Chapter 123: Your Place Isn’t Safe Anymore
They finished dinner, Grace went to wash the dishes, and Cathryn helped clean here and there. A faint alarm bell rang in the distance.
Cathryn was startled, "Your place isn't safe anymore. You have to move."
The hostess agreed. "I'll search for a new one tonight. Twice is enough now. I wonder how bad guys all ended up in this neighborhood."
They searched for rent information together before going to bed. Grace owned a particularly large bed, and it was still very big for the two of them. But in fear of hitting Cathryn in her sleep, Grace decided to clean up the sofa in the bedroom and sleep on it.
Before they could finally sleep, she didn't forget to complain.
"You were here to accompany me. But look at you here, lying comfortably on MY bed while I have to settle for this small sofa."
"You are not sleeping on the sofa," Cathryn retorted. "I hope the whole floor is big enough for you to sleep."
Grace was speechless.
This Cathryn was so tart-tongued now, her mouth was much more capable of spitting words. Grace wondered where she got that from.
They were silent for a while, and when Grace was about to fall asleep, Cathryn suddenly called her name.
"Grace?"
She kept her eyes closed and hummed a response.
"Grace, did you tell Hale...about the thing?"
Grace opened her eyes in the darkness.
She stared at the dim ceiling for a long while. She wrapped her thin blanket tighter around her and felt a bit warmer.
"I can't. It's dirty."
Cathryn felt her throat tighten at the few words from her friend.
After a long silence, Cathryn turned over and remarked to her.
"In my heart, Grace, you are always the cleanest."
Cathryn was so distressed that she could only fall asleep after hours of pondering. In the morning, Grace called to take a day off, steadily prepared to view a few apartments. They chatted till noon, though, when Hale came over, Cathryn handed the baton to the sweetheart, but Grace insisted on seeing Cathryn downstairs.
****
She called Keith before leaving and went happily with her bestie to wait for the car.
As they were waiting, a black automobile slowly pulled over. Cathryn hadn't seen this one in the garage, but she figured that Keith had plenty of cars that she may not recognize of them. She walked to the front in a merry mood. But before she could ask, someone stepped out of the car.
The pleasure on her face instantly disappeared when she saw the man's face. But it wasn't as strange and complicated on his face when he saw her pregnant abdomen.
Jordan stared at Cathryn's lower abdomen and remarked with wide-open eyes. "You are pregnant." He wanted to see her but couldn't find a chance, as she seemed to have evaporated from the world. Everything he could try, including Keith Clarkson, who he knew would give him nothing but humiliation. The more eager he was, the less he could let go. He suddenly remembered about Grace and came here in person to try his luck. And with all his astonishment, he ran into her as soon as he arrived.
Sure enough, fate had not yet separated them, Jordan thought to himself.
Now he was staring at his ex-wife's full bulged belly, and his mind was blank. Cathryn obviously wasn't expecting or pleased to see him. She turned around, sneaked behind her friend, and glared back in alarm.
Her joyous face turned sour immediately as soon as she saw him, Jordan forced a bitter smile with an uncomfortable heartbeat inside.
However, when she was stepping back, he realized something, and his face was back to normal.
"You are pregnant?"
Cathryn didn't want to have anything to do with him. Jordan was bad luck for her. Whenever she encountered something involving him, or as simple as she saw him, there was absolutely nothing good to happen.
"It's not your business, Mr. Riggs."
He froze for an instant when she addressed him by the surname. His throat was sore, and his heart was sullen. His face sank, and he demanded, "Get in the car, have something to say to you."
To her, he kept his domineering way of talking, unaware of what there was in her mind.
Before the divorce, though, Cathryn would turn to the car without delay. Even after their split, when she was still in love with him, she would delay one or two minutes and eventually obey him. But now, her love was gone for good, and she'd never let him manipulate her anymore.
"Mr. Riggs, it would be a restriction of my personal freedom if you force me to your car. I won't mind calling the police." Cathryn said bluntly.
Protecting Cathryn behind her, Grace was like a hawk guarding her chicken and cried to the ill-willed man in anger. "You have divorced her, and the property was settled. Cathryn didn't have a penny and lost everything, and you still wouldn't stop. She has nothing to do with you now if any; it'll be a punch in your face!"
Jordan glanced at Grace and focused on Cathryn again. The latter stared back, her eyes full of alertness.
"What if what I have to say to you is related to the fetus in there?"
Cathryn shivered and decided to walk out from behind. She went standing in front of her ex-husband, her eyes were like a torch, her face was calm, and her voice was irritated.
"You'd better mind your tongue! This child has nothing to do with you!"
"Don't argue with me." He looked at the little woman in front of him, "Let's get in the car, I will tell you everything."
"You have nothing to tell me. You just want to say that the child is yours. I dare you to say that 'cos I'll call for sexual harassment." She threatened and couldn't stop herself from trembling.
"Well, how long have you been pregnant?... Twenty-nine weeks?"
Her pupils swayed, Cathryn argued, "No matter how long, you never wanted me to give you a baby, and I was on pills!"