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Chapter 11 — The Dream and The Reality
The slender girl, almost 10 years old of age, was walking on an empty street. Her steps sounded distinctly in the night’s silence. She didn't know where she was going; however her legs conducted her on a tangled labyrinth of lanes and little streets. Suddenly bright light of headlights blinded her. The girl closed her eyes by her elbow and...
Mary woke up and sat on the bed. She couldn’t realize where she was. But after seeing the familiar sweater which was thrown on a floor, she suddenly remembered everything. She slipped on Mason’s shirt, which was hanging on the back of bed, and peeped out from the door. What she has seen made her smile. Mason was sleeping on the sofa in the cabin. He slept half-dressed, fluffy plaid lay on the floor. Mary approached him tiptoeing. Mason didn’t wake up; he mumbled her name in his sleep. Mary as before tiptoed back to her cabin and looked around. The cabin of the expensive Capwell's yacht. Mason’s clothes were scattered on the floor. Mary picked up his jacket and Mason’s wallet dropped out of it. Mary looked at the door and opened the wallet. Credit cards, bills... In the photos’ compartment there were only a few cards. The first picture — an old sample — was a woman near 40 who was imperceptibly similar to Mason. "Pamela," Mary guessed. The second one was of Julia. The third was of a wedding .Mason was being embraced by an unfamiliar woman in a wedding dress. Mary turned over the photo and read "Victoria and Mason Capwell". Victoria... And the last photo that she found was the most unexpected. On the picture were two babies smiling. The boy looked about 5 months old and the small girl looked younger. Or maybe it was just her size. “Mason, do you have two children?”"
"What?" Mary heard Mason’s sleepy voice.
"Do you have two children?" she repeated her question and showed him the photo. "They are twins, aren’t they?"
"They aren’t," Mason took the photo away from Mary. "They had different mothers."
"How?"
"This is a complicated story... OK, since you’ve already dug it out, I’ll tell you everything."
"When you died, I almost lost my mind... I needed to do something to fill the emptiness in my life. And I decided that helping Julia is the best way."
"Helping?"
"Yes... She wanted to have a baby without getting married. She needed a potential father, and I thought that I was good for this role. We concluded a contract. For having a child."
"Mason, Mason--"
"And then I met Tori. Our first meeting was on the same roof; it was not one of her best days--"
"Mason doesn't continue. I understand."
"At first I just helped her. She had many problems — both financial and personal. And she was pregnant." Mason went silent for a while. Then he gave Mary an askance look and continued. "Chip's father is Cruz. I knew about it almost from the very beginning. Tori didn’t want to destroy his love with Eden and this was the reason why she agreed to marry me, when I proposed her."
"And Julia?"
"I still didn’t know that Julia is pregnant when I married Tori. I understood this fact much later. At that time I thought that Julia didn’t get pregnant. And then... Mary, in that accident Tori was not the only one who died, Julia died too."
"Well now it’s getting clear for me--"
"What?"
"How you’d became the father of both these children... Mason and where are they now?"
"With my father and Sophia. My relatives decided to give me a holiday and I was just going to set off for a trip on the yacht."
"And here I appeared ... And ruined all your fun."
"Mary! What are you saying?! On the contrary, you made me happier than ever! From the minute I lost you — when I thought so — I didn’t even have a happy minute. Even when I was married to Victoria, even when Samantha was born! I thought that I couldn’t be happy. And you returned my hope. Only... Mary, will you take me as a husband with such a heap of children and everything that happened lately?"
The last phrase was told without a smile; Mason was looking steadfastly in Mary’s eyes as if trying to guess her answer in them.
"Of course," she smiled, her eyes flashing.
Mason hugged and kissed her. Mary kissed back. Without taking off from her lips, Mason cautiously picked Mary up and laid her on the bed. The world disappeared for them both.
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