Not my child

BLIND BILLIONAIRE BRIDE

(They call it madness but he calls it love)

EPISODE EIGHT

THEME: Not my child

         CHICAGO, UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

                 AINSLEY HOSPITAL

                 IN A PRIVATE WARD

The ladies exchanged glances when their mom began to cry again. "Yes..yes and I am sure of it my son.” Mrs Perla sobbed

"Who is she?" Piper asked with a raised eyebrow. Their mom might be too dramatic but they all choose to believe her knowing that their dad was never a saint when it comes to women.

"Now you want to know? Why don't you just go and ask that your father who is never satisfied with one woman or even two!" Mrs Perla fired back at her daughter.

Piper shrugged. "Well that's because —“

Ian cuts Piper off. "Will you just stay quiet, Piper! You don’t need to talk back at mom.” He snarled.

His sisters weren’t so surprised but Piper felt offended by his words. "Show some respect Ian. Piper is your elder sister.” Lauren said.

"Then tell her to behave like one.” Ian retorted.

"Please stop this noise..we are in the hospital. You can take on the fight when we leave here." Josie cautioned them while Piper shot Ian a glare.

"Mom..tell us about it. I mean..the whole story." Ian said as he wiped her tears with the crumbled tissue in her free hand.

"For some months now, your dad has been coming home late and drunk and sometimes he doesn't even come home. I worry about him each passing day and every time I call his line always switched off. But somehow I got to know he was seeing another woman." Mrs Perla stopped.

“Mom, do you know who she is?” Josie asked.

"Yes, I know her too well! Your father has no taste. I can’t believe he is having an affair with a club dancer!” Piper laughed but kept quiet almost immediately after receiving chorused glares from her siblings.

"I confronted your father about it but he denied it. I needed an evident to prove to him that he was having an affair so I hired someone to get me pictures of him and that lady. He didn't deny it when I showed him those pictures. He begged me and promised not to go back to her..the same promises he use to make when I catch him cheating on me.” Mrs Perla explained.

"So did he stopped seeing her after that time?" Ian questioned.

"Jack told me that he stopped seeing her and I believed him because he changed. I mean..he was home for quite sometime and didn’t even visit his friends at the golf house. But that lady called me yesterday and said she was carrying his child. And she threatened to go to the media houses to tell them that she is carrying Jack Bryant's child. She wanted me to transfer money so she won't tell anyone about it. So I called Jack and asked him but he said she is not carrying his child. And in the end I passed out after too much yelling during our argument.”

Ian heaved a sigh. "Okay so the lady wants money but you are not ready to give anything." Ian said to his mom.

"Not even a penny. She should have backed off when I asked her to leave my husband!” Mrs Perla gritted.

"Josie, please call daddy. And ask what happened exactly because I am sure that he would be more honest with you.” Ian instructed.

"Okay.” Josie brought out her phone to dial her dad’s number and he picked on the first ring.

"Hello dad.”

"How are you, Josie?" Mr Jack said over the phone that was now on speaker.

"I am good. Mom is at the hospital.” Josie replied.

"Yeah I know.” He dragged the last word.

"So why are you not here?" Josie asked.

"She doesn't want to see me. Your mom made that clear to me that she would rip off my head if I ever show my face to her again.” Mr Jack responded.

"What did you do to her because she is refusing to say a word to us." Josie lied just to get him to spill the truth.

"Look Josie, I was having an affair with a club dancer months back. I broke up with her after your mom found out about it and I swear I haven't seen her since the past two months.. But I was shocked when Lexi called and said she is pregnant. She asked me for money for upkeep but I refused to give her anything because I don't want to have anything to do with her anymore.” Mr Jack explained his side of the story.

" Lexi? Is that her name?" Josie furrowed her eyebrows

"Yes, Lexi is a stripper and she is famous in Niamh club.” Mr Jack answered.

"Niamh club and a stripper. Okay.” Josie gestured to Lauren to take note. "So what happened after you refused to give her money?" 

Mr Jack cleared his throat. "Lexi threatened to tell Perla. I had no choice but to send her some money because I didn’t want your mom to know about it. You know how she is..I don't want her to roast me alive.”

Piper stiffed back a giggle which earned her another glare from her mom. "But if I had known Lexi would end up telling Perla then I won't have given her a penny! That sly just wants my money!” Mr Jack coaxed.

"Is that child yours?" Josie asked.

