Chapter 34 Dressing room.
~Haven.
We walked into the complex with Walter having a proud smile hung perfectly on his face. He hands strolled the hangers, checking the fabrics, colors and the ones that would look just right.
“This one?” He whispered, finally picking out a dress from the hangers. I shook my head. “let's pick another one,” I whispered back.
I'd barely even looked at it. Ask me what color that dress was and I'd stutter.
It was hard getting myself together…. Hard trying to pretend I was okay with my sister's husband picking out a dress for me. Call me selfish and ungrateful, say I'm ruining the moment but I wished at that moment, Walter was already mine…. completely.
And that the child I was carrying wouldn't have to be someone else's child just to avoid trouble.
“Haven?” Walter's voice called and I flinched.
Turned out he'd he calling my name for quite a while.
“Forgive me,” I mouthed. He nodded, forcing a smile through his lips.
“You should try this on,” it was obvious..how much he tried to ignore that he saw what was going on with me and how I felt.
He held a black gown in his hand. The material- like silk- slightly glossy. And a plunging neckline with thin straps. The waist narrows before the dress flows down the hips, with a slit along one thigh that reveals just enough skin.
I smiled. “Perfect.”
I took the gown out of Walter's hands and headed for the dressing room.
“Haven,” he called and I turned. “Yes, Walter.” I answered, my eyes were welled up. Haven wouldn't want to ruin the moment by crying, right? So I held back the tears and smiled brightly at Walter.
He looked around - nervously before bringing himself to hug me. A quiet reminder that Walter and I would always have to hide as long as he was still married to Hannah.
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm putting you through this but right now, Haven I just need you to look beautiful in that dress. Attend that party and make your mother know that you're not weak.
Make Hannah know that she cannot always keep you beneath her. If you ever want myself and you to be together, then you need to start gathering that courage now.
For you, for me….and our child.”
I nodded.
Walking into the dressing room with my heart heavy.
That … that weak woman who always resorted to tears? It wasn't me!
What have you become, Haven?
I knew I wanted Walter. I wanted a life where I'd live with my child and the father…. And if doing this makes me one step ahead? Then I'd walk to that party, looking like the pretty devil in their dreams. I'd put all of them in their place and make them learn how to treat me right.
I took off my clothes and slipped into the dress. It was perfect…so perfect that I was already smiling before I even realized it. With that smile still on my face, I rushed out of the dressing room eager to show Walter how perfect the dress was.
I stood at the dressing room entrance, trying to adjust the hem of the dress when…I heard a voice I'd recognize in my sleep.
There was no way …. But it kept getting louder. That weak laugh accompanied with the firm voice that reminded her that she was beautiful.
Hannah.
She stood right across the room with her back turned at me. Mother stood next to her with two dresses in her hands. I froze and my eyes met with Mason's.
I rushed back into the dressing room…. confused.
If mother found me there…it would ruin everything!
There was nothing I could say, no lie I could come up with. The complex was no home for the casual dress she'd requested I wore.
But the more I panicked, the louder their voices became. The growing sound of their feet approaching hunted me.
“I'll help you get changed into them and it promises they'll look just right. We'll get an adjustment if we must,” mother said.
“But….but I don't look like I used to, mom. I doubt that it's going to fit. And Haven. What if she looks better than me? What if Walter starts finding her attractive? What if everyone starts preferring her to this sick woman?” Hannah asked. Still the same. Obsessed with being “better.”
What cake out of mom's mouth wasn't what I'd expect. Maybe it was. “Haven?” She chuckled. “Oh, please, Hannah. Even if Haven comes there looking like an angel which she wouldn't dare. Have you forgotten what this is for? You are married, your cousin is ….she's the pregnant one without a husband, darling. I'm doing this for you. I'm making sure she doesn't stand a chance with anyone….”
“Thank you mother,” Hannah chuckled. “I knew you wouldn't let me down.”
“You have absolutely nothing to worry about, Haven. And plus, Walter would be a fool attracted to a pregnant bitch. You, Hannah are Mr. Sutherland's most beautiful, intelligent and competent daughter. Haven comes nowhere near that,” mother added.
Only if she knew that her daughter was having an affair with the cook. I scoffed.
Hannah laughed. “Mother please.”
My heart didn't ache, and neither did it skip a bit. It was another mother and Hannah moment. One where they'd give anything to ruin me.
But first, I needed to leave before they found me. It was the only way I'd feed them with their own poison at that party.
Hannah's thin hands grabbed the curtain and ….. open it went.