-ANASTASIA-
“So when are you coming here exactly?” I asked Adam as I tested the milk on my wrist. Not too hot, the perfect temperature. “See I am learning only your father fails to see that.” I whispered to a gazing Helena.
“Tomorrow morning.” oops I almost forgot about him.
I helped Helena with the bottle and then spoke. “Great you can stay here. Nathan won’t mind.” I hung up before he could object and then searched my contacts for Natalie’s number. It is time to confirm all that I have found out.
“Hey Natalie, this is Anastasia. Your brother’s wife.” Starting with a light joke always helped me. She laughed and asked me about Helena and my health which surprisingly Nathan talked to her about.
His change of demeanor is seriously starting to bother me and I haven’t yet decided whether it is good bother or bad. “Is something wrong?”
-ANASTASIA-I poured the rest of the tea into the extra cup and waited another five minutes before going upstairs. There wasn’t any yelling and neither of them came down so whatever it was they were talking to each other.The door to Nathan’s room was slightly ajar I looked through to see Natalie sitting on the bed crying and Adam standing over her. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have given up on you because of my past. I love you baby more than you can imagine.”“You gave up Adam.” She said with a sigh. Okay maybe it is not the right time for me to intervene and they can have their tea later. I went back into the living room and sipped my tea along with playing with Helena who eagerly tried get some of the tea.“Some more time and I will you give this but for the time being you have to be satisfied with only one ingredient ‘milk’. Can you sat milk?” I asked tickling her but all
-ANASTASIA-“How is married life with my brother treating you, Tasha?” Natalie asked while feeding Helena sitting on the counter.I stirred the sauce and thought about my answer. How do I tell her that this marriage was not my choice yet I am starting to like it? How do I tell her that I am posing as a mother to a stranger’s child who I can’t think of being separated with?How do I tell her that I might have started to have feelings for a man I used to despise? “Uhh... good better than I expected.” I said not looking at her.“He is isn’t troubling you right?” I shook my head in denial making her smile. “I never thought I would see Nathan married.”I looked at her surprised. What about Jeanette? Will he not marry the mother of his child? “Why so?”“With all that happened with his past he had changed or rather he became his old self again so se
-ANASTASIA-I woke up to my alarm blaring into my ears... just five more minutes... I snuggled closer to my pillow when the heady scent filled my nostrils. When did my pillow start smelling like Nathan? I opened my eyes to see hair. Eh?Moving my hands to feel around the hard body around me I gasped. Shit! I leant back and saw him sleeping peacefully with his head in between my hair and neck until I leant back, a small groan left his lips.My legs were entangled in his and I pulled hard until I almost kicked him out of the bed and my leg was free again. “Bloody hell.” He cursed rubbing his eyes and looking at me stretching. “What are you doing?”I shook my head and scampered out of the bed. “Good morning. I have to go to the office, I will be back in two hours to pick Helena.” I said without realizing that he already knew the schedule. Shaking my head I went out of his room and into my washroom to fresh
-ANASTASIA-There are two ways this can go. Either Adam tells me all that happened which will be good or he can get angry which will not be good. I don’t want anything to interfere with his upcoming wedding but I should tell him what happened in the office or else he will never forgive me when he finds out.Today is their last day in New York, Adam is going to take Natalie with him to Chicago to meet our parents and I know they will be impressed. I knocked on his door and waited for him to open. “Hey. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?” He asked as soon as he saw me.“Is Natalie here?” He shook his head. “Great… I have something to tell you. Let me in.”He opened the door wider and I went inside and took a seat on his bed. “What is it Ana? You are worrying me.”Not as much worried as I am. “Adam... uh you remember Kelly?” I asked co
-ANASTASIA-“Louis will be with you in another few minutes until then this is Anastasia Dominic signing off. Wish you a bright day and many adventures.” Rachel gave me a thumbs up and the recording stopped. I got down from the chair and removed my microphone from my shoulder.“When are we having the briefing today?” I asked her on the way to my desk.She went through her note pad and then looked at me. “Mrs. V decided to have it after 11 since Kelly has a spa appointed before.” She said with spite in her voice. There were very few people who liked Kelly in this office.“Yeah right... spa. Fine I will be there.” She nodded and went away when I took my seat and started editing a recorded interview. “Hey Cain?”He turned from his seat. “Yup?”“Are you seeing anyone at the moment?” it has been days since we talked, he had to leave town for some s
