by Anna Mara
"My God, Christina! I had no idea." William was almost speechless.
"So you see, William, when Bill was lying to you, I was lying to him. And I never told him the truth of what I had done and when he found out, he broke it off with me. I hurt him very badly, I know that. And he hurt you very badly. Now I know its over between us… between Bill and me… but he's your son and there's hope for the both of you if you'll just forgive him and ask him back into your life."
"Christina…" William was about to refuse and she stopped him.
"William, just think about it; that's all I ask." She paused as she bit her lip nervously. "There's more… and Bill doesn't know any of what I'm about to tell you. You have to promise me… to swear on all your billions… that you'll never say a word to him; ever."
William was suddenly very curious. "I swear I won't say anything."
"You promise?"
"Yes, I promise you."
"A month after I left your house… I found out I was pregnant with Bill's baby."
William was stunned. "Oh my God, Christina, a baby!" His eyes lit up with excitement.
"No, you don't understand. I…" Christina looked down at her shaking hands in her lap. This was still very painful for her to relive. "I… miscarried short of my third month."
William's hope deflated. "Oh my dear, I'm so sorry." He wrapped his arms around Christina and hugged her tightly.
"The doctors said it was normal… for a first pregnancy. There was nothing I could have done."
"No, I'm sure you did everything right. But my son… he doesn't know about this?" Christina shook her head 'no'. "But why?" William continued.
"When I found out, I wrote him a letter telling him about it but it came back to me unopened." Christina smiled as she tried to put on a brave face. "It's just as well. I lost the baby after that and there really was no point for him to know then. I mean, he hates me for what I did and I can't blame him. It's too late for us… but not for you and him. Just promise me you'll think about giving him another chance? Just think about it? Please?"
William couldn't say no to her pleading eyes. "All right, my dear. I'll think about it. But I still say my son's an ass for letting you slip away."
Christina smiled, "Thank you, William." She kissed him on the cheek. "And I have something else to tell you."
"More surprises?"
"When I was still living at your house, Maddie and I had dinner together one night."
"And what did she eat? Eye of Newt and fried bat wings?"
Christina laughed at William's dry wit and then continued. "I asked her how she felt about you and after she finished calling you an old goat and a mule and an asshole…"
William's eyebrows lowered at his wife's caustic tongue. "My dear, that's not news. She's called me all those things to my face."
"Well, what she didn't tell you, to your face, is that she still loves you and would come back to you in a new age minute if you were willing to forgive her and start fresh."
"What?" William was shocked for the third time that evening. "That's impossible! She said all that?"
Christina nodded. "Yes, she told me exactly that. So if you have any feelings for her left, William, don't let anymore time drift away. Do something about it… now."
Having said her peace, Christina stood up and looked him straight in the eye. "Put your family back together again, William. You're the one holding all the cards." She leaned into him then and gave him another kiss on the cheek. "And Merry Christmas. I hope you liked your present."
William was too shocked about everything he'd just learnt to say anything in reply, as he watched Christina walk out.
Chapter 72
It was a snowy, blustering day and Jake and Bill were lunching on hot dogs beside the street vendor's cart, watching the busy mid-day, New York City traffic whiz by.
Sitting in his wheelchair, Jake suddenly put his hot dog down and gave his friend a long pensive look. Bill saw it right away.
"Whatever it is, I don't want to talk about it," Bill decreed.
"Well, I want to talk about it. It's about Christina," Jake was equally determined.
"No, Jake!" Bill had figured it was about 'her' by the way Jake had been looking at him.
"Yes, and I've been thinking about this for a long time now. I feel bad, Bill, for what we did to her in high school. It was cruel and mean and she didn't deserve any of it."
"Are those your feelings or Jenny's?"
Jake raised his voice. "They're mine. Jenny's not my conscience, Bill."
Suddenly, a flash of anguish and guilt flashed through Bill's eyes. "Don't you think I feel the same way? I'm ashamed, deeply ashamed of what we did to her."
"Good! I'm glad to hear it."
"But what she did… how she lied to me and hated me…"
"So, she got back at you. So what? The girl has spunk. Maybe you deserved it. We all do, for all of the drunken shit we've pulled over the years. We weren't saints, you know."
"I never said we were."
"No, but you sure as hell are acting like it. We were all sinners, Bill. But it's time to heal. Forgive and forget. Why don't you give her a call and see what she has to say, huh?" Jake pleaded.
Undecided, Bill gave his friend a hard look. Jake could see that he was almost on the point of capitulating. He knew his friend still loved Christina and wanted her back—it was just that he was too pig-headed and proud to do something about it.
Jake continued in a forceful tone, "Maybe it's you that should be begging her for forgiveness and not the other way around? Did you ever think about that?"
Bill gave Jake another wavering glare before he turned, tossed his half eaten hotdog in the trash bin and walked away.
Jake shook his head at his friend's stubbornness.
