His Runaway Wife [UNEDITED]

26. "What are you doing here?"

I landed in California at 9:47 am on Monday morning.

I was only here for the day. I would be on a flight back home tonight at nine. I had twelve hours. I was here on business. I was Rebecca The Problem Solver today.

Part of me was terrified but the other part was determined and for once, my determination trumped my fear and cowardice.

This needed to be done.

Once I did what I had to do, my conscience would be clean. I would know I did everything in my power to be all one happy family. This was going to help me move on and I needed to move on so badly...especially now.

I was meeting with Marianne.

She didn't know, of course, and that made me feel better-and powerful. She was going to be at a restaurant in Beverly Hills at 10:30 thinking she would be meeting with Aaron for breakfast. Aaron was the only one who knew I was here (besides Alexa who had stayed back home).

I didn't know what I was going to say yet. I was hoping the words would come to me once I saw her face to face.

Yep, my big plan was to have a sane and mature conversation with Marianne. That was my plan to solve our problems. I knew it was a long stretch. I knew it could turn ugly very quickly but I was going to try my best to be patient with her. Patience was not a quality of mine but I needed this to work.

I planned to confront Marianne and demand what her problem was. Why did she hate me so much? What did I do to her? From my knowledge, I had done nothing to her except marry her son which turned out to be the biggest offense against her apparently. Was she mad that she didn't get to choose Damian's wife? I knew she loved to control him.

That would be a good starter, I thought to myself sarcastically as I walked through the airport. I hadn't brought anything else other than my purse with me so I easily moved through the crowds.

We were going to be in public so Marianne would have to behave herself. If there was one thing I knew about her was that she would never ridicule herself in front of other people. She was different with others. That was her problem. She was a hypocrite.

I didn't know if I was going to tell her about the baby yet. I didn't want to because I hadn't told anyone and I didn't want the first person to know to be the one woman who hated me...who also happened to be my unborn child's grandma.

No, I didn't want to tell Marianne especially because I hadn't even told Damian yet.

I almost smiled as I thought about him. We were in the same state, literally. I missed him. My body ached for him. I just wanted to see him. I wanted to see his face, his eyes...I wondered if he missed me as much as I missed him. I also wondered how he was going to react when I told him I was pregnant...

Maybe I should just go to the clinic and see him. I could hide in his office all day or we could go somewhere private...

Rebecca, no.

No, I thought to myself shaking my head, remember you're mad at him. And you need to do this. You need to have this conversation with Marianne. Then you can say you did everything you could.

I finally walked out of the airport and got a taxi to drive me to the restaurant.

It was a sunny day. At least the weather was nice.

Aaron hadn't asked me why I wanted to meet with Marianne. One of the best things about him was that, if he was your friend, he was your friend unconditionally. No questions asked.