Chapter 5
When she got home, she picked up the magazine from the door way and went inside she took a cup of coffee with her. Just as she expected, the magazines were mentioning her, they were curious about the mystery dame who modeled Mr. Swan’s dress the night before.
With her face on the front page and a story of how she was there, for a moment and gone the next. Julie came next to her, “what are you looking at?”
Cassandra, turned the magazine towards her and pointed to herself on the front page, “that, is just what I was afraid of,” she placed it down on the table.
“You don’t look the same you did, five years ago, heck, you don’t even look the same as you looked a few days ago, and this doesn’t have your name is mentioned but, who says he would even read it?”
“You’re right, I just have to stop thinking about it, everything is alright, hey! How’s it going with your secret admirer? Are you meeting him today?”
“Yes, but only if I have time.”
“What do you mean? aren’t you going to multi task?”
“Of course, but I still have to finish my studies first before I go…”
“None sense you can do both, remember?”
“I’ll have to start right now if I want to have time, but my tutor is not yet…”
The doorbell rang and she answered it, it was a letter for Cassandra, the butler hand it, the envelope to her, “it’s from the gentleman outside, he says he knew you, from years ago.”
“What is his name? Did he say?” They asked in unison, nervously, don’t let it be, don’t let it be.
The butler turned to the stranger waiting outside the gate, “no, he said it would be a nice surprise for you ma’am, he specified he knew you, Ms. Cassandra Hopkins.”
They looked nervously at each other, Julie looked at her, “don’t worry, I’ll say my name is Cassandra, I don’t think he ever met me and that way if it is him, he’ll go away, once he sees it’s not you.”
“Are you sure it’ll work?” She was trying to stop her from making a mistake.
“I’ll be fine, the worse that can happen is he recognizes me and I’ll tell him you don’t live here, so don’t worry, I’ll help you.”
The butler was surprised, all he could do was look at Julie and back at Cassandra, wide eyed. “Ma’am is there something going on? If I may ask… I thought he was a friend, of yours.”
“You’re right,” Cassandra looked up at him with sadness in her eyes, “he was, until he betrayed me five years ago.”
“I’m sorry, if I should’ve known then I shouldn’t have told him, this was your place.”
“It’s ok, Mr. Wilson you didn’t know.”
Mr. Wilson left to check on Julie, and Cassandra followed to the window, the man left and Julie came back. Cassandra was looking at her, “well?”
“It wasn’t him it was his brother Nicholas, but he said Thomas was here, and he wouldn’t stop looking for you, he gave me this letter for you,” she handed her the letter.
Cassandra took the letter with her name on it but not from who it was, she took a deep breath and opened it. Julie was curious to see what it said, as she read aloud to let her hear:
Dear Cassandra,
I know this letter might come as a surprise to you, but I wanted to meet you… there’s a lot I want to tell you, please give me a call.
Sincerely, Thomas.
She closed it, her face was drained pale and her eyes were wide, “he knows, where to find me, he knows I live here.”
“Actually, there is one way, I’m thinking right now, maybe if you were to call one of these magazines, and let them interview you, let them know a little about the mystery lady, and you can give them another address, say you have been living in another country like Paris, or London.”
“No! I have to do this, the magazines will just get into my life and they’ll start to write about Thomas as well, and I want my son to be able to be a normal boy, with a normal life, I don’t want him growing up in riches and emptiness.”
She got her phone, “if I talk to him he doesn’t have to find out about Thomas, I won’t tell him that, but I also want to her what he comes up with, I won’t meet him here, so don’t worry.”
The doorbell rang it was Mr. Thompson, and he went up stairs with Julie to the library. Maybe she would have time to meet her secret admirer after all.
Cassandra, went to dial the number Thomas left her. “Hello, is am I talking to Thomas?”
“Yes, hello Cassandra it’s been so long… I have to meet you, are you at home right now?”
“I actually don’t live there, my friend does, she gave me your note and, I just wanted to tell you not to call me again, I’ll listen to you, but it will be the first and the last…”
“Cassandra, it’s important that you know…”
“I’ll talk to you in one hour, at the same spot where we had our last date, remember? Where you were suppose to tell me you were leaving but decided, to make me your laughing stock, I have a life Thomas! So you meet me there in an hour.”
