The Other Grey Girl - Part 7

As I walked down the stairs my heart started to beat faster and faster. As I walked to the front door I looked to the peep hole and I saw flowers. I opened the door the a little bit and a nice young man stood there with a big bouquet of peonies, white and light pink. “Bouquet for Mrs. Grey.” The young man says. I open the door further and grab the bouquet. I put them on the table and I sign the sheet. I look at my watch and see it’s almost 10 pm. “It’s a little late, isn’t it?” I say, because I have a feeling that I already know from who it is. “Just following orders.” He says shy. “Hold on a minute. I walk to my bag which was hanging by the stairs. I grab my wallet and pull out a 20$ bill. And I walk back to the front door. “Here you go, have a nice evening.” And I close the door. I grab the flowers and I walk to the kitchen. As I open the envelope I read the card.

Congratulations Kate.

Much love from the Bahamas,

Christian, Ana, Teddy and Phoebe.

Stay Safe!

I grab a vase from the upped cabinet and pour some water in it and I put the flowers in it and with the vase I walk back up the stairs towards Elliot study. As I walk in, I hold up the vase, “look what Christian send.” I smile. I smell the flowers and they smell amazing. “I was just asking Christian if he wants to be a Godfather to one of the twins.” Elliot replies with a smile. I can see in his eyes that he is so happy. I hear Christian on the computer, “I would love to, Elliot.” I hear him saying. “Look I got to go. Here is Ana.” Elliot shoves the desk chair and stands up. “I’ll give you to ladies some privacy; I am going to take a shower.” And he kisses me and then he is gone. I talk for a while with Ana and then it’s time to say goodbye. I have a strange feeling when Ana says goodbye. It’s like she’s afraid of telling me. But then again I have a secret too. A secret that can destroy life as it is.

I walk in the room and grab my toothbrush and I look in the mirror. My subconscious looms her head, you know you can’t keep this a secret, you that right? She has her arms folded and tapping her feet. I know she’s right but I got to. Quickly I brush my teeth and walk to Ava’s room and check on her. When I see she’s sleeping peacefully, I quietly close the door and I walk back to our bedroom. Elliot is snoring softly. I crawl in to bed and turn on my side. I am staring at the ceiling, I know I have to keep this a secret, but I don’t know if I can. I feel Elliot turning and fold his arms around me. And soon I drift off.

As the days past I begin to realize I miss Ana. We speak via Skype but I miss the girl talk we have. I granted Carrick access to our database at the newspaper. But so far nothing’s come up. Or he has but won’t tell me. It’s early and I dropped Ava at Grace and Carrick, and so I decided to drive to Elliot’s office and surprise him. Maybe even go and grab some lunch. When I step into the office, I see something I rather didn’t want to see. Gia Matteo is sitting on his desk. She wears a short skirt and she flirting with my man. “What the fuck is going on here.” I yell. I can’t look at this and I turn around and run off to the elevator. Elliot is not often in his office because he likes to build things himself so often you can find him at the construction site. Once the elevator stops on the lower floor and the doors open, I ran out and to the front door. When I stand outside the tears are running freely. I can’t believe what I just saw. Is Elliot cheating on me? I bend down and I hide my face in my hands. Suddenly I feel two and then I recognize that they are Elliot’s hands. “Go away, Elliot.” I sob. I stand up and I wipe away my tears. Anger is reaching the surface. “Is this what you want? Why are you doing this to me? How dare you to even see that slut. You know I hate her.” I am waving my hands and I don’t even care that I am in the middle of street yelling at my husband. “She didn’t even know I was married.” He says, trying to calm me down. “Elliot are you playing stupid or are you. You have pictures on your desk, of Ava and our wedding day. You know what, I am going to the office and I want to be alone. Ava is at your mother and I would be grateful if you can pick her up after you’re done with that slut in you office.” And I walk away.

