The Winchester Gardens, Cemetery, Southport, New Jersey.....
Heavy drops splattered along the ground soaking into the now softening dirt and slick grass as Charlotte Freedman stood alone draped in black from head to toe she did her best to quell the numerous tears that streamed down her pale cheeks as she watched the silver casket that held the man she once loved as the pallbearers lowered him into the cold hard ground. She caught a glimpse of Savannah speaking with The Runnels and the strange handsome man dressed in black himself with familiar hazel eyes and a confident expression on his face. He had a neatly trimmed beard and seemed rather protective of Savannah who had appeared to know him. Charlotte placed a hand on her belly once more unsure if she should approach the girl and offer her condolences as Victor had been very particular about his maintaining secrecy about their on-and-off-again arrangement. Still, if the unborn child she had been carrying was indeed Victor's then Savannah had a right to know about her possible brother or sister and Charlotte concluded that she should pay her respects in person as a former colleague of Victor's and Savannah's teacher.
Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself as she tightly gripped the umbrella that kept the rain from soaking her attire completely and headed over toward the little group just as The handsome stranger and Savannah attempted to depart from the service with the sorrowful young teen looking back at her father's grave still not sure she was willing to put it all behind her.
The familiar hazel eyes of the handsome man of thirty-something caught Charlotte by surprise as she recalled having encountered a handsome man quite like him before...a month prior when she'd been out of it and heartbroken over Victor's constant routine of ignoring her and her feelings for him in favor of wallowing in pity about his deceased wife. She had a few drinks and he seemed to approach her from out of nowhere amid the dancing and bad music.
Presently, Charlotte could do little aside from staring at the man who seemed to stir all kinds of familiar and sensual feelings for her just as much as Victor had when he'd been alive. The handsome stranger with hazel eyes stood before her something of a pleasant expression filed across his face as he curiously took note of her and her hand resting on her belly. Savannah was busy looking back at her father's grave to notice her teacher appear.
"You look quite familiar," said Ron smoothly as his eyes flickered with something akin to desire as he treated the woman before him via a half-smirk. "Pregnancy does seem to suit you."
Charlotte had been at a loss for words as she glared at the handsome stranger in confusion.
"H-How did you know I was pregnant?" she asked in a near-on gasp.
He smirked once more his eyes flickering with a hint of mischief and recognition as he turned his attention back to her.
"Well I suppose I took a lucky guess, you were holding your belly," he replied smoothly his deep voice seemed to echo in her ears. "I'm Ron by the way, Ron Hemming...I take it that you knew Victor?"
Charlotte was caught off guard but nodded.
"Yes." she managed after some effort as a recollection of her time with Victor played back in her mind and reminded her of why she'd been in a cemetery in the first place. "Victor is...was a very dear friend of mine...how might I ask did you come to know him?"
"He's sort of my brother," replied Ron with a grin though it was short-lived. "I happened to be visiting when I heard about the tragic circumstances and seeing as I am next of kin...I was set to look after Vannah at his behest."
Charlotte recognized that Ron seemed familiar enough with Savannah to use her father's nickname for her in a casual manner. She seemed to relax a bit when the fourteen-year-old approached them taking hold of Ron's hand as she turned her attention to Miss Freedman.
"I'm sorry about what happened to your father," said Charlotte attempting to offer her condolences.
"Me too," replied Savannah in something of an emotionless tone. "I see you've met Uncle Ron."
Charlotte nodded in agreement.
"I suppose I have," she said once more thinking back to the handsome stranger that shared drinks with her before screwing her like a rabid animal well into the night in a darkened back alley.
She knew it was the same man, his scent...his demeanor and his apparent smirk had not changed since the night they met. A feeling of sorrow washed over her as she realized that there was a chance that Ron Hemming had sired her unborn child in place of her now-deceased lover Victor Harlowe. While she found it odd that they had two different surnames, she didn't find it uncommon. Then there was the prospect that her unborn child could be the possible nephew or niece of her deceased lover.
"Well we must be going," said Ron cutting the conversation short due to the weather.
The rain had not let up an inch as they stood in awkward silence the three of them not too far from Victor Harlowe's grave.
"I should be on my way as well," replied Charlotte as she looked into the eyes of the man who had been staring at her belly since she first approached him. "It was nice meeting you Ron Hemming...and good to see you again Savannah."
"Likewise," replied Savannah not in much of a mood for pleasantries.
Not when her father had been lowered into the ground so recently and the nightmare she believed she'd wake up from any day now would go on forever.
"The pleasure was all min," replied Ron in a charming tone as his hazel eyes flickered once more with mischief before shifting into an unseemly green hue.
Charlotte did not know what to say as she watched them step toward the parking lot and away from the cemetery while the rain continued to beat down on them all. Once more she found herself with many questions as she placed her hand back onto her belly. She was pregnant for about a month and didn't have the slightest idea which of these two "brothers" sired her unborn child.
She was very much in love with Victor Harlowe and found Ron Hemming to be quite a strange man and hoped that she'd been wrong and that the handsome stranger had not sired her child taking away the only other link she had with the man she loved whom had now been lost to her forever.
More tears streamed down her cheeks amid the pouring rain as she found herself looking back at Victor Harlowe's grave once Savannah and Ron had departed the cemetery for drier pastures. She had loved him so much, and yet he didn't even bother to acknowledge it when he'd been alive. After a few more moments of contemplation and attempting to guess which man had sired her child, Charlotte made her way home as she began to reorder her life as an expecting mother.
This baby was all she had with Victor gone and that made it all the more precious to her.