Another Blow

Kate didn't want to wake that morning, but she thought of the child in her womb and forced herself to breakfast. Her phone had been buzzing all night. Her mother had dropped seven missed calls between yesterday and early that morning. She sighed when the phone began to vibrate again. Might as well just get it over with, she thought before pressing the receive button.

"It's true, isn't it?" Her mother's sharp tone came on the line. "It's over Mom. My marriage is finished. Too bad you won't get the inheritance you daydream about."

"You let him slip through your fingers."

"Even you can't control everything, Mother. Alex made his choice--"

"Not if you have been good enough to him Kate, did you do everything right? I told you, Kate, the way to a man's heart is to give everything to him. Don't complain, just smile and take it all. Be the perfect little wife."

Kate was starting to have a headache and her Mom's nagging wasn't helping. "What are you going to do now?" Her Mom asked.

"I'll find..." Her voice cracked. She tried mustering up her courage because she knew she would find no comfort in her mother's arms. "I'll figure a way out." The line went dead with a click. Kate couldn't take it anymore, she sobbed bitterly into her fist. Accepting her lot was hard not when her mind had refused to let go yet.

A part of her wanted to tell him she was carrying their child, wanted to use that to hold on to him. But his face, God, his face had been so cold. So devoid of warmth, like she was a burden to him. Like nothing could ever redeem her in his eyes.

---

Someone was knocking at the door. Kate sighed. She wanted to shoo away the intruder. Maybe if she pretended she wasn't home the person would leave her alone. "Kate!" Oh God, Kate groaned, pulling the pillow over her face. "Kate!" The familiar voice made her raise her head.

It was Evelyn calling her name. No use feigning pretence now, her half-sister always got her way.

Out of habit, Kate tried to make herself look decent. Mother always said a lady should always be a lady no matter what. "Poor baby," Evelyn said, hugging her the moment she entered their living room. "I have been calling your line but it kept going to voicemail, you had me worried."

"I'm sorry I..." Kate tried to comport herself. Going to pieces in front of Evie just seemed undignified. Evie was the picture of elegance and grace, the daughter after her mother's heart, the very one modelled in her image, the daughter her mother wished she had.

"Alex wants a divorce," Kate said, feeling the words freeze in her mouth. "But honey," Evelyn said delicately, her pretty eyes softening with sympathy. "I thought you were working things out. And I assumed you must have told him about the baby."

"You should have seen him, Evie," Kate impatiently wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks. "He was so cold, it's like I disgusted him. Like he wanted nothing to do with me."

"Oh dear, men can be dramatic, you know," Evelyn swatted at the air as if Kate lacked the common sense to understand that. As if Kate was making a big fuss about something so little.

"So you aren't going to tell him you are pregnant?" Evelyn regarded her with a strange look. Kate kept a protective hand over her stomach. "Telling him now would change nothing, Evie. I thought that with time he would soften, that he would forgive...

"But he cheated Evelyn! He cheated. There's no coming back from that. I'll be dammed if he has to tolerate me because of the baby, when I'm ready, I'll let him know." Kate suddenly looked at Evelyn with desperation in her eyes. "Promise me this," she whispered fiercely. "Promise me you will keep this between us."

"Kate..."

"Promise me!"

"You know I would never betray you, Katie bear, you know I'd do anything for you." Kate couldn't hide her pain any longer, she broke down in tears and was grateful to feel Evelyn's arms wrapped around her.

"Hush, now," Evelyn whispered, stroking Kate's hair as a mother would comfort their child. "It will be alright in the end." Kate really wanted to believe that, she would have believed anything breathing in Evelyn's sweet scent.

---

Kate took the time to look presentable that night. She had soaked in a bath and wore the new dress she had stuffed in the back of her wardrobe. Her brown curls were combed to perfection. She sipped the wine in front of her, her face chiselled into a hard composure. She would give him the answer he wanted tonight. Then he would be free of her.

She didn't get to her feet when Alex walked in. Her back was to him and she felt him take a pause. No word had come out of her mouth in greeting.

"I'll sign the papers," she said confidently without turning to him. "Give me two days to pack my things and I'll be out of your hair soon."

"I've spoken with Mike," Alex's baritone washed over her skin. To think she once felt a lot for this man, she would have gone to the moon for him. She'd have done anything for him. But now, Kate had locked her emotions and thrown the key away. She would not spend one more moment wasting it on him.

"You will get a huge settlement, I've told him to draw up the documents--"

"I want nothing from you." Kate cut him off for once. She saw the surprise in his eyes and savoured every moment of it. "What I want is the divorce papers that's the only thing I need from you."

"Don't be stupid, Kate, you have nothing. Let it not be said that the wife of the billionaire was left to suffer. I don't want any scandal smearing my name."

"Scandal you say?" Kate could not bite back the sarcasm in her voice. "So cheating on your wife isn't a scandal to you!"

"We've been over this Kate--"

"Don't you dare call my name, don't you fucking dare! Bring the bloody papers and let's call this sham of a marriage over. God knows I've paid for my mistake ten times over." She could see the shock in his eyes. He had never heard her talk this way.

She was going to walk past him when she caught a whiff of perfume she could have sworn she'd inhaled this afternoon. No, no, it can't be. It just fucking can't be.

"Who was she?" She said with so much venom, Alex looked alarmed for a second. "Damn you, who was she!" "If you can't control yourself--"

"You were fucking my stepsister!" Kate cried, hating herself for it. She had tried so hard to stay brave, to carry herself with dignity but this was just too low. The blow came and struck where it hurt the most. And Alex's silence was answer enough.