Missing my friend

I am pacing in my office because I know I have to go home soon. Then there’s a knock on the door and Elliot walks in. “Please baby, Gia came in without an appointment. I didn’t expect her. As far as I knew she was still in Monte Carlo, but she landed a job her in downtown Seattle and she wanted me in. I told her no. I don’t want to jeopardize our marriage. I love you, Kate.” Elliot is almost begging. He is looking at me with puppy dog eyes and I can’t do anything but forgive him. He kisses me and I hesitate to kiss him back. But I can’t resist him and kiss him back. “Please come home with me, Ava is with Brookelynne. Let’s go out for dinner.” He takes my hand and takes me towards the door and flips the light switch, and my office is dark. I walk back to the desk and I grab my bag and l look out the window. The sun slowly sinks and it gives a beautiful view over the Seattle skyline. I blink my eyes and then walk through the door and close the door. I hold still and I turn to Elliot, “This doesn’t mean you are instantly forgiven.” Elliot smiles and says, “I know baby, and I am not done yet.” And these little lights light up in his eyes.

It’s late on a Thursday evening and I got a text from Ana. She has me worried.

“Hi Kate, I need to talk to you soon. Can we talk via Skype tonight? I had a fight with Christian. I’ll explain everything. Please don’t be worried. I am fine and so are the kids. Much love, Ana.”

I press answer and I quickly I type back.

“Ana, you tell me not to worry but I am now. What is going on? I have something to tell you too. Love, Kate”

I ran up the stairs and walk into Elliot’s office and fire up the laptop. I start Skype and Ana is already online.  We talk for a while and I tell her about Gia. Once I find out way Ana is so edge I get mad. I demand to talk to Christian, and I yell at him. I think I need to get it out of my system. We decide that I come to the Bahamas and pick up the kids so that Christian all the time in the world to make it up to Ana. I check the internet for the first available flight. I say my goodbyes to Ana and say “Babe, I’ll there soon.” I close the laptop and walk downstairs and fill in Elliot. “Cool, why don’t we all go?” He says. It surprises me. “Don’t you need to go to work in the morning?” Elliot nods his head. “Nope, I am going to the Bahamas. He stands up and kisses me on the lips and walks away.

I call Grace to fill them in, and heard she was crying. “Grace what’s wrong?” But I have the feeling I already know the answer…….

The Other Grey Girl - part 6

Grace

“Kate please, let us handle it.” Grace says. But deep down I know I can’t. But for now I need to give it a rest. When we walk back to the kitchen Grace grabs my arm. “Kate, one more thing, don’t tell Christian or Ana or Elliot for that matter.” Grace ordered me. “But Grace, let us help. I won’t tell Ana or Christian. They’re in the Bahamas. Let…” “No, Kate, let us handle it.” Carrick interrupts me. Tears swell in my eyes. Carrack takes two long strides and grabs my arm, “Kate, we know you want to help, but we don’t want you to be in danger. Especially not with twins on the way. But we might need you help in accessing the database at the newspaper.” Carrick says. “Anything,” I nod. Then Elliot joins us in the kitchen. “Is everything all right here.” He asks a bit off. Like he knows something is wrong but he can’t put his finger on it. We hear small footsteps coming our way. It’s Ava who has come out of the children’s playroom Elliot built when Teddy was born. She’s running up to Grace, and hands her a drawing. “For you Grammy.” Ava says. Grace bends down and picks up Ava. “You made this for me,” she asks Ava and Ava nods. “Hug, Grammy?” and she spreads her chubby little arms and Grace kisses Ava on the cheek. “What about Grandpa? Do I also get a beautiful drawing like Grammy?” Ava nod and struggles to break free from Grace’s arms. Grace bends down and sets Ava to the ground. And then Ava kisses Grace on the cheek, “I wuv you, Grammy.” And she runs off back to the children’s playroom.

