บท 7: Intentions and an Angry Husband
Nicholas sat down beside Ana wrapping an arm around her. He pulled her close to him trying to comfort her and honestly right now he needed comfort too. His beautiful girl had been through absolute hell for most of her life. To think that while he had been living in luxury eating caviar and drinking champagne, she had been sleeping on cardboard, or in bushes, or worse being molested by her own father.
Ana had been eating whatever she could find and going without her basic needs. She had been cold, hungry, and dirty just trying to survive and that was after what her own father had done to her. Nicholas would kill the man if he came near Ana now.
Nicholas felt like he should have protected her somehow but how could he protect someone from a danger that he couldn't have imagined existed for her? What kind of evil lurked in her father's heart that he could do such things to his daughter?
Nick remembered meeting her and she had been a little girl. He had slept in that house the night those heinous crimes started, and he hadn't known it. It was no wonder that Ana felt so easily ashamed. Shame had been hard-wired into her by the person that was supposed to protect her most fiercely.
Nicholaus would protect her now. Nicholas stood and pulled Ana up. "We need to go eat a real breakfast. Your baby needs sustenance to grow Ana. Come with me to breakfast please." Nick urged her. She nodded absently. Nick tipped her face up with a finger under chin and gave her a gentle but intense kiss.
When they reached the breakfast room Mrs. Burns had set out two fresh plates of French toast, eggs, and bacon. She also set fresh orange juice out for them both. When Mrs. Burns looked at Ana her expression was sad and troubled. No one could hear Ana's story and not be affected by it. "Can I get either of you anything else." Mrs. Burns asked. Ana shook her head no.
"No that will be all for now." Nick told his housekeeper.
The pair ate their breakfast in relative silence, each in their own heads. Ana was feeling embarrassed that she had shared so much of her story and worried that Nick would think less of her now. Nicholas was trying to figure out the likelihood of Ana's father showing up on his doorstep. The scanner would have made a note of who accessed the file and scanned Ana. Would he kill her father on sight?
"I am sorry Nicholas that you got mixed up with someone like me." Ana said suddenly.
"What are you talking about? Stop that, Ana. You have done nothing to be ashamed of. None of that was your fault." Nick told her seriously. He wondered if he should hire a therapist to help her deal with her trauma.
Ana searched his gaze trying to find the lie then looked away.
"Sweetheart, look at me." Nicholas said reaching out to touch her cheek gently. "You are beautiful and amazing. You're a survivor. I will never feel shame towards you. All you will get from me is adoration. You are my bride. The man you met so long ago was me at eighteen. I have our marriage contract in my safe in the study. You will be my wife. We found each other despite everything. Once your son is born, we will marry as we should have done long ago."
Ana looked at him with wide eyes. "You're my betrothed?" Nick nodded seriously.
After that they finished their breakfast and their juice and headed into the study. Nicholas opened his safe and pulled out an old folder looking over his marriage contract for Ana's hand that had been signed by her father as well as his. Upon consummation of the marriage the Coulter's would be paid a hefty sum and gain control of a property pertinent to their empire.
Lady Leana Coulter would become Lady Princess Leana Stanton. Nicholas and Ana would become royals in the line of succession to rule the country of Cambria which was roughly the same size as New Halton but about seven hours flight time to the east. The country was currently ruled by Nicholas's father and stepmother.
Nicholas showed the last page that simply stated his betrothal to Ana. He didn't want her worrying about the royalty part yet with so many other things on her mind. Nicholas put the contract back in his safe before closing and locking it.
Ana was sitting in her chair by the window to the side of Nicholas's desk with her feet tucked up under her in the chair. She had picked up her book from the table beside her but hadn't opened it and was just holding it in her lap. Mrs. Burns came in and sat a glass of iced tea with lemonade that Ana preferred on the table next to her. Then sat a coffee service tray on the desk next to Nicholas. They both thanked her, and she retreated, closing the door behind her.
It was a little early for the time they usually spent in the office but that was how it was working out today since they had spent so much time in the garden this morning. Breakfast had been eaten near eleven. Their schedule was a little off today. Nicholas came over and crouched in front of Ana.
He placed hand on top of hers. "Please tell me that you are all right and that we are all right?" He questioned with concern evident in his features.
Ana leaned forward kissing him softly. "Everything will be fine. Telling my story took a toll. I have never told anyone what happened to me before. I need some time to decompress. You work and I'll think on it a while."
