by Terry Towers
“Why?” I asked shaking my head. “We’re done Devon. It’s been a month, surely you’ve moved on by now.” There had been at least three other women, I knew that for a fact since it was plastered all over the media.
“I gave you a month to change your mind. I realize now you’re not going to come to your senses until we spoke face to face.”
I stared deep into his eyes while trembling inside. I had tried to do the right thing, but I should have known he wasn’t going to let me go just like that. Crossing my arms over my chest, I attempted to put on a false bravado that I wasn’t quite feeling.
“Mommy, can Devon go on the boat with us?” Isabella asked breaking into my thoughts and tearing my gaze from Devon and down to my little girl.
“We’ll see, sweetie. How about you go back and play on your tablet while I talk to Devon alone.”
“But - ”
“Isabella Grace Whitney, what did I just say?”
Her lower lip jutted out and she made a little disgruntled sound as she spun and stormed into the main room.
As she walked away, sulking, Devon startled me by pushing me back and into the bathroom, closing the door between us. “Now that we have some privacy, I want to know why you left, and I don’t want bullshit, Abigail.”
“I, ummm.” I’d went through this scenario in my mind a million times, and each time I would stand in front of him at a loss for what to say. Now that he was here, I was at just a loss now that I had been in my mental scenarios.
“Oh, come on, Abby. You had no problem telling me what was on your mind the first day we met, I don’t buy you being at a loss now.” As he spoke, he moved towards me. For each step forward he’d take, I’d take on back until he had me pinned against the back wall. Placing a hand on either side of my head, he secured me so I couldn’t escape.
God, he felt so good with his body braced against mine. And even though it had been a month I hadn’t forgotten the smell of his cologne. As I breathed the enticing scent in, my body came alive with need for him.
“It’s complicated,” I said looked over his shoulder. I couldn’t look him in the eye, because if I did I’d burst into tears. Being apart from him had been excruciating. I missed everything about him, from how he appreciated my crappy cooking to the cocksure looks he’d give me that both angered me and make me weak inside.
“Don’t give me that ‘it’s complicated’ bullshit. I want the truth.” When I continued to avoid looking at him or answer, he grasped my chin in his hand and forced my stare to meet his. “I came home that night intent on asking you to move in with me permanently, not as a maid or a cook, but as my girlfriend.” The cocky look evaporated from his expression and I could see something else in his eyes, pain.
I’d caused the pain that was in his eyes and it tore at me. “Let me explain.” Tears began to well up in my eyes and my lower lip trembled. I had to tear my gaze from his, I couldn’t take the hurt. It was at the moment that my eyes caught sight of the two pregnancy tests on the countertop.
Blood drained from my complexion as I stared at them. Holy shit, he was going to see them. Just as the thought entered my head, he shifted his stare to the white marble bathroom vanity.
He released me and walked over to it, and to the two positive tests. “What are these?” he asked, stopping before the vanity and staring at the plastic strips which would change his life forever.
“I think you know.” I didn’t move towards him, instead staying back where I was and staring at the back of his head, a stray teardrop sliding down my cheek. I batted the tear away with the back of my hand.
“You’re pregnant?” He turned to face me holding the stick in his hand. I didn’t need to answer, the answer was in his hand.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Were you planning on telling me?” He frowned as he stared at me.
“I just found out. I hadn’t even gotten to considering that.”
“So, you were considering just having the child and not telling me? Don’t you think I have a right to know you’re pregnant with my child!” His voice was raising with each word, anger in his tone.
“Devon. Please. Just…” I walked up to him, placing my palms flat on his chest. “I just found out.”
“Were you planning on telling me.”
“Devon, I quite literally found out.” I took the stick from him and pointed to the reader. “See, the little reader is still wet from the pee.”
The anger in his eyes began to fade. “Are you sure? What made you take the test?”
I stepped away from him and grabbed the other test from the vanity, holding the both up to his eye level. “Both are positive and considering these things are over 99% accurate, I’d say it’s positive.”
He turned to face me. “I see.”
“I was feeling sick to my stomach and my period is a couple days past due. I’m never late… Never.” With a sigh, I placed the tests back on the vanity.
“Oh.” He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. “So, um. It is mine?”
Now it was my turn to be angry; he should know me well enough to not insult me with such a question. “Do you think I’m some sort of whore that just sleeps with a bunch of random men? I wasn’t the one who was sleeping with other women within a week of us parting ways.”
His eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “I didn’t ask you to leave, I wanted you and Isabella to move in with me. You left me, lady. Not the other way around. You didn’t even have the balls to do it to my face, you left me a damned note! What did you expect me to do?”
Not take a month to come after me, a voice in the back of my head cried out. Not date a bunch of women while I sat her mourning the loss of you. Tears began to form in my eyes.
“We were at the end of our time together, Devon. I did us both a favor by leaving early and saved you five-hundred grand.”
“You didn’t save me shit!” he growled.
