by Lynn, Sandi
“He had things to do. I’ll see him tomorrow morning at the office.” I smiled.
Grayson
I picked up Julius, and we attended the Rangers game. When we entered the suite, there was a spread of food waiting for us on the table.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” The bartender in our suite spoke. “May I get you anything?”
“Good afternoon, Danny. Two bourbons.”
We filled our plates with food, grabbed our bourbons and took our seats overlooking the arena.
“I like Harper,” Julius said. “She seems like a great woman and I hate what you’re doing to her.”
“Yes. You’ve already expressed your honesty at least a million times already. We are officially a couple now.” I choked out the words.
“What? You asked her to be your girlfriend?”
“I did. I asked her yesterday, and she graciously accepted. She’ll be meeting my grandfather soon and he needs to see that I’m serious about her.”
“And when are you going to tell him she’s pregnant?”
“I’ll tell him after he meets her.”
“Did you tell her we were coming to the game today?”
“No. I tested her. I told her I had things to do, and I patiently waited for her to ask me what I was doing, and she didn’t. She just said okay and not another word about it. To be honest, it impressed me.”
He rolled his eyes at me as he finished his drink.
“She can’t button her jeans anymore. I had to take her home yesterday before we went to the museum so she could get another pair of pants. Soon she’ll start showing and that gorgeous little body of hers will no longer exist.”
“Duh. That’s what happens when women are pregnant.”
“I know that, but I like her body the way it is now. There’s something that’s bothering me.”
“What? What on Earth could possibly bother you?” he asked in a smug tone.
“What if I can’t get hard the further along she gets? I’m not attracted to pregnant women. How do I explain that?”
“You don’t, and then your little plan will come to an end. Have you forgotten who you’re talking to here? Whose family business revolves around helping women get pregnant.”
“She showed me her ultrasound picture the other night.”
“And? What did you say?”
“Not much. I said it was cool and then I quickly changed the subject.”
“How did you feel when you saw the picture of YOUR baby?”
“I felt nothing,” I spoke as I stared straight ahead at the game.
Chapter 30
One Week Later
Harper
I took in a deep breath as Grayson opened the door to his grandfather’s home.
“Don’t be nervous. He’s going to love you.” He smiled as he gently squeezed my hand.
An older woman walked into the foyer with a wide grin on her face.
“Grayson. It’s good to see you.” She pinched his cheek.
“Celia, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Harper Holland. Harper, this is my grandfather’s housekeeper, Celia.”
“It’s such a pleasure to meet you. You’re beautiful.” She gave me a light hug.
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Grayson, I thought I heard voices in here.”
“Grandfather, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Harper Holland. Harper, this is Leon Rhodes, my grandfather.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Rhodes.” I smiled.
“The pleasure is all mine, Harper. Come.” He took hold of my hand and led us into the living room. “Dinner will be ready shortly. Sit down. Can I offer you a glass of wine?”
“No. I’m good thank you.”
Grayson walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink.
“I saw the design you did on the high rise. I must say, Harper, I was impressed.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rhodes.”
Dinner was served and Grayson grabbed hold of my hand and led me into the dining room. The dinner Celia made was excellent as well as the fruit flan for dessert. We had a great conversation and I really liked Grayson’s grandfather.
“It was such a pleasure to meet you, Harper,” he spoke as he lightly kissed my hand. “I’ll be making sure I stop by your office when you’re there.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rhodes. I had a lovely time.” I smiled.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Grayson asked as he took hold of my hand.
That was the first time he’d called me that and it made my heart flutter.
One Week Later
Grayson
It had been a week since my grandfather met Harper and I needed to tell him she was pregnant before he noticed on his own. Just as I pulled my phone out to call him, there was a knock on my office door, and he stepped inside.
“Grandfather, I was just going to call you?” I held up my phone.
“Were you now?” He smiled. “Well, I’m here. I just came in to check up on some things.”
“I wanted to know if you’d have dinner with me tonight at Daniel.”
“Sure. Is Harper joining us?”
“No. I thought it could just be the two of us.”
“Okay. I stopped by her office to say hi and Curtis said she wasn’t in today.”
“She doesn’t work in the office on Thursday.”
“All right. I have some things to do. What time do you want to meet for dinner?”
“Seven o’clock?”
“I’ll see you then.”
I arrived at Daniel promptly at seven o’clock and my grandfather was already sitting at a table waiting for me with a drink in his hand.
“How long have you been here?” I asked as I sat down.
“About five minutes.”
The waiter walked over and took my drink order as we looked at the menu.
“So what prompted this dinner?” my grandfather asked. “I will assume it has something to do with Harper.”
“Actually, it does. You didn’t give me your thoughts about her.”
