Another week rolled by but Nancy did not go to live in Jason's staff quarters. She had expected him to broach the topic with her again but he did not. It was almost as though he did not care anymore.

She was growing used to her job and duties and carrying them out effectively and effortlessly and even Jason had to admit that there was no need for Anna to continue coaching her.

Nancy had got enough corporate clothes for the office and was looking more attractive and the men in the office had started giving her the eye. Jason saw all this and though he thought in passing that she was really beautiful and had a great shape, he felt no other emotion. He had killed any emotion he had for the opposite sex and took his pleasure where he found it. He could not risk his hear getting broken again.

Nancy was in the office one day and she remembered what had bothered her for sometime. She wondered if Anna would know about it.

'Anna, why is Mr. Campbell still unmarried?'

Anna was taken unawares and did not know how to answer the question.

'Why do you want to know?'

'Well for one, he was s handsome and Roch and not really a bully though stubborn. I would have expected him to have a wife and children'.

'Well, you must not let on that I told you.Promise?'

'Promise', Nancy said thinking to herself that she had known all the while that there was a story behind his unmarried state.

'Well he was married to a very beautiful model called Rebecca. Their marriage I heard was in the magazines for months afterwards. It was a really lavish affair.

Mr. Campbell really loved her, giving her everything and more. It was a shock to us when the rumour started going round that Rebecca had run of with Mr. Campbell's best friend Terry.

He was so devastated that he did not come to the office for almost three months. And when he did, he was a ghost of his former self. He is only started to recover fully but since then, he did not allow himself get too close to any woman.

His wife also wiped their joint account clean as well as the one he personally opened for her. If his sister had not come to be with him,he might have died. It was a double betrayal, you know. The wife he loved dearly and his best friend who he trusted with everything. No one talks about his failed marriage and that was why I left that day you mention something like that to him when he was talking about your accommodation'. Anna explained.

Nancy could see now. She could also see why he felt that he had to protect her. They had alot in common. He was a broken man.He had not quite healed yet else, he would not be affected when the word wife is said, reminding him of his own wife's betrayal. And she had been betrayed as well nit by her husband but by a man she thought she was engaged to and with who she would soon get married.

She didn't want to think about Robert. She always felt like wringing his neck. She wanted to make him suffer. It did not trouble her that he was the father of her unborn child. She understood perfectly his pain. And his was even a double barrelled one. His wife and his most trusted best friend. It was a miracle he survived the hurt and betrayal.

'A penny for them?' Anna asked. She had been watching Nancy and had seen different emotions flick across her face. It was evident that she was deep in thought. What she had just heard must have affected her and why not? What woman in their right senses would leave Mr. Campbell for anyone else? Well everyone had their preferences and who was she to judge?

'They are not worth a penny, I assure you', Nancy said as she realised Anna was referring to her being lost in thought after listening to her narration. And indeed the thought of Robert was not worth anyone's hard earned penny. He was just an inhuman villain. Lower than the lowest animal alive. Even then,it was not enough to qualify his bestiary nature.

Nancy decided that she was going to tell her boss that she was ready to take up his offer of the quarters.

But Campbell did not come back to the office that day. She layer heard that he had travelled for a business sealed and would not be back for about three days.

She did not think that she would be hurt but she was. She was supposed to be his personal secretary and he had gone on such a trip without telling her and she who was suppose to let others know of her boss' appointments and trips was the last person to know of it.

She seethed. She could not understand her feelings. Why was it hurting her so much? She planned to give her boss a piece of her mind when he came home. He would have to explain her job description to her again do that she is sure if she was there as a figure head or as his personal secretary.

The three days went by still,there was no sign of the boss. Nancy was getting really impatient and worried.

She had tried calling him but he wouldn't pick her calls and she didn't know what to make of it. Yet others in the office seemed to be having easy access to him.

He came back after a week. And he looked so handsome that Nancy could not believe that he had gone on a business trip. Business trips were supposed to be stressful but no part of his body shoed any sign of stress. He seemed to have come back from a vacation and if her suspicion was true, then it must have been with a beautiful lady. No other sort would command such a man's attention.

Nancy could not understand why the thought that he might have gone on a vacation with a lady should bother her so much.

