Chapter forty-one
“Luke, watch your backpack.” I adjusted the strap on my student's back as he ran outside when it was time to leave.
“Bye, teacher.”
“Bye, Polly.”
I looked down when I saw Anne tugging at the hem of my blouse.
“Hi.”
“Are you going to marry us?”
“Not today, princess.”
“Why?”
“I have to look after my grandmother.”
“Take Grandma,” said Mary as if it were very simple.
“I can't.”
“Ah,” they both muttered.
I really wanted to stay with them, but I was still absorbing the news of the pregnancy and thought I needed another day to deal with it. I wondered how the girls would react when they found out they were going to have a little brother or sister. Would they be happy or jealous?
And their father?
I swallowed as the image of Thomas invaded my mind. It was amazing having him as a boyfriend. I was falling in love with him more every day, and it wasn't just the sex that was amazing, but his whole presence. I loved being with him, talking to him, or just lying on his chest and listening to his heartbeat.
The news of a pregnancy could be impactful even when you were expecting it, and being unexpected like that, I had no idea how it would affect both of us. I just hoped that everything would go well when I had the courage to tell him.
“Will you send your dad a kiss for me?”
“Vamu !”
“Thank you.” I kissed each of them on the forehead and took them by the hand to the school gate.
Part of me had hoped to meet Thomas, but he hadn't told me anything, and soon Mylon approached to pick them up.
“Hello, miss.”
“Hi.” I smiled at him.
“Are you coming with us?” He picked up the girls' backpacks.
“Not today.”
“Okay.”
“Hello, Anne and Mary” a voice called out to the girls and made us all turn around.
That face was strangely familiar, but I had no idea where I had seen it until one of the girls whispered.
“Mom...” Anne was confused, and so was her sister.
“No.” The woman came closer, and I noticed similar features to the girls. “I'm Aunt Diana. Your mother and I were the same, just like you two.”
“Auntie?” Mary squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.
“Yes!”
“Does Mr. Lennox know you're here?” asked the driver. “If not, I need to inform him.”
“Oh, come off it! I just came to see my nieces.”
“It's my duty to look after them, ma'am.”
“I know that. And I'm sure you do a great job.”
Still confused, the girls clung to my legs, keeping a safe distance from the woman. They recognized the image of their mother because there were photos in their room. The woman had died when they were very young, and they probably had no memory of living together.
“Call Thomas, Mylon,” I said to the driver.
“It's not necessary.” Diana raised her hand when the driver pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “You can take them now; I just stopped by to see them a bit. They look so much like my sister and me.”
“Come on, girls,” Mylon called out to the girls, who clung to me even tighter and wouldn't let go.
“Off you go, little ones.”
“Come on,” Anne whimpered.
“Not today, but everything will be fine.” I let go of their little hands and handed them to the driver, who took them to the car.
The two of them stared at me with slightly frightened looks on their faces until they were settled in the back seat, and the driver started the car to take them away.
“You're very stupid.”
“What?” I was surprised by the woman's comment.
“You shouldn't order their driver around like that. I'm the girl's aunt.”
“If he could even be the Pope, he won't keep them without their father knowing.”
She gritted her teeth and put her hands on her waist, irritated by the answer I had given.
“Just because you're fucking him, you think you're entitled to something? You're just a self-interested tramp. You're not the girl's mother.”
I swallowed drily at her offensive words. We were in front of the school, and I'd better restrain myself so as not to lose my temper and end up being rude in front of some parents who were still picking up their children.
“You're not their mother either, as far as I know.”
“I'm the closest they can get.”
“Just because she looks alike?”
“The same!” He emphasized the word so much that my stomach churned; I doubted it was because of my pregnancy.
“I haven't met Daphne, but I don't think she'd behave like that.”
“You're right; you haven't met my sister, and you're nothing more than a profiteer trying to con my brother-in-law and using my nieces to do it.”
“Scam?” I was shocked by the word she used. “Look, you don't know me, and you can't make false accusations.”
“What more would a woman like you want with a man like him?”
I had no idea what could be going through her head, but I was more and more sure of how wrong I was.
“I don't know what you came here for, but you'd better leave.”
“I just came to warn you to stay away from them. You can stop your plans; you won't achieve anything.”
“Plans? Thomas and I have been dating for months.”
“It's all part of your frame.”
“There's no frame. I love him.”
She laughed.
“He loves his money. Only if he does.”
“What's going on here?” When Holly approached us, I realized that other people were noticing.
“It's nothing.” I tried to pull myself together. “That lady is already leaving.”
“You'd better get away from him before I unmask you,” he threatened as he turned his back and walked to a cab waiting around the corner.
“Who is this crazy woman?” Holly dared to ask.
“Apparently, the twin sister of Thomas's late wife.”
“Oh, shit. Did you know her?”
I said no.
“She seems like the kind of person you should worry about.”
“Just take care of the twins so that she doesn't go near them unless Thomas authorizes it.”
“No problem!”
“I'm going home. Do you need anything?”
Holly said no, and I went into the building to get my things. I walked to the subway and, by some miracle, found an empty bench. I sank into it and put my hands on my stomach by reflex.
I had spent the day thinking about how I was going to tell Thomas about my pregnancy, but how was I going to do it now that that woman had shown up? I hadn't planned on getting pregnant, let alone getting anything out of him, but it was very likely that she would accuse me after the offenses she had done to me.
I really wanted to tell him and share the child that was being born in me, but it definitely didn't seem like the best time.
As soon as I got home, I left my things on the coffee table and approached my grandmother. She was sitting on the sofa, and I settled down next to her, turning my head to lie on her lap.
“Hey... what's up?”
“Ah, Grandma,” I whimpered as I used to when I was a child.
“You've been acting strange for a few days. Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I'm pregnant.”
“Oh my God!”
I hid my face in his legs, embarrassed.
“Weren't you careful?”
“We take... Most of the time. Other times, I just wanted to sit on his lap.” I hid my face with my hands, completely embarrassed.
She started to laugh.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
“On a lap like that, even me.”
“Grandma!”
We laughed together, but the moment didn't last long because I became tense again.
“Have you told him?”
“Not yet.”
“He's a good father to the twins. Is there any reason why you think he wouldn't be for this baby?”
“He became a widower. He had to take care of them.”
“He could have just left it in the care of employees, but he cares.”
“That's true...”
“So what's the problem?”
“Their aunt.”
“Auntie?” My grandmother's eyes widened. “I thought his family treated you well.”
“The Lennoxes treat me, but it's not Deborah.”
“Who, then?”
“His late wife's sister.”
“I didn't even know she had a sister.”
“It seems she has. She came to school and insulted me a lot, saying that I was self-interested and trying to scam Thomas.”
“He wouldn't believe her.”
“I don't know, Grandma.” I was afraid.
“You were fine.”
“We were.”
“So don't worry about that woman.”
I wanted to say that I had no reason, that it was just my head, but it was the worst time to be challenged after I'd found out I was pregnant. If that Diana girl continued her accusations, she'd probably say I was trying to pull a belly flop or something.