“There’s no way. I take my birth control religiously. It has to be something else!” My voice is getting high pitched and I know I’m starting to sound hysterical.
“You had to take those antibiotics a month ago. Remember, for that sinus infection?”
“Yes, but why would that matter?”
“Honestly Aggie, you call yourself a nerd and you didn’t research taking an antibiotic while on the pill?”
“Obviously I’m a fraud.” I cover my face with my hands ready to be schooled.
“It says to use a condom while on antibiotics because it cancels it out.”
“Well why didn’t you wear a fucking condom?”
He remains silent but smiles at me. “Maybe it was my master plan baby.”
“This isn’t a joking matter Grant! I could be pregnant!”
“I’m kidding. I didn’t read about it until I suspected you were pregnant. And we’ll deal with it. I won’t be upset if it reads positive. I’m 29, I’d like a kid before I’m 30.”
“That’s next week pal. These things don’t work like that!”
I get off the couch in seek of the little box that has the potential to change my life. The pharmacy bags on the table next to the door and screams at me like a beacon.
When I storm by the living room I make sure to glare at Grant even though this isn’t really his fault. I should have been more responsible even though it wouldn’t have killed him to share the information with me.
I’m in the bathroom reading the directions when there’s a knock.
“I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Open the door Aggie, I’m not missing this.”
“You’re not watching me pee on this thing Grant! No freaking way!”
There’s a louder knock.
“I’ll open the door when I’m done! Jeesh.”
It says that your first urine of the day is the best to use, but I figure I’ll do one now and one in the morning. Just in case. Grant bought the economy size box of tests so I have plenty to work with.
Once the deed is done and I have the stick safely sitting on the box, I open the door and Grant comes barreling inside with me.
“Did I miss it?”
“God you’re impatient. No, it’ll be another two minutes.”
“Well in that case…” He pushes me up against the bathroom door and slams his mouth to mine. His tongue licks the seam begging for entrance and I’m more than happy to oblige. Our tongues are at war and his hand starts working its way down my body when the alarm on my phone goes off.
“Let’s just finish this up and we’ll take a little peekski when we’re done.”
“It’s okay to be nervous Aggie.”
“I’m freaking the hell out! I might have a tiny human in me right now. How does that not freak you out?”
“Because I want this. The love of my life, the house, the dog… and the baby.”
“I’m allergic to dogs.”
“Then we’ll get a cat or a bird or something.”
“Okay… let’s do this.”
I find myself excited. If I’m pregnant I’ll be shocked don’t get me wrong. But is a baby so bad? Do I wish I had more time with just me and Grant? Of course. But a baby… a little baby that was made from its mommy and daddy’s love. It brings tears to my eyes.
“Ready?” He looks intently into my eyes. My hearts racing like a mother effer and I can barely hear over the sound of the blood rushing through my ears.
“You do it, I can’t look.” I urge him on.
He turns towards the test and examines it. Then he picks up the directions and studies those. When he turns back to me his face is serious and my stomach sinks. Until a giant smile lights up his face telling me without the words that I am in fact pregnant.
“Holy shit.” I drop to the ground and put my head in my hands. This is a lot to take in.
“Baby, are you okay with this? I know it wasn’t planned…”
I shush him by putting a finger over his mouth. “Everything is perfect. Just give me a minute to freak out.”
He encases my face with his hands and kisses all over my face. Then he turns me into a sobbing mess when he places me on my feet and kneels before me. His heads at stomach level and he lifts my shirt before planting a single kiss to the center of my belly.
“I promise to love you every day of your life.”
“Oh my god.” I sniffle and snort while sobbing. “Is this for real? This can’t be real life!”
He stands up. “Believe it baby. It’s me and you.”
“And junior here.” I laugh.
“Can’t name a little girl junior baby.”
And just like that my world shifts again.
THIS IS ILLEGAL!
“What was so important that you had to drag me out of bed at the ass crack of dawn? And why is Ry giggling in the back seat?”
“Hey! I don’t giggle. It’s a manly laugh.”
“Keep telling yourself that. But seriously Grant, why are we in a deserted parking lot?”
