CARMEN
I placed the glass of water on the bedside table as I raised my brows at him.“You didn’t tell me your mom lives here,” I told him, a little upset that he made me wait until now to tell me that there was a chance that his mother had heard us have sex.“She’s not here right now,” he told me with a soft smile on his face. “I just wanted to tell you before she would return. She’ll be spending a day or two at my dad’s place, but this is where she prefers to stay. When I’m out, I’m sure she will make good company when you both get used to each other.”I nodded at him, wondering what it would be like with her at home and nobody else. She couldn’t speak, so it would just be me talking to myself.That night, I slept in Jasper’s arms, blocking every thought of Dave that tried to seep into my mind.The next morning, I found Jasper getting ready for work as soon as I woke upCARMENI had watched Terri put Jasper’s mom to bed and tuck her in. Now, she was sitting in front of me, in her wheelchair and staring at me.“What…” I hurried towards her and pushed the chair into my bedroom. “How did you get out of bed? How did you make it out here? Is Terri back?”As I asked the last question, I opened the door and scanned the hallway to see if Terri was standing there and waiting for me to find out about her little prank, but there was nobody there.I closed the door and turned around, heading back to the woman who was still staring at me.“You wanted to tell me something?” I asked, bending to meet her eyes.I took her hands and squeezed, urging her to squeeze back and show me any sign that she was still there and she knew what she was doing, but she only kept her mouth open, taking in short breaths as if trying hard to propel words from her mouth but couldn’t muster enough strength.Finally, she settled for mouthing the words instead of trying to say them, and I
CARMENFor the rest of the day, Terri and I barely spoke to each other. She had walked away from the kitchen after her warning, and the next time I saw her was when she went back into the kitchen to get water for Mariah.Jasper arrived later that evening, finding me in the bedroom.“You look gloomy. Are you okay?” he questioned with his brows raised and a smirk on his face.“I’m fine,” I told him, standing up and walking towards him to bury myself in his hug. I took deep breaths as I felt his heart beating against my chest. I didn’t know what to believe or think of him, but I knew that it would be bad to act suspiciously just one day after I started living with him.“We’ll have to go see the family tomorrow night. We’re having a family dinner. They say it’s one more get-together now that we’re married.”My heart was deflated at the thought of seeing the family one more time, especially if Dave was going to be there. If he addressed the letter, I didn’t know how to tell him that it had
CARMENI turned my phone face down against the table as I glanced at Jasper. He seemed to have noticed that I was out of it, and he wrapped an arm around me.“Is something wrong?” he inquired.“No.” I shook my head. “I’m just a little hungry. Let’s eat.”He nodded in approval, taking his hand off my shoulder and digging into his food as everyone around the table continued their small talks with each other, unaware of the panic brewing in my head.I figured that nobody at the table had sent that text, because they were all too busy and nobody was with their phones.“So, Carmen,” Nova started, smiling at me as if she had something to say that she knew I would not like. “How’s marriage treating you? You’re happy, right?”“Yes. It’s been great, thanks for asking,” I answered, my lips spread in a thin smile.“That’s great,” Kate chipped in. “Have you two talked about your honeymoon yet? Dave and I were thinking that we could have a double honeymoon if you two haven’t decided yet. We’ll lea
CARMEN“What do you want to do with it?” I frowned at Jasper in suspicion as he stretched his hand forward for me to hand him my phone.“Let me see it, Carmen. You need to block the number,” he said, alarm written all over his face as he started to heave.“You know something, and you’re hiding it from me,” I noted, but he reached for my purse.“What are you doing?!” I snapped, dragging the purse back and holding it to my chest. “Why are you acting this way? Who’s Emily? Are you hiding something—”“How did she get your number? That woman is crazy, Carmen. You need to block her number immediately,” he told me, his eyes wild. There was a high chance that he would keep insisting if I didn’t assure him that I would block the number.But it was a man who had called me.“Not until you tell me who she is,” I said, standing my ground.“Emily is someone I used to date,” he finally admitted. “She was obsessed with taking control of my life, and I only realized it when it was too late. I had to g
CARMEN“Let me have it, Carmen,” Jasper ordered me, outstretching his hand for me to place my phone on his palm. At that point, I knew that there was no lying to get out of it; he had heard me talking to Emily.“You don’t understand, Jasper. I just…” I pulled the phone away from my ear, hanging up and placing the phone behind my back to avert his attention from it, but that only triggered him even more.“Let me have the phone, Carmen!” he demanded even louder this time, stepping forward as if ready to take the phone away from me in an instant if I didn’t do it.“I wanted to be sure,” I said as I gave in and fixed the phone in his hand.“You wanted to be sure about something that I had already told you?” He narrowed his eyes at me as he asked. “You do know that trust is a key factor in marriage, right? If you don’t trust me, how are things going to work between us? How are we ever going to get past the circumstances surrounding our marriage?”I wanted to know that I could trust him, an
