Vanessa decided to tell her friend the truth.
What was the point hiding it anyway? Marilyn was bound to find out sooner than later and it was best she find out from herself than from another source.
Clearing her throat uneasily, she said. "So I had an appointment around 6am with one Nicholas Carver and a Regina Brown. To be honest, I didn't give it much thought, but then when my assistant and I arrived at our meeting spot, I just had a bad feeling about the meeting, so I asked her to go in my stead."
Marilyn listened raptly and signaled for her friend to continue when she saw signs of hesitation.
Vanessa sighed. "It's not good, Lyn. Nicholas is getting married, and he's asking for my event planning team to plan the wedding." She took a deep breath, "Of course, I'm not going to take the offer though. I know how you felt abou—"
"You'll do no such thing, Ness. You're going to take that offer and I don't want to hear anything else." She was suddenly interrupted by her friend.
"But—"
"But nothing, Vanessa. It'll be a good opportunity for the business, and you're not going to refuse it because of me. Besides I'm good. I'm just worried he'll find out about Isa, and I can't have that." Marilyn replied, nervously biting her fingernails in the process. She tended to do that when she was anxious or worried.
Vanessa glanced sympathetically at her friend. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't find out about her, Marilyn." She knew her friend, and knew she was worried that Nick would get to find out about their daughter, but that was not going to happen. Not on her watch.
But with regards to the contract, she realised she had no choice but to agree, for she knew her friend and the stubborn woman wasn't going to change her mind, not even with the knowledge that it was going to be an uncomfortable situation for everyone, and so she said. "Alright Marilyn, I hear you girl. I'll take the offer."
Marilyn nodded. "Good. Now come over here and give me a hug. I could really use one now." They both laughed as Vanessa squeezed her best friend in a tight hug. She knew her friend had a storm coming her way, but Vanessa didn't want to talk about that now, not when she could tell that her friend had a lot on her mind. She grinned as she squeezed even tighter. "I've got you, girl. Always."
*******
Marilyn had been busy all day, work kept coming in in torrents, so much so that by 5pm, she was exhausted. She now had to drive home and with the 6pm traffic, she'd definitely be home by 8. She felt like a disappointment, for she had promised Isabel she'd be home earlier so they could hang out.
All through the drive home, Marilyn's mind kept flitting back to Nicholas no matter how much she tried to stop thinking about him. She wondered how he looked like now; if he had grey hair like she had started to have. It had been fifteen long years, and he was two years older than she was, meaning he'd be forty seven now. And he was going to get married.
Married.
How come he hadn't done so sooner? Her mind went back to when they were together. He had looked so in love with her.
Did their relationship not mean anything to him?
Did he even still remember her?
A tear slipped down her pretty face, and she angrily wiped it off.
No. She wasn't going to cry for a man.
Never again.
Nick could do whatever he wanted, she didn't care anymore.
Marilyn arrived home just as Melissa's nanny was dropping by to pick her home. For the past two weeks, the sweet, chubby teen had been spending all her afternoons at their place and to Isabel's delight, she was becoming more confident and assertive as the days passed.
"Good evening Mrs. McGill. How are you doing today?" Marilyn asked the older woman as she stepped into the hall.
"Evening Marilyn. I'm doing alright by His grace. I take it you had a busy day today right?" The older woman asked.
Marilyn sighed as she took off her heels.
"The busiest, Mrs. McGill. I didn't even realise it was late."
The two women exchanged small talk till Melissa came down and they had to leave. But before they could, Mrs. Appleby appeared from the kitchen asking Mrs. McGill if they could hang out the following day. The two women had gotten pretty close in the past two weeks. So much so that Mrs. McGill sometimes spent the whole day at the Appleby's abode after she dropped Melissa off at school.
Mrs. McGill beamed. "Of course, Adelaide. I have nothing doing tomorrow so it'd be a good respite for me."
Mrs. Appleby nodded gratefully. "Alright. You should get going then. Bye, Melissa, and Agnes don't forget to take your pills when you get home."
Mrs. McGill groaned noisily. "You sound just like Melissa, Adelaide. I really can't have two of you. Jesus."
Everyone laughed. It was nice to see that the older woman and her ward had repaired their relationship, and Marilyn was sure that was a factor for Melissa's newfound confidence and she couldn't help but feel glad.
After the duo had left, Marilyn quizzed her mother on her daughter's whereabouts.
"Oh. Isa? She's upstairs sulking. Apparently, someone broke her promise so..." Mrs. Appleby teased.
Marilyn decided to ignore her mother and go check up on her daughter, but before she could climb the stairs, her mother growled, "Don't even think about leaving your stuff on the couch today young lady. Because, I wouldn't say a word, I'd just fly them out of the house onto the streets where someone would find them and show them the appreciation they deserve."
Marilyn stopped in her tracks and made a U-turn for her belongings complaining incoherently like a child in the process. For real, her mother was too much of a neat freak sometimes.
After she had put her stuff in her room, she headed for her daughter's and with a brief knock she entered the room.
Isabel sat at the study desk reading a book not even glancing at her mum.
"Hey, Isa."
No answer.
"Won't you even look at me?"
Still no answer, not even a flick of the head in her mother's direction.
"I come bearing gifts." Marilyn continued pulling the tub of Pinkberry ice cream from behind her as she crept closer to her daughter. That seemed to do the trick, for the teenager stood up and inched closer to her mum with arms outstretched silently asking for the ice cream.
Marilyn laughed. "Well, no ice cream until I get a hug and a 'you are forgiven mummy.'"
Isabel sighed tiredly, pretending to be so bored, and put her arms around her mother who started to tickle her causing her to burst in a fit of giggles.
"Stop, mum. Stop it." She laughed helplessly. But her mum was relentless.
"You're forgiven, mummy." She said when the tickling had thankfully stopped and she had come down from her laughing fit.
"I'm very sorry Isa, I didn't realise time had flown by so fast." Marilyn apologised when their happy moment had cleared.
"It's alright, Mum. I wasn't really mad at you. I just felt hurt that you broke your promise."
Marilyn sighed and hugged her daughter again. "I'll try harder not to break my promise in future. At the very least, I'd call and let you know when something comes up."
Mother and daughter were close.
Pretty close.
Very, very close.
Perhaps it was because there was no father figure in young Isabel's life.
The thing was, Isabel had constantly asked where her father was, and Marilyn didn't have the heart to tell her daughter the truth for she had loved Nick very much… she still did, but she wasn't going to admit it to herself, and she didn't want the beautiful child they had both created to hate her father even though he had done such a despicable thing.
So she had lied.
Claimed it was a one night stand and that she didn't remember who her father was but assuring the teen that she was the best thing that could have ever happened to her, which was nothing but the truth. Her daughter was very smart, so they mostly had very mature conversations and all that.
The two got comfortable on the floor and dug into the ice cream filling each other in on what happened during the day, with past transgressions quickly forgiven and forgotten.
And just like that, another day ended.