Petals on the Wind
"Cathy…what do you mean you're late?" Desperation was in his voice as he looked pleadingly into her eyes, hoping she isn't going to say what he thinks she's going to say.
"My dear Bart, really, you're showing arrogance at a moment like this? What do you think I mean when I say I'm late? I'm late for my period." She tried to hide the joy in her voice, but from the look that Bart gave her, she was unsuccessful.
"You're late? How can you be late? You told me there'd be no need for precautions!" He kept his hands by his side as he balled them into fists, trying aimlessly to control his anger.
"There was no need! I want your baby Bart."
"You…you want my baby? Cathy. Why the fuck would you want my baby?" And then a sudden realisation hit him. He went pale as he sunk back into the armchair he'd just jumped out of as soon as she'd said she was late. "By God…this was your plan all along, wasn't it? You were out to ruin me, weren't you? But why, Cathy?! I loved you, I still love you! God knows why but I do! Surely you know I can't leave my wife and marry you?"
"Don't worry, I thought about that. After Christmas, me and Jory are moving back to Clairmont and I'll marry Paul. He can father your child and maybe father Jory as well. And I'll go back to teaching with Madame Marissa and you need never see me or your child again." She said exactly the right words to make his heart sink.
"Neve-never see you again? Or the baby? Or Jory? But, Cathy, how can you expect me to live without you now? You are as much a part of my life as my wife is now. I need you! I don't know why you'd choose to hurt me in the most painful way after all we've been through and how much I love you. Yes, I admit, it was just sex at first as that was all I wanted. But you began to mean something more to me, something much more. I cannot be without you anymore!" And it was in that joyous moment that Cathy knew she had won.
"Alright Bart, I'll make a deal. You divorce your wife and marry me, and you can father your child as well as act father for Jory. We can stay here, or we can move and be away from all this trouble." Bart looked up from his lap with a pained expression in his eyes.
"But…she needs me." He said it exactly like that. Short and simple. Not he loved her, not he wanted her, simply that she needed him.
"Then I'm afraid, my dear Bart, that it is time we parted ways." A look of anguish flashed across his face before that quickly changed to anger and he strode quickly from the room and out the front door, banging it in the process. Cathy sighed heavily as her hands moved to caress the soon-to-be-bump. In some senses, she'd already won as she did have Bart. But she still hadn't proven herself to her mother. That will have to wait until Christmas night at Foxworth Hall, the night her mother was to have a Christmas party with all of her and her father's associates. Cathy pushed aside the thought of Bart and began to plan out how it would be that night.
