Confess To Me

His brow furrowed in confusion. “If our son starts making ringing noises while I am fucking you, there are going to be bigger problems than not cumming.”

I slapped his arm. "No, silly. I meant being interrupted. You better get used to having no private time."

He leaned in and kissed my neck. "That's where you are entirely wrong, gorgeous. I'll hire a nanny."

"You want to hire a nanny just so we can have sex?"

"If necessary," he replied without a pause to think.

I rolled my eyes. He was hopeless. I didn't know why I ever thought he would process information like a normal person.

"I did want to ask you something though." He pulled back, twirling my hair through his fingers.

"What?" I asked.

“Well, you getting pregnant got me thinking about something. Remember when I told you about my wanting to semi-retire?”

I nodded, wondering what in the world was going through his head.

"Did you have your heart set on QCU, or would other colleges work as well?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, unable to see where the conversation was headed.

"If I did turn things over to Francis, step back from the day-to-day management, and maybe just take on a consulting role or be a silent partner… I thought perhaps we wouldn't need to live in the city. If it interested you, we could get a place with more room near my parents at Nanticoke… Or Somewhere."

It was an interesting idea. One that had never crossed my mind before. "Do you want to live closer to your parents?" That was the most important question. Did he really want to see his father more often? I would be happy if that were the case.

"No, it's not that. I'm just thinking about what would be best for us as a family. If you want to stay here, we can make it work, but if you weren't set on being in the city, we could find or build another place. I don't want to be too far. I like the city and don't want to be in the middle of a desolate field, but the idea of a bigger place has been in the back of my mind for a while now."

I snorted. "You and your bigger places. This house is huge, but I do agree with having more space outdoors."

"It's something to think about anyway,” he added slowly. I watched him smiling, knowing I'd go anywhere as long as he was there.

"I'll think about it," I assured him.

Nicholas pulled me close and I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he drifted off to sleep. I couldn't turn my mind off though. The idea of living closer to his parents held a lot of merit to me. We saw them rarely, and it would be nice to have family around more frequently once the baby was born.

Hopefully, the coming dinner would be a good litmus test to see Nicholas' interest in rekindling a relationship with his father. Not only were we going to announce that their first grandchild was on its way, but we were also planned to discuss what we had learned about Rosemary.

How would that information change the relationship between Jefferson and Simon?

I clung to Nicholas, hoping his father would choose to stand by his son and his family instead of proving the doubts Nicholas harbored. And we were going to find out very soon.

.

"Are you taking Sarah out this weekend?" I asked curiously. It was Friday, and Virgil and I were on our way to my last class of the day. I was wishing away the time, anticipating the start of the weekend. Weekends were always the best.

I got more Nicholas time.

Virgil shrugged. "We don't have any big plans or anything."

Although he was opening up a little about his relationship with Sarah, it was coming at a snail's pace.

"You should buy her flowers," I suggested.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Why? It's not her birthday."

I rolled my eyes. "That's exactly why. Be spontaneous. Give her flowers for no specific reason, other than you're thinking about her. It's romantic."

"I'm plenty romantic. I've never heard any complaints," he defended.

"Oh yeah? What was the last romantic thing you did for her?" I stopped walking and waited for him to turn toward me.

He seemed to be having a hard time coming up with an answer. "I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck and kept staring at his feet. "I let her pick out what to watch on TV last night."

He actually sounded proud of that, and I could only stare at him in return. "TV? That's the opposite of romantic."

I was just about to go into all the things wrong with his notions of romance when Russel approached us. Melody stood behind him. My stomach twisted with anxiety when Virgil moved closer, putting his arm in front of me like a shield.

I wasn't sure why I was so nervous. They were my classmates. Sure, they had shunned me in recent times, but they weren't dangerous. I reached out and put my hand on Virgil's arm, telling him silently it was okay.

He didn't relax still.

Russel and I had never shared more than a few words, so I was unsure what to even say. He glanced over at Virgil and raised his hands up with a smile.

"This isn't about me." He turned his head to me. "Melody wanted to talk to you, but she didn't want to come alone."

My disbelief and curiosity must have been plastered over my face because Russel chuckled and shook his head. He grabbed Melody's elbow, ushering her forward until she was facing me. She stared at the ground for a minute, before finally lifting her head up to meet my eyes. I saw tears streaming down her face.

"Willow... I'm... so... sorry." Her words were interrupted by hiccups and shallow breaths.

I didn't have a clue what had upset her so much. It made no sense for her to be that emotional about ignoring me. Not even I was that upset about that treatment. "For what?"

Her eyes darted over to Virgil and back to me, and she sucked in an audible breath. I almost wanted to hug her and let her know nothing could be as bad as she seemed to think.

"I... I did something." She wrung her hands together and I saw desperation and plea in her eyes.

"What did you do?" Virgil asked, eyes narrowed.

He sounded suspicious and not the least bit patient, and it suddenly dawned on me where this might be headed.

"Right after we began classes this semester, I met a guy," she began, her voice shaky. "He was handsome and sweet, and I couldn't help falling for him when he said he was interested in me."

"Okay," I said slowly when she paused. I felt like she needed something to spur her on and tell what she wanted to. And Virgil looking at her like she was a criminal wasn’t helping.

"Willow, you have to know… you… please understand… he was charming and so nice to me. He took me out to dates and bought me things. I really didn’t question him when he started probing about you. At first, that is. I was jealous that he seemed interested in you, but he told me you were his estranged cousins and hadn’t spoken to each other in a few years. He wanted to make amends with you and I was so happy he didn’t like you romantically. I didn’t even think he was lying."

"I don't have any cousins, Melody. Why didn't you just ask me?" I pressed lightly.

She avoided my eyes. "He said not to tell you anything. That he wanted to surprise you himself. He just wanted me to find out more about you, so he could figure out a way to bring your families back together."

"Is that why you always asked about my marriage all the time?"

"Yes," she said softly, finally looking directly at me. "I'm sorry. After a while, his interest in me seemed to lessen, and he only wanted to know where you were, what you were doing, who you were with. I knew something was wrong, but I was stupid. I liked him and thought if I kept giving him information, he would like me back."

"What's his name?" Virgil asked before she could say any more about herself and her feelings.

"Hector. Hector Willis."

We all fell silent, except Virgil, who was muttering curses. I rubbed my stomach, trying to ease my nervousness until Melody's eyes zoned in on my movement. That made me immediately stop. I didn't trust her at all and had no inclination to divulge I was pregnant.

"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked. "What happened that you wanted to confess to me all of a sudden?”