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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 13:57:21 GMT -5
Zachary apparated back to the house, where Justin and Suzette were already waiting for him. He couldn't deny, there was a cowardly part of him that was tempted to run. It wouldn't be unheard of for him to take off when things got difficult. But he didn't want to leave Susie. He never had; but he'd been given no choice. Things hadn't changed, either... she was still engaged to Taylor. Did he know about the baby? Did he suspect it could be Zach's?
He had a lot of questions for her, but no answers to the ones she must have had. He sighed as he approached the house and walked over to her. "Let's go inside, and we'll talk about this," he said. He held out his hand to her, but he wasn't sure she would take it.
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 14:06:10 GMT -5
She nodded, but kept her hands to herself. She didn't want him to be nice to her or anything of the sort. He had left her, pregnant and with Taylor, without a word. That wasn't so easily forgiven. In fact, she almost hoped the child was Taylor's so she wouldn't have to have anything more to do with this family.
She waited for him to realize she wasn't going to take his hand, and then followed him inside.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 14:18:03 GMT -5
Zachary sighed. He deserved this. All of it. Her anger, her refusal to touch him, hell, this whole damn situation. He'd made a right mess of things. All the mistakes in his life were finally catching up to him.
He led her inside, to a cozy library near the back of the house. There was a fire crackling in the fireplace, and several cushy armchairs artfully arranged in front of the ceiling-high bookshelves.
"Please, sit down," he said softly.
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 14:23:03 GMT -5
That she listened to, and she sat down, ever graceful. Her back was straight and her hands were folded in her lap, almost protectively in front of her stomach.
She would not meet his eyes. Not yet.
(Sorry it's short)
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Post by Justin Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 14:23:21 GMT -5
As the two went into the house in front of him he smirked to himself behind their backs. He was still enjoying his uncle's discomfort over the whole thing, although Justin didn't really know the half of it, but the part he knew was still rather amusing when it came down to the part about Zach possibily being a dear ol' daddy. He couldn't wait until aunt Tanya found out.
As he entered however the smirk was gone and he saw them both go into the private parlor and figured he should exuse himself for the moment. "I'll leave you two to talk, although if you need anything please let me know." He was inwardly chuckling, but on the surface he was all gentleman charm... his most recent display of hardness removed from view again. And he walked into the library and study in the next room over close enough to hear if one of them left, but not close enough to hear their conversation.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 14:44:31 GMT -5
Zachary remained standing. He looked at her, wishing he could tell her the truth about everything. But would she just end up hating him even more if she knew why he had left?
He sighed and began to pace. "Susie... I know you don't believe this, and I don't blame you, but... I never wanted to leave you. I had no choice. And I've missed you."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 15:02:18 GMT -5
She didn't answer him for a long time. She was angry, and hurt, and Merlin how she had missed him too.
Finally, she shook her head. "I really don't need to hear any of that, Zachary. You and I both know you're just saying it to make things easier." In other words, she didn't buy it.
"I don't want anything from you. I have enough money and the people around me to raise this child... and regardless of whose it is, I am going to have it. I just thought you should know that there's a chance it wasn't just me that you left behind."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 15:08:55 GMT -5
Zachary sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm not just saying that to make this easier. Hell, it would be a lot easier for both of us if it wasn't true. If I didn't care, you could just hate me and be done with it. You deserve to hate me."
He began to pace again. "Now that Justin knows about the baby, you should know... there's almost no chance the family is going to let you go until we can determine if the baby is mine. If it was just me..." He sighed, unwilling to tell her that he would have just let her go, no further questions asked. He wasn't even sure that was the truth. "If the baby is mine, I want to take responsibility for it. But... it's complicated..."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 15:21:55 GMT -5
Susie looked away again, heartbroken. None of what he was saying was translating well with her. He would have let her go... he had as good as just admitted that to her, and she didn't know how to handle that.
Well, he had abandoned her once. What was one more time?
"You were supposed to save me from him," she whispered. "You were supposed to take me away from that."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 15:29:13 GMT -5
The pain in her face was almost too much to bear. He had never meant to fall in love with her, but it had happened. And because of it, he'd messed everything up.
"I warned you once," he said quietly. "In the beginning, remember? I told you you shouldn't rely on me to save you... only you could do that for yourself. I can't even save myself."
She never knew of his many vices; she'd only thought of him as a gentleman, albeit one who would seduce an engaged woman. "There are things about me, Susie... things I can't tell you, things you wouldn't understand. I warned you that you were better off with Taylor. Does he know about the baby? Does he know it might not be his?"
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 19:33:38 GMT -5
She hated men. Why did they always think that warning a girl once would have any bearings on their emotions, or that it released them from all cnsequences?
