Chapter 10 - The Pregnancy
For a few seconds, no one in Caroline Ames's library spoke.
Jackson's words remained in my ear even after the line went silent.
She says she is pregnant.
I looked at Caroline.
Her face told me she understood without explanation.
History had not repeated itself exactly.
It had improved its disguise.
"Do not accuse her of lying about the pregnancy," Caroline said immediately.
I lowered my phone.
"I was about to."
"Do not."
"She did it to Owen."
"That does not prove she is doing it now."
Robert nodded.
"Caroline is right."
I paced toward the window.
"You both believe it is probably false."
"Probably is not evidence," Robert said.
I laughed bitterly.
"That sentence should be carved on my grave."
"It is also the reason you are still in control of your life."
That stopped me.
He was right.
If courts operated on instinct alone, Natalie might already control my money.
Evidence was slow.
It was frustrating.
It was also protection.
I called Jackson back.
He answered from the parking garage.
"Are you still alone?"
"Yes."
"Listen to me carefully."
"I am listening."
"Do not confront her about whether the pregnancy is real."
"Why?"
"Because if it is real, you will regret treating your child like evidence."
"And if it is not, she wants you emotional."
He breathed shakily.
"What do I do?"
For forty-two years, he had called me when he did not know what to do.
The familiarity of the question nearly broke me.
I wanted to tell him to come home.
I wanted to say I forgave him.
I wanted to pretend his signature on the petition had not happened.
Instead, I chose the harder truth.
"You get your own attorney."
"Not Victor."
"Not Graham."
"Not anyone Natalie recommends."
"You preserve every message and document."
"You do not delete anything, even if it makes you look foolish."
"And you tell the truth."
A pause.
"Even about me?"
"Especially about me."
"What does that mean?"
I looked at Frank's photograph on Caroline's shelf of family portraits, though it was not there.
For a second I imagined him beside me.
"It means if you genuinely believed I was declining, say that."
"If Natalie manipulated you, say that."
"If you wanted the money badly enough to ignore warning signs, say that too."
Jackson went silent.
"Mom."
"What?"
"I did want it."
The admission hurt.
I closed my eyes.
"I know."
"I thought once the transfer happened, we would not have to ask you about anything."
"You never had to ask me about your life."
"It felt like I did."
I swallowed.
There were truths inside his resentment that I did not want to hear.
Even manipulation needed something to attach itself to.
Perhaps Natalie had found real frustrations and turned them into weapons.
"We can talk about that later."
"If there is a later."
"There will be."
"Not the same one."
He was right.
"No."
"Not the same one."
A car door slammed faintly in the background.
Jackson lowered his voice.
"I have to go."
"Where?"
"I am meeting a lawyer."
"Name?"
"Samantha Greene."
Robert heard and nodded approval.
"Good."
"Jackson."
"Yes?"
"Do not tell Natalie where you are going."
"She tracks my phone."
The sentence made my skin crawl.
"Turn off location sharing."
"She will know."
"Then let her know."
He ended the call.
We flew home that afternoon with Caroline's files secured in Robert's briefcase.
By the time we landed, the pregnancy story was public.
Natalie had posted a photograph of a positive pregnancy test beside her wedding bouquet.
The caption read, Our greatest blessing arrived in the middle of our hardest week.
Thousands of comments appeared within minutes.
Some congratulated her.
Others attacked me.
One popular account wrote that I had tried to steal one hundred twenty million dollars from my unborn grandchild.
I had never felt less interested in public opinion.
Then Diane went on television.
Natalie's mother sat beneath studio lights and described her daughter as a frightened newlywed carrying a baby while being persecuted by a wealthy, controlling mother-in-law.
She said I had never accepted Natalie.
She said I had used money to control Jackson since childhood.
She said Natalie had tried repeatedly to build a relationship with me.
Then she cried.
"All my daughter wants is peace for her baby."
Judith threw a cushion at the television.
"That woman should be arrested for acting without a license."
I muted the screen.
"Do not watch it."
"I am watching so you do not have to."
"That makes no sense."
"It makes sister sense."
At six, Jackson's new attorney called Robert.
Samantha Greene was a former federal prosecutor with a reputation for disliking everyone equally.
I liked her before I met her.
She said Jackson was willing to withdraw his support for the protective petition.
But there was a problem.
"Natalie is refusing."
Robert frowned.
"She does not have standing to continue alone on some of the requested relief."
"Victor is amending the petition."
"On what basis?"
"Unborn grandchild interests and alleged contractual reliance."
Robert laughed.
"That is desperate."
Samantha did not laugh.
"Desperate people can still cause damage."
She continued.
"Jackson also wants to disclose something before it comes from someone else."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"He signed more than the petition and holding company agreement."
I gripped the table.
"What else?"
"A declaration authorizing Natalie to obtain medical information if you were hospitalized or deemed unable to consent."
