All Chapters of Behind the Veil: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1 The Affair Child

A chicken drumstick fell out of my hands. My mind was buzzing, while the world around me melted away into indistinct blurs. "What?" The word escaped my mouth, shaking."Helen got pregnant that night five years ago," answered Nathaniel. He didn't hide the truth. In fact, he seemed relieved that he was finally confessing the truth. "It's been hard, keeping this a secret for five years."That threw me off, and I looked to Melanie for reassurance. "Is this a prank, Melanie? Are you in on this? It's a joke, isn't it? A prank?"Melanie took another sip out of her cup but said nothing back to me. My heart sank.Nathaniel continued, "It's not a joke. When we found out, the doctor told us that an abortion would hurt Helen. A life was at stake here. I couldn't make her go through it."The mention of the child softened Nathaniel's expression. I put my hand on my swollen belly. I was in my third trimester, eight months along. The delivery date was due soon."You should thank God I didn't ask

Chapter 2 Consider It Done

The sight of her grandson put a big smile on Melanie's face. She scooped the boy up. "Come here, Nelson. Grandma's got kisses for you."I sat rooted in my seat, my eyes refusing to pull away from Helen. Nathaniel kept his affair on the down low until he decided to let her into my life.They were a perfectly happy little family, but here I was, carrying Nathaniel's baby. "You promised me heaven and earth, and this is what I get out of it? Do you think it's fun stringing me along, Nathaniel?"That robbed all the color from their faces. Helen held her child tightly in her arms; the look on her face was filled with nervousness."I don't mind suffering, but I won't let my child go through the same. He's Nathaniel's and this is his family. If this family refuses to acknowledge him, then he has no father!" Helen declared, as if I were the one forcing her to make a choice.Then, she left with the boy. Nathaniel rocketed up from his seat and went after them. Melanie glared at me with enoug

Chapter 3 Force

In the end, Nathaniel and his mother brought Helen and the boy back. Helen was protective of her grandson."Nelson will always be my grandson. No one's going to push him around as long as I still breathe." She kept giving me looks that said I was an evil witch who cooked children for dinner.Helen's eyes shone smugly. The anxiety she showed earlier was gone, and she held Nathaniel's arm. "I won't take your place as Nathaniel's wife, Ms. Holloway. All I want is for my son to stay with his father so no one can call him a bastard child."I grinned sardonically and shot back, "That wouldn't be an insult, but a description."Helen paled, and she turned to Nathaniel like a hurt puppy. A frown creased Nathaniel's forehead. "That was crude. You're better than this," he said icily.Something in my heart shook. I clenched my fists for a moment before slowly unclenching them. My throat was parched, and I said raspily, "I've told you, I wanted no second time."Nathaniel held his son's arm. H

Chapter 4 Cruel Man

A week flew by. The homecoming party was grandiose, gathering most, if not all, the bluebloods in the city. Nathaniel was holding my hand, our fingers intertwined. He hissed quietly, "You've had enough time to think it through, so don't make a scene."I said nothing, nor did I give him a moment of my time.Then, the boy came up to me. Before everyone's eyes, he held my hands and called me his mother.Finally, I spoke up. "I'm not your mother, and I'll never regard you as my son."That was a bombshell, and it sent waves rippling across the room. The guests exchanged looks, but the gist of the story hit them almost immediately. When they looked at Nathaniel again, there was only disdain and contempt in their eyes.The disgraced Nathaniel turned blue and white with rage. His hand clamped down on my wrist. "What are you doing? You can either acknowledge him as your son, or it's the hospital with you!"He was insistent. He was already a father, so it escaped my understanding as to how

Chapter 5 The Past

Nathaniel initially battled with himself, wondering if he should make me go through with the process. I'd carried the baby for eight months, and he knew the torment I had to go through just to have this one.The doctor told us pregnancy would be hard for me, but we had the child anyway. For a moment, he wanted to keep the child. Perhaps he was doing this out of guilt, or perhaps he wanted to use the baby as a chain to keep me around after I found out about his affair.Hesitation was snuffed out by the thoughts of what I'd done earlier, though. Or what he thought I'd done. He had no idea when those photos were taken. Helen would never do anything that'd disgrace him, or so he thought. Therefore, I became his prime suspect. He wanted to teach me a painful lesson. I came out looking like a ghost thanks to the premature labor. He couldn't even bring himself to look at the corpse of my bruised child. The doctor told him it was a girl.He grunted some unintelligible syllables and turned

Chapter 6 Arrogant Nathaniel

They came home, and he couldn't find me anywhere. However, he shrugged it off, thinking I was just throwing another tantrum. We'd been together for far too long, and the big 30 was right in front of us now. Nathaniel thought I'd never get a divorce over this matter.Time went by. Night veiled the city with a dark blanket, but I was still nowhere to be found. He found it odd as I'd always come back after our fights, no matter what.Nathaniel's mind was in a faraway place, and he didn't notice Nelson coming up to him. The boy tugged on Nathaniel's hand, holding a plushie. "I want to sleep with you and Mom tonight."They'd done that before, but Nathaniel wasn't in the mood. He told Nelson, "Go to your mother, Nelson. I have work to do."Helen showed up and heard that. "Are you worried about Ginevra? Nelson and I can leave you to it if you want to."She heaved a long sigh and ruffled her son's head. "Don't make your father choose, Nelson."Nathaniel used to give her anything she want

Chapter 7 Chased Out

The next morning came. Nathaniel was munching on his breakfast half-heartedly, his mind a million miles away. I hadn't gone back to his place that night. He tried to call me, text me, but nothing could get through.A sense of dread coiled around his heart. He had a feeling something was starting to fade from his life.Nathaniel decided to call my best friends. That was because I would always crash at their place whenever we had a fight. He mistook my disappearance as another similar but longer episode. "Is Ginny with any of you?"My friend answered blandly, "I thought you two were going to get the divorce certificate. The papers are already signed, remember?"Nathaniel's phone nearly fell out of his hand, but he managed to hold on before it could. The answer rattled him. "What do you mean the papers are signed?"He didn't remember getting a divorce.Nathaniel's shouting earned my friend's ire. "Oh, please, we all know you have an affair, Nathaniel. Stop harassing Ginny when you t

Chapter 8 Too Late for Regrets

When I ran into Nathaniel again, he seemed like a shadow of his former self. I wanted nothing to do with him, so I spun on my heel and ignored him.Nathaniel tailed me closely like a man haunted by ghosts. He apologized to me. "I've sent Helen and Nelson off. I gave them some money. They'll never come back, and my mother's not going to be a problem either. Come home, Ginny."Home? How laughable, and I said as such, "We no longer have a home together."I'd made it clear five years ago that my forgiveness wouldn't come a second time. Since he decided to ignore my warning, I knew that a man like him was a waste of my time. He certainly wasn't someone I wanted in my life."I know I messed up, but we still have a home. We can't let this divorce happen."That line sounded so familiar. I was reminded of that promise he made. It seemed that there was a nugget of truth when people said that promises were made to be broken. Nathaniel had demonstrated that just fine with his other family.M

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