CARMENDave and I pulled away from each other in panic as we looked at the person who had walked in and caught us in the act – Nova.“Oh, my God,” she said again, her voice airy as she stepped back and looked at us in disbelief. “I knew it! I had my suspicions, but my sister kept shutting me out and claiming that she trusted you! How could you do this…”“Nova, this doesn’t have to get out of hand like this,” Dave told her, getting off the bed and putting on his clothes. I did the same, keeping my eye on her and hoping that she would not run out of there to announce it to everyone she saw on the way.“What does that even mean? Do you expect me to keep quiet about this?” Her eyes met with mine, and they blazed with rage. “She still believes you’re a good friend of hers, Carmen! How could you do this? He’s your stepbrother, for Christ’s sake!”“I’m sorry,” was the only thing I could mutter, pitiful and filled with nothing but shame.“Just wait until everybody finds out. How are you going
CARMENI crawled away from Jasper, getting up on my feet as I watched him sway from side to side and looking ready to collapse at any minute.The shock of what had just happened reverberated within me as I stared at my husband in disbelief.“Jasper?” I called. “What happened to you? How did you get this drunk?”“Drunk?” he echoed in a lazy slur, staggering forward as I moved back to avoid his sudden aggressiveness. “You’re calling me drunk? How dare you call me drunk?!”“Just go up to the room and have a shower. I can take you if you want,” I offered, but I didn’t dare walk up to him just yet. Not after he had just pushed me so hard without the slightest remorse. I bore it in mind that he was not in a good place, not in control of himself.“You don’t tell me what to do,” he spat bitterly as he headed for the stairs, loosening his tie and struggling to go up the stairs, crawling on his hands and feet to get to the top of the stairs.I followed behind him until he managed to get into th
CARMEN“Emily is my daughter.”I blinked three times at Terri, my surprise lying in my eyes as I watched her eyes grow distant – she was reminiscing. There was something painful swirling on her face as well, and I knew that there was definitely something horrible covering the situation.“I’d like to let bygones be bygones, Carmen,” she stated with a tired sigh, putting a needle in my hope and deflating it.“I really didn’t know. It’s just… You used to work for Mariah when he met her?” I inquired, but she still remained silent, as if the last thing she was going to do was speak on it, but I was as curious as she was stubborn. There had to be something she could tell me.“Listen, Terri. I know this might be an old wound for you, and the last thing I would want to do is open it so carelessly, but I would really like to prevent another bad thing from happening based on past events. I just want to know if Jasper told me the entire truth about the situation.”“He would be brave to tell you
CARMEN“Are you sure about this? Maybe you heard him wrong the first time. Besides, I just got out of prison. I highly doubt that he’ll want to get to see me just yet,” I said to Dave as we slowly walked towards the front door of his father’s house.“You just have to relax for me, Carmen,” Dave said, placing a hand on my lower back. “I didn’t hear him wrong. He clearly said it after his divorce with your mom that he would feel better about giving us his blessing now that he’s not married to her.”We got into the living room, where Steve sat with his legs crossed as he took note of something from a piece of paper.“Dad, look who’s here,” Dave called for his attention, making him look up at us and stand up to give me a good look. I almost laughed at his reaction, but I was too consumed by nervousness to make a sound.“Carmen, what… Come here, my sweet child,” he said, walking towards me and meeting me halfway with a hug.“What happened to you?!” he asked as he pulled away from the hug a
CARMEN“How may I help you?” the woman who stood at the doorway asked me, and I had half a mind to apologize and tell her I had the wrong house before walking away, but I decided to stay instead.“Is Dave home?” I asked.“Mr. Wilmer is home, but he didn’t tell me he was expecting anyone,” she answered, looking down at my hands which held the small box where the wristwatch was. “You can tell me your name, so I can go tell him—”“You really don’t have to,” I said, stopping her from walking back in. “Just let me in, please. I have something important to talk to him about.”“I understand that you probably know him, but I don’t want to get into any trouble. It’s my first day at work, and I don’t want to mess this up.”“You won’t,” I assured her. “You just have to trust me.”It took a moment of hesitation before she finally sighed and stepped aside for me to walk in.I glanced at the little girl she had in her hand with a smile on my face as I got to see just how much she looked like Kate.