“Why is that?” Planting my hands on my hips. He was right I hadn’t saved him a dime, but I had to keep up the ruse until I was 100% certain he loved me as much as I loved him. Amy’s threat still lingered in the air. However, now that there was a baby in the mix, I didn’t think I had much of a choice but to tell him and roll the dice on the outcome.
“Because you’re just as in love with me as I am with you!”
The bathroom went completely silent. The only sound was of our breathing and the faint music coming from the game Isabella was playing in the other room.
He was the one to break the silence. “Which confuses the shit out of me since you took up and left, why in the hell did you do that?”
Tears began to run down my cheeks as I whispered, “To protect you.”
Chapter 27
Devon
To protect me? What in the hell is she talking about?
“What are you saying? Protect me from what? Spending the rest of my life with the woman I love? Having a family?” I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. The woman wasn’t making sense. “What is going on, Abby? Why did you leave?”
“Oh god…” She backed away from me and sat on the edge of the large free-standing claw tub.
Not sure what to do but feeling the need to comfort her, I sat next to her and slipped my arm around her shoulders. “What is going on? I thought we were good together.”
“Amy. I left because of Amy.”
“I don’t follow.”
“She came by your place the day I left with a copy of the contract we’d signed. She said if I didn’t leave that night, she’d give it to the press. That once it became public, you’d lose control of your company.” She leaned over and grabbed a tissue from the box sitting on a brass stand by the end of the tub and blew her nose.
Her nose honked loudly, making me chuckle. She looked up at me, though teary eyes, and the grin left my lips as what she’d just said began to process in my head.
“She said that she’d just resigned,” Abby continued, “and that she had nothing to lose
. She said I couldn’t tell you, I had to just leave and never speak to you again.”
That fucking bitch! Clenching my jaw, I worked to keep my anger in check. It wasn’t Abigail’s fault, even though her thought process was seriously misguided. She did what she thought was right. It was indeed a really fucking bad call, but she had done what she’d thought was best for everyone.
Turning on the edge of the tub, I took her shoulders in my hands and urged her to face me as she sniffed. There was a little shine under her nose, so I leaned forward, grabbed a tissue and gave her nose a little wipe.
She laughed and moved away, giving my hand a bat. “I’m fine. Stop.”
Crumbling up the tissue, I chucked it in the brass waste can, sitting just behind her.
“If you’d told me, we could have worked through that together.”
She lowered her gaze, starting at some random spot on the floor between out feet. I refused to allow her to not look at me, grasping her chin in my hand and forcing her eyes to line up with mine.
“Talk to me. God knows, we have a fair amount to go over.”
“I was scared. Carrie confirmed that it would be possible, and I couldn’t let you lose the thing you care about more than anything else.”
“I did, when I lost you and Isabella.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes, but a hint of a smile began to form on her lips. “I think you’re overstating a bit.”
“I’m not. I may love my company, but I’m in love with you. After our last night together, I thought we’d gotten to the point where we could talk about anything.”
“We had. I thought it was for the best. And I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of being hurt.”
“Fuck, Abigail,” I growled. “Why would it be so damned hard to believe that I was in love with you.”
“You’d never said it.”
“Neither did you, but I still knew it!”
She bowed her head, not speaking.
Shit.
Okay, I needed to get my temper under control. This whole thing was beyond frustrating and a tad overwhelming.
“Abigail. Let’s just simplify this a tad.”
She looked up and stared at me with teary eyes. “Okay.”
“You should have come to me. Had you come to me, you would have known that all my lawyers sign a non-disclosure agreement and are legally obligated to keep all contracts, even the iffy ones to themselves. She would never risk a lawsuit. She was just hoping you’d buy her threat – which you did.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I am too.” Leaning towards her, I took a chance and brushed my lips across hers. Her body tensed, but the tension lasted only a fraction of a second before she responded, inviting me to deepen the kiss.
~*~ TT ~*~
Abigail
Even though I’d been staying in this beautiful resort, enjoying amazing scenery and trying to distract myself with activity after activity, I’d felt empty. I’d kept thinking about Devon and what he was going and what he may have been thinking. I’d seen the calls and messages coming and it killed me a little more each time a new one came in.
I hadn’t received a message or call from him in several days. A part of me had been relieved, thinking he’d given up, while another part of me wept over the fact he had. But how long did I expect him to keep trying? Though I should have known that he wouldn’t give up that easily.
As I sat there, basking in the feel of his lips on mine, I was grateful that he’d come for me. I should have known better then to leave. I’d put so much unnecessary stress on everyone, it would take a long time before I stopped kicking myself over the hasty decision.
When the kiss ended, I sat up straight, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “So, what now?”
He smiled as he ran the back of his hand down my cheek, lightly grazing it. The simple gesture made me gasp and I returned his smile. I felt so good to be with him again.
“What now is that I’m going to book a flight for Nina and bring her here, and then we’re taking Isabella boating.”
