Always the Bride

18. A Breakthrough

Hi guys, I don't usually do this but I'm updating from my phone. Sorry for any formatting issues, this is new for me as I always update on my laptop. I'll check it out over the weekend and fix any issues. Also sorry for the delay. I hope this chapter makes up for lost time. Remember to vote and comment. Enjoy!

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I'm going to murder Jamie. What the hell gave him this idea?

It's been three weeks since his so called 'ingenious' plan. Mind you, he is the one who calls it ingenious. Personally I think it's the stupidest plan ever. You will never in a million years guess what it is. Wait for it...

He's going to give us a baby. Yes you heard right.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And the million dollar question is: how is he going to do it? Well, it turns out one of his one night stands is up the duff. She doesn't want the baby and neither does he. Not wanting to abort it, she has decided to give it up for adoption. His plan involves us adopting it and claiming it as our own. Can you believe it? He wants Russell and I to adopt his bastard child.

Oh and don't forget this is without Mr and Mrs Fellows knowing anything about it. Around the time I'm supposed to 'start showing' I will have to wear a fake pregnancy belly when I'm around the family. When the baby is born, Jamie will forge the birth certificate documents then if Mr and Mrs Fellows demand a DNA test he will forge that too.

How did it get to this? All I wanted was a bit of fun. Is this my punishment? Is Jamie purposely making my life a living hell because of what I'm doing? I haven't been able to ask him because ever since that night he's been avoiding me. Or have I been avoiding him? Either way we're avoiding each other.

There is an upside to this. I still got my wedding gifts. My god they are beautiful things. As insane as Russell's family is, they certainly know how to give good gifts. Everything I got had a brand name. They're now sitting in my spare room at my unit. If I'm ever angry at Jamie, which has been frequently in recent days, I just stand in the room for a few minutes and a sense of calm washes over me.

The other upside is Russell. He's such an amazing guy and I find myself wanting to be around him. We've become really good friends but there is definitely no spark there. He's like the brother I never had. He hates the idea of the baby too but while we have no other way out of it, we have to go along with it. His family was surprisingly forgiving about his outburst and happily accepted him back once he agreed to their terms.

On the quiet though, he told me he was going to read through the family contract with a fine tooth comb and see if there was any way out. He hasn't said anything to me yet so I'm presuming there's nothing. Either that or he just hasn't had time to go through the whole thing. I hope he finds something soon because I really don't want to adopt a baby. It will ruin my plans of only hanging around for a year.

There is another downside though. I haven't had time in the last three weeks to even consider my next marriage. And you know what? One part of me doesn't want to. These issues with Russell have tainted it. What should have been a little bit of 'harmless' fun has turned into a nightmare. When I start to think seriously about stopping, I break out into a cold sweat. Thoughts of Marcus invade my mind and my heart breaks all over again. I then realise I can't stop.

With a deep sigh, I flop back onto my bed and close my eyes. My insides are churning and waves of doubt keep coursing through me. I don't know what to do and I feel so uptight. Life was never meant to get this complicated. How hard is it to settle down with that one person? For me, obviously it's impossible.

Opening my eyes again, I stare up at the ceiling and breathe out a large sigh. Out of nowhere, tears burn my eyes and I blink a couple of times to control them. I don't want to cry, I need to be in control. I chose to do this and I can't stop now. The stupid thing is, when it's working fine, it does what it should...it keeps my mind off Marcus. But when it's not working, like now, I'm a mess.
It's Friday night and thoughts of hitting the town run through my mind but I can't bear the thought. What if I bump into Marcus? Or even worse Gregory? He's kept his distance but I fear it'll only be a matter of time before he contacts me.