Chapter Nine
Wendy didn't say anything for several moments. She was trying to come up with the words to explain her feelings of hurt and betrayal. "When I came to you and told you I was pregnant, you were terribly cruel," she stated. "What you said that day, it nearly destroyed me. I almost aborted our child, but something stopped me. Something told me I was making a terrible mistake; that you had made a mistake."
"I did make a mistake. I loved you, Wendy... I guess I always have... and I always will. I am sorry I hurt you and I turned you away. I realize now what a jerk I was and that I can't live without you. I want you... and I want our child. Please believe me when I say I am truly sorry and I am going to make it up to you," Warren spoke. "As soon as you get out of the hospital, I am going to take care of you and our baby. We can have a life together. We'll be happy."
"But what about Suzie?"
"What about her? I am going to divorce her," Warren stated. "Just as soon as I can."
"Why don't you go talk to your attorney... and make all of the arrangements? I want to go home with you as soon as possible. I hate this hospital."
"Wendy, you still haven't answered my question. Can you... will you forgive me?"
"I love you... so much... and I want to forgive you; I do... but I am afraid. I don't ever want to hurt that way again; like I was hurting when we were apart."
"I was hurting too, honey. I missed you so much..."
Tenderly, Warren kissed her lips. His touch soothed her as she lay against the pillows of her hospital bed. "I think you need to get some rest. I will be back soon... after I talk to my attorney and make those arrangements," he promised.
"Okay," said Wendy as she truly was exhausted and in need of a long, healing rest.
"I love you," Warren reminded before he left her hospital room.
~*~o~*~
Warren arrived at the office of his attorney, Mr. Henley. "I want a divorce from my wife, Suzie," Warren stated. "And I want it as soon as possible."
Mr. Henley looked up from the stack of paperwork on his desk. "I have already heard from your wife," said the attorney. "And she wants to divorce you as well."
"So, you'll get the documents arranged?"
"Of course," said Mr. Henley. "But there is one thing..."
"What is it?"
"Without the money from your wife's trust fund, you won't have full ownership of the club. You will only retain 1/4 of the club's ownership. The other two benefactors will have control over the majority of the club's assets."
"I was afraid of that," Warren said with a frown. "I will just have to make do."
"Your wife says she wants your belongings removed from your apartment by tonight."
"You'll just have to tell my wife that won't be possible," Warren said angrily. "I need the apartment. She'll have to make other arrangements."
"So you want it to state in the divorce papers that you wish to reside in the apartment?"
"That is correct."
"Alright. If there is nothing else, I will get the papers ready and send them over to your wife as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Mr. Henley," Warren said before he departed.
~*~o~*~
After his visit with Mr. Henley, Warren arrived at his office at the club. He approached his safe and hurriedly withdrew all of his funds. It would be enough to get by and pay the bills for a couple of months, but he knew he had no other choice but to swiftly find a job. He had to support Wendy and the coming baby somehow. He hated to say goodbye to the club as it had been dear to his heart and the only source of his livelihood. He had put so much into the business and the profit had been everything he had ever dreamed of having. Wealth and power had always been his greatest desire... but now it would be Wendy and their child. Saying goodbye to the club would crush him, but losing Wendy and their child wasn't an option.
"Goodbye to Suzie and her hefty trust fund," said Warren as he had a drink. "And goodbye to the club. Sayanora."
As he was sipping down his potent alcoholic beverage, Ringo walked in. "I heard that you're no longer the sole owner of the club," Ringo said.
"That's right. I guess a fourth of it belongs to you ... and the rest belongs to that asshole Martin Tourner. I hate that pig-nosed jerk!"
"Well, between us, you and I own HALF of the club. We'll just have to find a way to buy out the part that Tourner owns."
"I was working on that, but now that I am divorcing Suzie, I can't..."
"You're getting a divorce?" Ringo asked in surprise.
"Yes, so I can marry Wendy."
Ringo gave Warren a huge grin. "I knew it!" he said joyously. "You LOVE her!"
"I do... and we're having a baby," Warren stated. "Wendy is in the hospital. She had a car wreck."
"Will she be okay?" Ringo asked with concern.