-ANASTASIA-Unzipping the cloth bag I took out the first dress, it is a light blue lace one shoulder dress with ruffles on the shoulder. Nice dress. I wore it and zipped the side of the dress, it was a little loose in the front but nothing a little stitching won’t fix.I walked out of the dressing room and stood in front of Nathan who was busy talking in his meeting. “Nathan?” I whispered trying to gain his attention. He looked up and gave me a thumbs up and went back to the meeting.The same process continued for all the five dresses I tried, to be honest it is getting on my nerves. I told him I didn’t want to do this, he insisted but now he is the one who doesn’t have the time. Sighing I went back inside and opened up another dress. Satin V-necked gown featuring thin spaghetti straps and a natural waist. It reached a smidge above my knees.It is not my favorite but I am sure Mr. Husband will give his thumbs
-ANASTASIA-The party was already in a buzz by the time we had arrived and there were a few reporters and paparazzi for the event, from our side I think it is Rachel since Cain and myself will be in the party. I gave Helena to my parents and went with Nathan to talk to Adam and Natalie.“Hey guys. Congratulations.” I said passing them each their gifts. Natalie hugged me followed by Nathan.Nathan just wished in his usual stoic way and didn’t hug anyone. “Hey best man.” A voice said slapping on Nathan’s shoulder and I saw Marco smirking at Nathan. He knew that his best friend didn’t particularly enjoy this job. He glanced at me and smiled. “Wow. You look gorgeous Anastasia. Care to dance?”I looked around and saw a few couples on the floor swaying to the music even Natalie and Adam had joined them. I watched Nathan whisper something to Marco who had his smirk on his face while looking a
-NATHAN-Standing up I patted the hood of the car. “Good save James.” He nodded from inside, I walked into the car and shut the door once I sat down. “It would not hurt if you tell me that you have given Helena to your parents for the night, plonker.”No reply.Pretty much nothing happened in the there, then why is my wife frowning at me and giving me silent treatment? Sighing I reached for her hand but she snatched it back. “Give me a chance to explain.”I saw her eyes move to the front mirror where you could see James concentrated on the road but he shouldn’t be hearing this. I leaned over and closed the shutter of the space so that he could no longer hear us when Anastasia, herself leaned over and opened it. “Sorry for that James.”James looked at me through the mirror, I shrugged. “Monroe?” I closed the shutter again only for it be opened by Anastasia.&ld
-ANASTASIA-“There you go.” I said pulling the t-shirt over my three-year-old and as always it was a green t-shirt, the boy didn’t like anything other than green. He gave me a cute smile before jumping off the bed giving me a heart attack and ran off to the kitchen to steal one of the cookies that Nathan made the other day. “Don’t take more than one, Chris.” I yelled but I know that it is off no use.Hurrying I changed into a maroon formal dress and did a half up and down before getting out of the room. “Come on Chris, I have a reading to be done with and then we have to go to your sister’s play.” By the time I reached the kitchen I was panting.Chris had cookie crumble all over his face, “Mama can I have another cookie?” I looked at the plate, out of six cookies that were there only four were remain, I gave him a knowing look which made him pout. “Two mama, yummy dada&rsquo
-ANASTASIA-Oof! All the bags were packed but I was only taking one with me, Nathan said he could send the rest to Philadelphia. No, he is not okay with me going but that is how it has to be. My bus comes at 10 which means I have to leave now if I want to catch that bus.I read my response to Philadelphia once again with a sigh. I guess I am happy with my decision, this is for the best. “Are you packed?” Nathan asked making me turn around and see him leaning against the door.Last night I thought he would not stay with me in the room but he did, he hugged me tightly almost as if I would get up and leave at night. Then again, I didn’t complain because I don’t know when I will get the chance to sleep with him again. “Yeah. Helena awake?”He nodded. I removed the shirt I was wearing noticing my belly, it was not showing yet, Dr. Melendez said I would have to wait for three months to see the bump but he sai
-NATHAN-“Why did you lie to me?” She asked tears filling her eyes. I thought she was bothered by me not being Helena’s father but her problem was that I lied to her.Sighing I pulled at the ends of my hair, I was going to tell her when we went on that date but then she felt insecure and the day went with that. I tried many times but backed off afraid of her reaction. “I was scared.”She scoffed. “Is that the truth? Because Nathan as far as I can remember from the time, we met you have only been feeding me with lies and me, like a fool believed each and every one of it.” Her words hurt but I deserved it and I won’t ask her to take it back or apologize.“I am now telling you the truth...” I said trying to reach out to her but she stepped away like I was a stranger, this hurt way worse than when Jocelyn cheated on me and I can’t imagine the pain I caused her. “Anastasia
