"What do you mean you couldn't make love to him, are you telling me that you two have not had sex yet?" And when Abby nodded, disbelief was written all over Claire's face, "are you insane, Moss is a dream come true, what is wrong with you!"
Jeff raised an eye brow, "A dream come true?"
Claire rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Abby, "never mind Jeff, he's just jealous."
"I'm not a good person Claire," Abby said, "I have strung Moss along for a full year, he proposed and I accepted, but I still can't seem to sleep with him."
"Do you find him attractive?" Claire asked.
"I've course I do, I'm not blind, the man is gorgeous!" Abby admitted, "but it's just that ..."
"It's the dog," Jeff said, "he is the one she still pines over."
"Cut her some slack Jeff," Claire said, "she's still in love with Steven."
"But he doesn't care if she loves him, can't you see that he is not good for her!" Jeff yelled, "what the hell is wrong with you Abby, don't you want a better life for yourself?"
When Abby started to cry uncontrollably, Claire snapped, "stop it Jeff!"
Walking up to Abby, he placed his hands on Abby's shoulders and said in a more compassionate tone of voice, "I love you Abby and want the best for you, that's the only reason why I say what I say, I want you to find love like me and Claire have found, and Moss seems like he is that kind of person."
When Claire witnessed tears in Abby's eyes, she wanted to make Abby happy, so stood up and said, "Jeff and I are going to have a baby!"
"What!" Abby squealed, "and you wait till now to tell me"
Abby grabbed Claire and hugged her tightly, "Congratulations, I'm so happy for the two of you" she said, and prayed that her voice didn't give her away.
She was happy for them, but she was jealous that she didn't have Steven with her when she was pregnant. Life was not fair she thought as she watched Jeff being very attentive to Claire.
"Claire take a seat I don't want you to get tired standing for too long." Jeff said, as he gently guided Claire to the couch and motioned for her to sit down.
"Stop it Jeff!" Claire complained, "I don't want you to hover over me!"
"You have made me the happiest man in the world Claire," Jeff explained, "please do not deny me this small pleasure of hovering over you."
Claire looked at Abby and shook her head, "Men!" She laughed, "I don't know if I can take this for the rest of the pregnancy."
"You're very lucky Claire to have an attentive husband, most woman would kill to be in your shoes!"
"Why that's the best compliment anyone has ever said about me, thanks Abby." Jeff smiled from ear to ear, "Claire is my queen and she deserves the best of the best!"
***************
"Daddy can we go to the zoo," Stephan asked excitedly, "Alice says there are lions and tigers and bears there, and I want to see one in real life!"
"We can go wherever you like Stephan," Steven responded, "daddy took the day off today just to spend it with you."
"Thank you daddy." Stephan squealed with delight, and threw himself on his father.
Wrapping his arms around his boy, Steven's heart melted with joy. "Go tell Alice to dress you appropriately for the zoo, and we can leave as soon as you're ready!"
As Stephan ran excitedly up the stairs to find Alice, the door bell rang and Steven went to answer the door. To his dismay it was Victoria.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her.
"Is that how to greet your fiancé?" Victoria snapped, "and why didn't you pick me up for breakfast, or did you forget that too again."
"I forgot." Steven said and slammed the door shut.
"Let's go now, we can have brunch." Her smile froze when she noticed his bad mood.
"I cleared my schedule so I can take Stephan to the zoo today,"
Hatred filled her heart, she hated that brat with a passion, but she plastered a fake smile on her face and said, "what a lovely idea, I'm sure I can rearrange my appointments and come along."
Steven let out a harsh breath, "I'm spending quality time with my son, you can come next time."
"How am I supposed to get Stephan to like me if I don't spend time with him!" Victoria snapped.
"Since when have you every cared to spend time with him, he has been with me for almost a year and you never seemed interested or cared and now all of the sudden you want to spend time with him!"
"That's not true," Victoria came to her defense, "I have tried, honestly I have, just give me another chance, please?"
"We leave in half an hour!" Steven said, "go change and be back here quickly or we are leaving without you."