“I like her, Grayson. I like her a lot. She has a good head on her shoulders, she’s smart and very nice, not to mention she’s beautiful. You did good, son.”
“Thank you, Grandfather. I’m happy you approve of her. But there’s something I haven’t told you yet.”
“What?”
“She’s pregnant.”
“Is the baby yours?”
“No. Before I met her, she was already pregnant. The father isn’t in the picture at all.”
“I see. And you knew this when you met her?”
“Not at first. She told me during the interview and when I offered her the job.”
“And yet you still pursued her?”
“I did. How could I not?” I smiled.
“You really love this girl, don’t you?”
“I do. For the first time in my life, I finally understand what love is.”
Damn. I was good.
“I can tell she feels the same way about you. I was watching her at dinner and every time you spoke her eyes lit up. I’m proud of you, Grayson. I knew one day you’d meet someone who would steal your heart. I just can’t help but wonder about the timing though. It wasn’t too long after I gave you that ultimatum you met her.”
Shit.
“She isn’t some random girl I just picked up. I told you how we met. She was in front of me in line at Starbucks and we got to talking about the cranberry muffins. The more we talked, I found out she was looking for a job and I had her come in for an interview. I had no intentions of pursuing anything with her at that point. But the more time I spent with her and got to know her, the more my desire to be with her grew.”
“Like I said. You did good, and I’m proud of you for wanting to take on the responsibility of her pregnancy.”
I gave him a smile as I finished my drink.
Chapter 31
Four Weeks Later
Harper
&
nbsp; The past couple of months had been the happiest months of my life. Between being pregnant and having Grayson by my side, my life was perfect. I was now sixteen weeks pregnant and in my second trimester. The tiredness I’d felt in my first trimester was gone and I had a lot more energy. Not to mention I was always horny as hell.
“I need to go shopping this Saturday for some new clothes. Would you like to come with me?” I asked Grayson as I softly stroked his arm while he worked on his laptop.
“Why don’t you ask Charlotte and Laurel. I’m sure they’d love to go with you.”
“Oh. Okay. I thought we were going to spend the weekend together,” I said.
“We will. We’ll see each other when you come back from shopping and then we have the whole day Sunday. We can do whatever you want.” He glanced over at me.
“Sure. I’ll text them right now and ask. And don’t forget I have my ultrasound on Monday morning. I told you about it a couple weeks ago.”
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can’t go with you on Monday.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have that big meeting with the contractors for the high rise.”
“I thought it was tomorrow.”
“It originally was, but I had to reschedule because my grandfather wants to be there, and he isn’t coming back until Sunday. I’m sorry. I totally forgot.”
“It’s okay. I understand,” I spoke with disappointment. “I’m going downstairs to grab a bottle of water. Do you want anything?”
“I can get it for you.” His lips pressed against the side of my head.
“I’ll go. You stay here and work.”
I climbed out of bed and went down to the kitchen. I wouldn’t lie and say that I was fine with him not going with me to the ultrasound. I wasn’t. I was hurt and disappointed. He knew how important this ultrasound was and I’d be finding out the sex of the baby. Of course, I wanted my best friends there, but I wanted the man I loved to share in the joy with me. I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and took it over to the piano. Placing my hands on the keys I began to softly play Brahms Lullaby. It wasn’t too long before Grayson came down and leaned against the piano.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing for the baby,” I spoke without even looking at him. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
“Okay.” He kissed the top of my head and went upstairs.
He still hadn’t said those three little words every woman longed to hear from the man she loved: I love you. I’d been waiting for him to say it first. Doubt crept in my mind about how he truly felt for me. He didn’t want to go shopping; he couldn’t go to my ultrasound, and he never told me he loved me. Shit. Maybe I was just overreacting and being a hormonal pregnant woman. I stopped playing, went upstairs and climbed into his bed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I’m just tired.”
“Let’s go to sleep.” He smiled as he ran the back of his hand down my cheek.
Leaning over, I gave him a passionate kiss and then laid my head on his chest as his arm wrapped tightly around me.
“I love you, Grayson.”
“Me too, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of my head. “Goodnight.”
It felt like my heart had stopped. What the fuck was that? He couldn’t even say the words to me. Tears sprung to my eyes as I slowly closed them.
The next morning, I climbed out of bed before his alarm went off, grabbed my clothes, and went home. I wanted to be alone and away from him for a while. It wasn’t too long after that I received a text message from him.
“I’m assuming you went home since I couldn’t find you anywhere in the house. What’s going on?”
“I wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“What’s wrong? How aren’t you feeling well?”
“I just feel a little nauseous and I have a really bad headache. I hope I’m not coming down with the flu or something.”