Nicholas nodded before standing up and placing a kiss on her head before walking over to his desk and pulling out the file, he had begun work on the day before but had not finished. Suddenly he stood.
"I will be right back." Nicholas told her. He had just realized something. He had told her they would marry but he had not asked her. He bounded up the stairs and walked into his bedroom. Nick opened a safe in his room and found what he was looking for.
Nicholas snapped open a ring box and inside was a family heirloom from his mother's side. Inside the box was a five-carat emerald cut diamond set in a gold band. The ring had been his great-grandmother's engagement ring having been passed down for generations though Ana would be the first woman to wear it in forty years. He would purchase wedding rings for them before they wed but he wanted her to have this heirloom as his promise to her. Nick closed the safe and stuffed the tiny box in his pocket.
Nick walked down to the study and sat back down to work. At some point today he would find an opportunity to ask Ana to marry him properly. Then they could plan for a proper wedding once the baby was born. Ana gave him a curious look, but he ignored it. It wasn't the right time. He had been working for an hour when there was a knock on the front door. Curious, he walked to the study door and saw Mrs. Burns speaking to Scott Devon at the door. She looked like she was sucking on a lemon.
Why was he here? Nicholas walked to the front door wanting his question to be answered. Scott spied his nemesis and spoke angrily.
"Nicholas, I know Ana is here. I want to speak to my wife. It is improper for her to be here alone with you, and I have been searching for her for weeks." Devon said irritation clear in his tone.
"Mrs. Burns, let him in please." Nicholas urged the woman who stepped aside and allowed Devon to enter the house.
"Follow me." Nicholas told Scott not waiting to see if he would follow. When he reached the study door he turned and saw that Devon was only a couple steps behind him.
Nicholas pushed the door open. "Sweetheart, we have a visitor." Nicholas walked in, moving to the desk and motioning for Scott to sit in one of the chairs.
Scott was scowling at Stanton's use of an endearment in speaking to his wife. He turned to Ana. "I have been searching everywhere for you." He told Ana.
"Why? I signed your divorce papers. What more do you want? Oh, I forgot to give these to you before I left, and I don't want them anymore." Ana pulled the rings off her left hand and held them out to him. He didn't move to take them.
"Ana, it is time to come home with me so we can work things out in a more reasonable fashion. You can't just live with an unmarried man. People will think badly of you." Scott reasoned with her. Nicholas walked over to Ana and held his hand out for the rings, and she dropped them into his hand. Then he walked back to his desk and sat.
Nick set the rings on the desk on Devon's side. "Sit, we have a lot to discuss."
Scott scowled at Nicholas and the wedding rings he had given Ana before sitting down. He didn't want them back. He wanted them on Ana and her to come with him so he could find some arrangement he could live with. Scott was not sure how to deal with his wife being here with Stanton.
"When you decided to marry Ana did you check her for a mark?" Nicholas asked the man.
"Why would I, she is an orphaned nurse." Scott snapped.
"There is no such person as Ana Minden." Nicholas told Devon mildly. "Technically, your marriage doesn't exist. The person you keep calling your wife is my betrothed since she was nine. She assumed a fake name to hide from someone who wanted to harm her."
"That is ridiculous." Scott said sitting forward.
"You really have no idea who she is?" Nicholas asked, amused.
"I would have married her already if not for her current predicament." Nicholas continued not caring if Scott was keeping up with the conversation.
"You are talking in riddles." Scott spat angrily.
"I can't marry Ana until she gives birth to your heir." Nicholas intoned without inflection.
That drew Scott's attention. "My heir? Ana, what is he talking about?" Ana stood and walked over to her ex-husband and ran a hand over her loose tee so he could clearly see that she was very pregnant. Scott's breath caught in his throat.
"I could not have the abortion you demanded, and I couldn't tell you either." Ana said quietly and then returned to her seat.
"Are you telling me you walked into the world with nothing from me pregnant with my child? Are you crazy?" Scott was appalled.
"You didn't want me anymore. What does it matter what I do or if I am carrying a child? You made it abundantly clear you didn't want a child with me and wouldn't accept it. I am not your problem anymore." Ana said anger seeping through her tone.
"Ana, I didn't expect you would just disappear. I thought we would have some separation and see how we could move forward. I thought you would take a settlement if nothing else." Scott said trying to explain.
"Oh yes, compensation for services rendered." Ana mocked. "Go to hell."
