‘You!’ the wide grin on Shadee’s face was immediately replaced by a savage expression. Without even thinking, she lunged forwards and gave her husband a ringing slap across the face ‘How dare you? How dare you come back here after all you’ve done?’



She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving up and down; her hands had clenched to fists, but she did not attack again. Sudden awareness of the fact that it had been proved to her she did not know the man standing on her porch made her retreat a couple of steps. The situation could get violent and she could not conceive the idea of harming or even losing her baby.



But Sebastien’s thoughts seemed far from starting an offensive. He was just standing there, rubbing the side of his face which had taken a deep red colour in the shape of a palm.

‘I guess I fully deserved that.’ He mumbled, eyeing his wife apprehensively.



‘You damn right deserved it!’ the young woman answered back coolly ‘And if you had some sense in that head of yours you’d turn on your heel and go back where you came from!’ struck by a sudden stroke of inspiration she added quickly ‘Don’t even think about trying something funny because Holly’s upstairs and if anything happens-’

‘Don’t try to fool me Shadee, I’ve been watching the house for quite some time, I know Holly just left.’



Shadee’s insides freezed instantly. She was fearing for her life and was momentarily unable to move or think, let alone elaborate a plan to get rid of her husband. All these feelings seemed to show on her face, as Sebastien added hastily:

‘I’m not here to do you any harm. Even though, after all that has happened, you might very well feel otherwise…’ he looked down at his feet, shifting uncomfortably ‘I know I have made some very bad choices in the manner of handling this situation, but I -’

With a quick swish, Shadee had taken advantage of Sebastien’s vivid interest for his feet and had dashed back inside the house, locking the door behind her.



‘Oh, come on, Shadee! Don’t be like that! I know I did wrong, but-’

‘If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police! I mean it, Sebastien!’ the young woman’s slightly muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

‘I have as much a right to be here as you do, Shadee! This is still our house! But I don’t even want to go there, all I need is for you to listen to what I have to say. Please! I didn’t come here to hurt you, I’ve never done that and I never will. I just want to talk.’



‘It’s a little late for talking things out, don’t you think? Anyway, I’m not interested in what you have to say. If it’s your house as well, you can sleep on the porch, ‘cause I’m not letting you inside.’ There was a dismissive tone in the young woman’s voice; from her point of view, the talk was over.

‘Shadee, don’t leave, please! Don’t judge things before you’ve heard the whole story! Give me a chance, at least for old times’ sake!’ Sebastien had fallen on his knees in front of the stubbornly closed door. He had gone too far… he had created too deep a chasm between the two of them and all that just to protect her…



It seemed that his wife had had her say and left him there. His perfect plan, his only plan had failed horribly. There was no chance of making things right again under these circumstances. But, at that time, he had seen no other way out. Had he acted in a different way, the situation could have been so much worse. At least she was fine and had been spared of all the misery he had had to go through in the course of the past month.