Invisible(54)

They were sorry when the shoot moved back to London to a studio, and they wrapped a few days before Christmas. They were tired, and really happy with how the film had gone. It had been a great part for Antonia, and she had played it well.

They had thought about going somewhere for Christmas, but decided to spend it lounging around at home, and celebrated their first anniversary on Christmas Eve, and went to a friend’s party on Christmas Day. They lay in bed afterward and Antonia smiled at him.

“I have a present for you,” she whispered, teasing him.

“Where is it?” He felt under her pillow, and there was nothing there. She giggled at him, and he grinned. “Where did you hide it?”

“You have to find it,” she said, and he started to get out of bed, and she pulled him back. “It’s here in the bed.” He looked under the covers and saw nothing, and then she gently took his hand, and put it on her belly, and he could feel the slightest roundness swelling under his hand, and looked at her in amazement.

“Oh my God! Antonia! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me while we were shooting. I’ve been feeling fine. But my corsets have been getting damn tight for the last few weeks.” He pulled her close to him and held her. She was sharing miracles with him that he hadn’t even hoped for. Marriage to her had been like a fairy tale, and now they were having a baby. He had given up the idea of children years before, although when he married Antonia, at her age, he thought it might happen, but they hadn’t talked much about it. They had so much going on, from one film to the next.

    “When is it for?”

“June,” she answered, as he gently ran his hand over her belly again.

“Oh my God,” he said, thunderstruck by the news. “Can we tell people yet?”

“I think it’s safe, I’m three months pregnant, and it’s been easy-peasy so far. I haven’t had any problems or felt sick.”

“You’ll probably have it in a field and go right back to work,” he teased her.

“I want to have it at home,” she said simply, and he frowned.

“That sounds risky to me. And I’m not going to deliver a baby. Let’s go to Paris and have it at the Ritz. We can call room service for champagne when it’s born.” He couldn’t believe they were talking about a baby of their own. He couldn’t imagine it yet.

“We’ll see,” she said, with a Mona Lisa smile.

“I assume you don’t want to work now?” he questioned her.

“Well, you’ve got post-production now, so you’ll be busy till February, and we don’t have a new screenplay. The baby will come in June, and I could go back to work pretty soon after that,” she said, and he nodded. “And you’re not going to want me in every picture anyway. You can do the next one without me, and I’ll sit on the sidelines getting fat.”

    “Excellent idea. But I’ll want you in the one after that, unless you get too fat of course.” She swatted him then and he laughed. He thought she had never looked more beautiful. He felt again the tiny bump that was their baby. It was the most exciting news of his life, and he had never loved any woman more.



* * *



—

Antonia called to tell Lara about the baby after she told Hamish. She had wanted to tell Hamish first, but Lara was the closest thing she had to a mother, and Lara was ecstatic when she heard the news.

“Oh, darling, that’s wonderful. How do you feel?” She had never had children, nor wanted them, but she always celebrated the news for others, particularly Antonia.

“I feel great. And Hamish is thrilled. I think he wants to have me carried around on a litter so nothing goes wrong.” Antonia didn’t tell her whether or not to tell her father. It was up to Lara. The subject of her father no longer came up when they talked. It was better that way, and there was nothing to say.

“I can’t wait to see it. I hope it’s a girl,” Lara said excitedly, and when they hung up, she ran into Brandon in the kitchen. It was Sunday and he was reading the paper, and looked up when Lara walked in. She was smiling broadly.

“What’s up?” He smiled back at her, in a good mood.

“Antonia’s having a baby. She’s three months pregnant. Isn’t that great news?”

    She beamed, and his face went cold immediately.

“For whom?” he said, picking up his paper again with a sour expression.

“For them of course, and for us. It’s a new life, that’s always a good thing and a blessing.”

“I hope it’s not a girl, or it’ll be a tramp like her and her mother. It’s in their blood.”

Lara stared at him as though she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “Please tell me you don’t mean that.”

“Of course I mean it.”

She was shaking as she looked at him. “Brandon, you lost your wife sixteen years ago, for whatever reason. I don’t know if she was a good person, or as bad as you say. And in the last year and a half, and actually long before that, you’ve managed to lose your daughter, and pushed her away in every way that you could. And she’s not a whore or a bitch or a tramp or a slut, or any of the things you call her and her mother. And my guess is that she’s probably nothing like her mother. I do know one thing. Antonia is a fantastic person, and a lovely human being, and you’ve treated her badly ever since I’ve known you. I’ve made excuses for you for years, even to Antonia. I can’t anymore. Watching you try to systematically destroy your own child makes me sick, for you and for her. You’re so full of poison, you don’t even know what you’re seeing or who she is. I’m not going to sit here and listen to you vilify her baby too. If you can’t even be warmed by that and be happy for her, and your own grandchild, then you’re even sicker than I thought.” She walked out of the kitchen then and didn’t say another word. She went to her closet and pulled out a suitcase, and laid it on the bed.