* * *
William casually walked into the low-rent offices of the GME environmental organization. There were about ten people bustling around, sitting at desks, working and answering phones. The place was a beehive of activity for such a small, under-financed operation. He immediately recognized Jake in his wheelchair off to the left and looking about the room, saw Bill sitting at a desk, working at a computer screen in the back.
Suddenly, everyone stopped what they were doing and the room went deathly quiet as they all realized who had just walked in. It was William Havenwood, ruthless businessman, top polluter, archenemy—and Bill's father.
On hearing silence, Bill looked up from the screen and saw his father. Shock registered on his face, as he slowly stood up out of his chair. Father and son stared at each other from across the room. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other for a year and a half, since that night when William had thrown Bill out of his life.
William gave his son a smirk as he came towards him. People parted out of his way, like Moses parting the Red Sea, but he kept his gaze focused on his son.
"I still know how to make an entrance," he jokingly quipped.
All eyes in the room were on the pair. Even the phones stopped ringing as if on cue. Bill stood up straighter as his father came nearer.
"Are you going to stop pumping that oil through that decrepit pipeline?" he fired off to William.
"No hello, dad? No… how are you… how's your health? No greeting of any sort for your father?"
"You stopped being my father a long time ago," Bill's face was very serious. What was his old man doing here? What was he up to? He didn't trust him at all.
William took a good look at his son. He had to admit the boy looked good. He looked healthy and well and motivated. He then looked at all of the curious faces staring at him and let his gaze wander around the office.
"So this is your brainchild?"
"Yes, so what?" Bill cautiously replied
"Organization and initiative coupled with deviousness and lying. I'm impressed. You may have inherited my genes after all," he half-laughed to himself.
Bill's face remained frozen. "Why are you here? I doubt it's to critique my busines
s plan," he demanded.
"I'm here to tell you a few home truths. Is there somewhere more private where we can speak?" William gave another glance around the bare bones office.
"I have nothing to say to you."
"No; but I have a lot to say to you. And I don't think you'd appreciate your private life discussed out here. Or maybe you do?" William raised a challenging eyebrow at his son.
A few seconds ticked by as Bill deliberated whether he should throw his father out on his wealthy ass—or hear what he had to say first and then throw him out on his wealthy ass.
William sensed his son's indecision. "Christina came to see me yesterday and she told me some things that you don't even know about."
Instantly, Bill perked up at the mention of his ex, and William, seeing his son's interest, cagily continued, "Christina told me that…"
"Wait! Not here." Bill interrupted his father as he quickly took in all of the curious faces staring at the pair of them from around the room. "We can go in the back." He motioned to his father to follow him into a back room.
After his father had entered what looked like a large stockroom, Bill closed the door behind them and turned to William with a sarcastic smirk on his lips. "Let me guess. She made you promise not to tell me?"
"Yes. She begged me not to."
"And you're breaking that promise?"
"Of course; why wouldn't I? You, of all people, know what I'm capable of when it's in my best interests. Christina doesn't."
Bill knowingly laughed. "That's so typical of the great William Havenwood. So, tell me what lies was she spewing out yesterday?"
"No lies; just the truth," William said, as he studied his son's countenance. Bill was trying to act casual and tough and not interested but William knew differently. The boy was very interested and it was obvious to him that Bill was still deeply in love with the girl.
"Or her version of the truth, which is the same as a lie," Bill retorted.
Bill was being deliberately obstinate and William reasoned it was time to use some shock therapy on him.
"Christina was pregnant last year and you were the father. Did you know that?"
"What!" Bill was stunned as he gawked at his father in complete shock.
There—William thought to himself—that had got the boy's attention and shut him the hell up.
"After you threw her out of your life, she found out she was going to have your baby but she miscarried a few months into it. She was devastated and you weren't even there to help pick up the pieces," William accused.
"I… I… didn't know," Bill nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to get his bearings. This was incredible news! His baby? Christina had been pregnant with his baby? "Why… why… didn't she tell me?" He turned amazed eyes back onto his father.
"She did. She wrote you a letter but you sent it back to her unopened."
"Oh my God!" Bill put his head in his hands. Yes—he remembered that he'd done just that. "I… I had… no idea… I didn't even think…"
"No, you didn't think, did you? You were drunk out of your mind at the time." Bill turned surprised eyes back onto his father and William nodded his head, "Oh yes, I know all about you falling off the wagon and your stint in rehab last year."
"Who told you about that?" Bill was defensive.
"My detectives, who do you think?"
"Of course, you had me under surveillance."
"Not just you, this whole place. You knew I'd do that."
"Yes, I knew. I just didn't care."
"No and you didn't care about Christina either otherwise you would have found out about the baby," he accused.
"I cared about Christina!" Bill shouted at William.
"Of course, you did. That's why she had to go through all that on her own," William sarcastically responded.
"I would have been there if I had known." Bill was angry, mostly with himself.
