- Amelia -

The ladies room was tiny, the walls closing in on me as I hovered over the toilet seat. It smelled strongly like pee, and I could hear the music from the bar filtering through the thin walls. In the stall next to me, the sound of pee being forcefully expelled caught my attention and I looked down and noticed a pair of wobbly heels. I guess I wasn't the only one struggling to maintain my balance while hovering over the toilet seat.

The shots we'd taken at the bar with Daniel, followed by the vodka soda I'd taken with me to the dance floor had gone straight to my head.

Finishing the roll of toilet paper, I figured I should have stuck to beer instead of switching to hard liquor. I felt like I had cotton candy for brains and overcooked spaghetti for legs.

I washed my hands at the rose gold sink, smiling at a woman with a mole on her upper lip when she reached out next to me for paper towels to dry her hands. She left and I took a second to look at myself in the mirror beneath the dim lights.

My eyes were dark, eyelids lowered halfway with a heaviness I hadn't felt in a long time. I couldn't tell if I was horny or sleepy. Maybe both. Usually, this heaviness was the aftermath of a long day filled with surgeries. But not tonight.

My forehead was shiny like a disco ball but I was glad my blowout was mostly still intact. The hairs at my temple and nape had curled up when they'd come into contact with sweat, mostly Willem's sweat as I had my face pressed at the side of his face as we danced, our bodies tangled and coiled, trapped in each other's heat.

I dried my hands and dabbed at my oily forehead, dropping the used tissue paper into a rose gold garbage bin before heading back outside to Willem. It was a second before I remembered the exact location I'd left him at. When I got there, he wasn't there. I scanned the area and found him not too far away, pressed into a corner with a blond woman.

They weren't touching, but the lack of distance between their bodies showed that they were comfortable with one another. Maybe she was an old friend.

I moved closer, but not close enough to hear what was being said. Willem stood tall, his posture confident, his eyes narrowing slightly as he listened to the woman talk. The tips of his curls were wet and he'd unbuttoned his linen shirt halfway down, allowing me a glimpse of his solid abs. I loved how he always carried himself with such ease.

He shook his head at something the blond was saying. Seeming to not like his answer, she lifted her hand to touch the side of his face. He caught her hand before she could touch him and the action caused her body to jerk forward until they were nose to nose, crotch to crotch.

My breath caught in my throat as the chemistry between them seemed to ignite, flames burning bright, sparks flying everywhere.

He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered something that caused her to visibly stiffen. When he lifted his head, his clear gaze met mine across the distance, his expression revealing nothing in the likes of guilt or remorse. He immediately let go of the woman's hand and she followed his gaze by turning her head to look in my direction.

Tessa. I should have known. That woman was like a parasite I couldn't get rid of.

Without thinking, I turned in the opposite direction. Walking fast, I left the Spanish song blaring through the speakers and Willem's voice calling after me behind.

My feet dragged in the sand but I kept going until the half-moon up in the sky was my only source of light. At the end of the beach about four buildings down from the bar, I plopped down on the still warm sand.

Why was I running away from my husband?

Was this my life now? The barrage of women flocking to my husband was getting too much for me.

I knew nothing was going on between Willem and Tessa, and yet there was no denying the chemistry between them. Or had I imagined it? Maybe they were just talking about Bradley and his upcoming operation. Or, maybe Tessa had told him the truth about who Bradley's biological father was.

Oh, don't be naive, I scolded myself. There was no way they were talking about any of those things.

I felt threatened by Tessa and the many years she'd had with Willem while raising a son together. I couldn't compete with that. The only thing I could do now was to trust Willem. Staying in this marriage would be pointless otherwise.

The soft crunching of sand behind me distracted me from my thoughts. I looked behind me expecting to see Willem but instead, it was Tessa's bewildered face I saw looking back at me. I groaned aloud, turning back to stare at the water lapping at the shore a short distance away from my feet.

"You didn't tell him about Bradley. Why is that?" she asked.

Slippered feet appeared in my line of sight and I glanced up at Tessa, letting her know that I didn't appreciate her intruding on my quiet time.

"You're going to break that man's heart," I said. "He cares a lot about your son."

"I know he does. I love him and the last thing I want to do is break his heart. It really shouldn't matter who Bradley's biological father is. Willem is his adopted father and that's all that matters."

I stood up, wiping sand from the back of my dress. "Are you even listening to yourself right now? He needs to know the truth and it would be best coming from you."

"Telling him is not going to do this family any good. Things are good right now, better than they have ever been. Bridgette isn't suspicious of Jan and me anymore because of Sintus. All you have to do is go along with the story. We'll pay you to keep quiet. It looks like you and your father could do with some extra cash." She started rummaging through her purse, looking for what I assumed was cash.

I blinked, sputtering on my words, finding it hard to grasp the stupidity coming out of Tessa's mouth.

"You and Jan can choke on the money you plan on giving me. I refuse to take part in your deceitful games. I'm telling Will about Bradley the first chance I get." She tucked her hair behind her ear, opening her mouth to interrupt me. I cut her off. "You cheated on your husband while he was dying. With his father, no less. How can you be proud of that?"

"And how can you be proud being married to a man who isn't the least bit faithful to you?" she retorted.

"I know about Jessie if that's what you're insinuating."

She pulled a stack of white papers out of her back pocket. She handed them to me and they turned out to be a set of photographs. "These were taken today. He may have told you about her but he kept the part where he is still fucking her out of it. He's sleeping with me too if you must know."

"You told Jan that you had never slept with Willem," I said while I examined the photographs in my hand.

"I lied," Tessa said.

I stared at the picture showing Willem with his hands wrapped around Jessie's waist in the middle of a busy street. He was looking elsewhere with a slight frown on his face while Jessie stared up at him with adoring eyes.

