Lost In A Daydream

“My parents are arriving tonight,” said Victoria, as she sat with Trevor at his clinic. It had been a month since she had been coming here regularly for therapy and the results were miraculous. Her smile was back and so was her confidence but no one knew that it was all superficial. She was still heartbroken, her eyes still held a sadness, a vacuum that only grew with each passing day. However, she could bluff the world but not her therapist. Trevor knew that she wasn’t happy and that her heart wasn’t actually here. But he never asked her anything personal. 

“Should I drop by and talk to them?” asked Trevor. Victoria nodded. 

“Come tomorrow,” she told him. He had wanted to talk to them over phone last month but knowing how her mom was, she had prevented him from saying something so important over phone. Her mom would have left everything and hurried home to her. She couldn’t do that when Sofia needed her so badly.

It was late by the time her parents returned home. They were surprised to seethe change in her. “The therapy is doing you good, Vicky. I’m so glad that you listened to Sofi,” gushed her mom. She noticed her daughter’s bodily changes and could say easily now that she was pregnant. 

“I need to talk to you, Vicky,” she said eagerly. 

“Why don’t you freshen up first, mom?” Asked Victoria. She noticed the way her mom looked at her. It was obvious that she was suspicious. There was no way that she could hide her pregnancy from her. The best way was to tell her the truth. Hearing it from her was far better than hearing it from a stranger’s mouth. 

Victoria laid the table for her parents while she mentally prepared herself for the talk. They all sat down to eat. Her mom updated her about baby Celestine and Victoria felt a pang in her heart as she hadn’t been able to see her yet. “How is your health, Vicky?” Asked her mom when they had talked of everything. Victoria knew that it was now time to address the elephant in the room. 

“I’m fine. I need to tell you both something important. I know that you should have said it before but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. It was only Trevor Clarkston, my therapist who healed me so well that I’m now able to cope with everything that life has thrown at my face,” said Victoria. 

“We’re grateful to Mr. Clarkston, then,” said her dad.

“What is it, Vicky? Tell us everything without hesitation. We’ll always be there to support and understand you, no matter what,” her mom comforted her. Victoria had the feeling that they knew already but just wanted to confirm it from her own mouth. 

“Mom, Dad, I’m 18 weeks pregnant,” she announced but to her surprise, her parents looked happy and not alarmed as she had expected them to be.

“I had guessed it a long while back, dear. Who’s the father of the baby? Can you tell us what exactly happened? Has he declined to take responsibility?” asked her mom eagerly. 

“No, mom. He doesn’t know. It’s not the way you think it is. He spiked my drink and took advantage of me while I was unconscious,” said Victoria. 

“This is a punishable offense, Vicky. Have you lodged an FIR?” asked her dad either a frown. Victoria shook her head slowly. 

“I was too traumatized to think straight, dad,” she said softly.

“Is there any witness who met you before the incident or afterwards? Any CCTV footage? Anything?” Asked her dad. Colton’s name immediately came to her mind. He did have the photographs that Pete had sent him. She wouldn’t ask him for help even if he were the last man on earth. She had blocked him out of her life for good.

“No dad, nothing,” she said quietly. Her dad looked thoughtful. “Let it go, dad. I don’t want to go into all that trauma all over again. Everyone will get to know about it and I can’t face their judgmental looks, “ she said. 

“That’s a very wrong outlook, Vicky. You were never this weak. It’s not your fault so why should you care about other people’s judgments? Don’t you want a criminal punished? You’re saving Pete who has done this to you? We are with you. You don’t need to face anything alone,” said her mom. 

“Give us his number. We’ll trace him down first,” said her dad. Victoria knew her parents very well. They were renowned lawyers and never stepped back from a battle. Now it was more so since it was their daughter who had been wronged. She gave them Pete’s number. 

Trevor came to talk to her parents the next day. To her surprise, he immediately clicked well with them. Instead of a brief visit, he ended up spending the whole morning with them. They discussed ways to nab Pete Douglas. Apparently, Trevor had the recording of the conversation head with Victoria on the first day of her visit to his chamber. It was an important piece of evidence indeed.

“I need to record these sessions since it determines what type of therapy the patient needs,” said Trevor. 

“Thank you so much, Trevor. You’ve been a treat help to us,” said her dad. 

“It’s nothing, Mr. Blakesley. I’m glad to be of some help. If you need my help please don’t hesitate to ask me. Here’s my number,” said Trevor, handing her dad his card. 

The next few days, Trevor visited them frequently and stayed back for quite sometime. He surprised everyone by accompanying Victoria to her ultrasound appointment too. The nurse at the clinic misjudged him to be the father of the baby. Trevor in fact looked proud and didn’t even attempt to correct her in any way. After his wife’s death, there had only been work and more work in his dismal life. For the first time in eight years, he found a direction, a goal in his life. Helping Victoria, seeing her face break into a smile became his sole purpose of living. It wasn’t that he was in love with Victoria or something. No. He loved only one woman, his late wife, Stefanie and he would love her all his life. No one could replace her. It was only that Victoria was so young and needed help badly that he took it upon his shoulders to make her normal, just like she wanted to be. 

Victoria thought of names for her baby boy and her parents too pitched in especially her dad and surprisingly Trevor too. It made her mom suspicious of Trevor’s intentions and so she started planning and plotting ways to give them a moment of privacy. Every time she asked if Trevor had proposed to her, making Victoria angry and shocked at her mom.

“He’s my therapist, for God’s sake, mom!” she exclaimed with horror. 

“Oh shut up, Vicky! If he’s only that, why does he come home everyday to see you? Why does he accompany you for checkup? Why does he think of baby names for you?” asked her mom. Victoria didn’t have any answer to her questions. She had no idea why. 

“It’s because he’s interested in you, dear,” gushed her mom. She could hear her wedding bells although Victoria herself couldn’t feel a thing. 

“Jonathon,” exclaimed her dad. They rolled their eyes. 

“No, it’s too old fashioned,” they chorused.

“Ronaldo,” he exclaimed again excitedly. Ronaldo was his favorite footballer even a blind man could guess it.

“No, dad. Ho footballer names please,” said Victoria. 

“Dalton?” Asked her dad. Victoria’s attention was immediately on high alert. She hated names that matched with Colton’s. 

“Never. Stop please, dad. I’ll think of a name myself,” said an upset Victoria, walking away to her room. Her dad gave his wife a lost look. She gave him a look.

“Now what did I do?” asked her dad innocently.

“I don’t know, Greg. I think there’s more to this than meets the eye. Despite everything I always see Vicky lost in her thoughts. There’s a sadness in her eyes which never goes away. I have a feeling that she loves someone,” sighed her mom. 

“Unless and until she tells us, I don’t think there’s any way of knowing what’s going on,” said her dad. 

Victoria was reading a book that night and came across the name Asher. She liked it immensely and decided to name her son Asher, a Hebrew word which meant, blessed. Her parents loved the name immensely and finally the name hunting game came to a stop. Day by day baby Asher kept growing stronger and stronger just like her friendship with Trevor. He told her about his wife and how she died suddenly in a car accident. Despite everything there wasn’t a single day that went by when she didn’t remember Colton. Her heart bled at his harsh words and she always ended up sobbing into her pillow at night.