I rest my hand on my lower belly, thinking of how true that thought might be. This could very well be the beginning of my family. And instead of scaring me, the idea makes my heart grow with love. To have a baby with Oz, to have Vivien as a mother...it’s almost too good to be true.
We spend the next hour talking about me, which is embarrassing, but Vivien goes easy on me, asking about my job with Osbourne Corporation and school. When I mention Paige, she gets a soft look in her eyes, and then she glances over at Oz.
“I met Paige a few years ago when Miles found her. She didn’t like me at first, and I understood why. The two of them share a father, but he was very different in their lives.”
Vivien looks away to the small waterfall and lets out a sigh.
“Paige’s story is not mine to tell. But I can tell you about Alexander Owens.”
Oz sits forward a little as if he’s uncomfortable, and then stands. Vivien watches him as he walks over to the waterfall, looking at the little pond below and watching the koi fish swim.
“I was eighteen when I met Alexander. I came from a middle-class Midwest home that was very religious. I was an only child and my parents were extremely strict with me. The only time I was allowed to go to social functions was when it involved the church. That summer our church had a weeklong festival fund-raiser, so I was expected to participate. I was in charge of selling pies, and before closing one night, he walked up. I was smitten with his good looks and charm right away. Alexander was the kind of man I’d never seen before. Smart, wealthy, and said all the right things. He was older than me at twenty-five, and to an eighteen-year-old girl who’d been sheltered most of her life, he looked like a movie star. He knew exactly what to say to my father to get him to agree to let him see me.
“The first few times we were allowed to be together we were chaperoned. It sounds old-fashioned, but my mother thought since he was so much older than me, that it would be for my own benefit. I think maybe deep down, she knew what Alexander was after.”
Vivien has a faraway look in her eyes, but continues.
“I made a promise to sneak out one night and meet him at the park. He picked me up in a brand-new car, and I felt like Cinderella. But there was something different in him that night and as soon as the door shut behind me, I knew I’d made a mistake.”
Vivien looks down at her hands and lets out a sigh.
“I was too ashamed to tell anyone what he’d done. I’d said no, and tried to stop him, but he was so much stronger than me. I knew no one would believe me. I was a young girl that had sneaked out, and he was so charming and knew how to make people believe him. I’d hoped after that night he got what he wanted, and would leave me alone. I avoided seeing him, and tried to forget the rape. When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t have any options. I sat down and told my parents, and I explained what happened. But they didn’t believe me, just as I had assumed. They contacted Alexander and said he had to marry me, and he agreed. I didn’t want to, because I knew what kind of man he was, but they said if I didn’t that they’d kick me out. I had no real education and no money, but I still refused. I would have rather lived on the streets than go to him willingly. I was surprised that he agreed to the marriage, but I think he liked the idea of control. So when I said no, all it did was whet his appetite.”
My heart breaks for her, knowing there are so many women who have gone through terrible things like her, and have no choice.
“When I held my ground, he threatened to take the baby. It was his only bargaining chip, and he used it. So I thought that if I went along, that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He had money, so I knew our baby would be provided for, and I told myself that I would make it work. I knew there was something about his business dealings that wasn’t honest, but I ignored it. Looking back, I wish I’d fought harder.”
“You did what you could,” Oz says from the fountain, still not looking over at us.
“He started hitting me after I gave birth. And that’s when the real monster came out. He would be gone all hours of the night and come home smelling like alcohol or other women, and find something to yell at me about. I tried to leave so many times, but he always threatened to take my son from me and never let me see him again. And I knew that if Miles was left alone with Alexander he would fill his head with lies about me. I couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing my child, and thinking that he might hate me one day if I did leave. Alexander never laid a hand on our son, and I made sure I never gave him another baby. The day Miles turned eighteen I told him everything and we left together. I walked out with only the clothes on my back and went to stay with a friend. Miles had a scholarship to Yale, and the trust fund that was in his name Alexander couldn’t touch. When Miles turned eighteen, Alexander didn’t have anything to hold over my head anymore, and by that time I think he was bored of me. There wasn’t anything else he could do to hurt me, and he knew it.”