"Yeah, she's tough... She's going to be okay."
"Well, I hope I'll be invited to the wedding."
"Of course. You're going to be the best man," Warren said, giving Ringo, his one and only friend, a slap on the back.
"What are you going to do, now that Tourner has ownership of the club?"
"Find a job, I guess. I can't stay around here ... with him running the place. We hate each other," Warren said. "The question is, what are you going to do?"
"I hear they are hiring down at the construction site on the south side of Henderson."
Warren made a face of disgust. "I hate manual labor," he said as he poured himself another drink and handed one to his buddy Ringo. "But I guess I will do whatever I have to..."
"Sure you will, because you have Wendy to think about... and a baby on the way."
Warren actually smiled over his glass of whiskey when he heard Ringo's words. "Speaking of Wendy and the baby, I have to make arrangements... so she can come home. She's not too fond of the hospital."
"I bet not," Ringo said as he knew Wendy well. She was classy and she liked fancy things. She always wore furs, jewelry, and designer clothes. He knew Warren better find a damn good job so that Wendy would have the lifestyle she was accustomed to, including all the luxuries and finery a woman of wealth seemed to appreciate.
"You and I better vacate this place ASAP. Tourner and his cronies will be overrunning the club in a matter of hours. They are going to make a mockery of this establishment... I can guarantee it."
"Yeah, the club will never be the same," said Ringo as he and Warren finished their drinks and prepared to leave. "If I hear of any jobs, I will give you a call. Give Wendy my best."
"I will," promised Warren.
~*~o~*~
Before returning to the hospital and Wendy's side, Warren decided to pay a visit to his wife. He found her at her Aunt Jo's house, surrounded by Stephanie, Jo, and Cagney McCleary, who were all trying to comfort her. When he walked in, he said, "I just saw Mr. Henley earlier today. I want our marriage to be done and over with as soon as possible."
"Wow, you have a lot of nerve coming here, Warren Carter, upsetting Suzie any further, you cheating, lying, no-good snake," Stephanie said in a hiss. "Why don't you slither away under the nearest rock? No one wants to look at your disgusting face!"
"Nice to see you too, Stephanie, mother-in-law to be," he said in a sickening sweet voice.
"Don't make me throw up," Stephanie said hatefully. "It will be over my dead body that you marry Wendy!"
"Will you please just quit fighting?!" Suzie suddenly screamed. "My God! I have been through enough. Stop that incessant arguing!"
Cagney wrapped an arm around Suzie when he saw that she was getting upset. "Suzie needs her rest," he spoke up. "This has all been a great shock to her."
"Ohhh aren't you the knight in shining armor, McCleary, coming to my wife's defense in the moment of her greatest need," Warren mocked.
"At least he's not a lying, slithering snake," Stephanie said under her breath.
"Why are you here, Warren?" Suzie's Aunt Jo demanded.
"I am here to talk to Suzie, not any of the rest of you," Warren said.
Despite his words, no one left the room. They all still stood in support of Suzie, who had been so distraught she had been crying most of the day, hurt because her husband had cheated on her while wracked with horror that he had impregnated her best friend.
"I need to speak to you about Wendy," Warren said. "We'd like to keep the apartment. You can have the checking account... all of our joint funds..."
"All you wanted was my trust fund, Warren Carter. You never wanted me. You said you loved me... and all the while, you were screwing my best friend behind my back."
"It wasn't exactly behind your back. You knew I was sneaking out."
Suzie slapped him hard across the face as soon as he spoke those cruel words. He was the most infuriating man. "You're a total asshole," she said, glaring at him. "Okay, take the apartment. I will send someone over to get my things."
"Alright. Have them out by tomorrow afternoon... because Wendy's moving in with me. I need to take care of her... and our baby."
"I don't know what I ever saw in you..." she said venomously. "What hurts the most is that Wendy betrayed me. We were best friends, like sisters, but you destroyed it ALL. You just had to get her into bed. You just HAD to get her pregnant."
"I wanted a baby. I asked you I don't know how many times, but you always said no."
"Well, thank God I said no!" she screamed at him. "The last thing we need now is a child!"