As we walk back to the living room, Elliot grabs me by elbow. “What’s going on?” He asks worried. I smile, “it’s nothing. She wanted to know what Dr. Greene said.” I lie to him. I feel awful, I hate lying to him. He looks at me deep in the eye. And I know I am going to cave. But luckily there is Carrick to the rescue. “Are you guys coming?” he says. I take my place at the dinner table. “I’ll go get Ava,” Elliot says quickly. I pat my tummy and look at Grace. There is something in her eyes. I can’t decide what it is. But when she sees that I am staring at her, she smiles. A gorgeous smile that reaches her eyes. When Elliot re-enters the room, he puts Ava in the children's chair and ties her bib, and takes his own chair next to her. Suddenly Grace shoves her chair back, “I like to propose a toast to my beautiful daughter-in-law who is pregnant with twins. Cheers” She smiles again. It is making me blush. Then Carrick stands up and says, “Grace and I are so happy that we have a gift for the two of you. We like to buy the nursery, a gift from us to you, my son Elliot and my beautiful daughter-in-law, Kate.” The tears are running over my cheeks. I stand up and walk to Grace and Carrick. I hug them. “Thank you so much. I love you guys.” I whisper. I look at Elliot and see that he is busy with Ava. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul,” I whisper again. Grace kisses me on the cheek and I sit down again. Then it’s Elliot’s turn. Even he is almost crying. “So, shall we start dinner?” Carrick asks.

Carrick 

When we the time comes to go home, Carrick asks, “Kate, are you at the office tomorrow? I am at the court house all day and I was wondering maybe we can do lunch?” I clear my throat, “Yeah. Sure. What time? You know what, call Brookelynne she can tell you a time.” We say our goodbyes and we stalk off to the car. On the drive home I stare out the window. As the trees and the bushes and cars fly by I can’t stop thinking about the conversation I had with Grace and Carrick. The question keep popping up, who is this woman with false allegations. And would they target Christian and Ana. I know I didn’t trust Christian in the beginning, but an illegitimate child? No way, it can’t be. “Penny for your thoughts?” Elliot brings me back to earth. As we pass the bridge on the I-5 heading south, Elliot turns and stops at the traffic light. “I am just thinking, I have a meeting tomorrow and I really don’t want to go. It’s a boring staff meeting.” I lie again. God, I hate lying. But Grace and Carrick ask me not to tell a soul. I wish Ana was here, but of course I have to lie to her too. And she always knows when I am lying. My phone is buzzing and I grab it out of my bag and check the screen. It’s a text message.

“Hi Kate, the weather is great here in the Bahamas, the sun is high in the sky and the sea water is nice and warm. We are on a yacht and get this, Christian bought me an island. My own little island. Shall we Skype tonight? Text me back!

Love you, xoxo Ana, Christian and the kids.”

This text message makes me smile. I am happy to hear from her. I press answer and start to typ.

“Hi Ana, the weather here in Seattle is as usual. Although today is a great day. I’ll tell to tonight on Skype, I have a big surprise for you. Your own island, who would’ve thought.

Tell me all about it tonight.

Love you lots, xoxo Kate, Elliot and Ava.”

Ana, on Skype camera

As Elliot turns the car on the drive way, I put my phone back in my bag and look behind me. I begin to smile; Ava fell asleep in the car seat. Grace and Carrick must’ve been playing a lot today with Ava. When Elliot stops the car and I step out I get a cramp in my stomach. But I manage to hide it from Elliot, so I push my bag on the ground and I bend down to pick it up and breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. When Elliot walks around the car and sees me kneeled on the floor, he say “baby, are you okay?” He sounds alarmed. “I am okay, I dropped my bag, and I am just picking it up.” I say while I stand back up. Elliot opens the rear door and lifts Ava out of the car seat. I walk up to the front door and I rummage in my bag for the keys and open the door. Elliot walks passed me up the stairs in the hallway and accidently knocks over a vase with flowers. It shatters in pieces on the tile floor. Elliot stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks at Ava. She stirs but she doesn’t wakes up and Elliot continues to walk up the stairs. I walk to the kitchen and grab the broom and the trash can and walk back to the hallway and start cleaning up.

