The problem of getting r.., p.60
The Problem of Getting Rich Quik ... Part One, page 60
part #1 of The problem of getting Rich Quik Series
‘Look,’ he said grabbing her shoulders and staring at her. ‘In the end it’s about love and happiness, right?’
‘Right.’
Lily forced a smile while feeling sick in her throat.
‘That’s all I need to know. Let’s go.’
Dominic carefully led her down the stairs and they both noticed a very handsome black guy standing nearby. He was in a three piece expensive suit and he was perfectly groomed with a very smart hat. There was a slight shadow on his face. Both Dominic and Lily stopped.
‘Julian?’ Dominic said dragging Lily closer to the man. ‘Is that you?’
‘Oh my god, you look-.’ Lily breathed deeply and moved closer. ‘You look like a man. You look gorgeous!’
‘Thank you,’ he said in his deepest voice raising an eyebrow before whispering in Lily’s ear. ‘I still prefer pork not fish and you’re not going to have your way with me as I know you’re a gay boy lover.’
‘Your dirty mouth’s still the same,’ she smiled and gently kissed him on the cheek. ‘But you smell so good.’
‘Shoo!’ he said taking a step back before smiling. ‘And don’t the pair of you little tykes scrub up well. You know when I walked in I didn’t realise you had so many elegant friends.’
‘Neither did I,’ said Dominic glancing around the room. ‘I know about thirty people here and the rest are Rosana’s family, friends and work colleagues.’
‘You’ve got your family and mates over there,’ Lily pointed out towards the raucous bunch by the bar. ‘I hope I’m sitting at their table.’
‘I asked if you could sit next to me but she put her foot down and said you’d be sitting with the singles,’ smirked Dominic as Lily saw Julian scan the room.
‘I’ve seen Richard and his beautiful wife,’ whispered Julian. ‘He’s looking hot Lily, he really is. It’s obvious the new Mrs Hayden-Quik is very good for him.’
‘Great, shall we go into the room?’ she asked Dominic ignoring Julian.
‘And John Bentley is with them,’ continued Julian. ‘He is edible. Let’s go speak to him.’
‘No,’ replied Lily flatly. ‘You want him, you go get him.’
‘Did you put me on the same table as him?’ Julian said to Dominic earnestly.
Lily saw Dominic look at someone and his expression changed immediately. She tried to see who it was but as she was short and wearing flats, she could only see a mass of shoulders.
‘Are you listening to me?’ persisted Julian.
‘Seating plans are around somewhere,’ said Dominic shaking out of his thought before looking at Lily. ‘Come on let’s get this over and done with.’
Lily stood next to Dominic and checked in her purse for the rings. She also saw her best man’s speech. It was short, sweet and to the point. There was no point digging up all the old things they’d got up to as Rosana would hire a hit man to kill her within the next twenty four hours, if she did.
She didn’t turn around once to see who was behind her but she sensed Richard was close by. Then the music started and both Lily and Dominic stiffened before standing up. They looked at each other but neither one could force a smile.
Dominic turned to look at Rosana and Lily quickly glanced over her shoulder. When she did, she saw Richard smiling at Rosana. She felt something flutter in her tummy. She quickly turned her head and discreetly put her hand on her bump knowing she’d felt her baby move. She sighed as Dominic shot her a glance over his shoulder.
The ceremony began.
Lily could only see Rosana’s face, as Dominic had his back to her. She made eye contact and, with all her creative energy, Lily flashed Rosana the filthiest look which was met with a sneer. Lily then just focused on Dominic’s back.
‘Do you, Dominic Crispin Sweet,’ the registrar said only to be met with Julian’s laugh and giggling from the groom’s side of the family. Lily noticed Dominic look over his left shoulder before quickly glancing at her over his right. ‘Take Rosana Jane Baker to be your lawfully wedded wife. To love and to cherish, in-.’
‘I don’t know,’ Dominic suddenly said and there was a mumbling in the congregation.
‘Pardon?’ the registrar said.
