CHAPTER THREE
1761 Words
Chapter 3
Andy sat at the back of the car, her eyes bloodshot and hollow and her heart heavy.
Nathan was filling her in on the funeral arrangements but she wasn't listening, her mind haunted by memories of their son.
Noah had been a very happy child, peaceful, sweet and always smiling.
Whenever her day had been hard or someone has upset her, all she had to do was come home and look at Noah's smiling face or call the nanny and hear him laugh and her day immediately improved.
He had been such an important part of her life that she couldn't imagine him not being around.
He had been the reason she had become a mother, he had been the first seed of her womb.
How could Nathan have been so cruel?
“Andy?”
She jerked as she felt something move on her hands.
Looking up she saw Nathan watching her with a worried look in his eyes.
She blinked and looked away.
Nathan sighed and pulled back his hand. “We're home,” he said as he got out of the car first.
Andy sat there for a while after he had gotten down and just stared out the window at the place she had called home for three years.
Her son, Noah, had been a central part of that home. How could she even look at this place the same way again?
The door opened and Nathan stood there with his arm stretched out to her. “Come on Andy,”
She hesitated, still staring at the house.
“Andy please,” he pleaded and she finally moved not because he asked but because she felt suffocated in his presence.
She ignored his hand and got out on her own. A shot of pain ran through her entire body and she winced.
“Are you okay?” He asked but she ignored as she started walking towards the house.
Dr. Julian had wanted her to stay back for one more day but she had refused, scared of what other sinister plans Nathan and the doctor might cook up while she was unconscious.
Besides she detested the pitiful looks the nurses and hospital staff had been giving her.
If she had to hear one more nurse say sorry for your loss, she might have stabbed herself to death and then joined her son in the afterlife.
“Be careful so you don't rip the stitches.” Nathan called out to her but once again she didn't pay him any mind.
“Don't rip the stitches,” she muttered to herself and then scoffed.
He was concerned about her ripping the stitches in her body.
What about the ones in her heart that he had ripped?
She'd have to fire the nanny and clear out the nursery because it would be too painful to keep it around as it would only remind her of Noah.
She knocked on the door and waited for one of the staff to open it.
However when the door opened, it wasn't the cook or the housekeeper, it was her mother-in-law.
“Mother,” she whispered and moved to hug her but the other woman stepped back.
“You witch, how dare you call me your mother?” Her mother-in-law, Melanie shrieked as she slapped her.
Andy's face spun to the left from the impact but she didn't feel the sting.
“You're such a useless woman!”
Andy gulped, wondering what she had ever done to make Melanie hate her so much.
“You have killed my grandson after managing to give birth to him.”
The slap of her words stung more than the surgery wound and Andy took a deep breath.
"Get out of my way." She said hoping the older woman would take a hint and step aside.
But the woman wasn’t done.
“I always knew you would bring my son bad luck, that's why I never wanted him to marry you.” Melanie snorted and Andy blinked.
“Step aside Melanie.” Andy wshoepred in regret wondering what possessed her to even engage the woman in the first place.
Things had always been tense between them and she had been a fool to think she'd receive a cheerful welcome just because her son had just died.
If anything, she should have anticipated getting blamed for it.
“My son shouldn't have married you in the first place.” Melanie continued, her words dripping with venom and hatred. “He should have divorced you the moment you gave birth to my grandson, at least he'd still be alive now.”
“That's enough!” Nathan pushed past her into the house and stood in front of her, shielding her from his mother's wrath. “What do you think you're doing mother?”
His mother blinked, startled. “Nathan, why are you shouting at me? She's the one who killed your son!”
“I said enough!” he yelled again and Melanie took a step back, fear in her eyes.
“You need to leave Mom. Now.” He said in a quiet tone and Melanie scoffed.
“You can't be serious,”
“Dead serious Mom, get out now.”
Melanie gritted her teeth and walked towards the door.
