Chapter 13: Chapter 13

“I am sorry, Mitchell!” I take the initiative to break the dreadful awkwardness and the heart-wrecking tension that have surrounded us for almost a decade. My head is still hunched down, but I can feel her scorching, intense glares trying to search my face.

“For what exactly?” Her tone is full of bitterness and cold enough to summon me up. I meet her eyes, bleeding with three things: detest, disgust, and disapproval of my presence here, probably, or disapproval of this whole thing. Looking at her, I cannot help but wonder if we will ever get along. If she will ever accept the favor I am doing her, I mean, I am making her a mother, but there is no sign that she will ever appreciate that. There is no trace of such a time ever coming. At least nothing of the sort is noticeable right now. All I see is an infuriated, bitter woman whose bitterness surpasses my own understanding. I cannot measure the degree of loathing I am receiving from her.

I take a deep breath to calm myself down a bit. I am at a loss for words. The discoveries I am making every single second are more and more appalling. How I wish I was just assuming things. That I am just paranoid. But this feels like the reality of things.

“Are you sorry for bunging into my home or for the threat you are posing for me and my husband?” Her words summon my gaze to her.

“Threat?” The word rolled out sooner than I had anticipated, and I wondered what kind of threat she was seeing in me.

She crosses her arms on her chest, digging her dangerous glares sternly into my eyes as she speaks.

“The fact that Liam never forgot you is a galling threat on its own. I am anything but a dummy, Lynda! So what are all these? You and Liam won’t make a fool out of me! I warn you!” She warns, and I know she means exactly that.

Now, isn’t she being unnecessarily harsh? Forgive me, but how on earth was I supposed to know that Liam never got over me? Heck, it is not even like I knew she was the one Liam married! I didn't know my help to them would pose a threat to their marriage, for God’s sake! Can she cut me some slack?

“Look, Mitchell.” I summon all the bravery and coolness in me to face her because I think we need to clear some things up. The steam is so thick that I doubt we can help each other this way. How can we bring up a child in this home in this environment? For the sake of that baby, we need to iron things out. And I swear, I am anything but a homewrecker! I am satisfied with being a mother through them and helping Liam. That is enough for me. Her insecurities are not necessary, though I get where she is coming from. “I honestly didn’t know that you were the one Liam married, so there is nothing like an ulterior motive behind this. And believe me when I say that I would have wished that you didn’t know what Liam and I had in the past. I…”’

“Why? So that you can have solid grounds to fool me?” She scoffs, and she is stroking my nerves now.

“No. Because you wouldn’t have grounds to be insecure. But since there is nothing I can do about that and because I understand where your insecurities are coming from, I would like to assure you that I will not be a threat to your marriage. All I want is to help you and Liam. All I want is for us to bring up our child in a healthy environment. That is all.” I finish, and she brims with a wicked grin that is bright enough to shine for the whole nation—a smile that is so devilish, like none of this matters to her.

Then she looks at me as if I uttered nothing but pure sh*t.

“Help me, you say?” You should see the mockery on her face and the smile emphasizing that. I am taken aback, but I listen carefully with an irrepressible avidity for her next words. “It is Liam you are helping, you cheap whore! I am just starting to dream, and trust me, dealing with nagging kids is nowhere in my dreams right now. This is in no way helping me! So don’t delude yourself into thinking that you are doing me any favors or expecting me to be indebted to you. Get that into your thick skull!” I am thunderstruck! I am totally dumbfounded! I don’t even have the strength to watch her as she takes her leave, but I am startled back to reality by her words again as she whimpers something that is supposedly meant for my ears only. “But mark the bounds of this surrogacy nonsense very well, Lynda! Because if you dare cross even a single one, I will crash you into ashes, I swear! Good luck, and like I told Liam, I hope you are not digging your own grave with this surrogacy absurdity!” And with that, she leaves me to ponder her declarations and warnings.

A whirlwind of emotions and queries surges in. I am swimming in a deep ocean of thoughts. Darkness is clouding everything—my thinking capacity, the certainty of this decision I made. Everything is so clogged. I think her worrying declarations and threats filled my belly, or they just made me forget the sole reason why I left my room, because I find myself climbing the stairs up to my room again.

What the heck is happening in this house? What an irony! Such a beautiful house, but there doesn't seem to be even a smell of love in it. Forget love. Even peace itself. Everything here stinks! How will… I was about to make a step towards the bed after slamming the door behind me, but Liam’s figure comfortably perched on my bed halted my steps.

My mind spins to a complete degree, and my eyes rest on his.

This is most definitely one of the territories that Mitchell has warned me about—her husband! Her riddles were quite clear. The problem is, I have already crossed this territory, and I am cognizant of the fact that she will definitely crash me into ashes, like she said a while ago, if she ever finds out. So, am I safe?

And this one—doesn’t he understand how complicated this is? Doesn’t he care what his insecure wife will do to us if she suspects anything?

But then, his words echo in my mind with rebounding questions: “If that happens to be the case, then the better.” That was his response to my worries about me getting pregnant from that one-time sex, which later turned into a series of sexual occasions, something he never got to explain. What exactly did he mean? Why do I now feel like, aside from this child, I am a bridge for him? Why do I feel like he is using me for something I don’t know about? What is this plan of yours, Liam?