So, Shall We Get Married?
Chapter 45

He had only been waiting for half an hour while Olivia was checked, and Caleb’s nerves were on edge. He was worried sick about his wife and baby, while his daughters sat next to him and didn’t say a word.

Alma was crying silently, while Talia seemed to have gone into a trance… Caleb didn’t want to talk to her right now, his mind was elsewhere, but he wasn’t forgetting what his daughter had done. That prank was too much, it couldn’t possibly be solved with just a scolding.

Caleb was shaking his leg desperately, impatient, needing someone to come out and tell him they were both okay.

-Dad,” his youngest daughter’s voice snapped him out of his musings. Olivia, is she going to be all right? -Caleb looks at her and doesn’t know what to say, the CEO purses his lips and just then a nurse approaches them.

-Mr. Palmer?

-It’s me,” he replies, standing up. How’s my wife?

-She’s going to be fine, and so is the baby. Fortunately, you were able to get the water out of her body in time. Now, the lady is resting.

-Can I see her?

-Yes, I will come for you in an hour.

What a great relief she felt in her soul to know that she and the baby would be all right. He was so afraid for the two of them, God, the anguish was killing him. He just couldn’t imagine himself without Olivia, and without his baby, without watching that little one grow in his belly.

Shit, he felt terrible when he touched her hand in the ambulance and found it frozen… the worst of it all was that he felt it was all his fault, he blamed himself for his daughter’s attitude. He didn’t give Talia enough character, and because he was too soft on her, all that happened.

-What do you mean, the baby is fine? -He hears his eldest daughter behind his back.

-Olivia’s pregnant,” he answers so they can both hear him.

-Wait a minute, this… how come… that’s why you got married? -The blonde faced her father.

-I got married because I love Olivia, and as much as I adore you two, I also love that baby she’s expecting.

Now he understood perfectly, all that agony, anxiety and fear was for a reason. He loved her and didn’t want to lose her, he dreaded her death. All that had to happen for him to realise that he was in love with Olivia, his wife. Life was taking such strange turns.

-That can’t be, what about Mom? -The mention of that woman turned Caleb’s stomach.

-Enough of that, Talia,” the blond replied authoritatively, “I’ve had enough of you, tired of your attitude. I don’t love her and I’m not interested in her,” Caleb knew he was being harsh, but it was time to be harsh. That’s enough.

The teenager was holding back tears, her father’s words were harsh. And as much as it hurt, a part of her realised that her parents were never going to be together. That her dad had fallen in love with another woman, and… he seemed to be happy with her.

She could tell, because every time he mentioned seeing her mother, she got into a really bad mood. Maybe his mum would have to forget about winning over his dad.

-I don’t want to keep talking about this here, and you know you and I need to talk.

-Dad, I…

-Don’t say anything, don’t make your situation any worse than it already is.

That threat made the blonde’s hair stand on end, the young woman sits back down without looking at her father.

-Am I going to have a little brother? -Alma’s expression was different, she was excited.

-Yes,” Caleb smiles. “We don’t know the s*x, but you are going to have a sibling to take care of.

-Yes, yes,” she starts jumping up and down. I want to see Olivia, let’s go see her, daddy.

-We have to wait, daughter.

After an hour, father and daughter entered Olivia’s room. She was awake, and at the sight of them she smiles. The first one to run out is Alma to hug her.

-I knew you’d be all right.

-I thought you’d never come to see me,” she says, looking at her husband.

-I’m sorry, they wouldn’t let me in before.” He k****s her lips tenderly, which causes her heart to flutter.

-And when can I leave?

-Tomorrow, they want to see how you spend the night. Both of them.

-Olivia, I’m so happy you’re carrying my brother inside you. I want him to be a girl, so he can play with me. My sister doesn’t, but your baby does.

The adults look at each other’s faces and say nothing, at that moment, Olivia sensed some guilt in her husband’s eyes and she didn’t like it. No one was to blame for anything, besides, she and the baby were fine.

So the woman took her husband’s hand and squeezed it, then smiled at him….

-Calm down, everything is fine.

-But…

-It’s all right, it’s all right….

-I want you to get out of here now, Olivia. We have to go and buy my brother a lot of clothes, he has nothing, and we also have to arrange a room for him, dad I want it to be next to mine, so I can visit him every day.