‘Rosana,’ he said calmly and moved closer. ‘Do you love me?’
‘Yes I do,’ said a startled bride to be, glancing at the registrar then to Dominic.
‘Do you trust me?’
‘You know I do.’
‘So why the fuck did you ask Lily if I slept with her?’ he said loudly as Lily nearly fell off her chair and was steadied by Stella
‘I love weddings! And you be careful in your condition,’ giggled a pissed Stella.
‘Dominic,’ Lily hissed, still sitting down. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Leave it,’ whispered Stella.
‘And you,’ he said turning to Lily. ‘Why didn’t you tell me what she said to you upstairs?’
‘You heard?’ Lily said and suddenly she felt pure panic which was being mirrored by Rosana. ‘It’s nothing.’
‘Really?’ Dominic said facing the very interested audience.
‘Do you want to go somewhere and talk about this?’ Rosana said calmly through gritted teeth. ‘This isn’t the time or the place to-.’
‘You think telling my best friend you’re going to find a way to stop her seeing me by getting one of your henchmen to send her a threatening letter makes me like you? She’s my friend. We’ve known each other for years. How dare you tell her you want to keep her away from me!’ said Dominic furiously.
‘She never!’ said Christine on the verge of standing up. ‘What a bitch!’
‘Don’t you dare call my daughter that!’ snapped Rosana’s mother who was a much older version of her daughter as she leaned forward to flash an evil look.
‘It’s not what I exactly said,’ said Rosana, her body starting to physically shake.
‘I can’t do this,’ he said shaking his head and loudly continued. ‘I’m sorry folks I can’t marry a woman who doesn’t trust me and certainly doesn’t want me as I am. I love you Rosana. I put up with your weird foibles because that’s you. But you’ve changed. You’re not the woman I fell in love with, you’ve become hard and I don’t like it.’
‘Dominic!’ shouted Rosana.
‘I love you Rosana but I don’t like you.’ And at that moment he grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her up. ‘You’re coming with me.’
‘Don’t you dare leave me here!’ shouted Rosana.
‘Why not? You left me years ago and I was too stupid to see it. And don’t you dare judge my best friend,’ he said pointing an angry finger at his bride to be. ‘She’s a better person than you, a million times over. So what if she got fucked over by her ex? She believed in him. You don’t have to keep shoving it in her face all the time do you?’
The audience gasped as Lily let out a small yelp.
‘Dominic stop,’ Lily gently said trying to touch his arm gently with her other hand but he was holding her right hand so tightly she thought he was going to break her fingers.
‘And I will look after her, I will support her. I’ve never slept with Lily and I’m not the father of her baby. So what if she got knocked up by a twenty something gay builder?’ Lily heard the universal gasp. ‘Who are you to judge? Lily will make a wonderful mother as it’s a miracle she actually fell pregnant considering they said she was a lost cause and a geriatric to boot!’
‘Thanks,’ Lily mumbled looking down at her feet through sheer embarrassment as she caught Stella’s smirking face.
‘I’ll be there when the baby’s born to help my best friend. Nothing and no one is going to come between us, do you hear me?’
‘Oh fuck!’ Lily said as Dominic dragged her down the aisle.
At that moment she met with Richard’s eyes.
He looked shocked.
‘Tyrone got her pregnant!’ shouted Julian. ‘That’s illegal!’
Dominic didn’t speak as he hailed a taxi and they went back to Lily’s.
‘You know how much trouble you’re in, don’t you?’ Lily said gently as Dominic looked angrily out of the window. ‘I didn’t tell you what she told me because I thought she was having a bridezilla moment.’
‘I tried to shrug off what she said to you,’ he eventually said. He glanced at her before staring out of the window. ‘I stood there ready to go through with it and then I thought I couldn’t be married to someone who clearly doesn’t trust or loves me for who I am. She was stifling me. I kept thinking because I’m forty in April I should do it. I love Rosana but I’m not in love with her right now and I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t do it.
Dominic broke down in tears as his best friend smothered him with comforting cuddles and kisses.
