by Hicks, I. M.
“Jesus, I would pay big money to have his facial expression on tape, and you nailed it” he said laughing.
“Not even a hello, can you believe that?”
“Ugh who cares about him, let’s go shopping” he replied wrapping his arm around me.
By the time I got home it was after 5, I took my bags upstairs, got changed and then went back downstairs to greet Rob. Much to my surprise he had the table set for two, with flowers, candlelight and a very expensive bottle of wine. He was in the kitchen slaving away with a pot roast. “You need some help?”
“No, almost done here. Just have to finish the salad and we can eat” he said kissing me on the cheek.
“What’s the occasion?”
“You always make dinner for me, so I figured I’d do it for you at least once” he replied smiling.
I raised my eyebrows and smiled “Ok”
“And I have some news for you” he began “Please have a seat and let me pour you some wine”
“Uh oh”
He cut right to the chase “Well when we made the deal with London, there was an idea thrown around about moving our offices there in whole or at least part” he began “the investors feel that in order to create trust with our partners overseas, we should be there and that includes me, since I am after all the CEO” he said exhaling.
“Come again? Are you saying you’re moving to London?” I asked a little shocked.
“No I’m saying we will be moving to London”
“What about my company?” I asked.
“Well I’ve had some time to think about this and there’s no reason why you can’t run both offices”
“Both offices?”
“Toronto, and London. Why not establish Alexam Limited in London, start that high end line you always wanted, and leave the mass production stuff in Toronto”
“That’s nice in theory but who do I trust to run the Toronto office, what about Neiman Marcus, they are going to freak if I’m not here”
“You can travel, twice, three times a year whatever you need to do, we can keep the house here so you can have a place to stay”
“How long have you known about this?”
“For a while”
“How long Rob?”
“Since I made the deal” he said clearing his throat.
“Let me guess, you’ve already purchased a home over there”
He didn’t say anything.
“When?”
“In a month or so”
“Jesus Christ Rob” I said getting up and walking away.
“Alexandra I see this as I great opportunity for you and me, I wouldn’t have done it if I’d thought it would harm you in any way” he said walking after me.
“I wish you would have asked me first” I began “Alexam is my life Rob, how could you do this without even consulting me first”
“Alexandra I’m sorry, but when I came back from London you were different, distant even, then the situation at the party, I couldn’t find a good time to tell you” he said holding my arms.
“I have to think about it, we may have to do this differently than what you’ve imagined”
“I love you Alexandra” he told me and kissed me.
“I love you too”
After dinner, Rob had to do some work for a meeting he had the next day and I went upstairs to catch up on my reading. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, all I could think about was the future of my company with our move to London. Who would run the office while I was gone, put out the fires, and revise the samples? Sure I could travel back and forth, but that would get tiring after a while. I loved Toronto, with all my heart, my life was here and London was wonderful too but it would never be home. I would miss Victor terribly as well, and he would be angry with me when he finds out. Running into Marc today was also a bit of shocker and the worst part was that I didn’t hate him, I still felt the attraction when I was standing next to him. Maybe going to London was a good idea. Marc was a shock to my system, I was still not over him, and I don’t think I would ever be and running into him today made me realize Toronto wasn’t big enough for the both of us.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As mid-week rolled in, I was anxious. The buzz had already started around the office about me moving to London and overseeing both offices. Now the question that remained on everyone’s mind was who would be looking after operations while I wasn’t here.
The announcement was to be made public a week after our return from Cairo and we were leaving London bound sometime in September. Rob and I decided to make the announcements public the same day. Like me, his Toronto office would remain as the head office and the London office would become a partner office.
I woke up this morning feeling sick to my stomach. The night before we had ordered Chinese food from our favorite take out place and I was grossed out by the Kung Pao chicken. I forced myself to eat it anyway because I was hungry. Rob had some as well but he was feeling fine.
I had a meeting at 10am with the junior and senior designers. The meeting was to go over the progress for the fall/winter collections for Neiman Marcus but my hidden agenda was to get a feel as to whom would be good enough to fill my position. I also invited Jerry. He had been my assistant for only two years but I was extremely impressed by his eagerness to learn and his attention to detail.
Because I was feeling under the weather, I didn’t get to the office till ten, I put my stuff down, grabbed my notes and ran to the board room, which made me feel even worse.
When I got there, the five senior designers, the juniors and Jerry were already there sitting and waiting.
“So sorry everyone, I’m a little under the weather this morning”
“You look pale” said Jerry.
“Yes, I think I may have food poisoning”
“Ok so Fall/Winter 2015, we’ll start with leisure wear, Tammy?”
Tammy took over the presentation. She started speaking and showing the group the slides on the big screen of her progress so far.
I felt a sudden urge to sit and I was feeling dizzy. I tried looking at the screen but I just felt worse when I did that. All of a sudden I felt my food come up. “Excuse me” I said and ran to the bathroom. Jerry ran after me and came into the ladies bathroom with me and held my hair as I vomited in the toilet. It was explosive and I couldn’t stop. Jerry kept flushing the toilet for me. When I was finished I was out of breath, but I was feeling better “You ok?” he asked.
