by Mary Peart
He stared at her and could almost believe that this was the woman he had married. The doctors had told him that there would be periods of lucidity. “Watching you sleep,” he told her gently, clasping her thin pale hand.
“Aren’t you sleepy?” she asked him with a smile.
“Not yet,” he told her with a gentle smile. It was times like this that he wondered if he was considering doing the right thing. Then it was gone. She dragged her hand away from him and let out a loud scream telling him to get away from her.
Chapter 6
She was pregnant and the first sign she noticed was when she fainted at work. May had turned out to be a busy month because she was overseeing the renovations to the bookstore wanting it to be ready for the summer and they had moved into their home just last week. Christopher had hired someone to redecorate the place but Sophia had insisted on having a say in everything that went into the place including the fabric for the curtains. She especially had fun decorating or overseeing the decoration for Christine’s room and instead of the traditional pink and white she had agreed with the decorator and gone with bold splashes of yellow and mint green. She also had a large play room where her myriad of toys that her father and grandmother kept buying her were stored.
She was in the middle of checking on a building that they were looking into acquiring when she felt the buzzing in her ears and without warning she collapsed on the carpeted floor of her office.
It was Amelia who heard the thud as she was about to come in and speak to her about something and her eyes widened in alarm as she rushed in and saw her in a heap on the floor. She buzzed Christopher’s secretary immediately her heart beating fast as she looked at how still her boss was. “Where is Mr. Tang?” she asked hurriedly without even greeting the coolly unapproachable Tiffany.
“Excuse me?” the woman’s voice was frosty.
“I am sorry,” Amelia said belatedly. “Sophia is lying on the floor, and she is unconscious.”
The woman did not bother to respond and within minutes Christopher ran into the room. Without sparing her a glance he dropped to his knees and started to examine his wife. “Have you called an ambulance?” he asked shooting a look at her that had her quaking.
“No sir!” Amelia stood and hurried for the phone but just then they heard a groan and looked down.
“Christopher?” she whispered looking up at him.
“Don’t bother,” he told Amelia brusquely, lifting his wife’s head gently. “Baby you fainted, how are you feeling?” he asked her his tone indescribably tender. Amelia blinked not believing that this was the same brusque and cold man who had just spoken to her. He was looking at his wife as if she was made of spun gold. What must it feel like to be so loved! She thought with a longing sigh.
“I feel a little dizzy,” Sophia admitted. “I never faint,” she said trying to get up but he held her back down.
“You are not going anywhere until the doctor tells me you are okay.” He reached for her phone and called Tiffany. “Yes thanks Tiffany she is awake. Can you call John? Oh you already did? Thanks.” He hung up.
“I don’t need a doctor Christopher stop fussing. It’s probably all that running up and down at the bookstore and the moving we did last week. I am just exhausted that’s all.” She protested.
“We will see,” he told her briefly and lifted her up in his arms and carried her to the sofa placing her down and resting her head in his lap. He looked up to see her assistant hovering in the doorway. “Get her a glass of water.”
Amelia hurried away to do his bidding.
“I wish you would stop bossing her around like that,” Sophia told him reproachfully resting her head back against his chest.
“She does not mind.” He responded. Just then the doctor came in and Amelia quickly handed her the glass of water which she drank down and left closing the door behind her to give them some privacy.
“What do we have here?” John Freeman had been her doctor who had been with her up until the birth of their daughter Christine and was a friend of Christopher’s.
“She fainted.” Christopher told him and related what she had been involved in for the past several weeks. He pulled up a chair and started examining her, peering into her eyes and listening to her heart.
“When was the last time you had your period?” the doctor asked her with a smile playing about his lips.
“What?” Both Sophia and Christopher looked at him startled.
“I need to do a pregnancy test but I think it’s safe to say you might be pregnant,” he looked at both of them with a smile, knowing how long they had been waiting to hear that news.
“My wife is pregnant?” She was still half propped up against her husband’s chest and Sophia felt as if she was going to pass out again.
“I am pregnant?” she asked wonderingly.
He nodded. “I would like you to come in for a real test by next week but I am almost sure that you are. In the meantime I think you are anemic and I am going to prescribe something for you to take. Might I suggest taking the rest of the day off to celebrate?” he asked with a quirk of his graying brows.
“Definitely,” Christopher said softly. “Thanks John, I will have Tiffany set up the appointment with your office.”
He waited until the man left. He was beside himself and he felt paralyzed with hope and anticipation. She was bearing his child inside her and he did not know how to react. Taking a deep breath he got off the sofa and knelt in front of her. “How do you feel?” he asked her huskily, holding her hands.
“Dazed,” she said with a small laugh, looking down at him. “How do you feel?” she asked him gently.
“You are carrying my child, how do you think I feel?” he asked her tenderly. He did not allow her to answer but went on, “I am humbled and petrified at the same time and I am beside myself with happiness and I don’t know whether to lift you and spin you around the room or just sit here and hold you close to me and never let you go.”
