Chapter 23Alexander ~•~ Watching Olivia pack up her things was very hurtful to watch. I thought hard of what I could say to make her change her mind but she was determined to leave the house. I wished things turned out differently. Even if I wasn’t ready to accept the fact that she was no longer my wife, I had to act calm about the whole situation. I never stopped loving her. There was just a visibility rift between us that I wanted to fix. I thought things would get better when I gave her the divorce papers but little did I know I was making the situation worse. After I walked her to her car, I stood and watched until she drove out of the gate. It was then it dawned on me that my marriage was over. I got back into the house and made my way to the bedroom. I showered and changed into more comfortable clothes. I was a little bit tired from the long flight I had but I needed company so I called Arthur to meet me at the house. I needed a distraction. Arthur didn’t take long to a
Olivia ~•~“Are you sure you don’t want to tell him about it?” Sandra asked as she sat beside me on the hospital bed. I nodded my head confidently. “I’m one hundred percent sure.” I asserted. “I don’t even want my parents to know about it.” Sandra gasped in disbelief as I finished my last sentence. My life has been full of surprises. When the year started, I never imagined I would end up being a mother. Alexander and I didn’t try for babies because I wasn’t ready to be a mother. He respected my decision and we always had safe sex. Well, I guess it wasn’t completely safe after all. The baby was going to change a lot of things. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone. He had the right to know that I was almost two months pregnant but we just got divorced and I didn’t think I wanted to tell him. During the past few weeks, I thought my random fatigue and restlessness were a result of the stress from my failing marriage. I had no idea I was carrying a child. I felt a mixture of different emo
Olivia ~•~SIX YEARS LATER“Mama.” “Mama.” Riley and Rowan’s muffled voices echoed through my sleep as they tapped me multiple times. My eyes fluttered open and I sat upright on the bed. “Good morning babies.” I smiled as I engulfed them in a warm hug. “Why are you guys up so early?” I asked when I noticed the excited look on their faces. “Mama, you promised to take us to the park today.” Riley reminded me. “Yes, you promised,” Rowan added. At the beginning of the week, I had promised the kids that I was going to take them to the park during the weekend if they behaved properly. Throughout the week, they were on their best behavior. They even took their schoolwork more seriously. It was so early in the morning and they were already reminding me about it. “I haven’t forgotten. We will go to the park later in the day.” I acknowledged and their eyes flashed with excitement. Riley and Rowan jumped on my bed and snuggled up with me. We stayed in bed for a few more hours before I
Olivia ~•~I didn’t like how Ethan gave me no choice but to go with him on the trip to New York. The kids were even excited that I cut their outing short to fly them out of California. After a grueling six-hour flight, we finally arrived at New York. Throughout the flight, I was restless and all I could think of was running into Alexander or anybody from my past. “You’ll address me by Stacy while we are here, so even if someone recognizes me, they’ll probably think they are mistaking me for someone else.” I pleaded with Ethan as we exited the plane. When I moved to California, I decided to come up with a new name because I wanted a fresh start. However, when Ethan and I ran into each other, he claimed he couldn’t address me by that name. Ethan and I were in a relationship back in New York way before I even met Alexander. After we broke up, I cut all contact with him and had no idea he even moved to California. He was nice enough to offer me a job when he realized I moved to Cali
Alexander ~•~After the last event the company hosted flopped, my mother was hell-bent on hiring an event planner from California. She claimed that New York’s event planners were incompetent. I didn’t protest against it, so I just let her choose who she wanted for the charity event Burke Enterprise was hosting. It was a tradition we upheld every year and she wanted this one to be flawless. Earlier that morning, my mother called me and said she had already made all the arrangements and the only thing left was for the event planners to fly to New York later in the day for the meeting. She said she was going to text me the details of the people I was having the meeting with later on. The event was in two weeks but she wanted us to plan earlier so it would be perfect. I called Arthur to ask him if he wanted to accompany me to the meeting and luckily enough she agreed. Later on, my mother sent the details of the planners as she had promised. It was a meeting with Ethan James and Stac
Olivia ~•~ I enjoyed watching Alexander’s reaction as I pretended like it was my first time meeting him. “Isn’t she Olivia Keating?” He asked, looking down at Ethan. “Can we start the meeting?” I demanded before Ethan could respond. “It’s getting late and we have a busy schedule.” “Sir.” Ethan gestured to the empty seat beside Arthur. “Can you please have a seat?” He added and Alexander settled down. As the meeting started, I could tell Alexander and Arthur were really restless. Alexander tried his best to avoid eye contact with me, even though my eyes were fixed on him. It was a brief meeting since everyone was awkward. “We’ll send you the final draft to go over once it’s ready. And after that, some of our skilled team members will handle the event.” Ethan said and extended his hand to Alexander for a warm handshake. When we were done, Alexander asked if he could speak with me outside for a moment. I was hesitant at first but the curious part of me wanted to hear what he had
Olivia ~•~“Mama, who was that man from yesterday? The one you were arguing with?” Those were the first words that came out of Riley’s mouth when she woke up in the morning. I was caught off-guard. I had no idea she was so observant. How could I tell her that he was her father?Whenever they brought up questions concerning their father, I always changed the topic to distract them because I didn’t know if it was the right time to tell them that their father didn’t know about their existence. I thought hard and smacked my lips before responding. “Riley baby.” I reached out to her hands and took them in mine. “That was mama’s business partner.” Her eyes locked into mine and she questioned further. “So what were you arguing about?” I let out a dry chuckle. “It was nothing serious, we just disagreed on how the event would be done.” I lied. “What do you want for breakfast?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “I’ll have pancakes.” Rowan, who had been asleep earlier, finally spoke.
Olivia ~•~A few weeks had passed since I returned from the trip to New York. Alexander couldn’t stop blowing up my phone after I refused to meet up with him the day we were meant to leave for California. Ethan had pleaded with me but I didn’t listen because I couldn’t listen to Alexander’s excuses or justifications for his betrayal. I was determined to move on from him and I was going to keep to my words. The kids, on the other hand, couldn’t stop talking about New York and their cousin. However, I made them understand that they had to wait until the holiday before they could see him again. Since my cover about where I had moved to was already blown, I didn’t have a problem visiting New York again. The last time I stalked Sandra on social media was when she posted the news of her baby. Ever since then, I blocked her everywhere because I didn’t want to be reminded of her betrayal. But I didn’t know why I decided to check again, I tried to stop myself from doing it but my curiosi