When everything is cleaned up I put the stuff back and pull out the garbage bag and tie a knot in it and put it by the door. I was my hands and I walk up the stairs. I walk into Ava’s room and I see she’s already in her bed, vast asleep.

I walk to our bathroom and start to undress myself. I look in the mirror and look at myself. I rub my hand over my tummy. “Twins, who would’ve thought.” I smile. Elliot walks in and stands behind me. He snakes his arms around me and links his hands in mine and together we stand there. I turn around and I kiss him passionately. Our tongues entwine and I am lost. After a few minutes I take a step back, I need to breathe. Elliot kneels down and kisses my tummy, up and down and left to right. He stands up and kisses swiftly on the tip of my nose. “I am going to put the car in the garage.” He whispers. “Will you take the garbage bag with you and put it in the container. I put it by door.” I say. Elliot nods and walks away. I step in the step in the shower and take a quick shower and dry myself off. I walk to Elliot’s office and I open up the laptop and fire it up. I open up Skype and wait for Ana to come online. In the mean while I open up my email and check it, after an hour Ana comes online and I tell her the news, “Ana, I am expecting twins.” Ana claps her hands. “Are you joking me? I need to tell Christian”. She turns around and yells, “CHRISTIAN!!!”

I shake my head. And I look up and see that Elliot has walked in. I stand up from his desk chair and walk over to the leather couch in the corner but Elliot grabs my arm and takes me back to the desk. He sits down and pulls me onto his lap. We talk for a bit and suddenly the door bell goes… “Who could that be?” I say while I look at Elliot. He is talking to Christian so I stand up and I walk towards the door to the hallway. “You want me to go?” Elliot asks. “No, I got it.” I smile back, but my heart is beating fast. Slowly I walk down the stairs, “Who’s there?” I yell. But no one answers. “Who’s there?” I yell again. Still no answer but then a loud knock on the door follows. My heart beats in my throath……

First impressions - Kate's POV

The big mogul

From the beginning I despised Christian. I was sick when the interview took place, and because I send Ana, I felt kind of responsible for her mood swings. I got that creepy feeling when we did the photo shoot at the Heathman for the WSU Newspaper. The way he walked into the suite, so sophisticated so gracious, so not his age. And because of that, all I could think about was;  “dude you are twenty-seven years old. Please act your age.” And then there was the way he looked at Ana during the photo shoot. His face so intense so willing, I thought for sure he wanted to eat her. When the photo shoot ended he asked her to walk with him, I had a weird feeling. Not long after that Ana came back to ask the keys to my car. I took my chance to tell him I didn’t trust him. But apparently Ana did and I trust Ana, so I had no choice but to let her go. My heart broke when she came home and I saw she cried. She came with this excuse that she was almost run over by a bicycle, and as I know she has two left feet so, I believed her. But still there was this weird feeling that she wasn’t telling me the entire story. But I let it go.

When we had our last finals we went out and Ana’s friend José came along. There I met the most beautiful man, Elliot. Turns out he is Christian’s older brother. And then she didn’t come home for the night and I was so worried when I woke up. I was about to get up to call her but to be honest I got a bit side tracked with seeing Elliot sleeping next to me. Elliot told me, Christian took Ana home, because she fainted and puked all over the parking lot. Apparently he took her to the Heathman. Then she called me in the morning. I was so happy to hear from her. I couldn´t wait for her to come home. But I was reluctant to the fact that Elliot needed to go home. He said that he was hitching a ride with Christian.

