The Billionaire's Twin Fever (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 1)

by Susan Westwood

  “Oh my god! Half a million? That guy is paying you half a million to give him kids?” Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. “Maybe I’d better look into having kids for other people. Shoot. One year of work and I’d be set for five years or more. If I was careful. If I had one kid every year for a few years, my body would be shot but I’d have millions of dollars and I could buy a new body.” She shook her head.

  Jamaica leaned in closer to her. “I don’t think they all pay that much. I think he’s just a wealthy guy who wants a family pretty badly, so he’s throwing a lot of money at it to make it happen.”

  Penny’s excitement dimmed some. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I should have known that would be a rare bird, finding a deal like that. If that was a common occurrence, then a whole lot more people would be doing it, I know that.”

  “That’s true,” Jamaica answered and Penny looked at her and sighed in wonder.

  “Wow… so you’re going to go get pregnant with more than one kid this week, and in nine months, you have the kids, and get paid for it?” Penny asked as she finished her drink off.

  “That’s about the size of it. Yes,” Jamaica answered quietly.

  “You scared?” Penny asked, waving at the bartender for another drink.

  “Yes, I am. I’m a little excited too, though. It’ll be a good trial run for me to find out what it’s like to be pregnant and then when I have my own family, I’ll already know.” She sighed and frowned. “If I have my own family. I have to work that out with Andre.” She wasn’t sure if it could be worked out with him, but she wasn’t going to think about it right at that moment.

  A dark look crossed Penny’s face and she kept silent as the bartender handed her another drink. The dark look passed after a moment and she gave Jamaica a little smile. “You know, the real tragedy here is that I’m going to lose my amazing wing woman.” She pouted a little and then gave Jamaica a conspiratorial look.

  “We could work that out though… You can keep coming out with me and just drink virgin drinks all the way up to when you start showing, and hopefully by then I’ll have found someone worth having around for a while!” She looked as if she was sure that that plan would work best.

  Jamaica just laughed at her. “Okay, okay. I’ll at least give you that. I want to see you settled in happily with someone good, so I’m willing to make that kind of a sacrifice for you, plus it’s fun to hang out with you like this. Even if I’m drinking virgin drinks.”

  There had still been no word from Andre by the next afternoon when Jamaica had gotten off work. She had waited for him to contact her, to talk to her, to ask about coming over, to make some kind of move toward her after he had left her on her porch the way that he had.

  She went home and ate a little, and though she had put it off as long as she could stand it, she finally decided to call him. His line rang for a while before he answered it.

  “Hey,” he said quietly. She felt her heart skip a beat, and she wondered if he was still angry with her.

  “Hi,” she replied in a soft voice. “I was wondering how you’re doing. I haven’t heard from you.” She didn’t say it with an accusatory voice, but instead it was more like a disappointment.

  “I haven’t had anything to say. You dumped quite a problem in my lap and decided that you were going to do it. The only reason I’m allowing it is because of the money.” His voice had a sharp edge to it.

  She bit her tongue, rather that snapping back at him that she didn’t need to be allowed to do it, that she was an adult and her own person and was quite capable of making her own decisions about her life. She swallowed that retort and reminded herself of why she was calling him to begin with.

  Besides missing him, she had begun to feel apprehension growing in her at a rapidly increasing rate and she felt as if she needed to ask what she knew would be an enormous favor. “Andre… I know you’re feeling a little unhappy about this, but I wanted to talk with you about something.”

  “What is it?” he asked shortly.

  “Well, I go in for the procedure tomorrow. I took the day off work. I’m all ready for it, but I’m really starting to feel nervous. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen tomorrow. I wondered if you would go with me. You know, be there with me and hold my hand. I need someone to support me in this and help keep me calm. Will you come with me please?” she asked hopefully, her heart skipping in her chest quickly.