"No! That child is not mine! I don't even know if she is truly pregnant! But if she is pregnant then I am sure I am not the father! That sly called your mom and told her about the baby just because I didn’t agree to give all she is asking. So your mom and I argued over the phone until I didn't hear her talking anymore. But I only heard one of the maids calling out her name.” He sighed.

"You should have rushed to the house.” Josie said.

"Your mom said I shouldn't come home to see her. She doesn’t want to see me. She even threatened to file for a divorce!”

The children looked straight at their mom. "You should have explained things to her the first time Lexi told you she was pregnant. You shouldn’t have even given her a penny.”

"I was scared Josie. I was afraid of what your mommy would do to me. But believe me, I love my wife so much more than all these women I have been seeing my whole life. Plead on my behalf and I promise to make it up to your mom. I don’t want her to file for a divorce.” Mr Jack admitted.

"But dad you were sure that the child is not yours so I feel you should have told mom. She would understand and try to sort things out. Now Lexi is ready to tell the media houses that she is carrying a child that is not even yours.” Josie said in a calm tone.

"What should I do now, Josie? I am tired! I don't know what to do! Plead with your mom to settle things before it gets to the media houses and please let her know that I will be faithful as an old dog if all these ends.”

Josie looked at her mom. "I will talk to mom but just promise me that you won't get drunk.”

"I haven’t drank alcohol for weeks now. I promise that I won’t get drunk, Josie.” Mr Jack promised.

"Bye dad. Take care.” Josie hung up the call. "Well I am sure you all heard what he said over the phone."

They all nodded in agreement.  "What do we do now?" Lauren asked.

"Don't worry Ian and I will sort things out with her." Mrs Perla replied.

"What do I need to do then?" Josie questioned.

"Can you visit the club to confront Lexi and confirm if she is truly pregnant?" Ian said.

"I should be able to do it.” Josie answered.

"Good..Lauren can go with you too. All you have to do is tell her we want to run a paternity test on her pregnancy.” Ian briefed them about the plan on how to get the truth.

"Good one, kiddo." Piper teased.

"At least I've gat the brain.” Ian smirked.

"Good brain indeed." Piper clapped her hands.

"You two can't do without arguing. This is why I don’t like being in the same room with you." Lauren pointed at her siblings.

"At least let us have a moment of peace whenever we are together." Josie added.

"What do we do if Lexi refuses to do a test?!" Piper blurted out.

"I will do some background check on her. Lexi must have a lot of secrets as a club dancer.” Lauren answered.

"I am sure she is seeing a lot of men. But what if that child belongs to your father?" Mrs Perla asked in a low tone.

"No way!" Her children screamed in unison.

"Mom, it is obvious that child can't be for dad." Josie spoke up.

"And why on earth is she just saying she is pregnant after two months of break up?" Lauren reasoned.

“Lexi might claim to be scared of telling him because he might not want the baby.” Mrs Perla said.

"It is clear she is just trying to extort from us." Piper said with a shrug.

"Then we will sue her if we find out she isn't pregnant after collecting money from dad." Ian snapped.

"We can also threaten her with a lawsuit just to find the truth.” Josie added.

"Yes, you are right. But we still have to be careful. I don’t want any one of you getting into trouble because of a mess your dad has created.” Mrs Perla had a sincere look on her face.

"So let us just work according to plan." Ian kissed his mother’s hand.

Josie phone rang again. "Nanny Sophia is calling me." She waved her phone in the air for them to see it.

"Ronnie is already causing trouble again." Piper laughed.

"Maybe.” Josie stood up from the couch. "I have to go ahead mom.” She walked closer to the bed and kissed her mom

"I will stay with her today.” Lauren said.

“I am coming with you. I have to finish up some paper works at the office.” Piper stood up to leave.

"I'll be here tomorrow morning.” Josie embraced her sister.

"Drop her off Pipersince Lauren isn't going home now.” Mrs Perla said to Josie knowing that she didn’t bring her car.

“Sure.” Piper agreed.

"Bring me a clothe to change in.” Lauren added quickly.

"Okay.”

“Take care. Bye mom!" Josie and Piper walked out of the room.

"What about you son? Are you leaving?” Mrs Perla asked Ian.

"I will be leaving soon too because I have a lot to tend to at work.” Ian replied.

“Okay. But you should stay with me for a while.” Mrs Perla embraced her son.

“Okay. I’ll stay for some extra minutes.” Ian replied.