The drive down to the house was a very noisy one, with Belinda bawling her lungs out far louder than was necessary and cursing her ill-luck in having birthed such a wicked and disrespectful child. The others, including Carol, tried to placate her all to no avail as she continued to wail.
“Just say you’re embarrassed by your family. Just say that and stop beating around the bush. After all, that was how you refused to allow your sister to come to visit you. Your own blood sister! I know that is exactly what you would have done to us if we told you we were coming. Can you see that I was right about us taking her unawares with our visit? Can you see?” Belinda asked Aunt Alice tearfully, getting a hold of herself as they approached the house and saw Sebastian waiting for them in front of it. She sniffed, wiped her eyes, and applied some powder to her face before getting out of the car after the others.Sebastian smiled warmly at them in greeting, shaking her father’s hand anDinner that evening was a noisy affair, with Belinda telling numerous stories about Carol and Victoria to everyone at the table, the same way that Mr. James had done when he came to visit Carol. For most of the time, Carol’s face was red from embarrassment, but Sebastian seemed to find the stories entertaining and funny. “This isn’t as bad as I had thought.”Carol thought to herself in relief. For the first time since she came here, there was a lot of laughter and noise. It was the first time she had seen Sebastian laugh out loud many times. Looking at him now, she was once again struck by just how handsome he was. The man really had it all. Carol knew how easy it would be for her to fall in love with him if he kept being nice to her and she saw him regularly. In a way, she understood why he kept her at arm’s length as he had explained while th
Carol found it difficult to sleep that night as sleep practically eluded her. She tossed and turned on the bed, trying to get some shuteye, but it just wasn’t happening, no matter how much she forced herself. So, she got up and padded out of her room, trying to be as silent as possible so as not to wake anybody up. The house was quiet, which was not a surprise, considering that it was already past two in the morning. Normally, she rarely found it difficult to sleep, but her mother never failed to bring out the worst in her and annoy her to no end.The light was off in the dining room, so she turned it on, got some orange juice from the fridge, and just sat there sipping it and staring into space. She was about to go and put on the television as there was no point just sitting there without doing anything when she heard the sound of footsteps. She froze where she was sitting, wishing that she did not put the light on as she was in no mood to speak to anybody about anything. Howeve
“I’ll pretend that I didn’t hear that,” Carol said, her heart pounding at the evil look that was on Belinda’s face. She wished she had just left things the way they were because she had the awful feeling that Belinda was not bluffing.“Yeah. Everyone’s temper is just high. How about we all calm down and enjoy a peaceful dinner without any fight?” Tom put in eagerly. To Carol’s surprise, he was sweating profusely and he looked really terrified. Aunt Alice was looking around in confusion, probably wondering what was wrong with all of them.“No, no. there’s no use in pretending about it. I’m sick of pretending, so it’s just better you know now. You should be grateful to me because I did not birth you, but I’ve done everything within my power to raise you right. But no, what do I get as payback for it? Answer me. Answer me, you ingrate!”“Belinda, please. This is neither the time nor place. Stop this madness right now!” Donald commanded in the strongest voice that Carol had
When Sebastian got back to his room, he found Carol fast asleep in his bed. She was lying on the covers in her pajamas, which incidentally, she had worn to dinner before the events of the evening had taken place. He went to take a hot shower, after which he wore his pajamas, and stood contemplating whether to get into bed beside her or not. After a while, he got into bed with her, after all, she was practically his wife, even though they did not act like it. Besides, they had shared a bed in Paris and nothing had happened. “Yeah well. Remember that then, you were not this attracted to her.”A voice in his head told him, but he shrugged it off. As soon as he climbed into bed, Carol rolled over, murmured something in her sleep, and made herself more comfortable by leaning fully against him, her back molde
“Carol, please.” Her father begged, beginning to cry himself.“Just answer my questions. If you piss me off sufficiently, I swear I will cut off from you for life… oh, wait. You won’t give a flying fuck, and neither will your beloved wife.”“I’m your birth father. I’m your father, and I love you more than life itself. You know that Carol.”Carol heaved a sigh of relief. Somehow, she did not care if Belinda was her mother or not, but she did not want it to be that Donald was not her father too. Her whole life could not be based on lies.“Okay. So what the hell happened? Who is my birth mother and where the hell is she? Why did she just dump me with you guys and forget all about me?”“She’s dead, Carol. She’s long dead. She died soon after giving birth to you.” Donald told her solemnly, and she could sense the pain in those words.“Oh,” Carol said, the fight going out of her instantly.“Yeah. I loved Miranda... that's your mother so much and knew that she wa
Carol gasped, her heart going out to him and the poor woman who had given birth to her.“Wow!” That was all that she could say.“Yeah,” Donald said, rummaging in his pocket for something. Bringing out his wallet, one which had clearly seen better days, he produced a worn picture from its inner compartment and extended it to her. Carol took the picture with shaking hands, and looked down at it, hardly able to see for the tears that blurred her vision. She wiped at them and then glanced down at the picture again to see a beautiful woman who looked almost identical to her.“Jeez! We look so much alike.” She breathed, rubbing a finger over the picture almost reverentially.“Yeah, that's right. You remind me of her so much when she was your age. The only thing that is different about you two is that you do not have her fierce temper, and I thank God for that every day.”They both laughed a little at this and then Donald sobered up, inhaling very deeply and exhaling slowly.
The atmosphere at the house the next morning was a strained one. Carol had to wake up early to pack her stuff, otherwise, she would have just stayed in her room and slept until her family left. As it was, she had to come face to face with them. Belinda averted her gaze and refused to look at Carol or speak to her the whole time, not that Carol wanted to speak to her either. Aunt Alice did her best to pretend that everything was normal and that none of what had happened yesterday happened. It was still a marvel to Carol that someone like her, who was such a tattletale knew about all this and had been able to keep her mouth shut all these years.As her father had promised, they did leave somewhat early, so all she had to do was bid them a forced goodbye and they were on their way. However, they turned up thirty minutes later saying that they had missed their flight due to traffic on the road and that it would have to be the next day that they would leave. Her father looked apologet
The first day that Carol spent at the hotel in the Maldives was one that had her so stressed that she almost began to wonder why she had bothered to choose somewhere so far away for a vacation in the first place. She felt even worse when she realized just how expensive this trip was going to be, especially considering the fact that Sebastian would have to come on a different flight. Tom laughed off her worries when she voiced her concern to him. “He’s a billionaire, ma’am. I’m sure he can afford it.” He told her, shaking his head in amusement. She had arrived in the Maldives early the next morning following the day she left and was so tired from her trip that she was almost sleeping on her feet. As Sebastian had promised, Tom took care of all the things that needed to be taken care of and before Carol knew it, she was collapsing gratefully on a huge bed in the suite that she and Sebastian were to share when he got here. She spent most of that day sleeping and i