“You could have stayed here in bed all day. You didn’t have to leave.”
“I just wanted my own bed.”
“Do you need me to bring you anything before I head to the office?”
“No. I’m good. I’m going to lay down. Have a good day at work.”
“Okay. I want you to rest all day today. I’ll check in with you later.”
I stayed in my pajamas all day just because I felt like it. I didn’t want to go out and I didn’t want to do anything but binge watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix. It was around one p.m. when my phone rang, and Grayson was calling.
“Hello?”
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Not too good.” I lied. “Still battling this nausea and headache.”
“Do you think you should call the doctor?”
“No. This is the same thing Charlotte had last week. I’m sure I got it from her. I’ll be fine. I’m just lying on the couch watching TV.”
“I’ll come over after I leave the office and bring you some soup.”
“That’s sweet of you, Grayson, but I don’t want you to catch this bug.”
“I was already exposed, Harper.”
“Actually, when I’m sick I just like to be alone. I’m weird like that.”
“Oh. Okay. Promise me you’ll call me if you need anything.”
“I will. I love you,” I softly spoke in anticipation of his response.
“Me too. Talk to you later.”
Chapter 32
Grayson
I met Julius for lunch at the Gray Goose in Soho. I didn’t like the way Harper just left this morning without even telling me she was leaving. I didn’t like her being alone when she wasn’t feeling well, and her not wanting me to come over tonight bothered me.
“I think something is going on with Harper,” I spoke to Julius as I picked up my drink.
“What do you mean?”
“I think she’s pissed at me.”
Julius let out a chuckle. “Why? What did you do?”
“Nothing. I did nothing. Everything was fine up until last night when we were lying in bed and she asked me to go clothes shopping with her on Saturday. I told her to ask Charlotte and Laurel because I thought that would be a great girl’s day out. Then she reminded me of her ultrasound appointment on Monday, which I told her I can’t go.”
“And why can’t you go?” His brow raised.
“For one, I don’t want to go, and second, I have a contractor’s meeting for the high rise.”
“A meeting you purposely scheduled so you had an excuse as to why you couldn’t go with her.” He pursed his lips.
“Perhaps.” I sipped my drink. “She told me last night for the first time that she loved me.”
“Oh boy. I was waiting for that. And you said?”
“Me too. When I got up this morning she was gone. She said she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home. I just spoke to her right before I got here and offered to bring her some soup tonight and she said she likes to be left alone when she’s sick.”
“Uh-oh. You’re in trouble, bro.” He pointed at me. “If you’re going to continue with your plan, you better hurry up and make things right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s pissed off at you. Not only did you turn her down when she asked you to go shopping, you can’t go to the ultrasound, and you didn’t tell her you loved her back. When women start thinking about shit, watch out.”
“I told her. I said, ‘Me too’. What’s wrong with that?”
He sighed as he rolled his eyes at me.
“Are you kidding me? ‘me too’ doesn’t mean shit. It’s not the same thing. It’s like you’re agreeing with her that you love yourself.”
“See.” I pointed at him. “This is the shit I don’t need in my life.”
“Well, you’re stuck now until you get your company. I would advise you to take control of the situation ASAP. It’
s supposed to be a gorgeous day on Sunday. Surprise her with a picnic lunch in Central Park. Get those little finger sandwiches, a couple of different salads, some different cheeses and crackers and dessert. I’d say a bottle of wine, but she can’t drink, so water will do. But make it the sparkling kind.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“No. I’m not. Trust me. I’ve done it with Yasmin. Works like a charm. You pull off a romantic afternoon picnic, all will be forgiven and forgotten.”
I sighed as I finished my drink and asked the waitress for another one.
When I returned to the office, I asked Christine to step inside.
“Have a seat.” I gestured. “I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“Of course. What do you need?” she asked.
“I need you to go to the store. I don’t care where you go, but I need a large picnic basket and a blanket.”
“Okay. May I ask why?”
“I’m taking Harper on a picnic Sunday. Also, where can I get little finger sandwiches and picnic type of food?”
“There’s this cute little French bakery in Greenwich village that does stuff like that. I can go there today and place an order. I think they deliver.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Christine. Thank you. I’ll have Damon pick you up and take you.”
A couple of hours later, Christine walked into my office.
“The basket and blanket are with Damon. I got them both at Pottery Barn. As for the lunch, I placed an order with the bakery, and they will deliver it to your home on Sunday at eleven a.m.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Christine. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled.
I looked at my watch and it was six o’clock. Picking up my phone from my desk, I gave Harper a call with the hopes she’d changed her mind about me coming over.
“Hello.”
“Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling? Any better?”
“A little bit.”
“Enough for me to bring you some dinner?”