Between Love and Hate: Small Changes

"So what did the doctor say?" Reggie asked Beth after Beth joined her at the market.

"Oh nothing special." Beth lied not ready to confess the truth.

"Beth I know your pregnant, so cut the crap." said Reggie rolling her eyes at Beth.

"How..."

"I'm not stupid." God sometimes Beth could be so ditzy Reggie thought as she waited for Beth to
continue talking.

"I'm four and a half months pregnant. Everything is normal and I'll be able to know the sex of the baby in two weeks. Does Sarah know?" Beth asked tentivaly.

"I didn't say anything, but i'm sure she figured it out. So are you going to tell him?"

"Yes I have to, he has every right to know." Of course she would tell Matteo, whatever their problems the unborn child had nothing to do with them and therefore should not have to pay for their mistakes.

"What if he doesn't want the baby?" Reggie held her breath as she waited for Beth's answer.

"That would be his loss, my baby will be loved and taken care of whether Matteo wants to be involved or not." Beth meant every word. Beth knew what it was like to grow up without parents, she hoped that Matteo would want to be in the baby's life but if he didn't she would be enough for her child.

"I know where he is." Reggie said surprising Beth.

"How?" she asked Reggie for the second time in less than ten minutes.

"Don't worry about it. There is a championship party for the Bridgeport Llamas at Aquarius."

"Uhm Reggie can you help me with something?" Beth asked a little unsure of herself

"Sure what's up?"

"I want to change, I'm not really happy with who I am right now and I feel I need to change before the baby arrives. I figured starting from the outside in will be easiest." Beth didn't really know how to actually begin changing herself until she could be happy with the results and thought Reggie would be a good person to help her.

***

 



 

"So what do you think?" Beth asked Sarah excitedly over her new look, yet her sister didn't really seem to be very excited.

"I think that this is a very drastic change for some guy." Sarah said coldly, she just couldn't understand why Beth was so obsessed with such a jerk.

"It wasn't for some guy Sarah I changed my look for myself. Also I think you should stop thinking of Matteo as some guy, in fact my problems with Matteo have nothing to do with you and I really think you should stay out of it." Beth said standing up for herself for the first time in her twenty three years. As much as she loved her sister sometimes Beth felt that Sarah could be too controlling.

"Sarah, stop being such a witch. Good luck Beth." Reggie said into the stunned silence.

 

 

Beth tried to get into the exclusive party but the bouncer would not let her through the doors. After much begging the sympathetic woman asked a coworker though her headpiece to tell Matteo Beth was there and if he knew her. After a few minutes she got an answer.

 

"I'm sorry miss but he says he doesn't know you." Beth left the night club dejected and practically in tears. He had refused to see her, the but she felt a little confort in the fact that she had tried to see him and tell him he would be a father.

 

 

"Ok I think this should do it." Reggie said finishing patching up the leaky kitchen sink. "But you still need to call a real plumber."

 

 "I can't afford a plumber Reggie, I can barely afford this place." Beth explained as she mopped up the last puddle from her formally flooded first floor.

Shane's aunt had let Beth rent the cozy little cottage on the edge of her property for a ridiculously low amount of money, but even that was a struggle for Beth. Her only income came from the cooking she did for Sarah's catering gigs. Yet Beth was happy, she was no longer a burden for her sister . The cottage was small and in desperate need of repairs but when her son was born he would have a home to come to from the hospital.

 

 

"Sarah said we didn't need uniforms tonight so i'm going to the gallery like this but if you want to change you have to do it fast. We need to be there in an hour and as cute as this place is it couldn't be further from the city." Reggie said with an exaggerated shiver at the thought of living so far upstate.

 

"I love the peace and quiet up here and I only live thirty minutes from the city." Beth laughed, Reggie was such a weirdo sometimes.

 

***

 



 

Sarah had really lost her mind, Beth thought as she shook off rain water from her hair and looked at her sisters argue. Shane had pulled some strings at the Bridgeport art gallery and had arrange for Sarah to the event coordinator for the annual children's hospital charity ball, which was a really big event. Unfortunatly everything seemed to be going wrong, including a horrible thunder storm.

