The tired-looking woman sighed and swirled the red wine that was left in her glass. Her lips were stained from the dark liquid and made them appear much fuller than they really were. She rested her hand on her stomach and frowned. If only he knew… Melinda swallowed the last of the liquid and reached back over to the bottle. Another sigh filled the room as only a few drops of wine dripped into the glass. "Another one empty." She muttered to herself before trying to place both the glass and bottle onto the small table beside her. Melina winced as the glass smashed against the hardwood floor. "Damn it."
"Mum?" A small girl entered the room, her eyes were full of concern. "Are you alright?" She tried to run forward but stopped as her mother raised her hand.
"Don't come any closer. Can't you see that there is glass on the floor?" A small laugh left her lips as she slurred her words. "Such a mess." She pushed herself up from the chair and stumbled over to her 5 year old daughter. "The maids will clean it up." Melina grabbed her daughter's hand and led her down a hallway.
"Are you upset?" Melinda looked down at her daughter and shook her head.
"Nothing for you to worry about, Anna. Mother has it all under control. No unfortunate surprises will spoil our family." Melina said cryptically. Anna kept her focus on the floor and tried to think about what her mother may mean. The 5 year old was extremely confused as to what her mother had said. "Your father shall be back soon."
"Will that man be back soon too?" Melinda stopped in her tracks.
"What man?" She bent down and shook her daughter. The buzz of the alcohol seemed to have left her body in that very second.
"The man that was with you last night. The one that you said had nearly ruined everything. Did he hurt you, mum?"
"Um… no… he… um…" Melinda swallowed hard as her daughter looked at her in wonder. How could she explain it all? "That man… had… done a job for me and he… had made a mistake. He almost broke something of mine and that would have made me very upset. I had to make him understand how important it was to me and how I could never let it go. Do you understand?"
"He was fixing something…?" Anna looked confused and scrunched up her face as she tried to remember what may have been broken.
"Yes! It's nothing to worry about. Your father doesn't need to know and you don't need to think about him anymore." The girl nodded her head and tried to move away from her mother but was pulled back into place. "You do understand that nothing needs to be said, don't you, Anna? Say 'yes, mother'."
"Yes, mother. I understand." A small smile made it's way on to Melinda's face.
"Good girl. Now go to bed. It's very late." Tears filled her eyes as she watched Anna skip back to her room. Melinda clenched her stomach and let out a sob. "Why have you left me like this, Joe? It would have never happened if you hadn't left me for all this time." Melinda leant against the wall and ran a hand through her hair. She wiped away the last of her tears and took a deep breath. Her hands shook as she pulled herself off the ground and clumsily walked back into the lounge. The maid looked up from cleaning the glass off the floor and stood. She wiped her hands on her pinafore and bowed her head. "Dina, get me another bottle and a glass."
"Yes, madam." The red-haired girl curtseyed before exiting the room with her glass filled dustpan. Melinda sat back down on the padded chair and straightened out the bottom of her white dress. The maid silently entered the room and placed a full bottle of red wine and a glass on the small table. With another curtsey she exited the room and left her mistress to drink herself to sleep. Melinda's hands shook as she poured the wine into the glass. She emptied the glass in one gulp before putting it back onto her table. Melinda looked at the bottle in her left hand and raised it to her lips. Tears poured down her cheeks as she swallowed down the red liquid. A laugh left her lips as she stopped for breath.
"Oh, Joe…" She shook her head and let out a strained giggle. "You only managed to produce one child and 3 stillborns in 23 years of marriage. Yet 2 of my lovers have gotten me pregnant twice! Ha! It proves how much of a man you are. You abandon me so often and expect me to stay faithful to you… Oh, Joe… just come home. Stay with me." Her tone changed and she smiled in sadness. "2 children gone from this world because you are too selfish to love me like you used to… have you forgotten about Anna too?" She shouted and took another mouthful of wine. "I suppose you have. You have a child to carry on your blood so what use am I now? I've given you what you wanted and now I've been disposed of like an old carpet. I know Anna isn't a boy but you seem content. Your father wasn't but you seem to be. Why is that? Is she more important than me? Your father cared for me more than you ever did! Perhaps I should have married him once your old hag of a mother died! Imagine that! I would have been treated a lot better." She touched the diamond necklace around her neck and swallowed more of the liquid. "I suppose I should be grateful though." Melinda's words slurred even more now. The wine had gotten to her head. "I can't believe that I'm saying all this. I could never say it to your face." Her grip slipped from the bottle and once again glass crashed against the floor. "I could never say anything…" Melinda's eyes slowly began to flutter shut. "…because you never listened…" Her breathing slowed and Melinda drifted into a deep sleep. Her dreams were filled with guilt and sadness. Her dreams were always filled with sadness. Sadness caused by the lack of attention from her husband and how she had failed her daughter as a mother. Melinda silently prayed for tomorrow to be a better day... although it never was... not for her.
AN:
This is just a filler to show that I am not dead.
This is a look at how Anna's mother acted behind her daughter's back. If you couldn't guess then she had recently aborted her illegitimate child and was trying to hide it from Anna.
Please review and help me get my inspiration back! I'm struggling on the next chapter so it may be a while before I upload it as I'm struggling to get all of the emotion into my writing. I hope that this chapter does spark something within you as I tried hard to make it so that you could feel what Melinda was going through and the guilt she felt at what she had been doing.
Sorry if there are any mistakes but I'm writing this quite late at night! Let me know if there are errors!
Thanks to all of you that reviewed last time!