The CEO laughs at his daughter’s witticisms, he never imagined his daughter acting like that. He always thought that because of her sister’s influences, Alma would follow in Talia’s footsteps, but with Olivia’s arrival, things had changed, his little baby was different and he was happy about that.

All that remained was to deal with her eldest. Talia was uncontrollable, and now with her mother on her side it was getting worse.

-Where is Talia?

-Outside, she won’t come in.

-Leave her, it doesn’t matter.

-She needs to apologize to you for what happened, it’s not acceptable that… -No, please, Caleb.

-No, please, Caleb. -No, please. That’s not necessary, don’t make her do it. Let her let it come from her heart, it’s the best thing to do.

-You know that’s not going to happen.

Olivia sensed that her husband was about to do something she didn’t think was a good idea, in his eyes she noticed that he looked determined. She couldn’t let Caleb send their daughter away.

-Alma, why don’t you go keep your sister company for a while,” Olivia asks, and the girl complies.

-What’s the matter? Why do you want us to be alone?

-You can’t send your daughter to that boarding school, it would be crazy for you to do that. If you take Talia away from you, they’ll drift further apart than they already are. Believe me, it’s not a good idea to send her away just to punish her.

-But what she did was very bad, almost…

-Nothing serious happened, besides, she didn’t know she was pregnant, let alone that she couldn’t swim. You can’t blame her.

-But she made a very bad joke, and I can’t let that go.

-Listen to me, you need to get closer to your daughter-Olivia takes her hands. Promise me you’ll try, you’ve done it with Alma, how hard is it for you to do it with Talia. She just needs understanding, and more from you.

-It’s just that her mother…

-She was never by his side, and you were; believe me, if she had to choose who to stay with, it would be you. I know, she adores you.

Caleb stared at his wife open-mouthed, how could this woman advocate for her daughter. If her joke was about to cause something very bad to happen to him. How could he not love her, if she encouraged him to give his daughter one more chance.

He didn’t want to send her to a boarding school, but her behaviour was intolerable…

Talia listened to every word Olivia said, listened in detail as she defended her from her father’s intentions to send her to boarding school. She couldn’t believe he was helping her, after what he had done to her.

Of course her mother would do the same for her, she told him she would defend her. And that she would stay with her dad, that wasn’t true, of course she would go with her mother… suddenly she was thinking to herself, would she?

-You see, she’s not bad,” Alma was also listening to the adults’ conversation.

-She does it to make herself look good with dad….

-She’s not, she’s doing it because she wants you to be with us. But you have to stop being mean.

-What do you know?

-Olivia is nice, why don’t you make friends with her?

-But what about mum? She came back for us.

-She left years ago, she left us, you shouldn’t act like that. -You’re mean to dad who was always with you. You’re mean to dad who was always with you, and you’re nice to that lady.

-Don’t call her madam, she’s mum.

-I’m sorry, but she’s not my mum.

-And who is? -Oliva?

-She’s my friend, and she loves me.

The young girl looks at her little sister, she was very attached to that woman. And the truth is that several times Olivia had interceded for her, to help her or for anything else. Now she felt a big knot in the pit of her stomach.

She’d promised her mum she’d play pranks on her dad’s wife, but now that she was pregnant, she couldn’t do it, in fact, she didn’t want to.

The life she was waiting for inside was her brother, she wouldn’t make an attempt on her brother’s life. The joke about the pool she made without thinking, the truth is that she wasn’t even aware that she didn’t know how to swim.

how the hell would she suspect him?

She felt pretty guilty about sending her to the hospital, her dad was pretty furious. And although he had advocated for her not to be sent to boarding school, he suspected that her father wouldn’t listen to him.

Of course he would send her to England, the best thing to do was to call her mother to get her out of the house before her father did something completely crazy.

-Anyway, I don’t think she’ll be living in that house anymore.

-I’m sure Olivia will help you, Dad won’t send you away.

-As if you care, you don’t care about me.

-Of course you do, I want you to be here for when our brother comes. But you can’t be mean to him, because he’ll be too little.

Talia’s eyes widened, she would never be mean to her brother, whoever his mother was. He was her brother.

-Alma, I would never hurt a brother of mine,” she stroked his cheek. I was mean because I wanted to get Daddy’s attention. But since Mommy’s here, I don’t have to be anymore.

-But she doesn’t love us, Talia. You can tell she doesn’t love us.

Those crude words shocked the older girl… Why did she say that about her mother? What was it that this girl saw that she couldn’t see?