“Can you do both?” she asked him, raising a hand and touching his strong jaw. She had been fighting to get pregnant for him for so long that she could not believe she was actually carrying a child for the wonderful man she had fallen in love with.
“I don’t want to hurt you or the baby,” he turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand. With a sudden decision he stood up and pulled her into his arms. “I know I told you that having our daughter was enough for me and it was, but I always wanted more children, it does not matter to me what the sex will be my darling wife. I love you and I intend to treasure you so much, starting now.” He kissed her slowly and lingeringly on the lips, his hands tight around her waist and when she returned the kiss he groaned inside her mouth and lifted her against him, his erection evident on her body. He eased her out of his arms and with her hand in his he went to her desk. “Tiffany cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day. My wife and I will be leaving until tomorrow.”
“Congratulations both of you,” Tiffany said with a smile in her voice.
“She already knows.” Sophia said with a shake of her head.
“Of course.” Christopher said with a grin as he waited for her to gather her purse and her jacket before they headed out the door.
“I have already canceled all you have to do for today Sophia,” Amelia told them with a smile, looking at her boss’ husband and realizing that it was the first time since she met him that she was not intimidated by him. How could she be when he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“Good job,” he gave her a wide smile.
“Congratulations,” Amelia added.
“Thanks Amelia.” Sophia said softly as she allowed her husband to lead her from the office.
*****
He took her to the cabin where they had spent their honeymoon but first they stopped at the bookstore to give her mother the good news. “Don’t you want us to make certain that I am really pregnant first?” Sophia protested as he drove them there.
He had dism
issed his driver Carlos for the rest of the afternoon and said he would be doing the driving himself. “I am about to take out a full blown ad in the papers,” he told her half teasingly, giving her a tender telling look. He took her hand and rested it on his thigh and kept it there while he drove.
The bookstore was not very busy at that time in the afternoon and he waited until the few customers had left. “We have something to tell you,” he said as Sybil came over to them.
“Obviously,” Sybil said with a smile.
“We are pregnant!” he said without giving his wife a chance to say anything.
“That’s wonderful!” she exchanged a quick glance with her daughter as if to say ‘I told you so’ and gave both of them a quick hug. “And I suppose you are both playing hooky for the day?” she asked shrewdly.
“Of course what else?” Christopher said with a grin. He could not seem to stop smiling and he wanted to burst out in song.
“My husband is prepared to milk this for all its worth,” Sophia said indulgently.
“I don’t blame him.” Sybil said with a laugh. Christopher excused himself and went over to the corner of the store to make a call and arrangements for them to go to the cabin.
“I told you it would happen eventually,” Sybil said giving her daughter a quick squeeze of her hand.
“I know Mom and it’s funny that as soon as I stopped thinking and worrying about it, then it happens.” Sophia said with a small laugh.
“I am happy for you honey.” Sybil told her. “So I am going to be a grandmother again!”
*****
They decided not to go home but called and told Christine they would see her the next day and that grandma Sybil would be coming over to spend the night with her and Lindsey. They were going to tell her the news together but not right now, they wanted to be absolutely sure first.
She had only been at the cabin in winter on their honeymoon, also when she had given birth and Christine was two months old and she had wanted to be alone with him and had spent two days last December where they had taken Christine with them. The air was cold and even though it was spring; the cold weather was still hanging around. They stood outside looking at the swaying trees and listening to the gurgling stream. He had his arms around her waist and she rested her head on his solid chest, not believing that she could be so happy.
“It’s so peaceful here,” she murmured as she gazed over to where birds were twittering in a nearby tree.
“It certainly is serene,” he agreed. “I am thinking about the future when we will be taking our children here for the summer and letting them loose into the woods.” He added gently. “Do you have any idea how happy I am right now?” he put his hand underneath her chin and lifted it to look at her. “You have given me a family and for that there is nothing I would not do for you.”
“And do you have any idea what you did for me?” she asked him, her bottom lip trembling as she blinked back tears. “I had no prospects, was an unmarried pregnant woman who had just been dumped and I thought my life was over and that I was going to have to scrape by to get a living for me and my child.” The tears had started and she allowed them to fall unhindered. “You came into my life and as confused as I was about the fact that a man like you could love someone like me, you never gave up on me. I am humbled to be loved by you Christopher Tang and for the rest of my life I am going to show you how much. You could have had any woman you wanted and yet you chose me and did not care what anyone said, you chose me.”
“My body chose you and my heart followed headlong,” he wiped her cheeks gently with his thumbs. He had never thought about them being unequaled, he only knew that what he felt for her was unlike and unequaled to anything he had ever experienced and he had never thought about her not being his equal, he just knew he loved her and the rest followed. “You are my woman, my heart, my life and now I have planted my seed inside you,” he reached down and placed his hand over her flat stomach wonderingly. “You are my all and I can never love or feel the way I do about another woman. That’s the way it is.”