I frowned. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“I can work anywhere, and considering I’ve been running around like a madman trying to get you off my mind the past month, I need a break. And what better place to have that break then in Bermuda?”
Laughing, I nodded. “I’ve done about everything on the island. I can show you all the best places.”
“I bet you can.” His mood turned grave suddenly. “I do need to talk to you about something.”
My mood immediately sunk. I should have known that it wouldn’t be this easy and that women like me didn’t just get fairy tale endings. “What’s that?”
“I want you to keep the baby.”
The tension within me deflated and I smiled. I may have just found out I was pregnant, but there was no question in my mind that I was keeping it, with or without Devon. “I wouldn’t consider anything else, Devon.”
Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead against mine, as he pulled me into his arms. “Good… Good. I have another question for you.” He pulled away again, his expression had turned unreadable.
“What’s that?”
“Will you and Isabella come to live with me, permanently?”
My smile widened. “Like a big, happy family.”
A smile broke out his stern façade. “Exactly, like one big, happy family. I didn’t fly all the way here to give you some lukewarm offer. I didn’t expect the baby news, but that’s just all the more reason for you and Isabella to move in with me.”
I hesitated. “I want to make sure that - ”
“You’re exhausting, do you realize that?”
“I don’t mean to be…”
“I love you, you crazy woman. I flew here because I love you and don’t want to go another day without you with me. Is that clear enough for you.”
Laughing, I nodded, throwing my arms around his neck and holding tight to him. “It’s clear.”
“I think this is the part where you tell me you love me back.”
My heart soared. Looking into his eyes, I had a million things I wanted to say to him, but those could all wait until later. There were only three words that mattered right now and they were something I should have said to him a month ago instead of running away. “I love you too. Always and forever, I love you too.”
Epilogue
Roughly 8 ½ months later
Abigail
“Oh god it hurts!” I cried out in the back seat of the car as Karim drove us to the hospital.
“It’ll be okay, sweetheart. Remember what we learned in Lamaze class, just breathe.”
“Screw you, Devon! You breathe! You’re not the one with a baby trying to rip its way out of your cunt.”
Devon laughed. The bastard had the nerve to laugh!
“I can’t believe you’re laughing! Tell me why I married you again?”
“Because I knocked you up and you wanted me to make an honest woman out of you,” he offered with a wink.
Shaking my head, I tried to keep the scowl on my face, but it was hard. He was worried, I knew he was, but he was doing his best to keep me distracted. He just didn’t realize the amount of pain that came with child birth. I was told the second one was supposed to be easier.
Big fucking myth if you asked me.
“See, you’re feeling better already.”
I groaned as another searing pain shot through me. “We’re never having sex again,” I declared. I was sure I’d change my mind in a few weeks, but at this moment I was completely serious.
“You couldn’t even keep away from riding my dick while full term carrying my babies.”
“Don’t remind me. There’s not only one that’s going to be ripping me apart, but two. Always the over achiever!”
Chuckling, he leaned over and planted a kiss on my forehead. The kiss only made me feel marginally better. I’d be a lot better once the babies were ou
t of me and I was holding them in my arms.
~*~ TT ~*~
Devon
I’ve achieved a lot in my life, but watching my wife give birth to two beautiful girls was by far the most remarkable, with my destination wedding to Abigail in Bermuda four months after we first met running a close second.
The month when she’d taken off had been hard for me. It had given me a fair amount of time to reflect, and I realized one major thing about myself: I was going from woman to woman because I was afraid to commit. But Abigail didn’t make me feel afraid. She made me feel like being with her and only her was the only possible outcome. And it was.
Amy had been a non-issue. I’d received a few threatening texts and calls from her after I arrived home with Abigail at my side, but it was only a matter of sending her a very formal letter reminding her of her legal obligations to make it stop. The contract had been a stupid idea, so even if it had gone public, the fault was solely on me. Besides, considering Amy had resigned, it could have all been chalked up to a disgruntled former worker attempting to tarnish my reputation.
“Aren’t they cute, Daddy?” Isabella asked pulling me from my thoughts with a little tug on my hand. She was staring up at the babies who were in her mother’s arms. “Can I hold them mommy?”
“No sweetheart. Not right now,” Abigail replied, giving her oldest daughter a weak smile.
“Awww,” she pouted, jutting out her lower lip.
“When we all go home together, maybe then, how’s that?” I offered, giving Isabella’s hand a gentle squeeze.
“Okay. What are their names?” She looked up at me as she asked. I swear, with each day that passed she looked more like her mother. She was going to be a knockout when she got older. Shit, now I had three daughters to worry about when they became young women.
“Jasmine and Lily,” Abigail said, looking down lovingly at first one and then the other baby.
Isabella considered it for a moment. I could almost see the wheels turning in that cute, little, pigtailed head of hers. Finally, she nodded. “I like it. Sounds pretty.”