"But the point, dear boy, is that you didn't know. And why was that? Because of your stupid, stubborn pride that kept you away from her, that's why."
"You don't know everything that happened between me and her, dad, so keep your half-assed opinions to yourself."
"That's where you're wrong. I know it all. Christina told me everything yesterday. Did you know she was sent away to boarding school because of your moronic prank in high school?"
Guilt coursed through Bill's system, as he was stunned again for the second time that day. Suddenly, he shook his head feebly, "No… I… didn't know that."
"No, I assumed as much. And I'll bet my last nickel that you were too drunk back then to even notice or care that the girl was no longer there. Am I right?"
Bill smirked to himself, "Never bet William Havenwood when he's down to his last nickel."
"And you're indignant because Christina hated you and wanted revenge? The girl has bite, my boy. I would have expected nothing less from her."
Bill was feeling too much guilt to respond to his father's comments. And he was still in shock about almost having been a father. "How… how… did she lose the baby?" he suddenly, quietly asked.
"She told me she just miscarried. The doctors said there was nothing anyone could have done."
Bill's eyes lowered to the floor as feelings of grief washed over him for what he'd almost had and lost. A baby—Christina's and his baby—a baby they'd made together. If only things had been different—if only…
William watched his son closely. He saw the anguish and the sadness flicker across Bill's face. Good. Maybe the boy would come to his senses now and get back together with the girl.
William broke the silence. "Yesterday, Christina also told me what she'd done to you… about her revenge plan. I must say I was very impressed at her craftiness. She's quite a woman."
Bill's distressed eyes came back up to his father's face. "You would think that, dad, wouldn't you?"
"She reminds me of your mother actually… tough, strong and goes after what she wants. I admire those qualities, even when they're being trained on me, as your mother constantly has done over the years. In fact, I've been thinking that maybe I should… make peace with Maddie."
Bill gave an incredulous laugh, "You're joking, right?"
"No. I've never been more serious in my life."
"But… you hate mom… for leaving you… and you'll never forgive her. You say that all the time!"
"Well… maybe it's time to bury the hatchet… but not in each other's backs anymore," William laughed at his own joke. He turned pensive then. "Time is too precious to waste and if there's something out there you want… or someone… grab them and don't let go."
William opened the stockroom door to leave and turned back to Bill. "Son?" He hadn't called Bill 'son' in a long time. "If I can make peace with your mother, then you can make peace with Christina. If you're half the man you appear to be, you'll stop this stubborn foolishness and beg that girl to be a part of your life again."
Bill remained silent as his father walked out. Suddenly, William stopped and turned back to his son who was watching him from the open doorway.
"And I'll expect you for dinner at the house this Saturday night to discuss this dreadful pipeline situation," he imperially decreed in his British accent before walking outside to his waiting limousine.
All of the GME employees had heard that last statement and they turned incredulous eyes to Bill.
"Does this mean he'll listen to our complaints and maybe do something about it?" Jake asked Bill from across the room.
"Yes, that's what it means," Bill confirmed.
A whoop of joy went up in the office. Bill knew his father very well. What William had said was an olive branch—a sort of 'come back into the fold and all is forgiven' type of announcement. Bill had won where his father was concerned. And it sounded like he was back in the Havenwood money too. He should have been elated.
But he wasn't—because he had lost 'her'—and their baby.
Chapter 73
Christina's doorb
ell rang. Who could it be at this hour, Christina thought? It was almost 10 p.m. The doorbell rang again and whoever it was, impatiently kept their finger on it, causing it to ring incessantly.
Looking through her peephole, Christina saw Bill standing there. She was shocked. What the hell was he doing here? She yanked the door open and silently stared at him—and he at her. He wore a murderous expression on his face.
Suddenly, he muscled his way past her into the apartment. "Is he here?" he demanded, as he went into the kitchen and took a good look around before stalking into the living room and doing the same.
"Who?" Christina was still confused about what he was doing here. She followed him on his search.
"Your new lover, Stanley Moore," he rasped.
"How dare you?" she indignantly replied.
"Oh, I dare," he savagely countered as he threw her bedroom door open and went in, looking around to his satisfaction. The asshole wasn't here after all.
"I could have a hundred men in here and that's my business. It has nothing to do with you," Christina shouted back.
Bill came out and faced her. "Oh I agree. You can sleep with a thousand men and that's your right except for one little thing. You… love… me."
Christina could only glare at him. Yes, she loved him! But she wasn't going to admit it just so that he could throw her love back in her face. Livid, her chin came up. "Get out of my apartment!"
Bill took a few predatory steps towards her and she took a few frightened steps back.
She shouted at him again, "Did you hear me? I said, get out!"
Without saying a word, Bill grabbed her upper arms and yanked her roughly towards him. Before Christina knew what he was planning, he had planted his lips on hers and began to kiss her with passionate abandon. As her soft mouth opened in protest, he took the opportunity to plunder it with his teasing tongue.