Victoria rushed out of the mansion to go home and change, she wanted to impress him by being the attentive step mother. She would do this just to win him over, but when she gets pregnant with Steven's child she was going to make sure that her child was number one in Steven's life, she thought, as she hastily drove herself to her condo.
**************
"Daddy can I have some popcorn?" Stephan's sweet little voice melted Steven's heart, "and can I also have cotton candy, pleeeeese."
"That's not good for you!" Victoria told him. "You should eat healthy foods and not garbage food!"
Steven looked at her angrily, and when Stephan ran up forward to see the elephants, Steven turned to Victoria and said, "You are not to tell Stephan what he can or can not have," Steven scolded, "let me take care of my son the way I want to, please! Stephan is not with me for long and I want him to enjoy his visits with me and if he wants to eat popcorn and cotton candy then so be it."
Offended by his words, Victoria bit back a retort, and turned around so Steven wouldn't see her tears, but Steven didn't notice nor did he care about her feelings, his main concern was his son and no one else.
"Daddy can we go see the lions and the tigers now?" Stephan begged, as he ate the last of his chocolate candy.
In response, Steven lifted his son and threw him over his shoulders and Stephan laughed, "Daddy I'm as tall as the giraffes are now!"
Victoria was seething behind them, as she tagged along, she was sick and tired of the zoo, Stephan and of Steven's behavior towards her, but she shut her mouth not wanting to give Steven any reason to call off the wedding.
Without warning, thoughts of Michael came into her mind, a man she had once fallen in love with. She had dumped him, because he wasn't successful enough for her, only to realize years later that he had become CEO of a huge company.
He was a wonderful fucker, she remembered how he would please her in bed and outside of it too. He was the one that got away, she frowned, she should have married him, but her father had pushed her for greater things in life. Truth was she still had love for this man, but knew that he wouldn't take her back even if she begged him. He had his pride just as much as she had hers.
*************
"Want to go walk in the park?" Bella asked, frustrated that Anthony wasn't taking her out anymore.
Anthony shook his head, "No I think I would like just to stay home and relax today, the entire week was hectic and I need some rest."
"It boring!" Bella complained, "can we at least play a board game?"
"Some other time perhaps," Anthony said, and lay himself on the couch and closed his eyes.
Bella was close to tears, but she stopped herself, for the last few months Anthony was not himself, she noticed how he didn't eat as much, and he slept more than usual. He was always quiet and reserved as if he had given up on life.
Her eyes opened up wide as a thought occurred to her, what if he is relapsing? What if he fell back into depression? She needed to talk to Steven as soon as possible, just in case her hunch was true, she thought, as tears glided down her face. She loved Anthony and prayed he was not sick again. Going into the other room, Bella retrieved her iPhone and called Steven.
"Hello?"
"Steven this is Bella," Bella said urgently, "I need to speak to you."
"What's up?"
"It's Anthony, I think something is wrong amd you told me to call you if I suspected anything abnormal."
Steven placed Stephan down, and told Victoria to keep an eye on him before responding to Bella, "What have you seen that has you upset?"
"Well, he doesn't eat, he doesn't want conversation, he always sleeps when he comes home, and doesn't ever want to go anywhere."
"That's not good Bella," Steven said, "Do not do or say anything to upset him."
"I would never do that!" Bella said.
"I know, but please be extra careful so we don't have another relapse." Steven warned, "I will be there as soon as I can."
"Please hurry, I'm scared!" Bella admitted, "I love him Steven and I don't want him to suffer."
"I know," Steven said, knowing that Bella was good for Anthony.
When Steven ended the call he turned to face his son, "Stephan we have to leave now, but I promise to bring you back soon."
The sad expression on Stephan's face tugged at Steven's heart, but he had other pressing matters to deal with and had no choice but to take his son and Victoria and go home.
Stephan was quiet the entire ride home, "You all right buddy?" Steven asked.
"I didn't even get to see the lions and tigers!" Stephan's lips pouted, "can I at least have Macdonalds and ice cream for dinner!"