She stopped in front of Andy and snorted. “He will divorce you soon.”
And with one final menacing glance shot at Andy, Melanie stormed out.
“Come on,” Nathan took her hand and she let him lead her to their room.
***
The funeral took place two days later in their living room.
Nathan had decided that cremation was better so Andy didn't have to suffer too much but she figured it was because he didn't want to have to look at their son's face knowing he was responsible.
Andy had no problem with cremating his body because at least she'd have his ashes with her and that way a part of him could always remain with her.
She adjusted the armless black dress she had picked out for the ceremony wondering why the collar seemed tighter than before.
It felt like a moose around her neck and she tugged on it in a bid to loosen its grip.
As she sat down, people came up to her to offer their condolences.
They touched her hands and whispered cnññññññññmomforting words to her telling how her son had gone to a better place.
Nathan sat beside her in a black suit looking like a heartbroken father but Andy wasn't fooled.
She knew the truth of the matter more than anyone else. He had killed their son.
Andy's eyes scanned the room at all the people dressed in black who had come to mourn with them.
She spotted Melanie talking to an elegantly dressed woman she didn't recognize and turned to Nathan.
“Who's Melanie talking to?” She nudged him. "Do you know her?"
He looked in the direction she was pointing and shook his head. “No. She's probably just someone from Noah's school.
Andy frowned. She knew all the people at Noah's school and she couldn't place the woman's face.
Besides, how did Melanie know someone from Noah's school?
She barely went there.
“Let it go, Andrea." Nathan whispered and she nodded.
But she couldn't shake the unease in her stomach. The last time she had felt this way, her son had died.
What would happen now?
****
Two weeks later.
Andy was seated on the floor in Noah's nursery. The room still smelled like him and her chest ached as she breathed him in.
She had fired the nanny who had tearfully expressed her heartfelt condolences over Noah's death.
Andy had loved the girl, Annie because she had loved her son.
And Noah had loved Annie too.
Tears pooled in the back of her eyes but they didn't flow down her cheek.
She hadn't been able to cry since she left the hospital but not because she didn't want to.
Someone knocked on the door and then Andy heard footsteps but she didn't look up and merely continued rocking back and forth in the armchair.
“Andy,” Nathan placed his hand on her shoulder as he called her name.
She didn't respond or turn to look at him. He sighed and moved to her front.
“You need to eat something.” he said and she shook her head.
“I'm not hungry,”
“Please…” he begged but she shook her head and pushed him off.
Nathan steadied himself and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I was speaking to Dr. Julian earlier today…”
At the mention of the doctor's name, Andy stiffened.
“And he thinks it'd be a good idea for us to adopt a child.”
Andy's ears began ringing.
“He said it would help with the grief.”
She spun and looked at him. “What did you just say?” She asked hoping she had heard him wrong because there was no way he was proposing they replace their son who was barely cold in death so soon.
“Think about it Andy. This room will be filled with the cry of a baby again and you'll not miss Noah much because you'd have your hands full.”
Andy barked out a laugh shocking Nathan who stepped back with wide eyes.
She sounded like a crazy woman.
Andy couldn't believe the audacity Nathan had. He had killed her son and now he was suggesting they adopted another so soon?
She shook her head. “I'm not interested.”
“But Andy just…”
“Get out Nathan.” She whispered calmly and then took deep breaths.
Gosh it hurt so much. How could he betray her like this?
“Andy, babe please…”
“Get out!!” She screamed and he jumped and quickly left the room.
Andy placed a hand on her chest fighting to calm her racing heart.
This was the height of it and she wouldn't put up with it anymore.
She got up from the chair and stormed towards their room.
Entering their room, she grabbed a bag and threw her phone into it.
Enough, she had been silent for too long.
She needed answers and she would get them now.
“Where are you going!” Nathan asked as she walked past him down the stairs.
She ignored him and didn't stop walking until she was outside the house.
It was time to avenge her son.
- Writer
