so sorry, honey. You do not deserve this.”

“On top of everything, I might lose Den too. How in the hell will I cope with that? How will he? It’s not fair.”

“No, it certainly isn’t. I will move hell and high water to make sure that the two of you aren’t lost to one another. Mark my word, you will not miss a day in my grandson’s life, if I can help it. You are his stability and the core of his heart. We all know it.”

“Thank you, but the truth is, I have no rights to him.”

“Well, we’ll see how things play out. Let’s not borrow trouble just yet when there’s plenty to go around already.”

Monica was hopeful, but the ugly truth had been knocking on my doorstep for months and now it was here. I no longer had any hope for a future with my family. “Have you heard from my rotten son this morning?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My phone is still upstairs on my nightstand and it never got plugged in last night, so it might be dead for all I know.”

“How about I go grab it for you, check on the boys, and then we’ll see what my son has to say for himself. I guarantee he at least tried to warn you about this circus headed your way.”

She had a lot more faith in her son than I did. It was good to know that she not only believed me, but that it seemed I had an ally where Den was concerned. I hoped with all my heart that it continued because the one thing I didn’t want to have to do was break my promise to Denmark because I was forced to.

As far as I was concerned, nothing would change for the two of us. He was still my boy and I would always be his Momma Steph. Moreover, he would soon be the big brother to the little surprise sibling I was cooking up for him.

Monica came back down waving my phone at me. “It still has a charge, but I brought this as well.” She had my charging cable in her hand and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that there was one in the office, living room, and a few other places around the house because Ollie couldn’t be separated from his phone long enough to allow it to charge in a different room from where he was. Now that his affair was in the open, I guessed he had other reasons for not leaving his phone unattended.

There was a time when he would separate from the device, but in big work crunches on accounts he managed, or during the last few months, the device had been chained to him in his every waking moment and put out of sight somewhere when he managed to get some sleep. I also didn’t tell her that when he did sleep at home, it usually hadn’t been with me. At least, not in the past three months.

That was when everything in our so-called relationship had gone to hell. That was when I started making excuses for his behavior even though somewhere deep down I knew what those signs meant.

When Monica handed me the phone, there were quite a few missed messages. I ignored all of the ones from my husband as my mother-in-law frowned at me. I skipped to the text from Hutch.

Hutch: DO NOT GO ONLINE!

Hutch: I’m headed to your place as soon as I get off the phone with Ollie’s lawyer.

Hutch: Please, don’t go online until I can get to you.

“Well, as far as warnings go, that wouldn’t make you do the opposite,” Monica scoffed. For the first time since this whole nightmare started, I laughed and my beautiful mother-in-law joined right in.

“Why are men so stupid?” I asked.

“Honey, if you figure that one out, be sure to clue the rest of us in. I swear it has to be in the DNA because I taught my boy better.” She seemed lost in thought for a minute. “Honestly, I think he did know better at one point, but that woman ruined my boy and made him a man that is absolutely lost.”

It was my turn to scoff. “I think you’re giving her too much credit. He made his choices and in doing so made his priorities clear.”

“Are you going to look at them?” She finally asked after we sat ruminating over her son’s poor choices for a few minutes too long.

I shrugged my shoulders. “It doesn’t feel like he’s going to tell me anything I don’t already know, so what’s the point?”

“To hear it from him?” She asked.

“Honestly, Monica, I don’t want to hear from him right now. I don’t want his side. I don’t want his reasonings because what do they really matter? What’s done is done. Maybe he didn’t love me, maybe he didn’t even like me enough to care how his actions would affect me. Maybe he is such a shit person that his son’s well-being never entered into the equation.”

“He could be riddled with guilt,” she interjected.

“And what does that change?”

“Nothing,” she whispered.

“Absolutely nothing,” I confirmed. “The damage has been done. The reasons for pushing us all down this hill don’t really matter.”

Despite my stance, I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the last message he’d sent, the one sitting at the top of my notifications.

Lying, Cheating Bastard: I love you. No matter what else you believe, remember that. I will fix this.

The problem was, I didn’t believe that. Not anymore, and even when it had been a belief I held dear to my heart, it had been a lie I told myself. My husband never loved me. Having him make the declaration for the first time only after hurting me the way he did and humiliating me publicly only proved it that much more.

There were texts from my parents as well as some of the teachers from work and a few of my old college buddies who knew the truth and were asking what in the hell was going on. They all offered to speak up on my behalf, but I couldn’t answer a single one of those texts.

“This is humiliating. Even when I have people offering to tell the truth for me, it comes on the heels of knowing that I’ve been cheated on. I’m the wronged party, but all I can think is that they’re wondering what was wrong with me that he had to go back to her. Then again, she’s gorgeous even with the addition of the scars, so maybe no one is asking that.”

“That woman is ugly as sin!” Monica snapped. When I gaped at her, she shrugged her dainty shoulders. “It’s true. She’s never been truly attractive. Sure, she’s classically beautiful for the camera, but it also takes a lot of work to make her look the way she does. All she has going for her is good bone structure because the woman is rotten underneath. Pure rot.” The way Monica spit the words out made me believe that she truly felt that way.

“Unfortunately, people don’t bother with the truth. They see an actress with several movies and a couple guest spots on their favorite TV shows and she wins their hearts, especially with her sob stories.”

Monica sighed. “I’d like to refute that but we both know you’re right. My son says he’ll fix it, I have to believe that he will.”

I didn’t want to argue with Monica. She was one of the people still in my corner and I wanted to keep her there. Constantly telling her what a piece of crap liar her son was would only push her away. While I loved my mother-in-law, and respected the woman, I bit my tongue so that she would remain in my corner and hopefully help me keep in contact with the boy who I thought of as my son.