The Lady Next Door - A Sequel to "The Man Next Door"

Chapter 17: Speak Up

They arrive home in their car just before sundown, still having enough sunlight to properly unload their vehicle of all their luggage that they had brought along with them to New York City.

M... who is M...

The mystery of that text message was something that Vera couldn't shake off once she had seen that letter on the glowing screen of Patrick's phone, and even though all the answers were one question away, she was still too afraid to ask.

Once the couple had silently unloaded everything, Patrick tiredly crashed onto their living room couch, eyeing Vera down with a cheeky smile as he switched the television on, "you want to maybe watch a movie with me? Before bed?"

Vera smiles, letting out an exhausted huff before giving into his charm, "yeah that sounds great," she chuckles, "you get comfortable while I grab us some food."

"While you do that..." he says as he picks himself off of their couch, and walks over to the bar, "I'll get us some drinks." He winks, his arms tensing up through his long-sleeved, black cotton shirt as he cracks open a large, new bottle of Vera's favorite brand of wine.

"Honey.." Vera laughs, "you're going to turn me into an alcoholic if you keep this up."

"Alcohol fixes everything," Patrick shrugs, "I can tell that you're still thinking about Maria, and what happened between you two at the site," he pauses, looking at her, "I'm just trying to apologize for all the drama you had to deal with because of me."

"So, drowning me with a little alcohol will make up for what you put me through?" Vera jokes, walking up to him and entwining her hands with his larger ones.

Patrick chuckles, "gee, my plan has been foiled," following his sentence with a growl before leaning in to peck her on the lips, "do you forgive me?"

"Gosh, I don't know," Vera laughs, wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the ends of his overgrown brown hair, "ask me again after I've had my third glass," she mumbles against his mouth.

"You know... there's always another way to beg you for forgiveness," Patrick says into her ear shyly, his hands glued to her waist as his eyes grow dark.

Vera's thoughts suddenly jump back to what had happened a couple of hours ago with Patrick's texts, and as hard as it was to break away from his captivating eyes and his comforting hold, she was able to push her lustful desire for him to the side and speak up about the contact.

"I have to ask you about something, Patrick," she says, holding his face and looking up at him sincerely.

"Oh," he says softly, stopping in his tracks to look down at her, "is it serious?"

"I think so," she says, fully breaking away from his hold and leaning back against the lowest counter in their kitchen, "so uh, someone texted you, on your phone, while you were asleep on our flight."

Patrick nods, "who was it?"

Vera bites the corner of her bottom lip, "M," she says, "I texted someone with the contact name, M."

Patrick shoots her a confused look, "M?" He looks to the floor as if he were trying to dig something up from his memories, and then eventually, he looks up at Vera, sticking his hand out to count, "my deceased mother, Maria, and Morgan." Patrick lists, "those were the only three people I had under that contact name."

Vera looks at him with a knowing look, "so this is Maria again." She scoffs, "doesn't she know when to quit?"

"No," Patrick shakes his head, "I blocked Maria after we wrapped up our project."

"So it's Morgan." Vera mutters. Patrick turns around, scratching the back of his head and walking back and forth as if he had just uncovered something, "what is it, Patrick?"

Patrick doesn't say a word and frantically opens his phone to look at the messages, and simultaneously, they hear the doorbell ring.

Vera and Patrick both look at each other before walking to the door, Vera being the one to look through the glass pane and eventually unlock it, "Patrick?" A familiar voice rang from the other side of the door.

"Morgan," Patrick huffs under his breath, "what are you-," she slams a piece of paper against his chest, but before flipping it over, he shoots her a defeated look after noticing that she was holding a hand over her growing belly.

Vera glares at the blonde woman, her breathing sounding evidently nervous as she watches Patrick skim his eyes across the hospital documents. After a minute of what felt like an endless pause, Patrick suddenly crumples up the documents in one hand, "this isn't proof. This is impossible and you know this."

"Vera," Morgan looks to her with concern, "I'm sorry to break this to you, but I have no choice to tell you since Patrick clearly didn't. It's important that you know about this because this can jeopardize everything you have with that man."

"Don't listen to her Vera," Patrick says, walking back into the house with his hands intertwined in his hair, "this is all bullshit."

"Listen, okay?" Morgan continues as Vera stood there, frozen in place, "I'm pregnant, and the last person I was intimate with was Patrick."