LOVE IS IN THE HEIR (COMPLETE)

Chapter 10

When Edward returned he suggested that we take our drinks upstairs and let the waiter get away for the night. We sat either side of the sofa, holding a glass of wine and chatting. One minute we were talking about day-to-day things and babies... the next thing I knew I was telling him my biggest secret.

"How many children do you want?" he has asked.

"A world full will do," I had replied thinking about all the beautiful babies in the world at that precise moment.

"I am sure you would," he had replied. "But seriously how many are you planning to have for real?" he asked.

"I can't have children," I blurted out and tried to brush it off with a follow on comment of "But there is always adoption," I said and took a gulp of wine, wondering why the hell I just told him that!

He was silent and stared at me for a moment to assess if I was joking.

"It's just one of those things," I said and forced a smile as though it didn't matter but I knew he could see that it did.

He was speechless just staring and searching in his mind for the right words. I'd seen that look before.

"You are wearing the same look my fiancée did when he found out," I said.

"You were engaged?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, hard to believe isn't it," I teased.

"Not at all," he replied quick as lightening. "So where is he? What happened?" he asked obviously intrigued.

"Long story," I said.

"It is a good thing I love the sound of your voice then," he replied making me blush and giggle at his flirting. "Tell me I want to hear all about the fool who let you slip through his fingers," he said moving his cushion behind his head as though I was about to tell him a bedtime story.

"It's nothing interesting..."

"Everything about you is interesting. Now who ended it?" he asked.

"He dumped me," I said and pulled a face.

"Mad man," Edward said in disbelief.

"When the doctor told us that I couldn't have children he was... well like you were a moment ago," I confessed and sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's just a shock that's all as I know how much you love babies," he said reaching out to touch my hand.

I moved it away as tears threatened and I didn't want to be a blubbering mess.

"Any way he said he was ok about it, there was nothing we could do but there were other alternatives we could look into when the time came for us to have children," I explained. "I thought the alternative he was referring to was adoption or surrogacy but five months later he left me and one month after that the woman he denied he was dating gave birth to his son."

"Oh my god!" Edward said floored by my Jerry Springer love life.

"So whilst he was sat making wedding and adoption plans with me, she was already three months pregnant with his child," I added so he could do the math. "When he left I asked him if he was seeing anyone, having an affair and he said no. I found out he was living with her so asked him again if they had been having an affair whilst we were together and he said no. Obviously he was barefaced liar as month later I found out about the baby because a mutual friend put congratulations on a facebook picture of the baby and tagged him in it. I saw it in my newsfeed."

"What a bastard!" Edward said astounded.

"And may I add by this point I was homeless not only because I was a student who failed her exams because I was too ill to sit them as I had lost my family but I had to move out of the house we brought together and onto a friends sofa. The pictures on facebook were of him, her and the baby in our old house on my sofa, in my bed and with our dog Ralphie because I couldn't afford to keep him either," I said letting it all spill out. "Even now I am still paying half the mortgage as he won't sell. That is why I hate social networking. You go on there to keep in touch with people but half the time it is just like opening a window and letting them throw a grenade at you which wrecks your life."