A Woman Scorned: The Return Of Aretha Hawthorne

Chapter 3

With my mind clouded by absolute bewilderment, I realize a moment too late that I should’ve immediately started to proclaim my innocence to my family first because my silence must’ve indicated that I was guilty, rather than innocent—which would explain why right now, they are the same people shoving me forward into the midst of the guests and calling their attention.

“How dare you do such a thing, Aretha?!” My foster mother yells first, dragging me out of the hallway and to the center of the room. Her outburst causes heads to turn and before I know it, I’ve got the attention of the entire room and even more (courtesy of the people that’d already taken out their phones to begin filming the scene).

“Mother, I—”

Another slap from Melinda interrupts me, this one more painful than the previous and I have to bite down on my tongue to keep from crying out. “How dare you shame us like this?! Is this how you repay us for taking you in when you had nothing?! It is ingrates like you that don’t allow good people like my family to want to take in orphans to help them secure a future! How dare you do this to us?!”

She swings her hand again to hit me but is quickly held back by my foster brother, Tyler, who shoots me a death glare and a small smirk as he tries to calm his mother. But just as Melinda is suppressed, Stella steps forward, her countenance a mask of anger and sorrow.

Hoping that I may be able to get through to her unlike my foster mother, I take a step forward, grabbing her wrist. “Stel, please, listen to me. I didn’t do any of that. The pictures are fake. I would never cheat on Daniel, you know this better than anyone. Please believe me.”

Stella shakes her head, looking at me in utter disbelief like she doesn’t know who is standing in front of her. “I know you told me you haven’t been happy a lot with your marriage recently because Danny hasn’t been spending enough time with you but Retha, I never would have thought that you could resort to such a thing.”

“Stel, I assure you, it’s not like that. Please hear me out.” My grip tightens around her hand in desperation but she only continues to speak, disregarding my pleas.

“You and I know that Danny is always busy with work solely because of you since he’s doing all he can to provide for you, and I advised you to get a job like me in order to while away your time or even start a business, of which he would’ve readily supported you but you said it yourself that you were more than OK with remaining at home and spending his money. Why then would you betray him like this? And to think you were suspecting that he was cheating on you.”

Loud gasps ring out around the party hall, one of which includes my own shocked gasp, as I rear back from Stella in disbelief. She may as well have also delivered a physical blow to me like her mother because her words hurt the same; her lies are doing even more damage.

Yes, I had confided in my foster sister one day about being unhappy with the neglect from my husband and I’d also revealed to her my suspicions of him likely having an affair but I’d only needed someone to open up to and I’d trusted Stella enough to do so, just like I trust my best friend, Kristen. I hadn’t expected her to use it against me like this.

I was the one who told her that I had talked to Daniel about wanting to get a job or starting a business to keep me distracted, but he had shunned my idea and she’d been the one to respond, saying that I needed to abide by my husband’s wishes and that I should consider myself lucky because if she was in my shoes, she would simply sit still and look pretty while enjoying his money.

To think that my own foster sister of decades would twist my own words with hers and weave such lies against me is more than heartbreaking and I can’t stop the tears from streaking down my face like a waterfall as I frantically try to refute their claims.

“What are you saying, Stella?!” I yell, moving into her personal space. “You said all of that, I didn’t! All I did was confide in you. Was I wrong in confiding in my sister about my marital problems and seeking your advice on what to do?”

Drawing even closer to me, Stella shakes her head again, giving me a smirk only visible to me before she dons her sorrowful expression again, but if that momentary show of maliciousness on her face is any such indication, then it would mean that she’d planned all of this. My foster sister had plotted my downfall and I can’t do anything but watch it all happen with frustration, confusion and anger coursing through my veins.

“That explains why you were so adamant on wearing something so provocative like this when you would usually dress conservative. I’d thought it was because you wanted to surprise your husband on his birthday today but I had no idea how wrong I was. Tell me, Retha, is the man you’re cheating on Danny with here today? Is that why you’re dressed to seduce?”

Her words spark another round of gasps around the room, followed by murmurs but with this, I have had enough of her shenanigans. “Will you stop saying that, Stella?!” I shout, forcefully shoving her hand held in my grasp away. Filled with so many negative emotions but with rage being dominant, I begin jabbing at her shoulder with my pointer finger with every sentence I say, forcing her to take a few steps back from my consistent hit.

“You were the one who chose this dress for me! You were the one who said that it’d make me look every bit of a Berfield beside Daniel! You were the one who said that you would love to be in my shoes and stay idle at home while lavishing your husband’s money! You said all of that so why are you telling such lies against me, huh?”

Stella gives me an angry look, definitely not liking this turnaround but I am sick and tired of her trying to ruin my reputation and my marriage, and I want to know her reason behind this betrayal. I want answers.

So striving one last time to break her, I shove her lightly on the shoulder, yelling, “Where are those pictures from?! What are they? What did I do to deserve this, Stel?!”