  He gasped. “You must be joking. Have you lost your mind? You want me to go with you and hold your hand while some doctor sticks some other man’s kid in you? What in the hell are you thinking? How could you even ask me that?”

  His voice grew louder and harsher. “I can’t even believe you brought this up and called me to ask me this. My god! I don’t even want to be around you while you’re carrying his kids, and you’re asking me to be there when they get shoved up in you? You must be crazy, woman. How could you even ask me that? You listen to me. This is your deal. This is your insane problem. If you’re scared, that’s your own damn fault and that’s got nothing to do with me. You leave me the hell out of this. I want no part of it. You want to do this ridiculous thing, you go do it on your own. You don’t ask me to be a part of it. I’m not getting involved. I want nothing to do with it. You’re on your own for that. You’re scared? Good. You should be. You should be terrified as hell, because you’re doing the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. No… you go in on your own and do it, if this is what you want to do. You suffer through it. You want some other guy’s kid in you, you do that by yourself. Don’t call me up and ask me to be there and support you while you’re having his kid put in your body. I can’t even believe you called me and asked me this. That is just insane.”

  She was going to say something, but she couldn’t find her voice. Tears blinded her eyes and she tried in vain to swallow the massive lump in her throat. Her fingers were locked tight around the phone and she closed her eyes as the teardrops spilled over her thick lashes and rolled down her cheeks.

  “Nah, you go do that on your own, and you leave me the hell out of it. I have to go. Bye.” He hung up. There was silence in her ear and she set the phone down and covered her face with her hands, weeping as she let the full effect of her emotions wash over her.

  ***

  She was quiet as she readied herself for the procedure the next morning. She drove herself to the clinic and said only what she had to when she spoke to the receptionist. She waited in silence in the reception room and when she was called back to the examination room where the procedure would take place, she felt as if she was moving through some kind of dream.

  Jamaica was dressed in a gown and laid back on the table. The light in the room was a cool blue fluorescent that seemed to crackle and hum a little. There was classical music playing over a speaker at a barely audible level. The nurses and doctor were polite and friendly, but not overly so.

  Jamaica began to tremble as two big fat tears slipped from the corners of her eyes as she laid there, and rolled down the sides of her head into her hair. She closed her eyes and told herself over and over again that it would all be all right, that it would work out, and that she had chosen to do it, that she wanted to do it, and that she wasn’t going to regret it at all. Not ever.

  She tried to think of things that she loved during the procedure. Summers she had spent with family and friends in wonderful places, holidays that had been filled with cheer and laughter. Funny stories that came up now and again when she got together with old friends.

  She focused on all those kinds of things, and everything from how much she loved chocolate cake to what it sounded and felt like to be in a huge cathedral when the choir was singing and their voices echoed off of the old stone walls and felt as if they were moving right through her.

  She was so focused on her positive train of thoughts that she was startled when the nurse took her hand and gave it a squeeze. The warm skin of the nurse’s hand felt like the most precious comfort in the
world to her.

  “It’s all done. You’re all set now!” The nurse smiled at her.

  She blinked and sat up. She looked around the room and looked down at her belly, which looked exactly the same as it had that morning. She wondered if there was a baby taking form inside her, or a few of them.

  “Did it work?” she asked sitting up and looking from the nurse to the doctor.

  He smiled and gave her a nod. “We’re going to do a blood test in two weeks to make sure that this took, and that the pregnancy is definitely a go, but I feel confident that it worked, and that we will have a positive test when you come back in for blood work in a couple of weeks.”

  She felt a surge of relief and something akin to excitement flood through her. “Do I need to contact Cara Landers or Henry Ellison to let them know about this procedure today and the outcome or is that something that you do?”

  He shrugged. “If you’re in contact with them you may, but we will be calling them to let them know about the results either way. It’s part of what we do.”

  Jamaica nodded. “Okay. I’ll let you do that then. I’ll make an appointment and see you in two weeks. Thank you so much!”

