Patrick

He had deliberately not gone down for breakfast but had ordered something up in his room because he wanted to avoid the confrontation and the scene, but he could not avoid it any longer. He had to tell them.

With a determined look on his handsome face, he took a shower and donned faded jeans and white t-shirt and headed downstairs to find them. It was almost noon, and at this time of day on a Saturday, they would be outside by the pool.

A maid was just serving them refreshments when he got there. Two gardeners were tending to the yard, and the August sun was shaded by the umbrellas opened up over the lounge chairs they were reclining in. Later today, his father would head on to the club to play golf with a couple of his friends and his mother would go on to some function with a group of her friends to talk about the latest charities and what plans they had for the rest of year.

“Darling, could you hand me the towel over on the chair, please?” A large floppy hat shaded her from the sun as she sipped a tall glass of lemonade. His father looked up at him briefly before going back to the report he was reading.

“I have to talk to you guys.” He pulled up a chair between the two lounge chairs.

“Something wrong?” his mother asked him, tipping down her shades to look at him.

“I guess it depends on how you look at it.” He laughed grimly.

“What is it?” His father had put away the folder he had and gave his full attention.

“I got someone pregnant.” He figured that he just take the bull by the horns the same way Carrie had done. He had not even known her name before he screwed her, but had made the effort to find it out now. He had done some preliminary checks on her and knew her mother was head librarian at the library and she had a diploma as a certified professional secretary but was just unable to find a job in that field. They could probably hire her, he thought sardonically.

“Sophia?” his mother asked, breaking the silence.

“Wouldn’t that about make life perfect?” He got up and went to the edge of the pool looking down into the cool blue water for a moment before turning back to face them. “Her name is Carrie, and she is a waitress at the club.”

If a pin dropped, it could be heard as the silence lengthened.

“You damned fool!” his father said harshly. “You have your pick of women and you got some waitress pregnant? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Obviously I wasn’t,” he said coldly, feeling the guilt weighing on him. He was never going to live down the fact that he had sullied the family name by becoming involved with a nonentity. “It was just one night.”

“That’s all it takes.” His father had gotten up and stood there facing him. “What are you going to do about it and is she telling the truth?”

“I had her checked out, and she is cousin to the bartender.” He shrugged his shoulders, his blue eyes wintry. “She appears to be telling the truth. I told her that I would take care of her and the child.”

“You are going to marry her,” William Copeland told him grimly, causing his son to stare at him in shock.

“What?”

“Darling, isn’t that a bit dramatic?” His mother spoke up for the first time since he had told them the news.

“No grandchild of ours is going to grow up a bas*ard,” William told them with grim determination.

“This is the twenty-first century. That does not have to happen,” Patrick told him tightly, feeling the noose going around his neck.

“You are going to fix this, dammit!” His father looked as if he wanted to push him into the pool. “You did not listen to me when I told you to marry and settle down and now this! You are not going to bring scandal to this family, Patrick. Bring her around and let us plan a wedding the likes of Lady Diana or by God, I am going to disinherit you!” With that, he wheeled away and went swiftly towards the manor.

Patrick sat down heavily on the lounge chair he had just vacated and buried his head in his hands. His mother sat there looking at her son helplessly feeling sorry for him. Lord, what a mess!

“Do you think he meant what he said?” he asked, lifting his head to look at his mother.

“As much as I hate your father’s highhandedness sometimes, darling, this time he is right. You are going to step up and do the right thing,” she told him gently.

He nodded and stared off into the distance. “First, I am going to have to break the disappointing news to Sophia.”

*****

He called Sophia and went to her apartment to see her. She greeted him at the door dressed in a see-through silk robe with her blonde hair flowing freely down her back. Her green eyes glittered as she pulled him inside, and he suspected that she had deliberately put on the robe for his benefit in anticipation of the news she was about to receive. She truly was a beautiful woman, but her beauty had a coldness about it that was not appealing. “Sit, please. I just sent the maid off for the day so we could spend some time together.” The apartment was the height of luxury with deep shaggy carpets and modern art all over the walls. She was the only child of an ice cream billionaire, and she spared no expenses where she was concerned.