There was this time, in the beginning of their relationship, when we were still living in Vancouver, he took her to Seattle. I asked her to text me as soon as she arrived. But she didn’t. I tried to call her. I texted her, and even left a voicemail message. But she didn’t answer. I almost got to the point to step into my car and drive myself to Seattle. Because all kinds of horror scenarios ran through my mind, so when I stepped out of the front door I bumped into Elliot. He told me not to worry. That she was safe with Christian. Looking at him in the eyes I knew I could thrust him. But in the back of my head the picture loomed that Christian tied up Ana and tortured her and then left her for dead, because who know what was running through that sick mind of his. But in the end I was glad Elliot stayed the night so I was a little preoccupied. The next morning I wanted to give her another call, but I got sidetracked while I looked at Elliot sleeping next to me. His face was so handsome. I could barely believe he was Christian’s brother, but then again he was adopted as well as Christian. So you must’ve known how I felt when I finally listened to her voicemail message, that she was okay and safe.

Packing to move to Seattle

The day came when we finally got our degree. I was valedictorian, and Christian, because he is an exceptional entrepreneur major benefactor for the university, had the honor of presenting us with our degree. When all the speeches were done and we finally had our degrees, Christian barked his orders at me to go get Ana. He wanted to speak with her immediately. And I always dreaded by the fact he called me Ms. Kavanagh or Katherine. I believe it was Elliot who told Christian to call me Kate. But I think he didn’t because I was soon to be a reporter at The Seattle Times. It was like he was afraid that I would out anything of him in the press. But I couldn’t do that to Ana. Later that week we would move to Seattle to finally step into the big bad world of our employed adult life. And finally I got to meet Elliot’s parents and his baby sister Mia. She lived in Paris and she was home. So Elliot’s parents invited us to come over for dinner at the Bellevue. We were talking about vacation and I overheard Ana having a conversation with her mother. Ana missed her mother. So I was kind of childish to bring it up at the dinner table, but I loved to look in Christian’s eyes, the look of losing all control. But Ana scolded me for that. So when I heard that Elliot was going to join me in Barbados I was so happy.

The day I brought Ana to the airport, I tried to tell her again about Christian. But she assured me that I had nothing to worry about.  So with a heavy heart I drove off back to our apartment. A few days later it was my turn to lie on the beach with margaritas, and a few days I completely forgot about the situation back in the USA, because I knew she was safe with her mother Carla in Georgia. I was so happy when Elliot called and said he was near our hotel. I decided to focus only on him, because by the time Elliot joined us, Ana was back in Seattle and back in the hands of that control freak. So when Elliot arrived I didn’t think much about anything else but us, if you know what I mean. The days flew by and we had to go back to Seattle. I was glad to see Ana again. Ethan flew home a couple of days earlier, he was going to stay with Ana and I at the apartment until he found something for himself, because he wasn’t sure wether to go back to College or get a fulltime job. 

I called Elliot to tell we were about to board on the plane when he told me Christian’s psycho ex-girlfriend held Ana at gunpoint in our apartment. Ethan made me promise him not to call Ana before I arrived in Seattle. The entire flight home I was so mad. So mad at Ana for not calling me. So I walked to the lavatory and tried to call her. But she didn’t answer.

After a very unpleasant flight, we finally arrived at Sea-Tac. And when we arrived at the apartment nobody was there and so I tried to call Ana again, but again no answer. I was hoping she was with José so I tried to call him. He told me they were going out for a drink at the ZigZag tonight. I told José to keep his mouth shut and that I would come to surprise them. Elliot went to his parents, and I called Ana at her job. Luckily she answered and I told her I was back in Seattle, totally beat and wiped out. I said I was going home and would see her later. The day I came back in Seattle was also the day everything changed.

BFF

I was getting myself dressed after a nice long shower and I stepped into my car and I drove to the ZigZag. I remember as it was yesterday, a huge burden fell of my shoulder when I saw her safe and sound.