"He doesn't even know I'm pregnant. Neither does my father... no one knows, except you, and your nephew, and me."
Her hands clenched into fists, and then she forced her fingers apart, and forced herself to look at him. "It's not fair, you know. You come into town, steal a man's fiance, have fun with her, and then run away. You get to run away from the situation. Well guess what? I don't get to run away from this."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 21:11:43 GMT -5
The sad irony of the situation was that Suzette was truly the first woman he had ever wanted to stick around for. He'd loved and left many women, and had a trail of broken hearts in his wake. But Susie was the first one to ever make him want to stay. Unfortunately, she had never been his, not in the truest sense. Taylor had always been there, forever standing in the way. It was possible that he could have convinced her father to release her from the unwanted engagement to Taylor, but he'd just had to make that one last bet... and ended up losing everything. And although he'd been down on his luck in the past before, he had always bounced back... but he couldn't bounce back from losing her. That was why he had come home.
"I wasn't running away from you, Susie," he said. "The situation is... complicated." He kept using that excuse, and he was sure she was already sick of it. Hell, he was sick of it. But what was he supposed to tell her?
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 21:18:49 GMT -5
"Yes, it's complicated!" She yelled at him, unable to help herself as her eyes snapped back to his face. How could he be so damn calm right now?
She stood up, afraid of letting him loom over her. "It's complicated because I'm pregnant! And if it's not Taylor's, he'll know, and he'll kill me, and you get to walk away because no one knows where you are! It's complicated because I love you! It's *complicated* because you're too much of a coward to see anything through!"
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 22:03:34 GMT -5
She loved him. Well, it sure as hell wasn't the first time he'd heard those words from a woman whose heart he'd broken. But it was the first time he actually cared. The first time he actually wanted to be able to say it back.
"You're right," he said. "I am a coward. I always have been." There was no point in denying it. It was only one of his many flaws. "Just know... I never meant to break your heart, and I sure as hell never intended to leave you pregnant. If it's mine... we'll figure out what to do. I won't let him hurt you."
Something caught his mind, however, and he stopped. "Wait a second... it could be mine... but it might not. Susie, you said you didn't love him... did you sleep with him?"
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 22:13:42 GMT -5
Suzette's heart was pounding, and how dare he judge her? Which was exactly what that question sounded like... a judgement.
She strode forward and pushed him as hard as she could, which wasn't hard enough to really do any damage.
"I didn't want to!" She yelled, crying all over again. She really shouldn't be this upset... who knew what it could do to the baby inside her. "He was angry about something and I couldn't reason with him." She didn;t know he had been angry about Zachary.
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Post by Thatcher Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 22:14:01 GMT -5
Thatcher had been in the middle of saying something to Tanya when they entered the estate, but the yelling caught his ear and he stopped. It was feminine, angry, and upset. Whoever it was was obviously crying, and it was hard to tell who the voice belonged to. All he understood was that she was pregnant... and not by her choice.
"That better not be Gwen," he said, his voice low as he dropped Tanya's arm and stormed towards the voice.
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Post by Tanya Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 22:23:31 GMT -5
Tanya had been smiling before walking into the house, but as soon as she heard the yelling her smile faded immediately. Someone was pregnant and she recognized that commend coming from her middle brother, then some female crying obviously upset about something. What had Zach gotten himself into this time? Being a female she managed to hear different things than Thatcher had but it still made no more sense to her than his own conclusion had.
Tanya was only a moment behind Thatcher and out of the corner of her eye she saw Justin entering the hallway on the way to follow them as well. What the hell was going on around here?
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Post by Justin Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 22:25:43 GMT -5
Justin heard the arguing and started to come out of the library when he saw his father and aunt walking into the parlor. oh great.. this isn't going to be good he thought. He walked down to the room and followed behind Tanya into the room. He wasn't going to miss this part.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Oct 15, 2008 22:42:19 GMT -5
"You didn't want to?" Zachary repeated blankly. "You mean... he forced you?"
The mere idea that the bastard might have raped her flipped a switch inside Zachary. If that was what had happened, the debt be damned... he would fight for her. He may have been a coward, but it was even more cowardly to force oneself on a woman. "That bastard... I'll kill him! He swore he wouldn't hurt you as long as I left..."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Oct 15, 2008 22:49:30 GMT -5
Susie looked up, though she could hardly see him through her tears. "He what?" She asked, wondering if she had heard correctly. Nothing was clicking into place yet, but she felt like she was getting a few more pieces of the puzzle.
She didn't have time to ask anything else, however. The door had swung open and there was a small crowd now. She made a frustrated noise, turning from them so she could hide her despair and humiliation.
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