  She went home and spent the afternoon taking it easy and resting as the nurse had instructed her to do. Partway through the afternoon, her phone rang and she was surprised to see that it was Andre.

  “Hello?” she asked, wondering nervously how the conversation would go and why it was that he was calling her.

  “Well, did you go?” he asked with a gruff curiosity.

  “Yes, I did,” she answered in a quiet voice.

  “So are you pregnant?” It sounded important to him that he find out right away.

  She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to relax and not feel the stress that was edging around her. “I won’t know for two weeks. I go in for a blood test then, and I’ll find out.”

  He was quiet for a long moment, and she said nothing as she waited for his response. “Well, I’m not happy about how you’re doing this, but I understand that the money is good. I just want to be sure that there won’t be any interaction after the kid is born. I don’t want babies around. I just want you to myself. No kids. So you said you aren’t going to have anything to do with them, right?”

  A small bubble of frustration formed in her. “Yes. I did say that. I’m not going to be involved in anything after they are born. They take the babies and I take the money and that’s it. There’s no point where I’m involved with them afterward. It will be just the two of us again.”

  “Good,” he said briefly. “I’m going to go.” He told her goodbye and hung up.

  She ended the call and set her phone down on the table with a shake of her head. She hadn’t wondered at any point if it was the wrong thing to do, or if she shouldn’t. It had felt right to her, even though it was surprising, it had felt like something that she wanted to do from the first phone call.

  She let the doubt and worry go and she focused with positive thought on what she hoped would happen, on the possible pregnancy she had, and what the next nine months would be like.

  She promised herself that it was going to be good.

  ***

  Two weeks passed, and Jamaica went to the doctor’s office and took the blood test. It was positive. She was going to carry and give birth to at least one baby, with high hopes that it would be more than one. She felt like everything in her life was changing.

  Chapter6

  Jamaica sat at her desk going over her art lesson plan for the next day’s class. Without even thinking about it, she reached her hand down to her very round belly and rubbed it gently, feeling the two babies in it, who were both kicking her simultaneously in different places.

  The door to her classroom opened and she looked up to see Penny walking through it with a small pastel envelope in her hands and a wide smile on her face.

  “Hey girl!” she greeted Jamaica with a happy lilt to her voice, coming to her friend and hugging her neck as she dropped a light kiss on her cheek.

  “Hi!” Jamaica said with a smile.

  Penny let her go and stood there near her, gazing at her for a moment. “You look so beautiful! You’re glowing! I just can’t get over how well pregnancy agrees with you.”

  Jamaica laughed lightly and rubbed her hand over her massively swollen belly again. “I like it, actually much more than I thought I would.”

  Leaning her backside against the edge of the desk, Penny held the pastel envelope in her hands and her expression softened considerably.

  “So, I know there’s no baby shower or anything, and I know you’re not keeping the babies, but I really feel like you deserve something good. You’re eight months into this pregnancy deal and I just feel like you haven’t been spoiled enough. I thought that you should have a little gift, just because this is a special time in your life and I thought that you deserved something… extra special.” She trailed off a little bit and shrugged as she handed the envelope in her hand to Jamaica.

  Looking at her in wonder and surprise, Jamaica took the envelope and smiled with nothing more than a shake of her head. “What did you do?” she asked quietly as she opened it.

  “It’s a full day at a spa. You need it. Self-indulgence is good sometimes,” Penny answered her as she pulled a gift certificate out of the envelope.

  “Oh my gosh… Penny, you didn’t have to do this!” she gasped, looking at it with wide eyes. She knew Penny didn’t make too much money, and she was grateful that her friend had been so thoughtful toward her. “You really didn’t have to. Thank you so much. I know I’m going to love this.”

  “I know you’ll love it too.” Penny smiled at her. “I just… I wanted to get you something. I know no one has gotten you anything, and you’re going through a big thing right now… very big,” she teased, glancing at the nearly full term baby bump on Jamaica’s lap. “And I just thought I’d do something for you.”