It must be because she had not been told that he was going anywhere at all in the first place and she was his secretary for goodness sakes.

And he looked so handsome, handsome enough to be eaten and so relaxed.

She caught herself.She would have to be careful, and not think such things. The thought she had had in the past about Robert had put her in a trouble she was yet to be free from and she was not ready to get into another one. Moreover she was not alone now. She had her baby to think of as well as herself. So there was no space for a third party in her heart and life.

And in any case, she was just being grateful to her boss for his kindness to her, not because she had any special feelings for Mr. Campbell.

He was therefore free to be with anyone he wished to be with but because of his help, she only hoped that the person he would eventually settle with will not break his heart like his ex wife Rebecca did.

Nancy put all her efforts into her work and on Wednesdays, she dismissed early from work so that she could go to the hospital for antenatal care.

The last time she had gone for the checkup, she had been told that her baby was okay and that it's limbs were moving admirably. She had been very happy because she had been afraid that something was wrong with her baby given the lack of care she had taken of herself and her near brush with death which of course had changed the course of her life for the better.

She knew that her problems were far from being over. It was not going to be easy being a single mother but she would definitely try.

Now all she had to do was concentrate on her work and keeping her baby safe.

Tomorrow was another appointment day with her doctor for her regular checkup and antenatal.

Mr. Campbell came in to work that Tuesday morning, asking Nancy as he walked into his office, 'What are my appointment for today?'

Nancy was fuming but she thought that she had better be careful how she spoke to her boss because afterall,he was still the boss and had employed her without her having the required qualifications.

'You have an appointment with Charlie's Automobiles by 10am and a lunch date with Corrine Farmer at midday.

At 4pm,you have a meeting with the board of directors. That's all for today. Your previous appointments were left on hold due to the emergency trip that you took but thankfully,just a few of them were really very important but not really urgent and will be rescheduled according to your dictates'.

She delivered efficiently.

It was not a month yet but Anna had started allowing her take most of the responsibilities because she knew she would soon be on her own.

'Good. I shall keep all the appointments but you can come in, in about thirty minutes to take down the new schedule for the appointments that has to be rescheduled and the others you can call the people responsible to find out when it would be convenient for them to meet with me since I am back,then after checking with me, you take down the appointment'.

She called up the individuals and cooperate bodies whose appointment with her boss had had to be put on hold and they were rescheduled.

She entered all these in the diary and marked the dates on the calendar like she had been taught to.

At about some minutes to ten,she called her boss to inform him of his appointment at the top of the hour. After ushering in the representatives from the automobile company into her boss' office, she quickly did some of the paper work she needed to do and then chatted with Anna.

Anna had started seeing some changes in Nancy. No one in the office,including Anna knew that Nancy was pregnant when she started with them but as a woman, she had started noticing some changes and though they were friends, she just could not bring herself to ask Nancy if her suspicion was right. She respected her and felt that everybody had a right to their privacy. If Nancy was indeed pregnant, then she would definitely tell her whenever she was ready. Anna did not want to force it out of her when she was not ready yet to reveal it but she did wonder who the father of the baby in her womb was because she knew that Nancy was definitely not married.

Mr. Campbell, their boss had specifically brought her to the office and as far as she knew, Nancy had not gone through any interviews and had not been specially trained for the position she was currently occupying. She would have been jealous but she just liked Nancy, she was so likable and not arrogant.

'Was the baby Mr. Campbell's then ?' Anna thought to herself but she kept all these thoughts to herself. She knew a few people who were feeling that Nancy could be having an affair with the boss and Nancy's reaction to the sudden trip of their boss had heightened her suspicion. But if they were indeed seeing each other, would she not have known of the trip and would he not have made up an excuse to take Nancy with him on the trip?

It could be that their relationship was based on an understanding of sorts. Afterall,Mr. Campbell could not afford to have his heart broken again though why any woman would want to forfeit the privilege of being his wife was beyond Anna's comprehension.

'Nancy, you know about my boyfriend Bryan.But you have not told me about yours. What are you doing hiding such an information? We are girls you know and friends too. Why keep it a secret?'

Nancy looked at her shocked.