“Yeah I think so” I said getting up, I was still dizzy so he walked me to the sink where I washed up. “Seriously Alex, are you ok?” he asked concerned “Yeah I’m fine now, but my jacket is fucking ruined” I said unbuttoning my Chanel jacket, taking it off and throwing it off to the side “I will take it to the dry cleaners don’t you worry” he replied taking the jacket with the tip of his fingers.
“Thank you Jerry, that must have been oh so gross for you”
“No worries darling, I got used to it when my mother was sick with cancer and had side effects after each chemo treatment”
“You never told me that”
“Well she died about three years ago”
“I’m so sorry, I lost my mother to cancer as well, five years ago”
He gave me a warm smile “Seriously darling, are you feeling ok now?”
“Yeah, but just in case let’s cancel this meeting and move it to the afternoon, unless of course I have something else going on”
“No that shouldn’t be a problem. Go have a rest in your office and I will get you some ginger ale” he began “I’ll let everyone know and I’ll have the janitor come and clean this up” he said leaving the bathroom.
“Jerry” I began “Yes” he replied “Thank you, I won’t forget this” I replied.
I rested on my couch in my office and fell asleep. I woke up after lunch time from a page from Jerry. “Yes”
“Mr. Mason is here to see you Mrs. Mason” said Jerry over the intercom “Oh let him in”
> Rob came in my office and he knew there was something wrong with me right away “Alexandra, are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m fine now, I think that chicken was bad last night, I vomited rather violently this morning, then I feel asleep” I said yawning.
“Why didn’t you go home?”
“Uh because I’m in the hiring process right now and being sick is not an option, I need to make a decision this week”
“I came here to take you out for lunch”
“Yeah I could use something to eat, my next meeting is not till 2:30, so where are you taking me?” I asked “Anywhere you want, what do you feel like?” he asked “You know what, I feel like some meat, perhaps a burger and fries” I said. He looked at me puzzled “You don’t eat burgers”
“I know, but I feel like one” I said grabbing my purse.
“Where’s you suit jacket?”
“It’s soiled, Jerry is taking care of it” and we left.
I ended up working late, with everything going on I was feeling the pressure and I wished there was a way to cancel the Cairo trip but Rob was having none of it. As far as he was concerned we needed this time together to work on us and after we moved to London, who knew when we could take a vacation next.
By the time I got home it was 7:30 and Rob was sitting in the kitchen waiting for me, dressed and ready to go out to dinner.
“How was the rest of you day?” he asked.
“Long, I’m sorry I forgot about the reservations” I said yawning.
“That’s ok I moved them for later, but you look exhausted”
“Yeah I feel it too” I began “Rob, I’m not really hungry right now, all I wanna do is sleep, would that be ok?”
He sighed “I had to pull a lot of strings to get these reservations moved Alexandra” he said crossed.
“Alright, let me go wash up and we’ll go”
A few minutes later we were out the door in his Maserati. He kept talking to me about some deal that Bill had made that went sour and he ended up losing some money but my eyes kept closing on me and I could not stay awake. All of a sudden the car stopped and it woke me, we were at home again. I looked at him and he was already out of the car. He opened my door and helped me get out “I’m not taking you to a 5 star restaurant sleeping” he said pushing me by the small of my back to the house. I knew he was mad but I had no energy to stand my ground so I went upstairs to bed again.
The next morning, I was feeling better and rested. Rob was getting ready to leave. “I’m sorry about last night baby” I said wrapping my arms around his stomach. “That’s alright, as long as you’re feeling better”
“What did you have for dinner?” I asked him
“Left over Chinese”
The thought of that made me feel sick again.
“Anyway Alexandra I have to leave right now, I have a meeting at 9am, I will see you later” he said and kissed my forehead.
“Ok I love you” I managed to say but he was already on his way downstairs and I was about to vomit again.
I ran to the bathroom when I heard him leave and stood by the toilet as I felt the regurgitation come on and all of a sudden I vomited again just as violently as I did yesterday.
When it was all and over and I was feeling better, I jumped in the shower and started thinking about food poisoning. In the past the vomiting came with stomach pain and diarrhea but this was just vomiting, so I made a mental not to call Doctor James when I got to work.
I was in the midst of putting my make up on and smudged one of my eyes while putting on mascara. I opened the vanity mirror to look for the makeup remover and saw the unopened package of tampons. It had been weeks since I’d gotten my period last but I wasn’t sure when I was due next. So I grabbed my cell phone and looked at my calendar and low and behold I was 5 days late.
No, that’s impossible, I thought. The gynecologist that Rob took me too told me it was impossible for me to conceive, I had no eggs to fertilize, although I always thought it was strange because I still got my period on a regular basis.
I called Jerry to tell him I would be late this morning. So I got dressed and went to the drug store, bought two types of pregnancy tests, one for early detection and the other was just the regular kind.
