I had just finished with my first meeting of the day when my phone rang. I looked at it and saw that it was the house calling. I excused myself and stepped out into the fresh, salty air. “Hello?”
“Mr. Reigns, it’s Karen.”
I could tell by the tightness in her voice that something was wrong. “What is it, Karen? What’s happened?”
“I’m not supposed to be calling you. She didn’t want to disturb you…”
“Karen, just tell me what is wrong.”
“Victoria’s waters broke. She’s on her way to the hospital.”
“Oh my God, alone?”
“She said she would call her roommate, but for now, yes, she’s alone.”
“Damn! Okay, thanks for calling me, Karen.” I hung up and called my pilot. “How long before you could file a flight plan and get me home?”
“We could leave within the hour, sir.”
“Okay, but the sooner the better, alright? I’m headed to the airport now. Get everything ready.”
“Yes sir.”
I hung up with him and called Cassie. She was out of the beach, of course. “What is it, Alex? We don’t leave until tomorrow. Why are you bothering me?”
“I have to go home,” I told her.
“What? Now? Why?”
“Victoria is in labor.” I heard the hesitation. All along I had wondered if she’d figured it out… or heard the rumors.
“So why does that involve you?” she finally said. She sounded reluctant to ask, but it was a fair question. This wasn’t the way I’d wanted to do this, but it had to be done.
“Cassandra, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before.” I was already stepping into the back of the car that would take me to the airport. “The baby is mine. Victoria and I were together one time…”
“You bastard! You cheating slime!”
With a sigh I conceded in my head she had a right to be angry. Taking another deep breath I said, “I didn’t cheat. You and I were in the middle of divorce proceedings. I slept with her. She got pregnant. I wish I could tell you I was sorry, so that you would feel better… but I’m not.”
The airport was only ten minutes away. We were already driving up to the hangar when she said, “This is what that stupid nursery was about! You knew all along and you had ample opportunity to tell me you lying, cheating bastard!”
I stepped out of the car and said, “You have a right to be upset, Cassie. But I won’t stand for you calling me names. When you get home, we’ll talk about this and figure it out.”
“I’m not raising that maid’s brat!”
“You would never be expected to,” I told her. “Victoria will be raising her child and I will be there to help her as much as she needs.”
“You’re insane! You’re married! Do you know what the tabloids will do with this?”
“I don’t care. I’ve thought about this a lot, Cassie. You know as well as I do that you and I are not going to last forever. We may as well just cut our losses now. I want to try and make it work with Vicki and our child.”
“You’ll be very, very sorry Alex! You’ll rue the day you met that manipulative little tramp!”
With a low growl I didn’t even know I possessed I said, “You can call me what you like. Do not ever refer to my child as a “brat” again, or his mother as anything other than the beautiful lady she is.” Before she was able to spew any more ugliness, I hung up. Strangely, I felt better than I had in a very long time.
VICTORIA