When they reached her home, Lily quickly whisked him up into the living room and sat him down. Then she poured him a large drink as he sunk his head in his hands and cried again.
‘I need to get away,’ he said. ‘I’m homeless.’
‘You can move in here,’ she said sitting next to him.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said wiping his face.
‘You don’t need to be sorry.’
‘About telling everyone you’re pregnant. Fuck, what was I thinking,’ he gasped. ‘I know you didn’t want anyone to know and-.’
‘It’s fine,’ she said, stroking his hair. ‘It’s not important.’
‘Did you see Richard’s face?’ Dominic said undoing his tie and sitting back in the sofa. ‘He looked ashen.’
‘Probably the idea of having sex with a pregnant woman,’ Lily said biting her lip.
‘Yep I heard what Rosana said about that too. She really let you have it. Thanks for trying to stick up for me.’
‘You’re my mate. That’s the least I could do,’ Lily sighed before looking at Dominic. ‘What next?’
Chapter Twelve
Dominic and Lily were sitting on a beach in Grenada three days later.
‘Thank Christ we’re here,’ he said ordering another cocktail as Lily noticed it was only two in the afternoon.
She happily sipped her water and sighed.
‘I think this is my most favourite place in the whole wide world,’ she said stretching her legs before picking up a weekly gossip paper from the States. ‘You know, I didn’t realise you were that famous in America.’
‘You sound impressed,’ he smirked, sucking the last drop of liquid out of his glass.
‘I am!’ she smiled genuinely chuffed for her friend. ‘I like this headline ‘Sweet’s Valentine’s Day Massacre’.’
‘Don’t!’ he said putting his hand in the air. ‘Have you seen the tabloids back home?’
‘Not as big but you still get mentioned,’ she smiled before grimacing. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Dunno. You know the parents had a stand up row after we left?’
‘Let’s not think about it and just enjoy the sun,’ she said after getting a punch by punch account from Stella via email.
Dominic got a message from a hysterical Rosana which upset him but he wouldn’t let Lily hear it. Lily got all the friends and family calling her, asking if Dominic was okay and also was it true that she seduced a teenage drag queen and got pregnant.
Lily knew Julian had spread that piece of gossip.
Stella also mentioned Richard asked her if it was true about the pregnancy and Stella took it upon herself to inform him that the father had agreed not to be part of the baby’s life for a small sum of money. She also said Richard and his bride left minutes afterwards.
‘And he as the nerve to ask if you’re okay, the bloody gorgeous bastard,’ wrote Stella.
‘What shall we do today?’ Lily asked watching Dominic eye up a woman walking passed with a couple of strings as a bikini.
‘What can we do with you being pregnant?’ he asked as the waiter handed him his cocktail.
‘If you wanted someone to party with then you should have brought Julian or asked one of your other pals. But you asked me and here I am.’
‘What do you want to do?’
‘Go to the spa. Get some more massages and just relax.’
Lily lay back and smiled.
‘Your bump is a bit big, isn’t it? You sure there’s only one in there?’
‘There’s only one,’ she said and looked in her handbag to pull out her photo. ‘Look.’
‘Blimey,’ he said pulling up his glasses. ‘That’s a baby.’
‘What did you think it was going to be? A puppy?’
‘No.’ Dominic span round and sat up with the picture. ‘It looks like a little person.’ She saw how he looked at the scan and then at her.
‘You know Dominic, you don’t have to keep my company,’ she said gently taking the picture out of his hand. ‘You could go and play if you want.’
‘Play?’
‘Have a good time.’
‘I need to get my bearings,’ he replied, sipping his drink and smiling broadly towards the girl wearing the string.
‘You do that.’
It was the last day of their holiday and Lily had hardly spent any time with Dominic other than meeting for dinner every night and watching him sing karaoke, badly. He had been out and about, making friends while she enjoyed the spa and spent her days on the internet reading up about being pregnant and babies. At night she couldn’t help but think of Richard as the place reminded her when they were on honeymoon.