-ANASTASIA-My eyes widened. “Ar… are you sure?” I asked trying to remember whether we used any protection, all the times we did it but I am not sure. I didn’t take any pills but about Nathan, I am not sure.“Yes. WE checked twice since we were shocked.” Should I panic? No, I am not sad, I have a life growing in me, in nine months I will get someone like Helena there is nothing to be sad only happy. But I don’t know if Nathan felt the same. “Anastasia, we took your blood with you pregnant that is not good.”I frowned. “How so? The baby is fine right?”“For now, yes but I don’t know about the future, because as you can see you have intense pain and that is not going to reduce. During the delivery you are going to have complications and anemia is something you will have to suffer throughout the nine months.” I smiled at him, making him raise his brow. &ldqu
-ANASTASIA-I had stopped listening to the doctor and had my eyes on a frantic Maria. Moving away from the others I walked over to her, somehow my mind kept telling me that something is wrong. But what could go wrong? Maybe Helena was being fussy so Maria brought her to me.Yeah, that is the best explanation. I touched her shoulder, she turned to me and heaved a big sigh of relief. “Tasha... Helena is not well.”I raised my brow before taking Helena from her, “What could be wrong? She was fine when we left her in the morning.” I said chuckling nervously. I touched her forehead, it wasn’t warm but she looked pale and wasn’t opening her eyes. “She doesn’t have a temperature but why is she so pale?”Maria shrugged. “She was playing with her toy when it dropped from her hand, I thought it was normal but when I looked at her, she was on the verge of fainting. I picked her up and calle
-ANASTASIA-Their eyes were wide like saucers when the door was bashed open and Nathan came in with the cops. “Surprised?”I smacked his arm. “Stop being so dramatic, they get our point.” Nathan glared at each one of them and I saw his clenched fists, I didn’t want him to fight in here no at least not in front of the cops. I took his hand in mine releasing the knuckles and then entwining our fingers.“You. Were. Alive?” Jocelyn asked still in shock.“Yes. If you only wanted to kill me and take my place in the company then why did you pretend to be in love?” Jocelyn’s head bowed in shame, his eyes were on Stella. Even when he says that he doesn’t care, I knew he did after all it was his cousin and first love.Stella was screaming and throwing her feet in air as they dragged her out. “Nathan we are cousins, why do you think that I would plot to kill you? I am&hel
ANASTASIA-Surprisingly Dave wanted to meet today, that is a week after our conversation. I wonder why he did that? “Park how long till we reach?” I asked him leaning over.“10 minutes ma’am.” Nodding my head, I continued to look outside. I knew Nathan was ten feet away from me but I couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous. If everything goes well, then according to the plan Nathan will announce that he is alive in the afternoon and from tomorrow I can go back to reporting and Nathan can go to his second home, his office.Dave wanted us to meet in a hotel, not a very pricey one but considerably cheap. It was a motel more than a hotel. When Park parked the car, I took in a deep breath before praying in my head. I am scared, I don’t want to do this. Shit! I am panicking. “Relax, I am right behind you.”Nathan’s voice calmed me and I smiled at myself. “Let’s go teach thi
-NATHAN-Jocelyn had entered my list as number three, yes, she managed to pass five other people. Seeing Anastasia’s shocked face, I could understand why she would think that I wouldn’t put Jocelyn’s name in the list. What she didn’t know was that I am way too rational and practical, I don’t trust anyone easily.And Jocelyn had stepped down from my trust list the day she cheated on me. Also, her sudden interest to be with me again was way too obvious, she wanted money which was actually greed but I knew what she wanted more and that is power. “Stop looking surprised, Monroe and tell me if you think of anything else. I will run this with Marco.”She nodded and went out of the room only to come back within minutes. I smirked at her, “Missed me already?”Rolling her eyes, she came near me past my desk and stood in front of me with one hand on her hip making her look sexy, the crop top she
-ANASTASIA-“I am sorry but you are wrong.” They looked confused and Cecilia’s face suggested that she thought I was crazy. Standing up I took my purse and said to them, “Come on, I will prove it to you.”Without waiting for their answer, I left the office and Stella glanced behind my back, I hope they don’t talk to her about what happened inside. I watched through the open elevator doors as they came out of the office eyes filled with tears and passed by Stella. Thankfully, they did not speak with her. “We will follow your car, Tasha.” Michael said getting out of the elevator.Nodding I got in the car and asked Park to drive to the Dominic residence. This was a better idea because then I might get a chance to warn Nathan. He is not going to expect this which makes his reaction almost unimaginable. I don’t want him to be mad at least not after last night.Last night’s memories au