It felt so good when I wrapped her in my arms. José offered to get some drinks and that it happened. When I answered my phone, I thought it was Elliot who missed me. Because I missed him. I can’t remember I was so in love with somebody ever before. But anyway he wanted to talk to Ana and I got confused. Ana changed completely, Elliot told Ana that Christian never came back from Portland and that his helicopter was missing and so was Christian. In a hurry we went to Escala waiting for news. I saw how devastated she was. She was sitting in front of the fire place just staring. And then it hit me. She was really in love with him. Like I was in love with Elliot. The minute he stepped in the living room unharmed and didn’t even stopped to call home because he wanted to go home as soon as possible I saw in his eyes that he loved Ana as much as she did him. He was so happy to see Ana. And to be honest I was glad he was back too.

We all went home and I went back to the apartment alone and I needed something from Ana’s room. Then the biggest shock came. When I stepped out of Ana’s room and closed the door I heard that something fell on the ground and so I stepped back in to pick it up. I noticed it was Christian’s blazer and when I bend down to pick it up; my eyes were lured to a white paper in the pocket. And my journalism mind was piqued. After staring at the paper for a while I decided to read it. I read it with horror. I mean the things that were on it, hard limits and soft limits. It was printed in my mind. I couldn’t shake the feeling Christian had hurt Ana. So I decided to confront Ana with this. I had to know if she was okay! But I couldn’t do it over the phone; I needed to do this in person. I decided to wait the tomorrow because I would see her anyway, because Mia organized a birthday party for Christian.

So as soon as they walked in, I grabbed Ana away and pulled her in to the kitchen. But I should’ve known that Christian would follow her. And the only thing I could think of was two birds, one stone. I was so mad at Christian, so mad that I could rip off his head.  And then Christian told me Ana agreed to marry him. It was all going so fast, I mean I leave for sixteen days and she’s already marrying the guy she just met. She sends Christian away so we could talk amongst ourselves. So when I looked at her straight in the eyes, I could see nothing but love. She really loved him. So I knew it was okay. But I still wanted to know what was up that contract. Because there were all these weird things on it. And she promised me, she would tell me soon. And then all hell broke loose again. When I saw Ana walking upstairs I wanted to go to her, but Elliot stopped me. He told me that they needed to sort it out themselves.

So with a heavy heart I let it go, and tried to enjoy the party.

 The wedding was soon. I guess Christian couldn’t wait any longer. So when Ana was getting dressed in the wedding dress my mother designed for her, I sneaked off to see Christian. I told him that if he would hurt Ana, in any way, I would come after him, so I also told him to keep his mouth shut to Ana about this. So I’ll bet she’ll give me hell if she reads this. So I hope you guys will back me up.

Ana's big day

But over the years Christian changed, for the good. Well, he still gets jealous whenever another guy talks to Ana. Or when we would go out for lunch, he calls her ten times, to check if she’s okay. Not to mention when my brother comes in for a visit. His eyes don’t leave Ethan. And talking to strangers, was of the question, don’t you remind of the situation when they were in the Bahamas, right??

But somehow I felt like Ana was provoking him. As if she liked when he got mad. And when I asked her about it, she was all smiles.

A few months later it was my turn to walk down the aisle. I was marrying the men of dreams. Elliot and I tell each other everything and so also that Ana came to him before the wedding, that she warned him, because Christian told Ana that Elliot was a lady killer. He had many girlfriends, and that I was the lucky one, that I was the one he would spend the rest of his life with.  Oh my god, I am getting in so much trouble for this.  But you guys wanted to know…

Then there was the kidnap and Ana getting pregnant with Teddy, and later with Phoebe. Elliot and I became parents. So you guys can see a lot has changed. And I got to know a totally different side of Christian. One who would walk through fire for his family. And I admire that about him. I know he has his weaknesses but he is strong enough to bite through that and fight for his family. Ana has changed so much. She is a strong, confidant, energetic woman and I have Christian to thank for that. The bottom line is, I needed to know Christian before I could really trust him. And I do now. Because he is not only my brother-in-law but also my best friend’s husband. 

Christian with Teddy

Christian with Phoebe

By Kate Kavanagh