160 160. Pretend Safety

Linda froze at Patrick’s phrases. She was nonetheless holding Clara in her arms, however her soul was not there in any respect. Clara? The daughter she cared about, was ever pregnant? Ever had a miscarriage?

In the meantime, Clara checked out her father in disbelief. Tears welled up in her eyes. The information his father introduced made her chest really feel tight. She may barely breathe. She was suffocated.

“What?” Clara requested once more. “Then why did I by no means find out about it? Why didn’t anybody inform me I used to be pregnant?”

“Patrick, you’re kidding, proper?” requested Linda, nonetheless confused. She was afraid that Patrick had performed one thing worse than he mentioned.

Clara broke away from her mom’s embrace. “Mother, are you maintaining this a secret from me? Dad should have instructed you, proper?”

Linda shook her head. “I swear, my love, I’ll by no means hold one thing as vital as this from you.”

Clara rose from her seat. She approached her father, with out the slightest worry. Why was she afraid of him? She turned out to be a mom too. The one who misplaced her youngster with out realizing that she had ever had a toddler.

“Why didn’t you inform me I used to be pregnant?” Clara requested once more, clutching her father’s arm. “And what did you say earlier? Did I get a miscarriage? Was it true?”

Patrick nodded. He didn’t really feel responsible or sorry for Clara in any respect. He solely blamed Clara for her personal misfortune.

…..

“Why would I lie?” Patrick mentioned, giving Clara a stage look. “What advantages will I get from making up a foolish story like that?”

“Then why didn’t you inform me? Why are you simply now telling me all the pieces?” Clara insisted, shaking her father’s physique.

Patrick seemed away from Clara. “I instructed you the rationale, no? After you miscarry, the physician says you received’t have the ability to get pregnant once more. How may I inform one thing like that to you, who is just sixteen? A dumb teenager!”

Clara’s gaze grew sharper, however she burst into tears. She may now not comprise the disappointment that was in her coronary heart. Her father’s excuse was fully unacceptable.

“Regardless of how previous I’m, you shouldn’t have stored that secret from me. It’s essential, dad!” protested Clara, who didn’t settle for her father’s therapy. She was crying whereas gritting her enamel in annoyance and anger. “That’s not truthful to me, dad! All this time, what did you consider me? I even have a coronary heart and emotions, dad!”

Patrick sneered at Clara as if her daughter was demanding unreasonable issues. Like a toddler asking to be given an grownup job.

“What occurred to you again then if the physician instructed the reality? You may be mentally unprepared, even a toddler as spoiled and fragile as you’ll damage your self,” Patrick laughed bitterly, sneering at Clara. “Isn’t that what occurs proper now? You have been livid when Linda instructed Lea that you’re barren. You’ll be able to’t settle for that you just’re not good, are you able to?

Patrick checked out Clara who simply stared at him. She felt shot proper within the intestine.

“For you, it’s higher to die than stay in disgrace, proper? Clara is ideal. Essentially the most good lady who ever lived on earth. Lovely, daughter of a good household, the wealthy, genius who graduated from medical faculty on the age of twenty-two,” Patrick sneered, mentioning all of Clara’s strengths that individuals all the time mentioned and making all the ladies jealous of her.

Clara may solely chew her lip. Certainly, what Patrick talked about had all the time made her really feel superior to different ladies. She simply couldn’t settle for that somebody knew that she was not good.

“How can Clara have the ability to proceed dwelling if the world is aware of that she is infertile?” Patrick added in a pointy whisper, hissing like a snake.

Clara’s face seemed even paler, complementing the bruises and wounds on her face. Her eyes stared intently at her father’s amber eyes.

“Look! You, who’re at present unable to face that unhealthy actuality. How may the you of six years in the past have the ability to cope with it?” Patrick mentioned, wanting down, dealing with Clara’s face with out blinking.

“I’m not that weak,” Clara replied fiercely. “You solely assume I’m a crybaby.”

“Let’s simply say you’re fortunate that I protected you,” Patrick snapped. “Didn’t you handle to complete your medical faculty properly, at a really younger age, as a result of I gave you a nice life? The fiancé who all the time helps you, the completely happy youth with out having to be haunted by the sufferings of being a younger mom, it’s as a result of I stored all of this a secret from you.”

“What do you imply, Patrick?” interjected Linda. “Don’t say such issues to Clara! You’re responsible however you don’t really feel responsible. Shouldn’t you a minimum of inform me that since I’m her mom?”

“Keep out of the best way, Linda!” he snapped. “You had loads in your thoughts. You can not stay in peace if that your candy youngster has a darkish previous, proper?”

“I’ve the precise to know what occurred to Clara!” Linda insisted. She didn’t often battle Patrick like this. She would often simply associate with Patrick and ask Clara to be affected person. Nevertheless, what Patrick did this time was an excessive amount of.

“I’m the top of the household! I do know finest what’s finest for all of you!” Patrick snapped once more. “And also you, Linda! Why are you towards me for this whore?”

“She’s your daughter, Patrick!” Linda argued loudly.

“Linda!”

Patrick and Linda continued to argue. They blame one another for all the pieces that occurred with Clara. In the meantime, Clara nonetheless couldn’t imagine what Patrick mentioned in regards to the safety. All the pieces he had been saying about safety had been utter nonsense. All the pieces he did was only for the sake of his enterprise.

“If you happen to behave like this, you’ve by no means been a superb father to her!” she snapped. “An individual like you possibly can even hurt your individual blood and flesh!”

Linda’s assertion made darkish ideas creep into Clara’s thoughts. Did she actually have a miscarriage?

“Are you the one who aborted my child, dad?”