Every day she called Bonny to check on what was going on at work. Bonny had found someone to help out in the shop, part time. His name was Douglas and he was studying to be a counsellor as a mature student. Lily thought it would be a nice twist to get a heterosexual male in the place who could also give them some good words of free advice.
Her bump was beginning to get larger though her sickness hadn’t subsided. But while she lay on the beach, for all those days, all she could think about was the expression on Richard’s face when she saw him at Dominic’s wedding. Every time she thought about it she couldn’t make out if it was surprise or disgust. He looked quite pale but it was only for a second they looked at each other and that was enough for her to know nothing had changed with her heart but everything had changed in her life.
Dominic had kept her waiting for twenty minutes at the dinner table. She knew he’d have spent some of the day in the room of another guest but didn’t press him on who it was. There were about five women she could see at dinner who could have been his victim.
‘Sorry,’ he said rushing to the table. ‘Just forgot about the time.’
Dominic looked much better than he did ten days ago. His eyes were sparkling and he had a good tan. His hair was lighter and he was his old self again.
‘We fly back tomorrow,’ she said glancing at the menu. ‘Have you packed?’
‘It’s all under control Lily, don’t worry about a thing,’ he said calmly. ‘I wish we could stay here another week.’
‘Yeah I really like solitary confinement. But that bloody manicurist with the weird blonde afro keeps harassing me.’
‘She’s just touting for business.’
‘Every day she asks if I want my nails done and then today, she sat down next to me and tried to interrogate me about my pregnancy.’
‘You are looking larger,’ he said nodding.
‘She thought you were the father and did I know you’d been sleeping with the guests and staff.’
‘Seriously?’
Dominic went bright red.
‘I put her straight on that but she was looking at me if I was strange,’ said Lily as she sipped her water. ‘And you Sweet should be careful you don’t hurt one of your new found lady friends.’
‘I know we haven’t spent much time together but you know how it is,’ he grinned and glanced around the room. ‘And to think, I was going to bring Rosana here. It’s so much better being single.’
‘I bet it is,’ she said before leaning closer to him. ‘Dominic, when are you going to speak to her?’
‘I’m not.’
‘You need to get the rest of your things.’
‘I’ve sorted that,’ he said, his smile quickly fading. ‘Well Rosana has. She packed up all my stuff and left them in the spare room.’
‘When are you going to pick them up?’
‘I actually arranged for a delivery van to pick them up tomorrow and asked them to put everything into storage.’
‘Your clothes and-.’
‘They’ll be put in a locker and I’ll go there when we get back to pick up the essentials. Are you sure it’s okay to stay with you? You don’t have to Lily, I can rent a place and-.’
‘You’re staying with me. You need a base and then we’ll take it from there. Of course you’ve got until the baby comes then you’re being evicted,’ she smiled.
‘I’ll be in the States by then so you’re covered.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘Have you thought about who’s going to be with you when you give birth?’
‘I haven’t and I don’t want to,’ she said quietly knowing it had been pushed to the back of her mind. ‘I couldn’t have even asked you as you’d faint at the mere idea of baby poo let alone baby birth.’
‘Phew!’ he said and smiled. ‘You can’t do it alone, can you?’
‘I will do it alone and I’ll be fine,’ she lied petrified at the thought.
When they arrived home, there were phone messages to deal with and Dominic moving back in. In less than twelve hours Lily’s home was back to having Dominic part of it. Her fridge was filled to capacity with beer and he was hogging the remote control. She went to her room and waded through the phone messages left on her landline.
There was one from Eleanor.
‘Is it true Lily? Are you pregnant? That’s amazing. I’m very happy for you. Please call me when you get back. I heard what happened at Dominic’s wedding. What a catastrophe!’
The last message surprised her.
It was from John Bentley.
‘Ms Warner, could you please call me at an opportune moment. I believe you are away with Mr Sweet. Thank you.’
Even his message was cold and distant, like the bloody sucking vampire he was. Lily decided not to even bother to make a note of his number and deleted all her messages.
