Post by rsafan on Nov 8, 2006 4:16:48 GMT -5
Chapter 23
He made the call from the payphones on the fourth floor as he waited for the results of Mimi’s tests. No matter the results, the doctor would be keeping her for a day or two for observation, while cramps weren’t uncommon in the third trimester, the doctor wasn’t taking any chances with this pregnancy. Shawn had to wait some time before anyone actually answered and when Phillip did, he figured they hadn’t wanted to be interrupted. Phillip’s tone said it all and the last thing he probably wanted was an intrusion from Shawn.
“Phillip its Shawn.”
“What do you want?”
“Look could either you or Belle get some things over at our apartment for Mimi? She’s in the hospital, I wouldn’t ask only…”
Phillip didn’t let him finish; all anger forgotten on hearing that Mimi was in the hospital. “Of course man, just give us a list of what she needs, and we’ll bring it. Is she okay?”
“We won’t know till the test results are back. This is what she wants…” he detailed a list of the things she’d wanted then hung up. He rested his forehead on the receiver he’d just placed back on the hook and thought about how ironic life could be, how ironic his life was. He’d just discovered that he could have a child with a woman who had for years been his life and he could very well lose the child he knew was his and had loved since he’d seen that little heartbeat on the monitor all those months ago, a child with the woman who through all her lies still held his heart. But was it enough?
“Mr. Brady the results are back, the doctor would like to speak with you” Shawn nodded and followed the nurse to the doctor. She was standing outside Mimi’s room.
“Shawn I don’t know what happened between yesterday’s tests and today but I can tell you it’s not good, for either Mimi or the baby. She’s borderline now, we’re trying everything we can to bring her blood pressure down but we can’t make any promises. I think there’s a very real possibility that she may have developed pre-eclampsia, I’m running the appropriate tests as well as a battery of other tests. I’m not saying it is pre-eclampsia and I don’t wan to rule out anything else as a possibility. Normally I’d say it was the baby getting ready to be born, but in Mimi’s case I want to take every precaution. Her blood pressure has been consistently high since the onset of this pregnancy and that is extremely dangerous, for both of them.” Shawn simply stared at her. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“You’re saying that if your medications don’t work I could lose them both. That I could lose my wife and my son, what’s not to understand?”
The doctor ignored his anger, she was used to this reaction, it was a natural reaction to this kind of news, “I’m keeping her under observation for a few days, if she doesn’t improve the way I’d like her to she’s going to be staying here for the duration of her pregnancy.”
Shawn nodded, “Can I see her?”
“She’s sleeping and she needs her rest. If you promise not to wake her…”
“I won’t, I only want to see her.”
Chapter 24
She wasn’t surprised to find him on the other side of her door; in fact she’d been expecting him for days. She let him in and closed the door silently behind him Max wasn’t here, and in a way she was glad. What she and her brother had to say to each other was personal though Max knew everything, well almost everything.
“You might want to know that the lab results are in.” he said as he walked past her into the living room.
“And?”
“Claire’s my daughter.”
She simply nodded, she’d figured as much. “Phillip must be devastated.”
“You think? He’s just lost his daughter.”
“No he hasn’t, she’ll always be his daughter. She’ll always be his little girl. I heard Mimi was in the hospital, is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Everyone else’s lives are in shambles, but Mimi’s doing just great.” He sounded angry, she couldn’t really blame him.
“She was just released from the hospital; I’d hardly say she’s doing great. I would’ve visited her only I was in Chicago…”
He cut her off, “I didn’t come here to talk about Mimi; I came here to talk about you. And this secret you kept from me.”
“For three weeks, I kept this ‘secret’ for three weeks Shawn. It’s hardly the end of the world and the truth came out in the end.”
“You should have told me the minute you found out. Don’t you think I needed to know that my wife was lying to me? That she was being a selfish, self-absorbed…”
“Shawn, don’t do this.” She warned him.
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t care about her, that she means nothing to you. You’re angry now, and I’m not saying you don’t have the right be.”
“That’s really great you talking about my rights, when you along with my wife decided I didn’t have the right to know that Claire could be mine. Don’t tell me what to feel Victoria and don’t tell me how to handle Mimi.”
“Oh stop playing the victim here!” she shouted at him, “We both know what you’ve been up to behind Mimi’s back. You say she didn’t trust you, but she had no reason to, did she? I’m wondering what she’d think about you if I told her what I knew.”
“That’s different.”
“No Shawn, its not. It’s not different at all; in fact, it’s a lot worse than what she did to you. You’re so angry that I kept her secret right, you feel I should’ve told you so I’m thinking maybe I should tell her your secret. What goes for the one goes for the other. What do you say Shawn? Should I tell Mimi all about you and Belle and your cosy little rooftop meetings away from her and Phillip’s prying eyes?” When he didn’t say anything, she challenged him, “Why so quiet all of a sudden? What happened to ‘I had a right to know’ and ‘you should have told me’? Could it possibly be that things aren’t as black and white as they appear to be?”
“Mimi’s secret was different; her secret hurt a lot of people.” He didn’t sound as angry as he had when he came in, he sounded more dejected now.