She looked up at him through the sheen of her tears and to her he was the most wonderful man she had ever had the privilege of knowing.
“I love you,” she whispered faintly putting her arms around his neck. It had gotten a bit colder since they had gotten there and he lifted her shivering body into his arms and carried her inside. He made her sit while he busied about setting the wood to blaze that was already in the fireplace and then he knelt in front of her and took off her heels and went about massaging her feet. He was determined to make her feel special and he spent the entire evening and night showing her how special she was.
*****
“I am going to be a grandmother again Matthew,” Sybil said with a quick laugh as she went into his arms. She had closed the store early and because it was Wednesday she usually closed at four but today she had closed a half an hour earlier because he had told her he was coming over early and she had told him she was going to be babysitting her granddaughter and she wanted to see him before she went.
“I am happy for you,” he told her absently, giving her a peck on the cheek. Sybil was attuned to his moods and looked at him closely. He looked strained and tired, she thought in concern.
“What’s wrong?” she pulled him down beside her on the blanket that she had spread out in anticipation of him getting here.
He sighed and took her hands in his, staring down at her. “I cannot do this to you.”
“Do what to me?” she asked him, her heart quickening in panic. Surely he was not breaking up with her?
“Celia had a particularly bad episode last night and it took me and the nurse half the night to get her to calm down. The doctors say she is getting worse and she really needs to go to a facility where they can take care of her better.” He told her heavily. He had been trying to move away from that, feeling guilty that he was having an affair and his wife was in the throes of an illness that had taken over her mind. He was wondering if he could do it.
“I don’t know what to say to you because anything I say is going to be colored by how I feel about you,” she gripped his big strong hands in hers and railed at a fate that had made her fall in love with a man who was unavailable after she had made up her mind to go through life alone. “I can’t imagine if it had been Colin, I have no idea what I would do.”
“I hate the fact that we have to sneak around and I don’t know if I can ask you to put your life on hold for me Sybil, I don’t know if I will ever be fully available and it’s not fair to you.” He was almost in tears as his shoulders slumped in extreme dejection.
“It’s my life and ever since I have met you I have started living again,” she told him firmly, pulling her hands away from his and framing his handsome face which looked so miserable. “I love you Matthew and I am willing to stick by you no matter what happens.”
He stared at her wordlessly. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered, his big body trembling with emotion.
“Hush,” she moved closer to him and took his lips with hers slowly, touching her tongue to his. With a sigh he closed his hands around her and bore her back against the blanket deepening the kiss, his body covering hers as he submerged his misery and allowed her to take charge.
*****
Marcus swallowed down the amber liquid with a grimace. He was using it to get rid of the pain from the number of kicks he had received in his ribs last night. His time was running out and he did not have the money to pay his debts. They had been smart, not kicking him hard enough to crack his ribs but only so hard as to make breathing a bitch. He had not gone in this morning but had called in sick and Amanda had told him the supposed good news. The boss' wife was pregnant so he had taken off for the day. He had called him in for a meeting so he supposed that was some sort of reprieve. He stared around the ultra modern and spotless bachelor pad he called home and wondered where and when he had reached this part in his life. He had been happy and earning enough at T
ang Holdings to keep him in expensive clothes and maintain his lifestyle until he had started gambling, then it had all gone to hell.
Amanda had told him that he must not worry but he could not help it and he knew the day of reckoning was coming sooner or later and not knowing when was making him extremely jumpy. He heard a sound at the door and looked around wildly wondering if they had found him at his home, he had no doubt they knew where he lived.
“Marcus open the door it’s me,” the voice called out impatiently. He almost sobbed with relief when he recognized the voice as being that of Amanda’s.
He went to open it swiftly wincing as the sudden movement caused his ribs to hurt. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was a little past six o’clock. The girl walked in looking coolly beautiful and in spite of his injury he felt his penis rising.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked him staring at his unkempt appearance.
“I am not feeling well. How was the office?” he poured himself another drink and gingerly went to sit at the edge of the black leather sofa.
“It was like any other day except abuzz with the news that Sophia is pregnant.” She said with an elegant shrug. She came over and sat next to him. “You look like hell, what happened?”
“Thanks,” he said with a grimace downing the drink in one swallow. “I had an accident.”
“What accident?” she asked him.
“Some guys shoes came in contact with my ribs,” he gave her a humorless smile as he sat back carefully on the sofa.
“They beat you up?” Amanda asked in concern.
“It was just a warning. They say next time the damage was going to be more visible.” He shuddered as he remembered one of the men aiming for his genitals but changing his mind at the last minute.
“You have to tell someone Marcus,” Amanda said her tone anxious. She had fallen in love with him and as weak as he was she wanted to protect him.
“Who do I tell?” he asked her sarcastically. “Do I go to the police perhaps? Or do you want me to go to our esteemed boss?”