'Nancy, you ate always asking me about my boyfriend Bryan. You know about him but you have never spoken about your boyfriend. Why are you being so secretive about him?' Anna asked Man y in the course of their chat. She had deliberately refrained from asking other personal questions like her pregnancy but she had felt the subject of a boyfriend was a safe topic to discuss so she was surprised at Nancy's pallor. She had gone quite pale.

'What did I say wrong? You should not be ashamed to talk about your relationship with me, I assumed we were friends and could at least share that much with each other.And You are an adult and I am not your mother to scold you for having a boyfriend and I promise I won't be judgmental,I have mine remember?'

But as Nancy continued to keep quiet and her paleness increased, Anna became alarmed.

'I am sorry if you do not want to tell me about him. You must have your reasons. I am sorry I asked. It is just that you have always shared in my happiness and I wanted to reciprocate'. she explained.

Nancy eventually found her voice.

'No Anna, that is not so. It's just that I am not yet ready to talk about it. It is a sore topic for me', she said.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I should have known, if it were a happy topic for you, you would have spoken about it long ago. But I was so caught up in my happiness with Bryan that I had not noticed. You should not talk about it if it makes you feel bad remembering it but in my experience, it is better to talk about it and ease yourself of such a burden If you had been badly hurt, then it would facilitate your healing. No body is worth causing you so much pain such as I have seen in your eyes and you are still giving him that right by dwelling in and feeding the pain with your bitterness. I am not trying to force you to do what you do not want to do but the earlier you talk about it and deal with it by facing the demons haunting you,the earlier you shall be free of them. I am speaking not as a colleague now but as a close friend and confidant of yours'.

'Ues, I know that but what do you know of such heartbreak and pain? You are in your own world basking in the love and attention of Bryan and soon you will be his wife. You do not know what others who are not as lucky as you are to find true love or a sincere companion have to pass through'. Nancy said sadly.

Anna looked at her and read more from her words than Nancy had intended

She was full of pity for her but the she still believed that the earlier she got over that hurt, the better it would be for Nancy.

'That is where you are wrong. You asked me the other day about our boss and I told you of his experience. Yours could never have been that bad, your best friend eloping with your wife or in this case your husband and nearly causing you to go bankrupt. He nearly died of the pain and the double betrayal he felt because the one person in the world who would have given him comfort as his friend and confidant was also a participant in the betrayal tearing his heart and sould apart.

And me, you think that I have not had my own share of disappointments and heartbreaks? Oh I can assure you that I have had them but I do not allow them cloud my joy or my life. Life goes on. The person who had hurt you this badly must have gone on with his life and you are deriving yourself of joy and laughter by continually dwelling on the hurt and you feel that he is worth it? Your happiness is yours and yours alone and no one has the right to take that from you except you give them the permission'

'You mean you have been hurt before?' Nancy asked unable to believe it. The petite lady looked like someone who had it all and had not felt pain before.

'Yes I have and not once but three times but have I allowed it stop me from being happy? No, it hasn't and neither should you. My failed love stories are a topic for another day, we have to get our boss prepared for his midday appointment but please be happy and forget about any villain that does not know your worth'', Anna advised.

Nancy smiled. She felt better after this chat with Anna and she was right. It was just that it pained her to see that her child was going to be born illegitimate. Without knowing her father though truth be told,he or she was better off without someone like Robert as their father.

She felt wet drops on her cheek and realised that she had been crying. She smiled through her tears as she wiped her tears off her cheek.

'Thank you so much. It has been a relief speaking with you. I fell better already. I shall definitely tell you about this some other time but for now, duty calls'.

Anna smiled sympathetically and patted her shoulder understandingly.

They went about their duties and Nancy forgot about her problems as she lost herself in her work and typing but when her workload reduced, she remembered that she had been just as happy or even happier than Anna was with her boyfriend Bryan. She had felt that she had it all. A good education, a promising career, a handsome rich man who loved her passionately and a blissful married life in the future with him but all that had been a lie. Robert had shown his real colours when she had told him of her pregnancy.

She remembered how heartbroken she had been when he had started avoiding her and not picking her calls. It had started when he had asked her to abort the pregnancy.