THE DECEIVED WIFE

CHAPTER SEVEN.

For the twins, a preschool designed to meet international standards had been built on the island, and Lisa had taken on the responsibility of driving them to and from school. Normally, Leo would be the first one to leave her side upon reaching school, but today was different. Lily was the first one to kiss her mother goodbye and skip into class while Leo stayed behind, a visibly troubled look on his face, and with his hands clasped behind his back, the young boy looked too much like a brooding miniature of Lisa, it was uncanny.

Crouching down, Lisa asked, "Is anything wrong?"

Her son didn't speak right away.

"I can't help you if you don't let me know what's wrong," Lisa said gently.

Leo chewed on his lip before saying reluctantly, "I saw Mommy crying in the bathroom."

Ah.

"I don't like seeing Mommy sad," the boy added fiercely, his gaze bright with tears.

Lisa patted her son's head. "I understand. I don't like seeing Mommy sad, too." But the problem was, Lisa knew the reason behind his wife's sadness...and it was her.

Looking into her son's eyes, Lisa said seriously, "I'll do my best to cheer her up when I get back home."

Leo frowned, as if not entirely trusting his father was up to the task. "Promise?"

Lisa almost smiled. "Promise."

"Okay." Leo reluctance was obvious in his tone, and watching her son enter the school's premises, Lisa knew by the way Leo still had his head bowed that the matter hadn't been completely settled in his mind.

Returning to the limousine, Lisa surprised her chauffeur by telling him to drive home instead of the resort. Settling back in her seat, Lisa closed her eyes, unable to stop herself from thinking back on the months that had gone past.

Several months had passed since Rosie's birthday, and Lisa knew now that she had not been as successful as she thought she had in hiding her emotions from Roseanne.

Roseanne might not have known why Lisa had changed, but Rosie had noticed the change.

And it started, Lisa thought heavily, the night of her birthday, when she had told Lisa about Ana's divorce.

That night, Lisa had made love to Roseanne almost mechanically, arousing both of them with practiced ease, but Lisa had known her heart hadn't been in it. Lisa had hated herself for it, but she hadn't been able to stop it.

Ana was getting a divorce.

The words had repeated over and over in her mind, and she had lain awake that night, thinking about a thousand what-if scenarios. They varied a lot, from Ana crying on her shoulder, to her pretending to bump into Ana in Beverly Hills. But one thing that all those scenarios had in common was that if Lisa did anything to contact Ana, it would break her wife's heart.

Even if Lisa only wanted to talk to her ex, even if she would never betray Rosie, Lisa knew that her wife would never understand, and a part of Lisa started to resent Roseanne for it.

The more rumors Lisa heard about Ana's controversial divorce spread, the more she wanted to talk to Ana, and the more she began to hate the shackles of marriage.

But of course Lisa hadn't told Roseanne anything about it, because even she herself knew that she was being unfair.

When she came back home, panic stirred inside her when the butler told Lisa that her wife was not at home.

"And where is she?" It took everything in Lisa to keep her voice even. If her wife had left her, Lisa thought, what would she do?

Then she heard the butler say, "She is visiting her godparents, Mistress Lisa."