Schemes

VIOLET

Her hostility caught me off guard. The second I stepped foot in the room, she treated me like an unwelcome guest.

I’ve experienced this before, and I know it won’t be the last time. But this is my family now, and I won’t let her bully me.

Sure, I once twisted her arm so far up her back it could have broken, but she was touching Zach. Zach is mine, not hers.

That’s excusable, isn’t it?

Liz and I are in the kitchen, preparing sandwiches at Sophie’s request. We’re all going out of our way to make her comfortable.

I get why Jerry’s hesitant about investigating Tyler’s drinking. He’s worried it could attract the attention of child services. But couldn’t we have waited until her lawyer came to see Tyler?

“She probably isn’t even hungry,” I say, slapping ham onto the bread Liz is buttering. I pretend it’s Sophie’s face.

“She’s playing some sort of game. She’s been calling me Nana Liz for weeks. I didn’t think anything of it at first,” Liz says, handing me two more slices of bread. “Then the other day, she dropped that bombshell. I know I’ve upset Tyler, but I thought maybe she was his. He’s always been hard to read. I never know what he’s feeling. I should have trusted my gut and believed my son wasn’t capable of that, but he’s already made that mistake once.”

I place my hand on her arm in reassurance as she shrugs.

“He’s upset because he feels cornered by Sophie. He knows what he did was wrong. He’s not really angry at you. He just feels trapped.”

“He didn’t want to hug me today. Or yesterday. He’s always been affectionate, Violet. That’s how I know when he’s upset with me.”

Damn. Looks like I’ll have to confront this directly.

“He will forgive you. Once we prove Tilly isn’t his and we can get Sophie off his back, things will be okay,” I say. She nods, sniffling, and I realize she’s crying.

“Hey,” I say, pulling her into a hug. I try to reassure her that things will be fine. Our newfound closeness gives me the confidence to do so.

“You don’t know her, Violet. She’s resourceful and always gets her way. I’m worried she’ll manipulate this situation to her advantage,” Liz says. I pat her back, pulling away once she’s stopped sniffling.

“DNA doesn’t lie, Liz. It will be okay,” I say. She nods as we finish making the sandwiches and plate them, ready to carry them into the other room. And that’s what we do.

We walk into the room where Tyler is sitting awkwardly in front of Tilly. Sophie is sitting on the sofa next to Ella, unfortunately. It hurts to see Tyler sitting there with Sophie’s child while she’s looking at my child in the crib. Our child. She better not have taken any photos of her.

But I push that thought aside as I walk over to Sophie to give her the sandwich she asked for. Then I give one to Tyler and keep one for myself, leaving Liz’s on the small table next to the sofa. I sit down next to Tyler and focus on eating my sandwich, which tastes like nothing.

I wish I hadn’t put Ella down. It’s silly. She’s my child, but I don’t want to disturb her just to feel the comfort of holding her when she’s so peaceful. So I eat my sandwich until it’s gone. Then I stand up and walk over to the crib. Ella is wide awake, staring at the ceiling. I silently thank whoever woke her up.

I pick her up and hold her close, making sure her face is turned to the side. Then I lean down and take the reassurance I need. I never knew one tiny human being could make me feel so content and happy with a simple touch. My whole life now revolves around her. Our breathing is in sync as I sit down on the sofa with her.

I rest my mouth and nose against her hair, breathing in her unique baby smell. I smile when I remember that her umbilical cord fell off last night. We can give her her first real bath tonight.

Carla gave us a flower-shaped baby bath that fits in the kitchen sink. That’s exactly what we have planned for tonight. I want Ella to have a routine. A bath and story time before a feed and bed.

That way, the boys and I can have our evenings to ourselves again while she sleeps. But there’s another problem. She’s been sneaking into bed with us after the second or third time she wakes up. I know I shouldn’t, and they say it’s not safe, but it feels right. Besides, we both sleep better because of it.

“Does she have heterochromia?” Sophie asks, interrupting my peaceful thoughts. Ella is lying on my chest, facing her.

“Yes,” I say quietly, trying to hold onto the intense feeling of peace I get from holding my daughter.

“How rare. That’s pretty cool.”

“Mm-hmm,” I say. And scary.

She could be blind in one eye. The risk is low, but we won’t know for a while. It’s not something I want to think about until the doctor can check if it’s a problem.

“You don’t like me?” Sophie asks. Liz gasps at her audacity, but that’s okay. I can handle this piece of work.

“The first and last time we met, you were all over my boyfriend, even with me in the room. And that was after you stabbed my other boyfriend. I think that’s reason enough to dislike you. But then you pull this stunt, trying to ruin our happiness with Ella out of jealousy? Yeah, I dislike you. A lot, Sophie.”

“I’m not trying to ruin anything. I just want my child to have a father, like she deserves.” Her words are loaded.

“Maybe you should find her real one?” Tyler pleads from the floor.

“You are her father, Tyler. I wish you could remember. I guess it shows just how out of control you were…” My peaceful mood shatters.

“Don’t you dare use that against him,” I say, my words dripping with venom. I have to remind myself who’s in the room with us. I lean down and shield us with my hair as I breathe her in.

It’s not worth it. She’s not worth it.

“Sore subject?” Sophie asks. If Ella weren’t here, I’d scratch her face off.

“Stop trying to hurt her. She’s my fiancée… nothing is going to change that.” Sophie looks crushed for a moment, but then her mask snaps back into place.

“Fine, I’ll try to get along, for Tilly’s sake,” she says, sounding so sure of herself it infuriates me.

Tyler said he didn’t do it, so I’m trusting him. I have no reason not to. Last time, he waited for me to wake up just to confess his mistakes. He never hid it, and he fell so low afterward because he felt worthless. But that’s the lifestyle they lived.

They played with others often, so what he did wasn’t really cheating. So no, I don’t believe Tilly is his. But yes, I do think that Sophie, being a doctor, could maybe manipulate things. They can do that, can’t they?

That doctor in London had the authority to have me committed without my consent. So maybe she can pay someone to falsify a test. To lie about genetics.

The seeds of doubt were planted in the kitchen with Liz, and now they’re growing. Could this woman be capable of that? Of changing the truth to make herself happy? When Sophie says she wants her child to have a father, is it because Tyler is the father, or is it because any man would be better than no one, especially a rich man who can support her?

What am I thinking? Surely she wouldn’t stoop that low? But if not, then it brings me to the other side of the same coin. Did Tyler really cheat on Zach? I can’t really say he cheated on me because I was just a surrogate when he left us for a month.

My head is spinning when a warm hand touches my cheek. Ella is now lying on my legs, and I’m hunched over her. My face is wet with the turmoil inside my head.

“It’s okay, baby.”

Tyler’s words are murmured softly, a hushed whisper in my ear.