Josh’s Pov
Thalia and I agreed to a truce which I doubted was ever going to work especially with the p*ycho around but to my surprise days turned into weeks and the arrangements was working. It took time for me to get used to calling my daughter Kendra but Thalia was right, calling her by two names was not fair to our daughter.
So I compromised, her name was never going to define who her real father was. Victor kept insisting I was a failure and a s*ssy. According to him, I was making it easy for Thalia to control my life, however, I never paid him ears because Kendra spent most of the time with me and Thalia was not complaining. The baby was all I wanted in the first place.
I began my testosterone therapy treatment and got back to my weight. Thalia was paying for the procedure because she felt it was the right thing to do. At first, I refused the offer but with persuasion, I agreed in order to get her off my back.
In a week’s time, I was invited for interviews and hired by a new company with a good-paying salary in management. I accepted because I needed the money and a new place.
In two weeks I moved into a new place near the workplace and in a month I moved my mother in with me. It was not easy convincing her but she eventually agreed. Her memory was still s*aggy but at least she was at home and she always brightened up when I brought Kendra home.
I had turned around my life for my daughter, kept my father at a distance and the only thing that was remaining was the divorce. I rarely saw Thalia because she was very busy. I heard she revamped Inc Biotech with the machine she created for the p*ycho who I had noticed had disappeared.
The machine was a game-changer in the cancer world making her filthy rich. She was also running Mandel, she was a very powerful and rich woman. My father once asked me how I was okay with the fact that she was rich, I told him I was happy with my simple life.
I was okay with the fact that I had a simple job and it did not bother me. For the first time in my life, I was doing something genuine without hurting anyone’s daughter. Maybe if my father once did that, he would also be happy.
Away from him, the last time I saw the p*ycho was when he pointed a gun at me. I was always tempted to ask but I always talked myself into minding my own business. But I really wanted to talk to Thalia. It was months and Jessica was still in Mexico,
So when I knocked early, I dropped by her company, surprising her. We had become comfortable around each other though I had noticed she rarely smiled. I only concluded it had something to do with her p*ycho lover.
I walked in and went straight to the point with the divorce.
“Ooh, my apologies I forgot about that, I will remind Nestor about it,” she apologized.
She looked so tired like she was not having enough sleep.
“Hope am not troubling you, I could not imagine running two companies,” I replied.
“No no, do you ever think that we planned to keep Jessica in Mexico and it is only fair I get you the divorce,” she replied but I noted that she kept looking at her watch.
“Are you in a hurry?” I asked.
“No, anyway, would you take Kendra over the weekend? Maggie will not be available and I have to be somewhere,” she asked, surprising me. Something was not right, there was no way the p*ycho was granting me days like Christmas so I asked.
“Where is Brandon?”
She looked up at me with a blank face
“I’m just surprised that he is okay with me spending a lot of time with Kendra.”
She began biting her nails and tears dropped. I was confused, wondering if I had said anything insulting.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she apologized while wiping her tears.
“Thalia, are you okay, did he do something to you?”
“No, no, Brandon is in a coma, he has been in a coma for five months,” she replied, shocking me.
“I placed him in the coma, the cancer was progressing so it was either death or coma.”
“Oooh, I had no idea, I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
She grabbed her hanky and wiped her tears. Everything began making sense, it was too peaceful for the p*ycho to just lay low and allow me in and out of his house like that. And it explained why Thalia was always sad. I never expected her to share, it was not lit, we were that close. I knew he was dying but I never imagined putting him in an induced coma.
“It is actually a good thing, I came up with the idea. It gives us time to find a cure for him,” she added.
“And he agreed?”
“I think he only agreed because he was tired of the pain. He wanted to rest. He had fulfilled his promise to me and saw an option to rest without hurting me,” she cried out.
I just sat there in my seat debating whether to go to her side and give her a hug or not. Yes, we were friends but not at that level. She kept crying and I felt like a jerk forcing me to walk to her side of the table. I slowly parted her back, “it is going to be fine, I’m sure the scientists will find something. You should have said something”
“I did not want to bother with the fate of the man who took you down,” she replied.
She was right, and I was supposed to be happy but I was not feeling like celebrating even though I had prayed for the day of his demise. The man never got to apologize or thank me for saving our daughter. But I was not going to hold grudges with him. At least I got a second chance in all the madness and chose to move on.
“What happens if you never find a cure, I apologize but have you thought about that possibility?”
“Every day,” she replied. “We agreed to let him go but I do not think I will ever do that,” she replied. “I love him so much and I can’t pull that plug,” she confessed and quickly got up.
