His Maid

Chapter 21

Damien Clark

It was quiet around the house. Marley was in the back garden with Rhys and I have no idea what James and Luke are doing. So here I was, pen in hand and a stack of paper in front of me ready to be signed. I shouldn't have put work off for so long but I have been wanting to spend time with Rhys and Marley. I was about to pick up my study phone to call my Secretary so she could send me over more work when there was a knock at my door. "Come in." I looked up from my work and saw James walk in, I smiled and put down my pen and took off my glasses. "James, what can I do for you?"

"Can we wait for Luke to get here before I talk? It is important for the two of you to know."

"Do I need to get Marley?" I ask, my tone becoming serious.

"No." He said all too quickly. "No, she doesn't need to know."

"Okay." I was hesitant. I can't keep anything from her, I'll have to tell her later when we are alone. "Where is Luke?"

"He told me he was going to be two minutes, he's making a cup of tea."

"Ah alright then." The silence that enveloped the room was definitely not welcome, it was awkward and even though it was silent, it was loud. You could sense the tension building in the air and if I had a knife I would cut it. I smiled awkwardly at James and he returned the same smile. Hurry up Luke please! I silently begged. As if he heard me he entered the room with a steaming cup of tea. "James, what was it that you want to talk to Luke and I about?" I ask.

"Well, I don't really know how to put it into words." Oh?

"Take your time James, this isn't a business meeting." I reassure him. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs.

"I know where I recognise Marley from." I adjust my sleeves around my wrists, un-cuffing them and rolling them up to the crook of my elbow. I lean forward so my back is no longer against the chair and I am now slouched slightly over my desk.

"Where do you recognise her from, James?"

"I knew her mother." I have a feeling I know where this is going. "Marley is my daughter." Fuck. "I think I have known for a few days now but I was just thinking it over, her age, what her mother looked like, the age difference between you and her. It all added up. She is an exact replica of her mother." A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. "You may not believe me but not having any contact with her was the worst decision I ever made." He turned to Luke.

"I loved your mother Luke a long time ago, but when I met Marley's mother, I don't know what it was but, it was like a moth to a flame. She was charismatic and beautiful... she was bewitching. I met with her a few times after our night together, when I was with her I forgot I was married it was as if I was 21 again just like she was, I was 36 when I met her. Our meetings were innocent and I started to get to know her a little but then your mother found out and I told Lillian, Marley's mother, that what we did was a mistake and that it would never happen again. I didn't speak to her for a month and then she turned up at my work and she told me she was pregnant.

"I didn't know what to do, so I told Katherine about the baby and she told me to choose between my marriage or Lillian, I chose Katherine, I already had Luke and I couldn't leave him with a broken home so I threw Lillian to the side and I told her I never wanted to see her again. I didn't even see Marley's birth. The next I heard of her she was dead and Marley was a young girl with no one and Katherine made me choose again, my marriage or my child. Again I chose Katherine and I have regretted that choice every single day of my life. Now I am fifty-five and I am hated in the eyes of my daughter." He finished. I lean back in my chair with a long sigh.

"I won't lie to you James, Marley doesn't hate you she just doesn't particularly like you either, but you can't expect her to like you, she went into an Orphanage at the age of seven, all she wanted was the chance to meet her father and ask him 'why' just one simple question."

"Damien you can't tell her, I can't have her hate me even more. I would rather start a fresh and just pretend I know her as your girlfriend and the mother to Rhys."

"James I am not keeping secrets from Marley, I can't, we are trying to work on our relationship and I will do everything in my power to make her trust me again, I'm sorry James but if that means I have to tell her this then I will. However, it will be better if it comes from you, she may want to get to know you on a father-daughter level." I avowed. He shook his head.

"She won't. Damien I know this puts a strain on you but please don't tell Marley that she is my daughter."

"Too late." We all turn to the door and see Marley with a smiling Rhys in her arms. Her hair was windswept, her face clear of any makeup and she was wearing a pair of light blue jeans with a grey baggy jumper.

"Marley." I say to her, begging her to come in so we can all talk. Luke is sat mute, as if he can't think of anything to say his gaze was darting from James, then to Marley and back to James.

"I'll be in our room Damien." She turns with a crestfallen look imbedded in her soft, silky skin and leaves us all in silence.

****

Marley Lea

I smile down at a beaming Rhys and decide that it is time to go back inside. "Shall we go and see daddy?" His smile widens and I can see the eight small teeth he has at the front of his mouth. "Yeah let's go and see daddy." I pick him up from the grass and brush his hands to get rid of any stray stands of grass from pulling at it.

I bounce him up and down in my arms as I walked up the stairs to the back door, I had left it slightly ajar so the kitchen was freezing when I stepped inside, as I closed the door behind me I could hear voices coming from Damiens office. The closer I was getting the more I could hear.

"I won't lie to you James, Marley doesn't hate you but she doesn't particularly like you either, but you can't expect her to like you, she went into an Orphanage at the age of seven, all she wanted was a chance to meet her father and ask him 'why' just one simple question." Wait why are they talking about me? I hid behind the wall so no one could see me.

"Damien you can't tell her, I can't have her hate me even more. I would rather start a fresh and just pretend I know her as your girlfriend and the mother to Rhys." He knew me a different way? But I don't know him.

"James I am not keeping secrets from Marley, I can't, we are trying to work on our relationship and I will do everything in my power to make her trust me again, I'm sorry James but if that means I have to tell her this then I will. However, it will be better if it comes from you, she may want to get to know you on a father-daughter level." Wait... what?

"She won't. Damien I know this puts a strain on you but please don't tell Marley that she is my daughter." Holy fuck. I come out from behind the wall and step into the doorway in their line of vision.

"Too late." My voice was hoarse, I could barely recognise it myself. All three of them stared at me, Luke look at James and then to me and then back to James as if he was looking for a resemblance.

"Marley." Damien starts, his voice was strained.

"I'll be in our room Damien." I turn around and leave them all with nothing else to say.

Damien came in to the room some time later but I didn't turn over on the bed, my cheeks were still wet from the tears. The bed dipped behind me and the shuffling of the covers resonated through the deafening silence surrounding the room, as soon as his arm wrapped around my waist a sob escaped my throat. "Sh, baby I'm right here. We'll talk about this in the morning, go to sleep baby." I twisted around in his arms so my face was now against his naked chest and I slowly drifted off into a pleasant darkness in the warm arms of the man I love most.