Chapter 45 Picture This

Anna looked down at the pictures and really wanted to throw up on the beautiful Persian carpet. She examined the pictures, they looked real, and she couldn’t see any light changes or color changes that indicated tampering. Anna ground her teeth and picked the filthy things up off the table and stalked into the living room after her.
“You realize these are fake?” Anna said angrily as she slapped down the prints on the table. “There is no way I would cheat on John.”
“How would I know, you’ve done a lot of things that no one thought you would do.”
“Like what?”
“Well married my son for one thing.”
“My God,” Anna said loudly, “you will do anything to get a dig in, even at a moment like this.”
“I’m not getting a dig in, I’m stating a fact. There is no reason why you should have married John, you were from very different backgrounds and stations in life. These pictures prove how low class you really are.”
“You are one of the worst kind of people, you know that right? You have done nothing since the day we met but put me down and try to make me disappear.”
“No, not try to make you disappear. If I wanted to do that it would have already been done. My husband had a lot of contacts and I have many options.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, simply stating facts,” Melissa said with a calm smile as she gave a disgusted look at the pictures.
“What do you want?” Anna asked. She was sick and tired of Melissa’s games. She was beaten down and sad after so much abuse at her hands. She stared right into her eyes and challenged her to lay it all out on the table.
“What I want is for you to divorce John. I tried to give you money before going away but now I have something I can hold over you to make you go through with it. I want my money back too.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No, actually I think a nice goodbye note would work beautifully. I think that you take what you can pack and go. I don’t care where you go, but I want you gone.”
“OR?”
“I show John the pictures. I never thought you had it in you but I guess even those you expect nothing from can surprise you.”
“You are crazy. I told you those were fake, where did you get them from?”
“A friend.”
“Does this friend happen to be Isabel?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“It is my concern. I have to be able to face my accuser head-on. Obviously you chose wrong when you decided to trust her. She lied to you if she said these were fake.” Anna said savagely. She turned and looked at Melissa as a dawning realization popped into her mind.
“You know they are fake don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You are such a liar, you are working with Isabel!”
“You tramp!” Melissa screaming jumping to her feet and storming towards Anna. She raised her hand to hit her when a voice stopped her cold from the doorway.

“What in the hell is going on?” John asked as he strode in and grabbed his mother and pulled her away from Anna.
“Oh John,” Melissa sobbed throwing herself into his arms “I’m so glad you’re home. I got something today that was so shocking and I asked Anna about it and she was saying lots of awful things.”
“I heard what you said to her mother,” John disentangled his mother's hand.
“Did you also hear what she said to me? She accused me of being crazy and of working with Isabel? Whoever heard such insanity?” Melissa pleaded as she tried to hand onto John.
John turned away from her and walked to Anna. He wiped the tears from her eyes and gently touched her face. “Are you alright?”
“I’m okay.”
“John, I can’t believe you are asking her that? If you knew what she’s done you wouldn’t be so worried about her feelings.”
“And what has she supposedly done mother?”
Melissa crept to the coffee table and grabbed the prints. She thrust them into John’s hands roughly. “look what your beloved Anna has been up to?”
John studied the pictures walking away from them both for a moment. He studied them in the light and Anna saw his back tense. A trickle of fear ran down her spine as she watched him. She wondered if these fake pictures would be the reason John would turn away from her.
“I can’t believe this,” John said as he slowly turned back around and faced them both.
“John…” Anna began but he cut her off with a look.
“How do you feel about your precious Anna now?” Melissa asked with a devious smile. Anna’s eyes flowed with tears again as she stared at John wondering if this was the end of them.