I opened both packages and tested myself on both units. I left them in the bathroom sink and went downstairs to get something to eat as I felt extremely hungry. Grabbed some cereal, that didn’t fill me, so I grabbed an apple and then I had a bagel with Nutella.
About half an hour had passed and since I was too busy eating I had forgotten all about the tests, so I ran upstairs to check on them. The first test had two solid pink double lines and the other a solid plus sign, I looked at the boxes for the instructions and I began to hyperventilate. My first instinct was to call Victor.
My hands were shaking as I dialed his extension number.
“Victor speaking”
“Vic”
“Baby girl, is that you?”
“Yeah” I said
“What’s the matter, you’re breathing funny, are you ok?’
“No” I started crying
“Alex? Talk to me”
“Victor I’m not sure how this is possible, but I’m pregnant”
“How far along?”
“I have no idea, how do you tell?”
“Hold on a sec, let me do a Google search”
“Ok when was the first day of your last period”
“July 8th I think?” I looked at my calendar “Yeah that makes sense”
“Ok if you are, then you’re 3 weeks along, and you would have conceived sometime between July 18 to the 26th”
My heart sank and I couldn’t speak. Tears rolled down my face uncontrollably.
“Baby girl are you there?”
“What are my going to do Victor? I slept with both of them around that time”
“Where are you right now?”
“I’m at home, I was sick this morning and I was planning to get there at lunch time”
“Get Phillip to pick me up on your way in and we’ll go have something to eat and we can talk, ok?”
“Ok, I’ll see you later and thank you”
Lunch time couldn’t come soon enough. I was on the phone all morning with Jerry and the sample makers just to keep myself busy and my mind off the fact that I was pregnant and I had no idea whom the father was. The whole thing felt like a Jerry Springer episode.
Victor hugged me tightly when he got in the car. I rested my head on his chest while he put his arm around me as we drove to our favorite place.
“We’ll figure this out Alex” he whispered.
“So let me get this straight, you didn’t use protection while you were with Marc?” he said taking a bite of his veggie burger.
“No, as far as I know it’s impossible for me to have children, and I haven’t been on the pill since I was 30”
“Your saving grace darling is that you slept with both of them, Rob will assume it’s his, how would he know?”
“Rob has blue eyes, Marc has brown eyes, Rob has black hair and Marc is blond. He’s gonna know if the baby is born with brown eyes and blond hair Vic”
“Unless the baby looks like you with black hair and green eyes” he pointed out.
“We’re speculating what the baby will look like Vic, but the real problem is who’s the actual dad. Do I tell Marc this has happened? Or do I just let it go and hope to hell it’s Rob’s”
“Baby girl, even if it was Marc’s baby, you cannot contact him, I know in your mind, this is a way to get him back and I know you didn’t plan it but you’re still hung up on him. But he’s moved on with his wife and his other three kids that he can barely afford. If you tell him, two things can happen, he won’t care or he will and if that’s the case Rob will find out and then what?”
“Rob will leave me”
Victor sighed “Let nature takes its course, don’t tell Rob now, surprise him next week while you’re away and he’l
l be over the moon”
“I love you Victor, I wish you were straight, I would have married you instead”
Victor laughed “You couldn’t handle me baby girl”
“So what’s going on with Carlos?”
“OMG, I’m in love Alex, that’s all I can say, amazing, amazing”
“Wow, do I hear wedding bells?”
“If I play my cards right, perhaps, hopefully, who knows, we are thinking of moving in together though”
“Shut up!”
“Yeah, when you sprung this little London move on me, I was really bummed and I still am. But he came over that night and told me he wanted to wake up next to me in the mornings and go to bed together, grocery shopping and what not, so he was thinking we could sell our places and just buy a bigger condo, closer downtown”
“That’s amazing Vic! I’m so happy for you” I said “And congratulations to you my dear Alex? You’re having a baby and I better be the god father” he said raising his glass to me.
“I’m so scared Vic, a baby, moving, two offices, it’s so much”
“You’ll make it work darling, I believe in you”
When I got back to the office, instead of calling my family doctor I called Doctor Daren, the gynecologist friend of Rob’s. He agreed to see me later in the afternoon.
I was his last client of the day. I filled a questionnaire since I hadn’t been there for over three years and when I was done he called me.
“Good afternoon Mrs. Mason?” he said shaking my hand.
“Hi, thank you for seeing me last minute”
“Anything for Mr. Mason and his wife”
“Ok, I took some pregnancy tests this morning and they are positive, which is strange to me since you told me I have no eggs, so we had lost all hope by this point”
“Well Alexandra, hormones can change that, and chances are that what’s happened, let’s do a blood test to confirm it all before we start jumping to conclusions” he said getting the syringe ready.
“How soon would I know?”
He sighed “Oh, early next week” he said inserting the needle in my arm.
“Ouch…is there any possible way you can text me or call me on my cell, we’ll be in Cairo next week on vacation, and I would love to be the one to tell him we’re having a baby”