When the day met the night

31

I looked at my reflection, turning this way and that, I was always critical of my appearance but even more so now. Hands were pulling clothes on and off spinning me around, pinning sides and shoulders. I was fed up, Marco and Antonio kept touching my bump as though they wished they could move it out of the way, they'd made a special trip over to help me dress for the week of appearances, thankfully the last one was tonight. "I like this but it's too low cut" I said for the fourth time, "but it looks great it accentuates your cleavage" said Marco, "okay, I'm not planning on having my boobs spill out" I huffed, jared walked in the room, his eyes lit up, "Harper you look gorgeous" he came over and kissed me. "I told you" smirked Antonio, I shot him a foul look. "It's too low cut, don't you think?" I said, "no not really" he ran his fingers along the top, that simple gesture reminded me of the first time we'd been together, my eyes met his and he gave me a scorching look. "I remember.." he murmured looking at me knowingly, desire shot through me straight to my groin. "Okay then this one"' I said finally looking away. "Yay! It's beautiful you'll look gorgeous" they said clapping their hands. They shooed him away so they could finish getting me ready. Once I was done, I thanked them all and walked out to find Jared. He was standing at the desk in his office, looking at some documents, I knocked on the open door and he looked up. He gave me the most beautiful smile, he looked gorgeous, black jacket, white shirt open just enough to show off his impressive chest and his hair loose, artfully messy and beautiful as always. "You look amazing, so sexy" I said practically drooling. "Thanks, I was about to say the same thing" he walked over to me, kissing me softly. "Thank you" I smiled. "Okay selfie" he grinned. So we posed and he took the photo on his phone. "Okay I'm posting this so don't flip" "really? I can't handle all that horrible stuff they say" I said, biting my lip. "Too bad, don't worry about it I've told you that" he said, tapping away on his phone then he put it in his pocket and said, "okay let's go". We walked out and got into the waiting car. My stomach was in knots but I turned on my smile as we approached the drop off. "Okay, just smile, you look beautiful, if we get separated don't panic I'll find you" "I'll be fine, don't worry about me" I smiled acting more confident than I felt. He got out first offering his hand so I could get out. The cameras went insane, flashes were almost blinding, the interviewers pounced, they went straight to the pregnancy gossip. Asking how I was feeling, how he felt about being a father, he was the consummate performer, giving them snippets but never really divulging very much. We made our way in. Jared fielding off further questions. Once the show was over, we walked around for a while, talking to different people. A short time later, I made my way to the bathroom. When I came out I saw a woman touching up her make up, I'd seen her in old photos on Jared's arm. "Well hi there" she said smiling politely but definitely with a look of scorn. "Hello" I said simply, "so you managed to catch the elusive Jared, I'm impressed, we all tried but" she put on a pretend low voice, "he never does stick around for too long, tends to lose interest quickly, but then you might be able to hold his attention a bit longer, very clever of you to trap him like that" she pointed to the bump with disdain. I was taken aback, before I could even get a word out, she gave me a fake smile and flounced off. I was gobsmacked, I stood there for a couple of minutes the blood rushing out of my face. I put my hands protectively on the bump and stood there for a few minutes until I could control my emotions. I pulled myself together and slowly walked out. Jared glanced over at me smiling then looked back, "what's wrong?" he whispered, I held back my shock and tears to say calmly, "nothing, I'm fine why?" "You look pale as anything do you feel okay?" he said frowning, "of course I'm fine" I assured him turning to talk to the person next to me, but inside I had shriveled up. Thank God it was almost over, I couldn't wait to get out of there, as I walked around chatting with people I couldn't help thinking about what she'd said, I know Jared had gone through lots of women, what made me think I was any different? The baby? he'd still get to see it even if he decided he was bored of me. I pushed the thought away sadly. "Do you want to go to a party?" He said smiling, "um I'm not really feeling up to it, but if you want to go that's fine" I said my smile still firmly in place. "No that's okay we can go home" he said smiling sweetly at me. I breathed a silent sigh of relief at being home. I changed and went downstairs to make some tea, while he changed and showered. I was so tired of the constant hate online and now it was being tossed right in my face. I just wanted to go home. At least in London I could lose myself in the crowd, I could hide. I had my friends and I could escape. My phone rang startling me out of my thoughts, it was his mom. "You looked beautiful, did you enjoy it?" I didn't say anything for a moment or two prompting her to say, "what's wrong honey? Are you okay?" I quickly blurted out the entire account of what had happened in the bathroom. "Oh my God, what a horrible bitch that woman is, I always disliked her, you don't believe a word she said did you?, "what if it's true" I whispered, "did you tell him?, "I didn't say anything I didn't want to ruin his night" I sniffed, "I'm going home, I don't fit in here, I never have and I doubt that I ever will, I will never get used to the hate that's gets tossed at me, simply because of the person I fell in love with" I said sadly. "Just talk to him, tell him what happened" I heard a noise behind me, standing at the door to the lounge was Jared. "I have to go, I'll talk to you tomorrow?" "okay honey" and we hung up. I put on a smile. "Don't bother, I heard the whole thing, who were you talking with?" he had an frown on his face, "it was your mom" I said in a flat voice, my smile finally dropped. "Why didn't you say something". "You heard all of it so I won't bother repeating myself" I said in a defeated voice. "Do you really believe that, when have I ever given you any reason to doubt how much I love you" he said, I shrugged. "You haven't, but who's to say that won't change, our life is about to change dramatically, what if you decide it's not what you want? You can walk away, I don't have that luxury ..." I said trying to hold back the tears. "No one can predict the future Harper" he snapped, "you've tired of others before me Jared" I murmured, shaking my head, he growled. "Yes and so have you, so don't even use that on me!". I wish things were different ..." I sighed. He strode over to stand in front of me, "when you say that, what do you mean, me, us, the baby" his voice had turned to ice. I didn't speak for a moment. "Tell me!" he said raising his voice, I got a fright and I gasped, "don't raise your voice please" I snapped, "answer me!" he yelled again, I stood up turning away to get out of his sight, I felt him take hold of my arm, "don't fucking walk away!" I turned pulling my arm out of his grasp. "Tell me, how would you feel if a guy I'd fucked cornered you and told you, I'd get sick of you eventually and I'd cast you aside? You never said it couldn't happen, you said no one can predict the future! Is that because maybe there's a kernel of truth there?" I shouted back. "Don't presume to know what I'm thinking, and don't put words in my mouth" he said through gritted teeth. "Maybe it's the truth, some habits are hard to break" I said shaking my head. He didn't speak for a moment, but that spoke volumes to me. I turned and left the room, he didn't stop me this time.