“Fine! I’ll be there, ok?”
She left to the same coffee shop, where she worked for five years straight, but no one recognized her. She decided to sit outside to be the first to see him come, and wore glasses, to cover the sun from going into her eyes.
Mr. Winston recognized her, “hello Cassandra, what are you doing back?”
“Hi, Mr. Winston, I’m just waiting for someone, he is supposed to be here, and…”
“Good, I don’t want to see you back here to get a job, not that you weren’t good at it, but I think you can do better.”
Cassandra smiled, “thank you, Mr. Winston, I appreciated.”
Suddenly, Thomas was parking in front of the restaurant, he was in his car but Cassandra could feel his stare, glaring at her with those angry eyes. She turned and her smile turned sour when she saw him.
Mr. Winston turned, “well I’ll get back to work, but thank you for coming, you here!”
“Thank you Mr. Winston, I think he’s here, so I’ll let you go now.”
Mr. Winston got up and left to the kitchen, Thomas got out of his car and slammed his door hard. Cassandra didn’t move, but her face looked pale, he stood there looking at her, he didn’t know why he felt like this.
He came towards her, and he took of his glasses, “you’ve changed, what happen to us Cassandra?”
Cassandra looked confused, “excuse me? I think it’s obvious Thomas, people change and move on…”
Thomas sighed as he sat, “that’s not what I mean, I mean look at us we were in love but you…” he sighed.
“I what? I wasn’t the one who left, I wasn’t the one who decided to turn you into the laughing stock of the century.”
“Look it depends, I might have left you all those years ago but…”
“But, nothing, now hurry up will you I am a busy woman…”
“I found out what you were doing before, and I couldn’t go through with…”
“What are you talking about, look I don’t even care, what happened already happened and I can go back to change it, now can I?”
“No! I guess not! But I just wanted to understand, I mean before we left… I left why did you do it? Didn’t you love me?”
“Thomas you just lost me, I don’t know what you’re talking about, actually I thought you were going to explain everything to me,” she stood, “I’m busy so I have to leave but here, have a coffee.”
She put a five dollar bill on the table, and he grabbed her hand, “is this how you treat all your problems? Ok just answer me one question, is it true you were pregnant?”
Cassandra felt her heart sink, “excuse me? What are you talking about?”
“I heard it from one of your friends, what happen to the baby?”
Cassandra knew she couldn’t deny it, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either, she lowered her head, “ wait a minute you knew I was pregnant? I lost the baby, now can I go?”
Thomas, was shocked his face got pale and he let go of her hand, as he watched her leave. She didn’t want to show off her feelings in front of him, she drove off, and waited to be far from his sight to let her tears flow.
She called her sister, to tell her what had happened, and she said that she would meet her at home. When she got home Julie opened the door, “hey I heard, and I was waiting for you to see what happened.”
“He knows, well he thinks I lost our baby, so he shouldn’t bother me anymore.”
“But how did he find out?”
“He said he heard it from a friend, I think that was his only reason to be here, so I hope he’ll go away.”
“I think if you go back, who did you tell exactly?”
“No, idea, I lost that list, and I told everyone I called…” she started to cry, “I lied to him, I told him that I lost our baby, I just didn’t want him to find out, but it was strange really, he was blaming me? What right does he have?”
“What? Why would he blame you?”
“I don’t know, but he hated me when I told him that I blame him for leaving.”
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Thomas was visiting his parents, “hi mom and dad, how are you guys?”
His mother looked surprised, “when did you get here?” She sounded more shocked than she wanted to sound like, “come in,” she had her magazines on top of her coffee table, with Cassandra on the covers.
Thomas paused, when he looked at them, “what’s this?”
His mother shocked, covered her mouth, “I’m sorry I didn’t want you to see this.”
“No! it’s fine, I said I was over her, and I meant it, that is why I’m here, and since I’m here I will enjoy myself, I came to visit you guys.”
His mother didn’t believe him, “ok sweetheart, what’s really going on? I know you better, come on, spit it out, what happened?”
