Page 8 of Consequence of One Reckless Night

What had she done?

She’d gone to the club to drink a bit and dance some, hoping it would distract her from her miserable life.

She was an unseen daughter who had forever fought to be noticed by a mother who’d never given her the time of day. Wanting to win her mother’s affection, Raquel had immediately volunteered to do Sylvia’s bidding when her older sister Anabela had refused to do so.

Ana’s refusal had cost her a place in the family home, and Raquel had helplessly watched her sister leave the Casa DaCosta. But Sylvia had turned to her immediately with a beatific smile, pleased that her second daughter was finally making herself useful.

But Raquel hadn’t known, until it was too late, that what Ana had refused was an arranged marriage orchestrated by their mother. In her haste to find favor in Sylvia’s eyes, Raquel ended up—accidentally—agreeing to marry the man her mother chose to be her son-in-law.

Since the unfortunate event, Raquel had tried—unsuccessfully—to dissuade her mother from following through with the marriage plan, but Sylvia was adamant. What she wanted, she got—and what Sylvia wanted was a connection that would link the DaCostas with the Monteiros, one of the oldest families in Goa, which would in turn catapult the DaCostas into the upper echelons of the society.

Raquel was ashamed of her mother’s unapologetic desire for prestige, and it bothered her that Sylvia thought nothing of sacrificing one of her own children if it meant that she would become, at least through marriage, one of the elites of the Goan society.

She’d begun to feel trapped, and helpless with each passing day as the marriage preparations went ahead full steam, and no one seemed to care that the bride was terrified of the impending nuptials.

Sylvia didn’t care that Raquel hadn’t even met her groom-to-be and when suddenly, the previous day, she was told that the engagement would happen in exactly five weeks, Raquel crumbled.

Her world imploded as reality crashed into her with the power of a tsunami, wiping out every rational thought, replacing it with the terrible truth that she was well and truly, trapped. To regain her sanity, she had travelled to Panjim, the capital town of Goa, from her home in Benaulim. Making an excuse to meet Anita, a college friend, Raquel had fled home to gather her scattered wits. But little had she known that her one night of savoring freedom would end in a one-night stand with a man who hadn’t even bothered to wait till she awoke.

Raquel went into the living room where she found her shoes, slipped them on and graciously, albeit red-faced, accepted the ride the maid arranged for her.

As she drove back to Anita’s house, where she collected her overnight bag before proceeding home to Benaulim, Raquel reflected on the events of the previous night.

A one-night stand—with a gorgeous man who had used her and then walked away without even waiting around to ask her if she was alright. Revulsion filled her as bile rose to her throat. She thought Alexandre was a good man. He’d been kind and charming, and hadn’t he taken such good care of her?

Yes, but only till he got her into his bed. The sex had been spectacular—but it felt tawdry in the bright light of day.

But the worst thing was that Alexandre wasn’t the only one to blame. She could have stopped him any time during the night, but she hadn’t, and so the shame and blame was entirely hers.

Raquel managed to bring her scattered thoughts and emotions under control by the time she reached home, where she at once locked herself up in her room. Her body ached from the hangover and the rigorous sex of the previous night, but she couldn’t bring herself to think about what had happened in Alexandre’s apartment.

It was just one night, she consoled and pacified herself. One night of fun that had ended grimly because despite everything that happened, she wished Alexandre had stayed back to speak with her. Her gorgeous lover, the man whom she suspected she could have easily fallen in love with, left her behind with a sore body and an aching heart. She wished they could have had more time together.

As the days passed and Raquel fell back into the routine of her ordinary life, that one spectacular night began to take on a dream-like quality, leading her to believe that one day she would entirely forget about it.

Until one bright morning when she threw up at the smell of coffee and the staggering reality that she might be pregnant had her running to the pharmacy to pick up a test kit.

She waited anxiously for the test result, and when two pink lines stared back at her, Raquel knew it was the consequence of her one reckless night!

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