  “This means a lot to me. Thank you, Penny. I love you,” Jamaica told her happily, reaching to hug her again. She was letting go when her shoulders began to shake and tremble and Penny looked at her worriedly.

  “You’re crying? Why are you crying? What’s wrong? Is it the spa gift?” Penny asked with an edge of panic in her voice.

  Jamaica shook her head. “No… it’s something… difficult,” she tried to answer as her heart felt like it might break in half. She closed her eyes and did all that she could to hold in the tears that flooded them. They squeezed through her lashes anyway and rolled down her cheeks.

  Penny seemed helpless for what to do to fix the emotional breakdown that Jamaica was going through. Jamaica dropped her hands from her face and just let herself cry.

  “Talk to me sister; what’s going on?” Penny did her best to comfort her friend, kneeling down and looking up at her as she held her hands.

  Taking a deep breath, Jamaica tried to calm herself. “I guess… well no… I know for a fact that I’ve grown too close to the babies. I love them. I can’t help it. I know they’re half mine. I didn’t think it would happen. I just thought that I would get pregnant and I’d feel two little babies moving around in me and then I’d give birth and give them to Mr. Ellison, and that would be it. I thought that I wouldn’t have any attachment to them, especially since I would be giving them to him right away. I didn’t know that I could become attached to them while they were still inside of me, but it’s happened, and at first I was in denial about it. I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t feeling anything for them, but every time they moved and turned, every poke, every hiccup… every time I went to a doctor appointment and saw them on the monitor, their little hearts beating, and watching them as they moved and grew and have slowly become these little people… My own little people that I made with my own body… it’s just changed. I’m so attached to them! I love them. I don’t know how I’m ever going to walk away from them now. I’ll be honest with you, I really don’t think that I can do it.”

  Penny groane
d and shook her head slowly. “Oh no… Oh no. I’m so sorry honey.”

  “I can feel everything that they’re doing, when they move independently of each other, I know when they are sleeping, when they’re awake… and I’ve even started calling them by names that I thought up in a dream one night. I call the boy Casey and the girl Beth. I know I shouldn’t do that, I know it’s not helping me to keep detached from them at all, but I just can’t help it. I talk to them all the time. I tell them what a wonderful life they’re going to have and that there will be a loving father for them, but then I have to stop myself instead of telling them that there is no mom for them. I don’t think he has anyone around like that. I mean, I know that Ms. Landers said that they have it all worked out, but from what I know, there is no mom. These babies of mine are going to a home where they’re only going to have one parent. I can’t stand that!” Jamaica began to sniffle again and look as if she might start crying again.

  “Jami, you can’t think about that. You can’t get close to them like that. You know that. You have to maintain a distance from them, at least as much as you can while you’re carrying them. You’re going to break your own heart! What are you doing?” she asked in a kind and quiet voice.

  Jamaica shook her head. “I don’t know. I tried not to, believe me, I really did, but there’s just no getting around it. It’s too late. I love them. I don’t know how I’m ever going to let them go. I have no idea what I’m going to tell Andre.”

  Penny frowned. “Wasn’t the deal that you weren’t going to see them again after the birth? Wasn’t that the official agreement?”

  “Yes,” Jamaica answered. “That was the original agreement, but now I want to change it. I feel like I have to… I have to at least try. I mean, these babies are half mine… My natural children. That has to count for something, doesn’t it? I must have some kind of rights to them, don’t you think?”

  “Girl, I really don’t think you should try to fight what you already agreed to, but I will say this, no matter what you decide to do, I’m going to support you one hundred percent. If you want to let them go, I’m behind you. If you decide that you want to try to keep them and you end up fighting for some kind of visitation, I will be behind you. I just think you should really give this some consideration. Really think about this carefully. What is Andre going to say about it?” she asked with thick concern in her voice.