Happily Never After

Chapter 34

"You're going to be a father!" The voice of Henry Romero fills the silent house at eight o'clock that same night.

Here we go.

"Dad, we were going to tell you all tonight but things changed." Carter starts to explain from the hallway.

"Where is she?" Henry asks and I know he's talking about me.

"Dad, she's busy right now. If you-"

The sound of fast paced footsteps walking along the hallway, indicate that both Carter and his dad were on their way to the kitchen. I take one final sip of the water in my glass and place it down on the island in the kitchen, waiting for the two men to enter the kitchen.

Seconds later, the kitchen door opens and Henry stands looking at me. His eyes scan over the top of my body he can see and thankfully, the island was blocking the view of my growing bump which I knew was what he was looking for. My eyes move to look at Carter who was standing behind him, top two buttons of his white shirt opened and shaking his head at his dad.

"Step away from the island, Sarah." Henry instructs in a calm voice.

My eyes widen slightly as Carter nods as a way of telling me to do as I'm told. I nod and step round the island till I'm standing in front of Henry. My hands stay by my sides as I stand feeling awkward in nothing but a pair of navy jogger bottoms and a fitted black vest top.

With his eyes falling to my stomach, Henry moves away from the doorway and steps closer to me. My breathing becomes slightly staggered at Henry eyeing me closely as I stand rooted to the spot.

"How long?" Henry asks.

Carter clears his throat and steps into the kitchen. "Twelve weeks today."

"Twelve...the day I came and caught the two of you..." Henry tries to remember.

"Yes," Carter confirms, coming to stand next to me and pulling me to his body.

"It's funny how this has worked out for you, Carter. You find the girl, two weeks later, marry her and two weeks after that, it turns our she's pregnant with your child."

"Dad, I know it doesn't-"

"Your mum and the rest of the family are going to be arriving in a few minutes. I came here first so I could see for myself if the rumour going about was true or not. How did the rumour even start?"

"My friend, or ex-friend now, went off on one and told her assistant who told everyone else." I explain.

"How did she find out? Did you two slip up or something? Did you do something that gave away that you were going to be parents? What?" Henry quizzes.

"She walked in on us talking about the baby and shouted at me for being with Carter. When she started shouting about me being pregnant, I told her to be quiet as we hadn't told anyone yet. She called her assistant in, told her I was 'expecting the heir to the Romero family line' and the rest follows on from that."

Henry nods and looks at Carter. "What are you doing about the matter?"

"What can I do? I can't stop gossip and I also can't go back and change what's happened," Carter answers truthfully.

"Fire her," Henry says simply. "We may not own or run their business but the way she has treated your wife, you tell her boss and they fire her."

"What? Henry, that's not needed. She was only venting," I try to defend.

"She has made a fool of you, Sarah. You are a Romero now and we do not take nicely to be made a fool of. She has to be dealt with wither you like it or not."