Patrick

“I will call and tell you when I am home, darling.”

He went to the bathroom to clean himself up before going back to face her parents. “She is up now,” he said with a forced smile. “I have to get to the office. If there is anything you need, just let me know.”

*****

The Christmas party was a big affair with the entire staff on duty to help with the carrying out of it. It was an annual event that had people coming from different countries to stay for the period. The place had been decorated, and Patrick had watched as his wife flitted around like an excited child as the decorators fitted the lights around the mansion and along the palm trees on the grounds. The Christmas tree was a towering willow that almost touched the high ceiling, and lights and colored bulbs added a splash of color to it. He came downstairs on Christmas Eve to see her curled up on one of the sofas and staring at the tree and the gifts piled beneath it. She was wearing a white lace nightgown with a matching robe and her wild curls were around her face.

“Waiting for Santa?” he asked her teasingly as he came to join her on the sofa. She smiled and curved herself into his arms as she continued to look at the tree.

“I love Christmas,” she murmured.

“I would never have guessed,” he said teasingly, holding her close to him. “I bet you sat up all night on Christmas Eves in the past when you were a little girl waiting for the jolly old man.”

“I did. I used to write letters to him telling him what I wanted for Christmas and demanding that he send my brother and Daddy back to us.” She smiled as she remembered. “One day, my mother saw one of my letters and sat me down and told me that Daddy and my unborn brother were up in heaven looking down on us.”

“Did you believe her?” he asked her gently.

“Not for a minute!” she said with a laugh. “But I pretended I did to make her feel better.”

“Do you remember him?”

She shook her head no. “His name was Brent.”

“Sounds like a good name for a son if that’s what we are having,” he told her casually.

Carrie lifted her head to look at him and their eyes met. “Sometimes you can be the sweetest man ever,” she whispered.

“Sometimes?” His jet black eyebrows rose arrogantly as he stared down at her.

“Certainly not now,” she said, poking out a tongue at him.

He captured it with his lips, and with a sigh, she sank into his arms and returned the kiss.

*****

William was jumpy and he could not relax. He walked around the room with a smile on his face, looking suave and confident in his black tuxedo, but he was waiting for the other shoe to drop any minute now. Linda had not said anything to him about whether or not he had ended it with the woman he was seeing, but he had been careful to start coming home earlier now. Sophia had come out of the hospital, but to his relief, her parents had insisted that she stay with them at the manor. They had declined the invitation to the annual party saying that they were planning to spend some quality time with their daughter. He found himself breaking out in a cold sweat each time the phone rang, but she had only called him once saying that as soon as she was able to get away from her parents, she needed to see him. He felt as if he was hanging onto a precipice.

Patrick kept Carrie close to him as they circled the room. She was wearing a stunning designer dress of burnt orange silk with lace overlay and pearls around her neck and in her ears. He had to admit that amongst the women there in their rich gowns and dazzling jewelry, she stood out by far, and he felt a sense of pride as he kept her at his side. He had been to see Sophia at her parents’ place and had asked her why she had done it, and she had shrugged. “Maybe I am tired of being rejected by men,” she had told him, looking at him pointedly.

He had returned her stare, and she had lowered her eyes. “Whoever it is that caused you to do it is not worth it.”

“Maybe not, but I love him and need him,” she had told him.

He had left feeling sorry for her and happy that she was not his wife.

He left Carrie briefly to discuss business with a few people, and she went to sit next to her mother and best friend.

“This is quite something, isn’t it?” Claudia said with a shake of her head. She was wearing a chic light blue gown that Carrie had bought her in spite of her protests, and Sheryl was sitting beside her with her husband wearing a wine red silk gown. Donald had gone to use the bathroom.

“I am actually getting used to it,” Carrie said with a laugh as she looked around the room. Her eyes were caught by Linda, who was wearing a gorgeous two-toned silk dress, her ash blonde hair caught in a chignon at the nape of her neck. She had diamonds around her neck and wrists and her lobes. She seemed to be looking better these days, but Carrie wondered if she really was.

*****

Patrick found his father in the darkened study with a drink in his hand. “Blake Sommers has been looking for you, something to do with the contract on the latest software.”