CARMEN“Did you tell anyone? I told you not to tell anyone. Did you tell anyone?” I blurted to Evan as I found him standing and waiting for me on the day of my release.“Relax, Carmen,” he laughed. “I only told them that I was coming to check up on you. Why don’t you want them to know that you’re being released, anyway? Are you planning to live as far away as possible without them knowing?”“No,” I answered. “I just… I didn’t want them standing out here and waiting for me to come out. I still need to prepare myself for everything. It’s been a long three years, and I don’t know how they’re going to react.”“I’m sure all this is not what they’re thinking about right now. Trust me when I say that those people will wait for ten years if they have to,” he informed me.As much as it was assurance enough to hear those words from Evan, it didn’t make my heart beat any slower than the speed at which it was going.“Thank you for going through the stress of picking me up, by the way,” I told him
CARMEN“Cartier!”I flinched when I heard my last name being called by the prison guard as she stopped in front of the cell I shared with two other women – Reese and Naomi.She chewed her gum aggressively, using her baton to hit the cell bars, as she watched me so intently that I almost started to dig a hole to hide myself in.“You have been here for a while now, Carmen. It’s time you took the bull by the horns. Don’t let people like her intimidate you,” Naomi said, giving me an encouraging pat on the back to approach the prison guard and ask her what her deal was and why she was calling me.“What…what’s the matter?” I questioned, looking down at my feet to avoid making eye contact with the woman.“Are you ready for your board hearing today?” she asked me, leaning against the bars with folded arms.“I think so,” I said with a nod.“Well, then.” She sighed and took out the key to the bars, opening it for me to step out.“Good luck, Carmen! I’ve had two board hearings so far that have n
CARMENEvan was now standing in front of me with a silent reminder for me to keep my chin up and that I would be fine after the trial, but it was getting harder to do so.After the prosecutor finished asking me questions, I started to feel as if every answer that I had given had dug me into a hole that I would not be able to come out of.“When the victim was making those moves towards you, you called out for your mother, didn’t you?” he asked.“I did.”“Well, to demonstrate just how far her voice must have reached when she called out to her mother, we tested it. I called out to different sound experts to the house, and I was asked to stay in the farthest room from the kitchen. At 70 decibels, I could hear someone calling out to me from that room.”“From the footages gotten from the security cameras around the house, Mrs. Wilmer was not even in the farthest room to the kitchen. In fact, at the same time that Ms. Cartier is seen shouting for her mother’s help in the kitchen, we can see
CARMENMy mother stared at Evan with a shocked expression on her face as he submitted a flash drive to the judge as evidence.“The house where you left after you got married to Mr. Wilmer had a lot of security cameras, which Mrs. Wilmer here may have forgotten about when she slipped into the kitchen and put about ten pills of aphrodisiac into the victim’s drink,” Evan explained as the video on the drive was played for the whole courtroom to see.I had not thought that Evan would work that hard and go that far to get evidence, but he did. Was that why he had been working with my father the whole time? Even I didn’t know about that.“If we watch further, we can see that there was no complete and direct contact between my client and the victim that they were involved in any sexual discussions with each other. To further prove that an aphrodisiac was used in this footage, we have receipts from the pharmacy that she bought them from that week.”“Do the prosecutors have anything to add to t
CARMENDave and I shared a look of disappointment, and I could see that he had made up his mind to be with me no matter what his father said, but that didn’t stop me from feeling bad.“This whole thing between Bianca and I is not close to being over, and I believe she’s going to raise hell before everything is finalized. I have all of that in mind, and I don’t want anything to distract me just yet. Perhaps, after the divorce, we can revisit this talk,” Steve explained.I completely understood why he didn’t agree to the whole thing, but that didn’t mean I was not hurt by it.“You can take all the time you need to think about it,” I encouraged. “We wouldn’t want to put you under any kind of pressure.”“Carmen and I have something important to discuss. Thank you for giving us your honesty, father,” Dave told him as he took my hand and led me out of the room as he asked me, “Which of the bedrooms is yours?”“Here.” I took the lead from him and opened the door to my room, slamming it shut
CARMENBefore Dave could take me into the room where his father was staying, I pulled him back. I tried my hardest to hide my annoyance from him, but I could feel it coming off in waves, and I was certain that he could tell as well.“Is something wrong?” he questioned, and I raised my brow at that.“I should be asking you that question, Dave. I know you’re mad at me, and you should be mad at me for what I hid from you, but you haven’t spoken to me in a week. We can’t just leave things hanging and go in there to tell your father about us.”“I know, Carmen. We have a lot of talking to do, and I do have a lot of apologies as well, but I don’t want to prolong this. The more we keep him the dark, the less likely he is to be happy about the news. We can talk about everything else that we haven’t talked about during the week after.”“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “With everything that my mother must have planted in your mind against me—”“She planted nothing in my mind against
CÀRMEN“What…what are you doing here?” I asked, looking around to see if I could find out if someone else came with him – perhaps Kate or his father.“I wanted to talk to you about everything,” he said.“There’s nothing to talk about. We’re divorced,” I replied, wanting to turn around when he grabbed me by the wrist.“What are you doing?” Dad asked, finally bringing Jasper’s attention towards himself.“Who are…” Jasper trailed off as recognition grew in his eyes, and he took steps back as be looked between me and my father.“You’re… You’re her father,” he noted. “They said you were dead.”“If she doesn’t want to talk to you, don’t you think you should take a hint and leave her alone?” Dad asked him, ignoring his shock and refusing to give him any explanation.“I just wanted to have a short and important talk with her about something, that’s all,” Jasper defended.“Excuse us,” I told Dad, a little curious to know what Jasper wanted to say even after we had legally gone our separate way