 



 

"Please Reggie, the band is stuck in traffic for at least another hour. I need your help." Sarah begged, something she never did. Reggie relented.

 

"Fine but after this, we are even got it?"

 

"Yes, yes that's fair. Now please go out there and start playing the piano. Everyone is just standing around bored." Sarah said noticeably relieved.

 

"Dressed like this?"

 

"I have a couple of dresses in the small dressing room, I brought them incase any of the guests had an accident."

 

 

 

"How do I look?" Reggie asked coming back to the kitchen a few minutes later in a sleek black dress and pinned hair where the pink was barely visible.

 

"Great, now Reggie you go play the piano until the band gets here and Beth I'm sorry but your going to have to man the buffet on your own." Sarah said dictating actions to be done, now that Reggie was ready to play she was feeling a little more confident.

 

"That's ok, most of the food is already prepared and out." Beth said cheerfully and Sarah felt guilty because even though Beth was looking stronger and healthier she was still pregnant.

 

 

Matteo waltzed with Gia and for the hundredth time asked himself how he'd allowed her to put him in his current situation. He would be on of the many celebrities auctioned off that night like a piece of meat, on a date with a lucky winner. It was for charity he kept reminding himself to keep his annoyance concealed, On top of everything Matteo had spotted his bastard of a father with his perfect DeLuca heir just a few minutes after walking into the gallery. It was going to be a hell of a night.

 

Matteo could feel his head heads ponding and as soon as the music stopped he excused himself and walked over to the bar, that's when he saw her bustling around the buffet table, Elizabeth Boyd, a very pregnant Elizabeth Boyd. Matteo felt as if he'd just been punched in the gut. He couldn't breath and his head was spinning. Beth was pregnant, she didn't see him and retreated back the way she came from. without being able to control his actions Matteo followed her, he was so distracted by Beth that he didn't notice the pesky paparazzi he had been avoiding earlier in the evening shadow him.

Beth had been so tired that she hadn't notice she was being followed until it was too late.

"Matteo." She said breathlessly once he had materialize in front of her. He looked stunned, and incredibly handsome in a tux.

"Your pregnant." He accused, the statement drew Beth out of her thoughts and angered her beyond belief.

"Of course I'm pregnant, what did you think  that I would rid of it just because you showed no interest?" Beth practically screamed.

"I Don't understand why your angry. If anyone should be angry its me."

"Oh yeah, how do you figure that?" Beth demanded sarcastically, surprising Matteo. His Beth was never really angry.

"Beth you cheated on me and now your pregnant."

Beth's head was swimming from anger and exhaustion she just wanted to go home far away from Matteo who continued to hurt her and as much as she loved him Beth was sick of it.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Fine Matteo believe what you like it doesn't matter anyway, but just an FYI Shane came to Bridgeport three months ago. I'm six months pregnant, do the math." Beth tried to walk away but Matteo stopped her.

"What are you saying Beth?"

"Damn it Matteo, I already tried to have this conversation with you and you turned me away. Now I'm not in the mood." How dare he act surprised and angry. She had tried to tell him and he ignored her, pretended he didn't know who she was. Beth figured she was the only one allowed anger, that and she would never forget the pain she felt when Sarah had showed her the article in the newspaper announcing Matteo's engagement to a Gia Costolli. Her heart had broken into a million pieces.

 

 

"Beth whats..." Sarah stopped in mid sentence at seeing Matteo in the kitchen. "What the hell do you want?" She fired at him.

 

"This is between me and your sister." Matteo said in a clipped tone.

 

"The only thing between you and my sister will be the child support I'm trying to get her to file against you."

 



Beth was out of breath from all the excitement and started to sway, both Sarah and Matteo tried to help her but she put up her hand to stop them.

"Please just leave, I'm sure your fiancé is out there wondering where you are. Beth sounded defeated and tired.

"Beth we have..." Matteo tried to talk to her but Beth kept her back to him to be able to maintain her determination.

"Please just leave."

"Alright Beth, I'll leave for now, but we have to talk about this." She heard him walk out of the kitchen and finally let the tears she had been holding in roll down her face.