He was tired by bath time. I excused Prue and did his routine myself. I peeked at his face, his eyes closing as I read him his story. He looked a lot like his father. It was scary sometimes. I was worried that Russell might notice at some point, but he never did. He was never paying enough attention to see what was right in his face. I found out that I was pregnant a couple of weeks after the night with Niall and I just knew. I knew. My gut told me that he was the father. I had never taken a test, but it was obvious. The timing was lucky because he was born about nine months after the honeymoon, but he wasn’t Russell’s boy. Honestly, I was glad that he wasn’t.
“Thank you for him. An heir. I didn’t think we would be having one so soon.” Russell said that to me when Riley was born. Thank you for giving me an heir. What the hell kind of thing was that to say to your wife who had just given birth? Was that all he saw in the baby? An heir? Not a new little person who he was excited to get to know?
He more or less ignored us from then, hiring nannies to help me and almost never seeing the baby. When I confronted him about it, he had just come home from a gambling bender.
“Why don’t you want to spend time with the baby?”
He was a mess, looked like he hadn’t slept in days and stunk of old body odor and booze. “Why must I join in on your little nursery games? Need another nanny, do you? Why on earth do you need so much help?”
“I’m not asking you for help Russell, I am asking you to play a part in your child’s life.”
“I never asked you to get pregnant. I never asked for a child. I never wanted to be a father.”
“Well, it’s a little bit too late for that, isn’t it? He’s here now.”
“And it’s your responsibility to take care of him.”
“Why are you being like this? He’s your son.”
“That doesn’t mean I owe him anything or that I owe you anything for that matter. I needed a wife. My parents blocked my inheritance up in a trust and stipulated that the only way I would be able to access it was getting married and producing an heir.
The revelation shook me to my core. Even though I knew the truth about our marriage, it was arranged, after all, I didn't know just how heartless Russell was. It disgusted me that he would take it out on our child like that. His parents knew what kind of a gambling addict he was and their measure to safeguard the money from him until he fell in line. Unfortunately for them, it didn't work. He was unscrupulous enough to marry a woman for no reason other than to unlock his inheritance, and my parents were money hungry enough to give up their daughter to that kind of a man. They wanted a title for their daughter but what good was a title with no money.
The estate was history if I could not come up with the funds. If it was up to me and me alone, I would have given up all of this in a heartbeat, selling it off and going about my life but it wasn’t.
Riley, at least on paper was the Baron of Belshire now.
This was his estate and I intended to keep it in the family and make sure that this title that I had suffered so much for benefited him if not me.
I went back downstairs to the kitchen after Riley was fast asleep. Prue was there finishing the washing up.
“How did your trip go?” she asked.
“Longer than it needed to be, I’m afraid, sorry about that.”
“No problem at all. Were you able to sell the chips?” As the other adult resident of the estate, she knew all about the money problems.
Not exactly, but I think I have enough here for the next couple of months. I opened up my handbag and showed her the money. She clapped her hands, laughing.
“That's an absolute mint, how much is it?”
“We are going to have to make it stretch, unfortunately.”
The first thing on my list was depositing the money. I was negotiating with the bank. I wanted to keep the estate as intact as possible, but at this point, selling off some land was necessary. Getting rid of some of it would help in keeping the mortgage paid. There was so much and we didn't even use it, I could easily give up some. After that I needed a job. I had a niggling feeling. The number of jobs out there didn't pay enough, but I tried to push the thought from my mind.
This was a fight unfortunately. I was the only person on my side, and I was fighting against years of Russell’s irresponsibility and malice. I wasn't going to run and get the best of me, not now when he was dead. This was a fight I was going to win.
11
Niall
Belshire, it turned out, was about the size of my apartment in New York. I looked out the window driving down what seemed to be the main street. I had never even heard of the place and this was why. It was microscopic. It