"Again? I think I am there. I sent a car after you, but you had disappeared. I should never have told you to have an abortion like that. I am terrible at being a husband." Scott started.
"I agree." Ana snapped.
Scott growled low clenching his fists then releasing them. "Ana, we obviously have things to work out. I will take you home and we will figure out what we need to do to bring our child into this world. Stanton said it is my heir, so I assume the baby is a boy. There is a lot to do, and I realize I need to work on being a better husband. I am thankful to Nicholas for keeping you safe."
Ana laughed but the sound was unhappy. "You think you can wrap this up so easy, but you missed something vital. Nicholas and I are together."
Scott paused. "But you are quite pregnant with my child and still married."
"Everything still works just fine despite those definitions which you might have known if you ever touched me." Ana snarked bitterly.
Devon turned an angry gaze on Nicholas. "So, you have been intimate with my pregnant wife? That is a new low even for you."
"I made love to my legally betrothed bride, that is completely legal. She is not married to you because Ana Minden doesn't exist. That she happens to be pregnant is not that much of an obstacle. The fact that the baby is yours is irrelevant and merely coincidental." Nicholas reasoned in a calm tone. Devon lunged over the desk then trying to get his hands on Nicholas.
"Sit down so we can discuss the situation like adults." Nicholas roared at Scott. Scott straightened his jacket and sat back down having failed to get his hands on Stanton.
"Something you need to accept is that Ana is not yours. She has always been mine and we will be married as soon as her son is born. You don't even know who she is. You would never have been allowed to marry her. Ana outranks you." Nicholas told him quickly.
"What is her rank?" Scott asked.
"Crown-one." Nicholas told him leaning forward on his desk.
Scott turned to look at Ana confused. Who was she? "Prove what you are saying." He snapped.
Nicholas looked at Ana. She nodded with a low sigh. Nicholas showed Scott the photo of the scanner screen. Scott's expression turned stoic before he leaned back in his seat. How could the missing daughter of the Coulter Empire have lived in his home for nearly three years, and he never noticed? Had he really paid so little attention to his wife that he couldn't tell she was from the upper level of society?
Nicholas ran a hand through his hair. "You will have your heir. I will raise him as my stepson. I will take good care of him. You don't have to worry about that. You didn't want a child and you won't be inconvenienced. All I need you to do is help foster the idea that the child is legitimate. Ana will live here at the estate quietly until after the child is born and we can marry. You know as well as I do that a betrothal with a signed marriage contract is already binding as to her station in this house but still the wedding will remove even the hint of doubt about impropriety."
Scott laughed aloud. "You want to steal my wife and son on the grounds of a name discrepancy? A betrothal contract is only binding if there is no other marriage claim. I don't care if you had her in every room of this estate. I am still taking her home with me. I have been a terrible husband. I ignored her and filed for divorce. I can forgive that she sought attention from my brother. It won't be like that in the future. I will take care of her properly." He finished speaking in a quiet determined voice. Ana glanced at Scott confused.
Nicholas scowled at Devon. "You are not my brother. Ana doesn't want you. You can try to convince her, but she wants to be with me so there is nothing you can do."
Scott looked at Ana and he already knew she wouldn't go with him. Why would she when he had given her every reason to despise him. "Ana, come with me and in a month if you still want to be here, I will bring you back." He pleaded quietly.
Ana folded her arms across her chest and stared at her ex-husband. "No, I am staying with Nicholas. He wants me around. Why are you even here? Is it because I am happy, and you can't stand it?"
Scott stood. "Being without you makes me miserable. I have been awful; but things would be different if you came back with me. We are already married, and we will have a child coming. We can be together properly. I don't have to hide you to keep you. He is asking you to be his secret Ana." Ana glared at him unwilling to listen after the hell he had put her through.
Scott sighed. "I will be back with a court order. I will not just let you take my family from me without a fight." With that Scott picked up the rings and put them in his pocket so he would have them to put back on Ana when he got her back. Scott turned on his heel and left the Stanton residence headed straight for his attorney's office. Ana was his legal wife and was carrying his child, he would get her back.
Nicholas scowled, pulling out his phone and calling his attorney at once. The attorney was certain they had grounds to keep Ana from having to go back to Scott Devon. Scott would have some pull because she was pregnant. However, the marriage had been enacted under an assumed name while she already was contracted to Nicholas. The attorney promised to call him once he had any news to tell them.
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