Ten days passed as Erica waited for news from Phoebe. But as yet, her love rival didn''t show up to get back at her.


    One night, Matthew came back from thepany to find Erica waiting downstairs.


    As soon as she saw him, she came, offering him a ss of water and a ttering smile. "Matthew."


    Looking from the water to his wife''s shining countenance, Matthew idly wondered if the drink had been poisoned.


    In the end, he decided that it didn''t matter. He took the ss calmly and said, "Just say it."


    "I want to ask you something," Erica began. "Have you met with Phoebe recently?" She didn''t think the other woman would let things go easily.


    ''So this is what''s bothering her, '' Matthew realized as he took a sip of water. "You know," he said, "the next time you do something bad, you should learn from Phoebe. Do it in a ce without surveince, and if there are any evidence or clues left behind, you have to go back and get rid of them."


    "What?" Erica wondered if this meant that Phoebe really had gone to see him. "What did she tell you?"


    Matthew finished off the water, then handed the empty ss to her. "You should stay away from your ''cousin'' from now on," he remarked cryptically. "He''s a bad example."


    ''So... he really figured it out, '' thought Erica.


    ss in hand, she followed him into the next room and asked with a smile, "What else did she say? Are you going to avenge her?"


    "What else did she say?" Matthew echoed. "Put the ss down and I''ll tell you."


    Erica set the ss on the table and took hold of his arm. "Okay, tell me now!"


    By way of reply, Matthew pressed her against the handrail of the stairs, held her head in one hand, and lowered his head to kiss her.


    "Mmph..." Lost in the moment though she was, it didn''t escape her that this was not exactly an answer to her question.


    A few minutester, Matthew whispered in her ear, "Now, you have to ept my punishment for you!"


    "Don''t... Don''t do that here..." Although the heating was on, this was dangerously close to a staircase. It would not be the most secure ce for what he obviously had in mind.


    Her husband chuckled in her ear and said in a low voice, "Don''t you want to experience something new?" After all, they had tried having sex in many different ces, but this was a new one.


    Erica leaned her soft body


    o rest for a few days to think about his rtionship with Chantel.


    Thinking of her, he cast a look at the door and realized that she was already gone. Gifford had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice.


    ''Huh! Did she realize that she had done something wrong? Is that why she is avoiding me?''


    Later at the hospital, Chantel was sitting on a bench uneasily.


    Her appointment had gone without incident so far. She was waiting for the examination result now.


    Waiting was excruciating; the ten minutes she spent on that bench felt like ten hours. Finally, the doctor called her name, "Chantel Ye!"


    "I''m here!" the girl called back. She hurried to the window, where she was handed a report. She scanned the page, trying to find the results first.


    But before she could understand what she was reading, the attendant of the color ultrasound room told her, "Sign here and take the form to the doctor."


    "Okay, thank you," Chantel murmured. After signing her name, she headed back to the outpatient department of gynecology.


    The doctor there nced over the results, then raised his head. "You''re five weeks pregnant," he exined dispassionately. "Do you want to keep it?"


    ''I''m really pregnant, '' thought Chantel. The thought seized on her mind so thoroughly that for a moment she forgot where she was—until the doctor spoke again. "Do you want the baby?"


    "Yes, yes!" she cried,ing back to herself. It would not be easy for her to have Gifford''s baby. But how could she give it up?


    Joy that she could not contain lit up her face.