Steven smiled, "You can have anything you want, I will be home for dinner and take you to Macdonalds."
"Yeah!" Stephan smiled, "thank you daddy!"
Victoria rolled her eyes, she was angry as hell, and wanted to tell Steven off, but dared not, she reminded herself that she needed to play along until she gets with child and then she would make his life a miserable hell, she thought angrily, Steven was a pig and she was going to screw him over soon.
**************
When Steven dropped off Victoria and Stephan, he rushed over to Anthony's condo. "How is he?" Steven's asked as soon as he walked through the doorway.
"He is still asleep," Bella remarked, "but he slept the entire night and all through this morning and afternoon!"
"That not good Bella," Steven said, "how long is this been going on?"
"A few months now."
Steven stopped in mid track and turned around, "Why didn't you tell me right away, you know how important this is!"
"It started out slowly, I didn't suspect anything until today," Bella said to her defense.
Raking his fingers through his thick mane of raven hair, Steven asked, "where his he?"
"In there." Bella pointed to the second bedroom.
Steven wasted no time as he rushed to Anthony's side, "Anthony?" He called out, "Anthony wake up!"
Anthony stirred and reluctantly opened his eyes, "Hey what's up?"
Pulling a chair and sitting next to him, Steven got over emotional when he noticed the dull and lifeless look in Anthony's eyes, "Why are you sleeping at this hour and on this beautiful day? Get your ass up we're going out!"
"I really don't feel like it, I think I'll pass on that and get a rain check."
Even his voice sounded depressed, Steven was alarmed, "I'm not taking no for an answer!"
"I'm not going anywhere, go away!" Anthony closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep again.
"Damn!" Steven cursed and lifted himself to his feet, turning to Bella, he barked an order, "leave this room!"
Bella hurried out of the room and Steven sat back down on the chair and leaned close to Anthony and said, "Anthony, wake up!"
"Go away please let me rest!"
"You have been resting too much Anthony, get up Claire is here!"
With those words Anthony opens his eyes and jumped out of bed, "Where is she?"
Steven cursed under his breath, "She's not here!"
The disappointment in Anthony's eyes told Steven everything he needed to know, "You're hung up on her again."
"I can't help it, she like a drug in my veins!" Anthony confessed, "I love her Steven and I can't get her out of my mind!"
"I thought you love Bella!"
"I do, but it's not the same."
Steven knew exactly what Anthony meant, wasn't he too still in love with Abby, no matter how much he has tried to shake her out of his mind, she was still there dominating his every thought, "Do you want me to call her and tell her to come here and visit with you?"
Anthony's eyes lit up, "Yes!"
Steven wasted no time, he grabbed his iPhone and called Claire, it was the last thing he wanted to do, but under the circumstances he had no other choice, his friends life depended on it.
"Hello?"
"It me Steven."
"Is something wrong," Claire concern was evident in her voice, "is Anthony alright?"
"No he is not," Steven responded, "I want you to come here asap!"
"What happened?"
"He's in danger of having another relapse," Steven explained, "and it is crucial you come here as soon as possible, or I'll hold you solely responsible if anything happens to him!"
"I'm coming." Claire confirmed.
************
"Who was that and where will you be going?" Jeff asked, as he walked inside the room and stared point blank at Claire.
"It's Anthony," Claire told him, "Steven's thinks he is going to have another relapse, and he wants me to go there to help Anthony."
"What!" Jeff bellowed, "are you insane!"
"Stop it Jeff, I'm going and you can't stop me!" Claire declared, "if anything happens to him I shall never forgive myself!"
"I'm not going to let you fly out to California to be with Anthony!" Jeff snapped.
"It's not you're call!" Claire argued, "I'm going amd that's final!"
"Are you serious, you are my wife and pregnant with my child, it is not safe for you to be flying across America by yourself in your condition, nor is it the right thing to do!" Jeff pointed out. "You will not go end of discussion!"
"I'm going Jeff," Claire said Adamantly, "and no one including you can stop me, I won't let you! If anything happens to him I will feel responsible, and besides I love him, and don't want him to suffer!"
**************