"It's over for you, Amelia. Go home. His parents do not like you for him, and he's cheated on you with me for the past ten years. I'm the reason he never went back to see you. Please take the money and leave." She stepped closer and had the audacity to take a hold of my hand. "We also don't want you doing Bradley's surgery."

"We?" I choked out.

"Willem and I decided you shouldn't do the surgery. We think your emotions may get in the way," she said in a sad voice.

"Tessa, we've discussed this. Amelia is doing the surgery," Willem said from behind us, his deep voice startling me.

Tessa stiffened before letting go of my hand. "Over my dead body. I won't allow her near our son."

I laughed just as Willem intertwined our fingers, our bodies forming a formidable wall.

"Our son?" I asked. "My goodness, Tessa. You need to stop. Bradley is not Willem's son any more than he is Pieter's."

Willem's eyes darkened, his gaze bouncing between Tessa and me. "What does that mean?"

I bit down on my lip as my heart hammered behind my rib cage. I tried to muster the courage to tell him but the look of dread on his handsome face was my undoing.

Tessa didn't offer an explanation either. Instead, she was looking down while she drew circles in the sand with her feet.

"Amelia, are you saying that Bradley is not Pieter's son?" Willem demanded.

"He... He's not," I stammered, tightening my grip on his hand before he could pull away.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to Tessa, anguish hidden behind his grey eyes. "Is this true?"

Tessa pursed her lips. "I don't know what she's talking about. She made up this story to come between us. She's jealous of our family. Can't you see that?"

"There is no fucking us, Tessa," Willem grounded out. "I heard what you said to Amelia about us sleeping together the last ten years and that couldn't be far from the truth. I've never touched you inappropriately. Not once. I took care of you and Bradley out of love for Pieter. Nothing more."

A feeling of deep satisfaction blossomed on my chest to know that Willem had kept his penis far away from everything Tessa.

She sighed, a pitiful sigh it seemed. "Oh yes, Pieter. I loved that man."

I rolled my eyes. "You have a thing for all the men in the de Vries family. You love them all, including Jan." I turned to Willem. "Your father is Bradley's biological father, hence the grey eyes. She cheated on Pieter while he was sick and got pregnant."

The loss of his warmth was immediate as he slipped his hand out of my hold, turning away to walk up the small dune, his hands fisted at his side.

"Will," I said, going after him, ignoring Tessa's sobs in the background. "I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" He turned to face me, tears shimmering in his eyes. "Not telling me sooner? How long have you known? You ask for honesty from me but you can't even do the same."

I gulped, swallowing whatever I was going to say next. He was right.

Tessa came running toward us, falling dramatically at Willem's feet. "Let me explain, please. Jan and I were both drunk and I started talking about how Pieter's health was declining and how unhappy I was and one thing led to the next. I know this is a shock and I'm ashamed of my behavior."

"I can't even look at you right now," he said. "Pieter would have given his life for you. He was dying and he thought about you and your happiness. Your needs came before his always."

Tessa sobbed, her head hanging low. I knew that her tears were nothing more than crocodile tears and it infuriated me.

Willem continued. "You acted like nothing was going on between you and my father, calling my mother crazy when she was right all along. I want you gone, out of my life. Do you hear me? Don't you ever step foot near me or my wife again."

He turned his back on Tessa, leaving her crying in the sand. I glared at her one last time before I threw the photographs of Wilem and Jessie on her lap, watching as some of them scattered and then landed in the sand.

I followed Willem to the quiet parking lot on the other side of the beach. A soft breeze rustled the leaves of the coconut trees lining the beach. In the distance, music from the bar could be heard, and overhead, thick grey clouds floated by.

"Will," I said, grabbing his wrist as he was about to open the car door. He let out a stream of air from his nose, his gaze flicking down to where I held him. I wanted to hug him but I refrained from doing so. "Please know that I'm here for you if you need to talk. What Tessa and Jan did was disgusting but I'm begging you, don't take it out on Bradley."

"All these years I thought I hated my father but I can't find a better word to describe the kind of hatred I'm feeling right now. Pieter died thinking he left his legacy behind and my father took that away from him." He leaned against the car, looking up at the sky, his features somber. "I must have sounded so stupid calling Bradley my son when he was my half fucking brother this whole time."

"This changes nothing," I said, touching his shoulder and then his jaw. He swallowed and his Adam's Apple bobbed up and down.

"It changes everything," he stressed softly. "How am I supposed to look him in the eye and tell him that he can't call me father anymore? That Pieter isn't his father either? Our relationship will never be the same."

Rubbing his chest, I studied his face in the moonlight, noticing how his eyelashes curved upward.

"It's going to be okay," I said. "You're going to have a different kind of relationship with him and that's okay."

"What about my father? How do I move on from that?"

"I don't know."

He sank on the floor, his back against the car door, head buried in his hands. "Why did he have to go and do that? Dammit, why? Our relationship was always rocky and now this."

I sat down on the floor next to him, my arm going over his shoulder to comfort him. He was warm to the touch and then I felt his shoulders shudder.

"Hey," I said. "Look at me."

He did, and the silent tears running down his cheeks caused my heart to clench with empathy. My tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth and I forgot what I was about to say.

I drew closer, my hand stealing into his curly hair as the side of our faces connected. I whispered words of comfort at the side of his neck, the heady scent of his cologne grounding me to him and the pain he was feeling.

He cleared his throat, but his voice was husky when he spoke. "He judged your father for not taking care of your family financially but he destroyed our family by sleeping with a woman who could be his child, his son's widow. I don't think I could ever forgive him."

Rain fell and we sat there hugging each other, the ocean a breath away, our hearts heavy with sorrow for the loss of our fathers, our tears melting with the raindrops coating our faces.

😪