"Remember what I said, I want your things out of the apartment by tomorrow afternoon," Warren said brusquely his own anger roused as Suzie and the others in the room continued to antagonize him.
"Don't let the door hit you on the ASS on the way out!" Stephanie bellowed as Warren was leaving.
"Can you believe the audacity of that sleazy jerk?" Stephanie gasped the minute that Warren had left Jo's.
"I always knew he was bad news," Jo said sadly.
She hugged her niece as fresh tears entered Suzie's eyes. "I want to move on," Suzie said. "I want to forget that Warren Carter ever existed."
"Thank goodness you're getting a speedy divorce," said Jo. "And he won't be getting a penny of your trust fund."
"That must make him as mad as hell," Stephanie stated.
"What will Warren Carter do, without his wealth and power?" Cagney spoke up. "He doesn't have much left now, does he?"
"He has Wendy, my best and dearest friend... or at least I thought she was... " Suzie said regretfully. "... but for the past who knows how long, she was doing the nasty with MY husband."
"My poor daughter... stuck in that viper's nest... and soon to be giving birth to his child," Stephanie lamented.
~*~o~*~
Wendy woke up and had a bite to eat. She was feeling suddenly energetic. Gingerly, she stood up on her feet, holding on to the edge of her hospital bed. She almost jumped 2 feet into the air when she heard a familiar voice scolding her. "Hey, what are you doing out of bed?" Brian asked in concern.
"Brian," said Wendy as she turned to look at her brother. "I am feeling so much better ... and I want to go home."
"You almost died last night!" Brian said as he wrapped an arm around her to steady her. "You have no business getting out of bed... and if Warren was here, he'd agree with me."
"Warren's taking me home," Wendy said as her brother fussed over her and made her lay back down in the bed.
Warren came in, carrying a bright red rose in which he handed to Wendy. He had caught the tail-end of Wendy and Brian's conversation. "Your brother's right, sweetheart," he said. "For once in our lives, he and I agree on something. You better not get out of that bed. Not until tomorrow anyway, when I ask the doctor to release you."
"What?" Brian gasped. "So soon?"
"Yeah, I am taking Wendy home with me, to my apartment, which is going to be our apartment... and I am going to take care of her and our baby."
"If anything happens to my sister..."
"Nothing will, because I am going to take care of her. I have taken care of all of the arrangements. Wendy's going home with me -tomorrow."
"What's this I hear about Wendy going home?" Kristin asked as she too entered the room, smiling softly when she saw the rose that Warren had brought to cheer up Wendy.
"Warren's taking me home tomorrow," Wendy said happily, smiling brightly at Kristin despite all her bruises.
"And I am happy to say that my divorce is underway as I speak. Suzie's in complete agreeance. She's removing all of her belongings from our apartment."
Wendy couldn't have been more pleased. She was going home with Warren, the man she loved! He was going to take care of her and their little one. She only had to stay in the dreaded hospital one more night!
Brian tenderly kissed his sister's cheek. "Kristin and I are leaving now. Get some rest," he said to her lovingly.
"You and Kristin; you're back together?" Wendy asked, stating the obvious.
Brian nodded. Wendy let out a little squeal of sheer happiness. "This has turned out to be one of the best days EVER," she said as she inhaled the sweet scent of the rose that Warren had given her.
"Thank you for saving my life, Sis," Wendy said as she gave Kristin a hug.
"You're welcome. And I am sorry for all the awful things I said to you before... well, when I didn't know that my brother was madly in love with you."
Wendy scoffed. "I forgive you."
A few minutes later, after all their goodbyes, Kristin and Brian had left, leaving Wendy and Warren totally alone. "Come here," she said, as she pulled him down for a kiss. "I missed you. Where were you all day? I nearly went crazy here, in this boring hospital bed. The food here sucks, you know. I want something Italian."
Warren laughed. "Now that's the Wendy I know and love. You must be feeling better."
"Much, much better. Take me home; right away!"
"Tomorrow, my love. Tomorrow I will take you home to our apartment. It's not a palace, but together, we can try to make it into a happy home," Warren promised, giving her a grin.
