Proserpina
Matters came to a head when a truck rolled up the drive one evening. I had been inside, resting in the coolness of my room, my feet on a stool. This pregnancy was draining me and the environment I was in only made me feel worse.
The truth was that I felt threatened, insecure.
Would I be forced to leave?
Without my children?
The sight and smell of food made me sick, and I ate sparsely. I opted to eat separately after my children had had dinner with Gaston. Although he must have noticed, he never asked about it. He had probably put it down to my reluctance to share the same room with him, even if it was for a meal.
***
Now, leaning back in the huge armchair that I had got the men to shift into my room, I watched in mild consternation as a large truck rolled down the driveway purposefully. Soon, the driver leaped down and a couple of husky young men began to unload something onto the lawn. A few of the ever-present security men were standing by, watching closely.
I sat up, puzzled. It looked colorful...I gaped as I realized what it was.
A Fun Fort, complete with steps and a curving slide, the kind you find in parks.
***
What? I asked myself and then realized what was happening when I saw Ria and Piers race across from the kitchen to the lawn, followed by the maids who were huffing as they tried to keep up with the enthusiastic youngsters. My twins were whooping, Ria was leaping about, screaming in joy while Piers followed his lead enthusiastically.
Tony Beston, who was in charge of the security of the house appeared and I heard him mention Gaston's name. The Boss, he kept saying and it hit me like a thunderbolt.
My lowlife husband had just scored a major hit by getting my kids a Fun Fort set, complete with swings and even a see-saw. He had done this to spite me, I fumed.
Now he would have the twins on his side if it came to throwing me out, leaving me utterly alone!
My blood boiled as I rose to my feet, furious.
***
I knew Gaston was in the house along with Schwartz and Shark, his trusted friends and partners. We had not seen each other but the sounds of the men were loud enough to carry through the house. And when the Boss was home, there was an air of urgency around. He had left for the Club earlier in the morning and had come back a little after lunch. There had been a few men who had driven away from the house a while ago.
Enraged as I was, my feet carried me of their own volition to Gaston's study. The plain pink cotton dress I wore billowed around me, effectively hiding my growing stomach from not-so-astute eyes. I was devoid of any makeup and my hair swung in a loose ponytail, making me look younger than the twenty-three-year-old I was.
It was evening, a little after four o'clock and I could hear low voices as I flung open the door forcefully without knocking; the sounds of Gaston's rasping rumble, Schwartz's drawl, and of course, Shark's nasal twang.
The three men turned to look at me in disbelief and surprise as I stood there.
No one was allowed to go anywhere near the den when Gaston and his friends were in the house.
Surprise, surprise, I thought as I pushed the stray tendrils of hair from my hot face, and glared straight at Gaston St Claire.
The Golden Rule has been broken.
***
After a small pause, while he stared at me, his narrowed eyes taking in my flushed face and resting on my heaving breasts, Gaston growled,
'What is it? What do you want?'
I slammed the door- that got their attention- and said in a firm voice,
"Gaston, I want to talk to you.'
His friends were now staring at me in undisguised bewilderment. They had never heard me raise my voice; I generally preferred to blend into the background when they were around.
Now the sharpness of my voice startled them.
Gaston sat unmoving in his large leather chair, heavy-lidded eyes watching me steadily, coldly.
'Come back later.' He said in an insulting tone that brooked no arguments,' I'm busy now.'
He raised the now ubiquitous tumbler of Scotch to his lips and lowered his head, going back to his work. Shutting me out, ignoring me although he must have realized from the state that I was in, there was something that had got me worked up.
His utter indifference and disregard for my feelings riled me.
That really made me lose my temper.
***
I turned to the side of the room where an obviously expensive array of bottles, all containing the finest alcohol stood, arranged in the carved wooden cabinets.
His precious collection of alcohol, I thought.
Stepping across, I raised my arm, grabbed one of the bottles, and threw it onto the floor with all the force I could muster. It smashed into pieces, the liquid spreading over the heavy white carpet, the smell of the alcohol filling the air.
'What the F*ck!' roared Gaston, rising to his feet aggressively but I was beyond fear.
Meeting Schwartz's raised brows and keen eyes and then those of Shark who was gaping at me, I said softly,
' Please leave. I am going to drop each of these bottles on the floor until my husband is free to talk to me.'
For effect, I grabbed the neck of another bottle and stood, my head uplifted proudly, breathing heavily, staring at the men, waiting.
Gaston was up and round the table, roaring but Schwartz held him back.
"C'mon, Shark. Looks like the little lady means business,'
Holding the other man's arm, he left the room without glancing at me.
***
The door shut behind them quietly and I became aware that Gaston was staring at me with undisguised fury.
I casually dropped the bottle of expensive vintage whiskey I was holding, onto the floor and watched in some satisfaction as the stain spread.
Gaston was on me in a minute, slamming me against the wall, his arms imprisoning me.
"The f*ck was that about?' He snarled.
I was no longer afraid of him. On the contrary, I relished the fact that I had got through to him.
***
Totally undaunted, I threw back my head and glared back at him as I hissed,
'Are you trying to bribe my twins, you manipulative, man-whore?'
He stared at me, his eyes narrowing in stupefaction, arms dropping to his sides as he looked at me. He had never expected me to speak to him in that way. But I had just begun and my fury was raging.
Stepping closer, taking the advantage of his surprise as my advantage, I pounded his chest with my fists and shouted,
"You low lying creep! You can't keep it in your pants, you have to have all the whores in the world and now you want to turn my babies against me? How dare you? How dare you???" I screamed, my eyes glistening with tears of fury.
'What did you call me?' He said in a quiet voice, his eyes like cold chips of steel.
'You are a perverted, disgusting old man, a dirty old creep who wants to stick it in every whore,' I cried, jabbing my finger into his chest as I spoke, emphasising each word. I went on before he could speak,
'You want me to run away defeated, you want to take my children away from me!' Now my tears were flowing unchecked. All the unhappiness that I was feeling rose to the fore in a tidal wave that could not, would not be stopped.
' I never asked you to marry me,' I cried, gripping his shirt in my small hands, shaking him with all my strength, unable and uncaring that he could hear the sadness in me,
'I loved you but I ran away because I knew you would never accept my children. I was unimportant to you; just a toy to use and discard when you were done.'
He took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving my face as he said in a soft voice full of menace,
'They are my children too. Aren't you forgetting that?'
'Yes,' I taunted, pounding his muscular torso with my heart breaking,
"Yes, it took you a DNA test to figure that out though, didn't it And now, all of a sudden, you want to take over them, want to push me out of their lives, don't you, you filthy ...' I did not know of any appropriate abuses to use and I hit him on his hard chest ineffectively, Suddenly a feeling of exhaustion swept through me, a result of my bravado and all the yelling I had done.
Abruptly the fight seemed to go out of me as wave upon wave of giddiness struck me. I put out a hand for balance. As I felt my legs give way under me.
A cloud of blackness seemed to engulf me and I slid into welcome darkness.
***