“Mom, I’m alright, I just wanted to spend more time with my parents…”
“I’m sorry it’s just that it’s been so long, you never came after you left for college not even for the holidays, and to tell you the truth you surprised me, but don’t get me wrong I just didn’t expect you, but you make me so happy, are you going to stay long?” Mrs. Johnson looked happy about her son, but knew that there was something else bothering him.
Thomas seemed as if he were happy but in the inside he knew he hadn’t gotten over Cassandra, when he saw her again he didn’t think he was going to fall in love with her all over again, and that bothered him.
After his friend Jacob told him how he’d seen her with someone else he was shocked she had played with his feelings, when she truly loved someone else. And he fell for it so easily, how could she have lied to him?
Jacob, was his friend he was her friend too, and it was because of him that they met and there was no reason not to trust him. His parents were right about her all along. He felt worse because he always wanted to prove them wrong.
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Cassandra had visitors, her mother, sister and her brother were there. They heard of what happened, “why not figure out what he was talking about? Maybe if you did then, you could at least figure out why he did what he did.”
“Well, what he said was strange I thought that he was going to explain himself, but when I was with him it was like he changed it and started to ask all this questions like it was my fault.”
They stared in amazement, they couldn’t believe what she was saying, Stanley broke the silence, he cleared his throat, “are you still in love with him?”
She turned red, “of course not! But I wasn’t expecting for him to even look for me, especially to ask if I had his baby! I had to lie to him, the day he left he left my son, to me, Thomas is my son not his.”
“Honey, honey, honey relax, it’s his too, he never knew about your pregnancy, how could he have…?”
“Mother! He had to know, I couldn’t very well tell Thomas that his father left. Thomas thinks his father died, and I don’t want to hurt him by telling him the truth!”
“But why would you tell him that?”
“I was the one who was with him through thick and thin, I was there when he got sick and I took care of him as best as I could, I had to work days and sometimes nights and now he thinks he can just come and take over? I don’t think so! I‘m not going to let him take my son away from me.”
“But how did he know?”
“I was shocked when he asked me about my baby, I told him that I lost him, how could he? I thought he never knew, and that is why I wanted to keep him and everyone away, but he knew and he still left.”
Everyone was shocked, Cassandra couldn’t help it, and her eyes field with tears, “I wish he would have never crossed my path again, why is he back?”
“Oh, honey, everything will be alright ok?” Olivia was hugging her daughter.
“Mother I don’t know if I can keep this up, his brother knows where I live, I’m sure that it will just be in a matter of time until he finds out about his son, and I have to do something, I told Thomas I didn’t live here, but I don’t think he would fall for it.”
“What are you thinking of?”
“Mother, have you ever thought of expanding your business, elsewhere? Like in another city or state or how about another country?”
“I think we have enough with this business first but I have a solution for you.”
“What is that?”
“Mr. Swan called me, he wants to hire you as a model you caused such a sensation, you’ll only be working once a month, but you will be traveling with your son, that way you know he’ll always be there with you, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t know mother, a model? I have no experience and…”
“And you still did grate, you have what it takes, if you are willing to do it, I think your friend Julie is ready to start working she will keep on studying but she is ahead and she can do both, at least when you’re not. You ”
“But I can’t keep traveling with my son, all the time it’s not good for him. He needs to be stable.”
“Hon, do you remember when I traveled a lot for work? I use to bring you with me, and you would have so much fun, it’ll only be once a month, why don’t you try it?”
Cassandra was thinking about it, “I have to admit I loved been there, but I don’t want to bring my son into that kind of world, I wanted him to have a normal childhood, he deserves it, and I’m not doing that to him, he comes first.”
Olivia looked hurt, “well I personally tried to be a good mother for you but you were my first, and…”
“Mother, thank you, you are a good mother, but my son has to be in a secure and established place, I need to…”
“Hon, you’re not moving it’s just once a month and for a few hours every month, you don’t have to think that you’re giving your son an unstable life. Look I just thought it would be good for you to get away while he is here.”
“I’ll think about it, but I’ll have an answer soon, I think you’re right, I’ve just need to clear my mind.”
“And talking about clearing your mind, aren’t you late? Your son is waiting for you!”
“Oh my god! I have to go, and pick up my son from school.” She left without waiting reply.