But I should’ve expected that my foster sister would have a trick up her sleeve. I should have known she wouldn’t go down so easily but in order to achieve her goals, in order to win, she does exactly that—goes down easily.

With a shout, Stella falls to the ground, acting as if my hit had been so strong as to even sway her, not to mention making her lose her footing completely. She lets out a cry and cradles one of her hands to her chest, scrunching up her face in a hurt expression.

Having been a witness to most of her theatrics over the years since childhood, I’m not a fool to believe that her actions aren’t staged or contrived. However, I watch in horror as everyone else quickly rushes to her aid, including my own husband.

Daniel is the one who raises Stella off the floor and I watch, my mouth gaping, as she fists his shirt and begins crying into his chest, painting the perfect image of the pitiful, wronged sister. That causes the low murmurs around us to rise further until I can clearly hear every bit of the scornful words being used to describe me, alongside the death glares and repugnant sneers.

Taking a look around tells me that none of these people are ready to listen to anything I have to say. No matter how much I try to justify myself or prove that all of these things are nothing but lies concocted against me, these people would believe Stella’s words over mine anytime, I realize painfully.

My foster sister who, unlike me, has always been in the public eye as the legitimate daughter of the Winthrop family and a supermodel has had years in the making to earn the favor of the public, enough that she already has everyone here wrapped around her delicate finger. I don’t stand a chance against her whatsoever.

And Stella certainly knows this because she sneaks a look at me through her hands still tightly gripping my husband’s shirt, a victorious smile shining forth on her face before she turns her face and begins wailing loudly. “I can’t believe you would repay me like this, Retha. If I had known you would treat Danny this bad, I wouldn’t have let you have him in the first place.”

Her statement elicits yet another round of gasps from the crowd and I would have marveled at how dramatic the people are if I wasn’t so hung up on Stella’s words.

Let me have him?

What the hell does she mean by that?

“I never would’ve given up the love of my life for you, but it’s because I love you so much as my sister and you’d looked so happy with Danny. I’d thought you would treat him as well as I would, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

“What do you mean ‘love of your life’? I met Daniel before you! I introduced him to you!”

In a fit of possessive rage, I take a step forward but a harsh glare from my husband stops me in my tracks and my heart breaks even further when I see his arms tighten around her. “Don’t you even dare come closer to her, you wench.”

Pain shoots through my chest, spider-webbing toward my stomach but I pay no attention to it, focusing on my husband instead. “Daniel, you don’t actually believe any of these, do you? You can’t possibly think that I’d cheat on you after everything we’ve shared, do you?”

He remains quiet for a moment, eyes glaring down at me. “What do you think? That I’ll keep being a fool and a puppet you could string along after seeing all of these evidences provided? I can’t believe you would do such a thing to me, Aretha,” he says, voice sounding pained and my heart shatters because I can feel my husband slipping through my fingers; I can tell that his faith in me is dwindling.

I move a bit closer to him, palming my stomach when another jolt of pain shoots through it. I ignore it once again. “Daniel, sweetheart, don’t say things like that. I need you to believe me, please. Especially now that I’m carrying your child.”

I see his eyes widen slightly and hope blooms within me at that reaction of his.

“You’re going to be a father, my love. We’re finally going to be a complete family. It was supposed to be your birthday surprise.”

My husband stares at me for a few seconds, eyes trailing down to my stomach and I nod, giving him an encouraging smile. However, his gaze suddenly bounces back to Stella’s and I watch as they exchange a meaningful look, even though they don’t say a word to each other.

I frown, slightly confused but before I can try to comprehend anything, Daniel looks back up at me, his face now completely blank and his eyes cold. A shiver runs through me at the look in them and my heart drops to my stomach at his next words.

“How am I sure that thing is even mine? For all I know, you could just be trying to push that bastard child on me.”

Tears begin streaming down my face in succession, but as I part my lips to plead with Daniel once more, what escapes me are a series of coughs as pain like no other I’ve ever experienced overwhelms my senses.

I double over, gripping my stomach tightly as I continue coughing. The pain brings me to my knees and when I feel something pool in my mouth, I spit it out, seeing a tell-tale red staining the golden floor.

Blood.

A choked gasp leaves my mouth as fear grips me, my body shaking violently from the force of the coughing fit that hits me once more. I look up, my gaze colliding with my husband’s. I extend my hand to him, expecting him to come to my aid despite the current situation but he only continues to stare down at me in disgust.

“If you think your acting is going to have any effect on me, then you must be delusional. If you wish to die, be my guest.”

My body sags at his words and I suddenly lose control of everything, causing me to fall to the ground. Everyone takes a step back from me, their phone cameras still rolling and directed at me with flashes and shutters going off occasionally.

As the tunnel of darkness begins to close in on me, my eyes connect with those of the people I’d considered my family and the collective looks I glimpse in their eyes is the last thing I see as I succumb to the darkness and mind-numbing pain.