Fake Fiancée - Season 1 - Episode 62

4 years ago

Fake Fiancée - Season 1 - Episode 62

It’s not a nice feeling when you realise that no one can pick you up from the airport. It’s a lonely, sad feeling and I didn’t need any more of that. Throughout the whole plane ride, I had tried to sleep so I could take my mind of Henry’s tears but I couldn’t, so I had distracted myself by ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ at the wonders of first class.

Steve had sneakily managed to give me a first class seat even though I had requested for what a normal person would do and choose economic.
The meals had been delicious and the air stewardess had offered fruits, Belgium chocolate and wine. I sampled everything but the wine. I had also played around with my plush velvet seat. I had turned it into a bed, and while I had been pushing the seat back, the seat nearly smacked the nose of the business man behind me, who had been sitting up straight and working on his laptop.

While I had la!d back, my mind had wondered off to Henry. I shouldn’t have been surprised. What was he doing? Where was he? Did he hate me? – Those were the through running through my mind at about 200 miles per hour. Ok, that was an exaggeration but you know what I mean.
I headed outside to where the line of cabs were waiting and hopped in the first one. I gave him my address and he drove off.

It took long to arrive home, but once I did, I wanted to throw up. My house still looked the same – it was made of timber, had white paned windows and the Corolla was sitting on the narrow driveway. I paid the cab driver, took my luggage bags out of the trunk and took a deep breath before walking up the narrow driveway to my home. I couldn’t wait to move out, but I still didn’t have enough money to rent a flat. I had saved up a fair amount from working part-time as a waitress, but I still had a bit to go before I could get a loan off the bank. I knew Steve would happily give me the money, but he was already paying for my college fees so I didn’t want to bother him anymore than I already have.

I walked up to the front door and hoped my mother wasn’t home. I quickly took out the spare keys from under the ‘Welcome ’ mat and cautiously stepped inside. Dust enveloped my senses. Phew! She wasn’t home! I let a smile take over my face but it fell when I came face to face with a burly man.

“Who are you?” he asked as his crossed his muscled arms. “What are you doing in my home? How did you get in here?”
I gulped. Who in the world was he and what on earth was he doing here? “I’m Lainie and this is my home!”

“You said your name was Lainie?”
I nodded and before I could demand him to tell me what he was doing in my home, my mother appeared from behind him. She looked exactly the same but there was something different about her and I wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing. “Lainie? You’ve come back?”
My mother squealed and ran forward to knock the breath out of me with a hug. Oh my god. Call 911 everyone! Hazel Campbell was finally hugging her daughter! Seriously, what was going on?!

“I’m sorry I spoke to you like that,” the strange man apologised. He was smiling crookedly now and his stance had relaxed. “I thought you were some intruder, but it turns out your Hazel’s daughter.”
“Oh no, it’s fine,” I assured. I then turned to the blonde woman who was still clinging onto me and gently pried her hands off me. “Um … mom? Why did he say this was his house?”
I nodded my head to Mr Stranger, who was leaning against the wall chuckling. My mother in return, bit her lip and smiled at me sheepishly. “Well you see Lainie …”
“HOLY CRAP!” I suddenly yelled, making the man and my mom flinch. “What is that ring doing on your finger?!”

A stunning rose gold wedding band with little white diamonds sat on my mother’s left hand, and I was sure that she didn’t just buy that for fun.

“Weston and I are married honey,” mom announced happily, and that was when the world went black and the floor collapsed beneath me.

* * *

“Lainie honey? Are you awake?”
I groaned and my eyes fluttered open to find my mother’s and Weston’s faces filled with concern. Oh man! What had happened?
“You fainted,” Weston answered, as if he was reading my mind. “Do you remember anything?”

I pushed myself up slowly and took in my bedroom. My head spun a little. “How could I forget? You’ve gotten yourself married .” I let out an exasperated sigh and turned to look at my mother. “Seriously mom? Are you crazy? I’ve only been away for two months and you’ve tied the knot?”

Mom clucked her tongue. “Well, it’s not like you went off to have a holiday! You got yourself engaged for goodness sake!”
I’m not sure why, but I wondered what was up with my mom. She wasn’t asking me for the juicy details of gorgeous Henry Parker and asking me if she could possibly hook up with him. That’s what Hazel Campbell would have done. What happened to her?

“It’s over now mom,” I said dryly. “That’s why I came back.”

A sigh came out of mother’s mouth. “Weston, do you think you could give Lainie and I some alone time?”

