A party to remember

The day had finally come. Madam Hildegard’s birthday party. I was definitely nervous but I wanted this long awaited day to pass.

“Honey, I got you a gift,” Matthew said as he walked into our room.

“Really, what is it?” I asked with a smile as I got up from our bed.

All of a sudden he brought out a box and opened it, revealing the most pretty diamond necklace that I had ever seen.

“Aww Matthew thank you,” I said as I threw my arms around him for a hug.

Our relationship took a drastic change ever since the night that we had sex. He got my dad a nice apartment, kept on gifting me and constantly reassuring me about his love for me.

His approach to get me to be his wife was indeed awful, but he spent his days in our marriage proving he loved me.

Everything was going so great for us that I had partially forgotten about him cheating on me.

“All set,” He said as clipped the hook of the necklace around me.

“You look splendid darling,” He said as he spun me around admiring my red ball gown dress.

The dress had little diamonds all over it, making me look like the queen Matthew wanted me to be.

“It’s time sir,” Gregory announced as he stood by the door of our bedroom.

“Ready honey?”

“Yeah, I am. Let’s go meet your family,” I said with a smile as I grabbed his hand.

We left the room and went downstairs. The party was being held at the garden and the type of guests present were impressive.

Billionaires, royalty, politicians, congressmen, and so many men of power were present and I knew I had to be of my best behave.

“Mother, I would like you to meet my wife, Jane,” Matthew said as he introduced me to an elderly woman dressed in an emerald ball gown with her grey hair packed in a buj complemented with a diamond tiara.

Her facial expression made me scared a bit as she maintained a straight face.

“Happy birthday Madam,” I said as I curtsied. I then handed her personal assistant a gift bag. “A little gift for you Madam,” I continued, still faking a warm smile to hide my state of panic.

“I don’t do small gifts,” She replied with scorn as she rolled her eyeballs.

“Why don’t you open it mother?” Matthew said with a laugh, trying to reduce the tension amongst all of us.

Madam Hildegard signaled her personal assistant to hand over the gift. Her face immediately brightened as she opened the box and saw a van cleef bracelet.

“Lovely. How did you know I love van cleef bracelets?” She replied with a smile.

“I had to do some research just to please you madam,” I chuckled nervously.

“I like her already,” She whispered to Matthew with a wink. “Come on darling let me introduce you to everyone,” She said as she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to follow her.

We both walked around the crowd and greeted everyone. I was introduced to them as the wife of the great William Vanderbilt.

Everything was going great up until my necklace fell from my neck to the grass. I squatted to pick it up and felt my stomach churn as I heard a familiar voice beside us.

“It can be,” I whispered as I stood up and came face to face with my biggest secret.

“Dear, meet Daniel, Matthew’s younger brother. The black sheep of our family,” Madam Hildegard said with pride.

There he was Daniel, the stranger from the bar. The one I decided to leave in the past standing right in front of me.

“Hello gorgeous,” He said with a smirk, raising his hand to shake mine.

“U-U-Uhm, lovely meeting you,” I said as I placed my hand on his.

“Excuse me darlings, I’ll be back,” Madam Hildegard excused herself and left Daniel and I standing alone together.

“What an awkward twist of fate isn’t it? Been searching for you everywhere since you ran away from me that night, only to see that you are married to my brother.”

“Shhh. No one must hear you,” I quickly shut him up.

“Were you married to him already when we met?” Daniel asked with a straight face. “I’ll take your silence as an answer.” He continued.

“Daniel wait! Please don’t tell your brother,” I pleaded. Just then Matthew walked up to both of us.

“I see you’ve already been introduced. Brother how is it going?” Matthew asked with a stern face. You could tell the two had issues with each other.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Daniel said as he walked out of the both of us.

I stood there livid, thinking about how God was punishing me for cheating on my husband.

For now I had to act like nothing was wrong, I had to act like a loving wife who had just met her brother in law. All I hoped for was that Daniel would keep our secret.

* * *

It’s been two weeks since Daniel arrived at the Vanderbilt mansion. Based on what I had heard, he was the black sheep of the family, always going against the family rules and running away.

“Madam, did you hear me?” Elsa, the maid called for my attention.

“Oh, sorry Elsa. What are you here for?” I asked as I stood there waiting for her reply.

She handed a white envelope over to me. “From the doctor’s office.”

“Thank you. You may leave now,” I said as I collected the envelope and walked back into my room.

There it was, my whole life in an envelope. I tore off the seal from the envelope and brought out the letter in it to read.

I scanned the letter with my eyes, till I saw the answer to my questions for the past one week.

“POSITIVE.”

There it was, the greatest fear of a cheating wife, a pregnancy. I was pregnant and what was worse was that I didn’t know who the father was between Daniel and Matthew.

Although I had spent the last two weeks avoiding Daniel, I had to go to him to ask him if he had used protection because I was too drunk that night to notice.

I took a deep breath and bolted out of the bedroom to the living room downstairs.

Surprisingly, I met Matthew, Madam Hildegard and Daniel together.

“Thank God you’re here honey, Daniel has an announcement,” Madam Hildegard said with a smile.

“Was this it? Did Daniel want to tell the family about our secret?” I thought to myself.

As I continued to wonder in fear, a lady with curvy figure walked into the living room towards Daniel. She was gorgeous no doubt, but what could she be doing with Daniel.

Daniel held her by the waist and faced all of us.

“I would like you all to meet, Victoria Sinclair. She’s my girlfriend,” Daniel said with a smirk.

“A girlfriend???” We all chanted together.