I stared at Robert.
"He cannot authorize access to my medical records."
"Not lawfully by himself," Samantha said.
"But the document was framed as a family emergency contact instrument."
"Did anyone use it?"
A pause.
"Yes."
The room went cold.
"Who?"
"Natalie requested records from two clinics and your pharmacy in the last month."
"Did they give them to her?"
"One clinic refused."
"The pharmacy released a medication history after receiving a form that appears to contain your signature."
I stood.
"My signature again."
"Yes."
"What was she looking for?"
Samantha hesitated.
"Sleeping medication."
The answer connected everything.
Natalie had told the wedding guests I took sleeping medication before anyone knew zolpidem was in my blood.
She had researched whether I had a prescription.
When she discovered I did not, she needed another explanation.
So she began building false medical consent documents.
Robert spoke.
"Samantha, preserve the pharmacy request and all metadata."
"Already done."
"Does Jackson know about Caroline Ames?"
"He knows Natalie was previously engaged."
"He does not yet know the full pattern."
"Then he needs to."
"Agreed."
At eight thirty, Jackson came to my house for the first time since the wedding.
He arrived alone through the garage to avoid cameras.
When he walked into the kitchen, I saw Frank in him again.
The same tired eyes.
The same habit of rubbing the back of his neck when ashamed.
He stopped when he saw my uncovered head.
I had stopped wearing scarves inside.
The shock on his face lasted only a second.
Then grief replaced it.
"Mom."
"Sit down."
He did.
Judith started to leave.
"Stay," I said.
Jackson looked at her.
"Aunt Judith."
"Do not expect me to make this easier for you."
"I do not."
That answer softened her slightly.
Robert and Samantha joined by video call.
We showed Jackson the photograph of Natalie with Owen Ames.
Then the image of Natalie, Caleb, Victor, and Graham together before she ever met him.
Jackson stared at it for a long time.
"Graham knew her."
"Yes."
"He introduced me to Victor."
"Yes."
"He encouraged me to bring Natalie to the Carson gala."
I froze.
"What?"
Jackson looked at me.
"I was not planning to go."
"Graham told me I needed to start showing up at foundation events again after Dad died."
"He specifically mentioned Carson."
The room became very quiet.
"Did he introduce you to Natalie?"
"Not directly."
"He introduced me to a donor who introduced me to her."
"Which donor?"
"Caleb Rourke."
I felt physically cold.
It had not been chance.
Jackson meeting Natalie at the charity gala had been one of the sweetest stories he told about their relationship.
He always said fate had finally placed someone in front of him when he had stopped looking.
There had been no fate.
There had been Graham.
There had been Caleb.
There had been a room selected in advance.
Jackson stood suddenly and walked away from the table.
"I am going to be sick."
I followed him into the hallway.
He braced both hands against the wall.
"She picked me."
His voice cracked.
"Not because she loved me."
"We do not know what she felt."
He turned toward me.
"Do not protect her."
"I am not."
"Then say it."
Tears filled his eyes.
"Say she used me."
I looked at my son.
He had used me too, in smaller and more ordinary ways.
He had wanted the money.
He had chosen comfort over questions.
He had signed papers because believing Natalie was easier than confronting me.
But none of that meant he deserved what had been done to him.
"She used you."
His face crumpled.
I stepped forward.
For one second, I thought he would let me hold him.
Then his phone rang.
Natalie.
He stared at the screen.
Samantha's voice came through the laptop from the kitchen.
"Do not answer unless you are ready to control the conversation."
Jackson looked at me.
"I need to know if the baby is real."
"You will know."
"How?"
"Through a doctor, not an argument."
He answered.
"Hello."
Natalie's voice was loud enough for me to hear.
"Where are you?"
"Out."
"With her?"
Jackson closed his eyes.
"Natalie, I need you to send me the name of your obstetrician."
Silence.
"Why?"
"Because I want to go to the appointment with you."
Her voice became softer.
"You do not trust me."
"I want to be involved."
"After what your mother has done?"
"This is not about my mother."
"Everything is about your mother with you."
The accusation was so familiar that I felt its old power.
Jackson did too.
His shoulders tightened.
Then he surprised me.
"No."
He spoke quietly.
"For the first time, this is about you."
Natalie hung up.
Three minutes later, she sent him an appointment confirmation for the following morning.
A real clinic.
A real physician.
A real time.
Jackson looked at me.
"What if she is telling the truth?"
"Then you become a father."
"And if she is lying?"
I touched my bare scalp.
"Then tomorrow, one more mask comes off."
What none of us knew was that Natalie had already prepared for either answer.
Because while we were sitting in my kitchen discussing whether her pregnancy was real, Victor Sloane was filing a new emergency motion.
May you like
This one did not ask the court to monitor my money.
It asked the court to freeze the entire one hundred twenty million dollars as a disputed marital asset until the unborn child's interests could be determined.