Weston nodded and before he walked out of the door, he kissed my mother’s forehead, making me ache for Henry. Stupid married couple. “I’m proud of you Hazel,” I heard him murmur. I watched as he walked out of my room and closed the door. What was that about? Why was he proud of my mother? I prayed to God that she didn’t rob a bank.

Once I heard his footsteps descend the staircase, I rounded on my mother. “Why are you marrying him?! You’ve rushed into this decision clearly. You can’t keep your attention on one guy and you married him?!”

She pursed her lips while I stared at her, furious. “Is that really what you think of me? You think I’m some sort of promiscuous woman?”

I rolled my eyes. Who wouldn’t think that? Oh wait, my mother. “Really mom? You bring a different man home every week.”

My mom looked down as if she was ashamed of herself. “It was the only way to deal with the pain,” she murmured.

“What pain?” I frowned and thought of a possibility. “Don’t tell me you have cancer.”
She shook her head and wiped a tear away. “No honey. I meant the pain of not having your father around.”

Immediately, I froze. Had my mother felt like that?
Ever since my father’s funeral five years ago, his name was never mentioned in our household. Mom had gotten rid of the family portraits which had once hung on the walls of the lounge room and had stored them away in the attic. She had also tucked away all of father’s belongings there, never to be seen again. It had been as if he had simply faded. Sometimes, I had used to sneak into the attic when mom had been out and look at the old and dusty photos of our once happy family. There had been pictures of me as a baby in my mother’s arms in the hospital, pictures of the three of us in the park, eating gelato at the local ice-cream parlour, making funny faces at the camera, me holding his stethoscope and dressed up in my dad’s oversized doctor’s coat …
Mom laughed lightly. “I haven’t talked about him much have I?”
I shook my head and waited for her to continue. Where was this going?

“Teddy Watson is the most charming man I have ever met. He’s highly intelligent, has a good sense of humour and is actually a bit of a flirt.”

My eyes widened. My father was a flirt ? Did that mean he was like Rafferty? “What do you mean?” I asked, bewildered and scared.
“Oh no, he didn’t flirt with others. Just me. I remember the first time I met him; he used a pick up line on me.” My mother laughed as she reminisced.

I hesitantly asked, “How did it go?”
“Did you just fart? Because you blew me away.”

My father had said that?! Holy moly! I burst out laughing and so did mom. I never knew he had this side to him. I bet he was chuckling to himself right now in Heaven as he watched both of us talking properly after years .

“Yes well, what I wanted to say was that he treated me like a queen, and Weston does too-”
I rolled my eyes at her statement. “That doesn’t mean you should marry him.”
“Wait! You haven’t heard the whole thing yet!” She took a deep breath before continuing. “I really love Weston. He was actually my friend before you left to visit Steve and he stuck by me even after I told him everything. I’m really lucky to have him Lainie. He’s the one who encouraged me to change and he helped me throughout the whole process.”

“Process?”
Mom nodded. “He went with me to go and see a therapist and he helped me find a job as a photojournalist. I work for the local paper and write my own column!”

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. “You’re a photojournalist?!”
“I have a degree in photojournalism!” She looked shocked that I didn’t know. How would I anyway? “I really hope you didn’t think that I didn’t attend college!”

I shrugged. It was surprising news but it made sense. I knew my mother had gone to college, but I had never been bothered to ask what she had decided to major in.

“I think you’ve got your artistic side from me,” my mother mused. She then turned to me. “You want to be an architect don’t you?”
She had never paid attention to me. How in the world did she know that then? I sat there dumfounded as mom laughed gently.
“Anyway, I should get to the point. Weston really, really, really wants you to accept him but he knows it’ll take some time and he’s prepared to wait.” I had the feeling that Weston wasn’t the only one who wanted me to accept him into the family. I knew that no one could ever replace my father but I guess I could get along with him as a friend. “I’m really sorry for neglecting you Lainie. I still see you as my baby girl.” I took in a sharp breath. Mom had used to call me baby girl all the time but ever since my father passed away, she had stopped and resorted to my given name. “I know you’re stubborn like your father so I’m not going to ask for forgiveness right now. Maybe you can forgive me sometime but for now, I just hope that we can get along and re-build our … relationship?”

I wanted to snap, ‘ we never had a relationship to begin with,’ but then I realised we had. We used to get along so well.

There was a part of me which wanted to reject her offer because I was still bitter about the past few years, but the more mature side of me told me that saying ‘yes’ was the reasonable thing to do.