“And if she finds out about you, she’ll be hurt right?” and then she realised something, “You’re scared.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Shawn walked to the door ignoring her, but Victoria didn’t stop talking. “I’m right aren’t I? You’re scared because you know how much you’d lose if she ever found out. You’d lose her, you’d lose your son and you’d lose your happiness because you may try and deny it Shawn, but she makes you happy. Your happiness is tied to her and right now you may not like it but it’s a fact.”
Shawn opened the door and walked out; then he called over his shoulder, “Oh and stay away from Chelsea.”
Confused at the turn in conversation topic, she asked, “Chelsea?”
Shawn sighed and turned to his sister, “Max told me you’ve been trying to get in her good graces, trust me she’s one person you don’t want as a friend.”
“How can you say that? She’s your sister, why would you say such horrible things about her?”
“Because they’re true and she’s not my sister. She’s nothing to me and if you’re wise you’ll stay far away from her before she ruins your life too.”
“Ruined your life? How on earth did she ruin your life?”
“She killed my brother!” he shouted, then realising it wasn’t her fault, he said more calmly, “Trust me Chelsea is poison and I care about you too much to have her hurt you too. Keep her as much out of your life as possible or she’ll infect everything you care about until you’re left with nothing.”
*****
Almost an hour later, Victoria opened her door to Belle, “Can we talk? We didn’t get to finish our conversation at the race the other day and given the circumstances…”“What circumstances? Oh you mean finding out that Shawn is Claire’s father. That shouldn’t make much of a difference to the fact that the two of you were cheating on your respective spouses.” She stepped aside and allowed Belle into her apartment.
Belle walked in and looked around. She hadn’t been here before though Phillip.
“Finished examining my decorating tastes?” Victoria was waiting for Belle to say her piece and leave. She’d been in the middle of a really good book and was eager to get back to it.
“It was a couple of kisses that was all.” Belle stated.
“And that still constitutes cheating in my books. The two of you are in relationships with other people, committed relationships; you don’t get more committed than marriage Belle. See what you really came here to do was tell me that the two of you want to be together but quite frankly I’m not buying it.”
“You don’t know the full story.”
“I know that you walked away from him, you had a choice and you didn’t pick him so he moved on and that irked you. You wanted to keep him dangling, blowing hot and cold while you went on with your merry little life, being the perfect little wife in your perfect family. The minute he moved on you wanted him back.”
“I tried to forget about him, I tried to be happy in my marriage, but I couldn’t because I was lying to myself, I was lying to my husband.”
“So is that supposed to justify your declarations of love? Is that supposed to excuse your manipulation of not only Shawn, but Phillip who was an innocent bystander in all this and Mimi, your best friend! You made her so insecure in her relationship with Shawn that she kept a secret from him that could destroy her marriage.”
“I didn’t force her to lie to Shawn.”
“No, she made that decision on her own. But it was aided by her mother playing on her feelings of insecurity about Shawn; it was fuelled by the constant interruptions by you. I don’t know you all that well Belle, the same goes for Shawn and Mimi. The only judgements I can make about you all is from what I’ve seen these past few months, so why are you here? Why are you here trying to justify your actions to me?”
“I didn’t want you to think badly of me and I didn’t want your relationship with Shawn ruined over something so trivial.”
“How can you call kissing a man other than your husband trivial?” she watched Belle swallow nervously and suddenly it hit her, the real reason she was so all eager to become bosom buddies, “I get it now, you came here hoping I’d put a good word in for you with Shawn. That he’d do anything to please his new sister, well you can forget about it. For all Mimi’s done to my brother, to so many people’s lives, at least I can understand why she did it. You are just plain selfish.”
“Shawn and I belong together, we love each other and everyone knows it.” Belle stated calmly.
Victoria stared at her outraged, “What are you in high school? ‘We belong together’? I’ve never heard anything more childish in my life. No one ‘belongs’ together, you either fit or you don’t. Belong together is just a convenient excuse to justify why you’re still together when neither of you really wants to be, not truly. Not here” she placed her hand over her heart, “not when your heart doesn’t want it.”
“Shawn and I were good together.”
“That’s right, emphasis on were, as in no longer are. You want what you had back then, but you’ve both changed Belle. It’s never going to be the same. Even if you end up together again, it won’t be the same. You’re a mother, do you really need to be living in the past; is that any way to raise your daughter?”
“Shawn’s daughter, she’s Shawn’s daughter too. That’s a bond between us no one can take away, a bond no one can deny.”
“If you’re using Claire as another excuse, another reason why you and Shawn should be together, think again. She was conceived in lust, an event so momentous, neither of you remember it. That’s how great it was Belle, the first time you were together, was so amazing neither of you can even remember it. Now ask Shawn about his first time with Mimi. I bet he can tell you in graphic detail what happened that day, or night, or whenever. The point is, he remembers. He remembers because it matters, leave him alone Belle. Let him make up his own mind.”
Belle grabbed her purse and stormed out. Victoria was wrong. Shawn loved her, she knew he did and they had Claire. Claire was proof that they were going to be a family again; Claire would bring Shawn back to her. He loved Claire; he wouldn’t be able to stay away from her, not now he knew she was his daughter. He’d leave Mimi because she’d lied and because he’d never loved her in the first place and then he’d come back and everything would be okay. Victoria was so wrong.
