Now, she suddenly decided to renovate it and let our old tradition return. I guess we'd be spending our holidays there again.
"Hello Darling!" Mom said brightly, squeezing Claire with so much love. "You look tense, are you okay?" She asked as she broke the hug to look at Claire.
"Yes, I'm okay." Claire replied, looking around at the workers. "What's going on here?"
"I'm renovating the house, it's been ages anyone spent time here." Mom said in a faraway voice, then held Claire's shoulders.
"I lost my dear husband and two months later, I heard I'll be having a grandchild. I guess it was Philip's way of consoling me. It's too bad I wasn't there while you grew up."
"Why weren't you? I always asked Dad if we could come visit yo
As soon as I got out of Claire's room, I bumped into Lucy who was eavesdropping. She quickly stood straight and pressed her lips together, suppressing a laugh. "What are you...?" She shushed me and led me to my room. "You guys made up?! I'm so glad Matt!" She said excitedly as soon as we entered my room. I gave her a smirk and went into my walk-in closet, taking off my wet clothes and putting on dry clothes. "Everything is going so smoothly. Hopefully, Antonio will refuse to go with Thomas and I'll have my kids with me." Lucy was saying while I changed my clothes. I could feel her pain. I never wanted to divorce Doris because I didn't want to lose Claire, even if it meant I'd never be with the love of my life Abigail. "What do you think, Matt? Do you think Antonio would chan
The minutes blended into hours and Richie arrived with his family for dinner. Claire was already downstairs when I got there, talking excitedly to Nessa. When did that happen? And she was holding a bouquet of roses. I couldn't tell if Nessa gave them to her as a peace offering or if Archie gave them to her.Abigail was there too, chatting with Luciana and Margo, Richie's wife. Everyone was lost in a chat, even Jacinta was making eye contact with Antonio and I could tell they were communicating privately. Richie was holding his two years old daughter Eva, and he was arguing with Archie, just like always.No one noticed me.Anyway, I took my sit next to Richie and diverted his attention from his son. The food arrived and we all ate, still talking as we abandoned our table manners. It was then that I noticed James wasn't with us.&nbs
Claire I was furious and bitter and hurt and... and sad. He lied to me! Abigail lied to me too! I knew they couldn't be just friends, they're lovers. I knew the way they looked at each other was off! Couldn't they at least wait until my Mom's buried? "I hate them both!" I pushed down all the books on my library in anger. How could he do this to me? Is Abigail the reason he left us? So he could be with her? Did he and Mom get divorced? Must be... I mean, Mom wouldn't remarry if they didn't get divorced, right? But doesn't he care about how I feel? Is Abigail more important to him than James and I? What if they are secretly married and he's just lying to me? "Then I'll never forgive him!" I said angrily to myself. I felt my nos
The flight to Los Angeles was a really pleasant one. Although I imagined the airplane to have more passengers, we were the only ones on it.I didn't know how long the flight lasted, mostly because I slept like a log. In fact, when I woke up, I was in a limo heading to my Aunt's house. I guess I'll blame my tiredness on the raging headache that claimed my sleep throughout the night.I planned to support my Aunt but with that state, I couldn't hold up myself. They had given me painkillers that morning but nothing changed. I avoided my Dad until I left with my Aunt and cousins for LA. I still didn't know how to face him and thinking about his betrayal just increased my pain.When we got to their equally large house like my Dad's, I was placed on bed rest. It was better I didn't ruin their last day together by making them look aft
Claire"What?!" I exclaimed, waking James up. How long was I unconscious? Two days?! That's longer than the last time."Claire? Are you okay now?" James asked me but my attention was on Jacey. I tried to talk to her in my head, I wanted her to read my thoughts."Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, confused. I was equally confused, couldn't she read my mind?"How is it possible that I would be unconscious for two days?" I said clearly in my head. She just stared back at me."Can't you hear me? I'm trying to communicate with you.""Oh! Through thoughts? That won't work anymore.""Claire?!" James snapped, clearly annoyed I'm ignoring him.
Do you know that feeling where all the regrets and guilts that you've kept buried for so long burst up to the surface in full force, crushing your very soul? Well, that's how I felt as I saw my Mom for the last time before she was put into the grave.I could barely stand upright, but I had help from Jason as let me lean most of my weight on him. As soon as we met Uncle Mark's family at the cemetery, Jason stayed close to me, asking me every five seconds if I needed anything at all.When the coffin was opened for us to see her and deliver some speeches, Jason held my hand and didn't let go, even after she was buried.My head began aching from the crying, so he took me to a bench where we both sat, still holding hands.I got calm. At least now she can have peace but there's definitely n
MattIt's been a total of two years and eight weeks since I pulled my daughter's unconscious body from the fountain; and ever since then, she has been in a deep coma.I could vividly remember the whole scene; returning from a conference only to hear shouts coming from the fountain side. I saw Claire struggling to keep that bloody bastard Thomas away from Jacey and James and my good for nothing security men were doing nothing!I was running over to restrain Thomas when I saw my daughter flying into the fountain, head first. I went to her instead and pulled her out of the bloody water.She hit her head pretty bad.I took off my shirt and pressed the wounded spot on her head, hoping to stop the bleeding. I was so sure I lost her when my shirt was totally soaked and t
ClaireI need to get away with James... That was all I had in mind as I opened my eyes. I expected to see Frank punching my Mom, but instead, I was staring at the ceiling of an unfamiliar room.Where is James?! I tried to sit up but I couldn't move my body. What happened to me? The last thing I could remember was grabbing James and trying to leave the house when Frank grabbed me."It's okay, Claire, you're okay." I saw someone's f