“We will find something, I’m sure of that,” she added, sounding defensive.
I walked back to my side not knowing what to say. She wiped her eyes and quickly changed the topic. “I heard about your job, congratulations.”
“Ooh yes, though I do not like having a boss but I love working for the firm though I plan to climb to the top,” I replied.
“That’s good, I am really happy for you Josh,” she stated.
We talked for more minutes and I cheered her up with my boring life then we drove to her house where I picked Kendra up. She was so excited to see me. I said my goodbye and went on my way.
In two weeks Nestor handed me my divorce papers with Jessica’s signature. I chose not to ask how he got it or why Jessica signed or if it was real all I cared about was that I was free from the witch. She was still in Mexico rotting in a filthy prison and I still never felt sorry for her. Maybe if she never kidnapped Kendra, I would have forgiven her for sleeping with my father with time.
But I finally got to move on as a free man and it was during this period that I met Scarlet at the firm I was working at. She was very intelligent, with green eyes and curly hair.
I had noticed her always giving me the signals but I ignored her for weeks. After Thalia and Jessica I had convinced myself I was bad for women but Scarlet was not the type to give up. She one day gathered the courage to ask me out and I said yes. I was surprised to find out that we had a lot of things in common and I liked her. We went on a number of dates and became inseparable.
So I told her everything about myself including my accident in Canada which she already knew about. I always seemed to forget that my s*it was all over the internet. She loved the part of me that learned from my mistake and moved on. We began dating seriously and I introduced her to my daughter. She fell in love with her at first sight.
After five months I decided to propose to her, and she accepted my proposal. I was yet to introduce her to Thalia because she was so busy and I did not want to disturb her. But after she heard about my engagement she invited me over to her house. For an unknown reason, I was nervous as I approached the house.
I knocked and Maggie let in. She led me to the living room where Thalia was playing with Kendra. We exchanged pleasantries and she asked me to take a seat.
“Coffee?”
“No, thank you,” I replied.
“Congratulations on your engagement,” she went straight to the point.
“Thank you, you are invited, and I’m not taking a no for an answer,” I replied.
She raised her eyebrows, “And when am I going to meet the mystery woman?”
A wave of embarrassment washed over me “I really wanted to introduce you but you were always busy. I did not think it was that important.”
“The woman is going to move into your house, she will be Kendra’s stepmother and that’s very important to me,” she replied.
“Fine, you are right, I will bring her over tomorrow. Kendra already loves her, you two will get along well,” I assured her as I told her about Scarlet and everything she knew about me.
“I’m sure you know everything and you already had Nestor look into her?”
She gave out a fake chuckle giving herself out. “I do not know what you are talking about,” she replied without eye contact.
“Is she clean? Did you find out something about her? Is that why you called me here?” I began panicking, that was the reason why she never asked about her or requested to meet her. After what happened with the first nanny I was hundred percent sure Nestor did a background check on scarlet.
“No no, Scarlett is clean, she is actually a nice lady,” she replied embarrassingly. “According to Nestor, of course, I asked him about her. He does the snooping around without my permission. He is very irritating just like Brandon,” she replied.
I sighed in relief and relaxed in my chair. She called Maggie and handed her Kendra. I noticed her smile had disappeared, she had a serious face on. She grabbed an envelope that was on the table and handed it to me. I looked at it confused and asked what it was.
“Your wedding gift,” she replied.
“No Thalia I will not accept it,” I replied.
“Don’t you want to have children with Scarlet?” she asked.
I froze, trying my best to interpret what just came out of her mouth. My initial thought was that the envelope contained money. I quickly opened it and to my surprise, it contained a vault number and the name of a hospital. I looked up at her confused.
“I had forgotten about the sperm actually but Nestor reminded me of it some days ago. Apparently, Brandon told him to only bring it up if you did not end up with me?” She said with a smile. “We actually froze a lot of your sperm in case the first insemination did not work,” she explained.
Tears began rolling down my face.
“You and scarlet can make a lot of little sisters for Kendra.”
I only stared at her, the p*ycho and Nestor were something else. How could they think I and Thalia would ever end up together but I was not surprised, he was a p*ycho . However, the big picture was that Scarlet and I were going to have our own babies. I got up and hugged her without asking for permission.
“Thank you so much, we talked about this with Scarlet and even though she was okay with not having my kids this news is going to make her very happy,” I said to her.
I could not believe my luck, I never imagined they kept my sperm, maybe it was possible to have that beer with the Psycho if he once woke up.