This morning Grant woke me up feathering kisses all over my face until I was awake enough for him to drag me into the shower and out the door.
No funny business. At all! I’m a little grumpy because I’m horny as hell and tired because he woke me up.
“Ten is hardly early. And this is your first lesson.” He smiles and exits the car. When he comes around to my side and opens the door I’m just as confused if not more.
“Lesson for what?”
“Driving. You my dear Aggie are going to be driving before you know it.”
“I don’t have my permit! This is illegal!”
“That’s why we’re here, in a parking lot where no one will see you driving. It’s not like I’m going to bring you on the road for your first drive. Now let’s go baby.” He pulls me out of the car, kisses me on the lips and gives me a little shove towards the driver’s side.
My heart beats faster with ever step I take towards the door. I can do this, it’ll be a piece of cake. Everyone drives, right?
I get in the car and pull my seat up. A lot. Damn Grant and his long ass legs! “Christ, can you even reach the pedals?”
“No, it drives itself.” He laughs. “Alright Aggie, you want to put your left food on the clutch and right foot on the break then slowly ease off the clutch when you shift it into gear.”
“I’m so glad I didn’t miss this.” I hear the peanut gallery say in the back seat.
“Shut it Ry. Why the heck are you making me drive this? I should start with a shit box that’s an automatic. Not your Mercedes that’s a stick shift. You really are trying to kill us, aren’t you?” I look at him and give him a worried glance.
“It’s going to be fine baby.” He rubs the back of my neck with his hand and uses his other hand to put mine on the shifter.
Grant gives me a quick rundown on how everything works as Ry chimes in every so often. It sounds so simple when its explained in black and white. Then I try to get the car going and stall.
A couple more stalls later and a disgusting smell wafts into the car. “What the hell is that?” I block my nose with my fingers.
“That is the smell of a burnt clutch.” Ry laughs. “I wonder if we’ll ever make it a whole foot forward?”
“Knock it off asshole, she’s doing great.”
“You’re only saying that because you wanna get laid later.”
I hear an “ow” as Grant punches Ry in the shoulder.
“I can’t do this Grant, I give up. There’s a reason why I used the bus and train as modes of transportation before I met you. It’s safe and it will get me where I’m going in one piece. I don’t want to hurt… you know.” Tears threaten my eyes and he finally sees that this isn’t going to work.
“The baby, you can say it. I know.”
“Grant, I’m gonna kill you! I’m not allowed to tell Jill but you can go gossiping to your brother?”
“Well, you see…”
I gla
re at Grant and cross my arms over my chest. “Don’t give me any excuses. I’m not in the mood.”
“Don’t hold it against him Aggie. I figured it out.”
“How? I didn’t even know I was pregnant!”
“He found the pregnancy test in the bathroom.” Grant looks sheepish. I told him to throw that away!
“You’re so dead.”
“He’s gonna be a great dad, I think you want to keep him around.” Ry chuckles. “Seriously though, congrats guys. This is awesome.” I feel him pull me and Grant towards him for a group hug.
“That’s my boob Ry…”
“Hands off asshole!” Grant growls causing me to laugh.
“I’m done for today. The next time you want to teach me how to drive get a freaking automatic. Rookie…” I mumble the last part.
“Alright, we’ll try again another time baby.” He leans over, unbuckles me and kisses my temple. “How about we go get some breakfast?”
“From your lips to my ears baby daddy. Feed me!”
YOU’RE A HOOT AND THEY WILL LOVE YOU
I made one innocent comment to Grant about feeling weird not having met his family yet after dating for nine months and here we are. Our plane just touched down in Cali.
The only family members I’ve met are his brother’s. I love them like they’re my own blood and that gives me hope for meeting the rest of the Donovan clan. His other siblings live in California, so I’ll be meeting the rest of the family this weekend. We still haven’t told anyone about the baby yet. We want to have our first doctor visit before we start broadcasting it to the world. If all goes well, after Monday we’ll be shouting it to the world.
Since we started dating, Grants made a couple business trips out there but I haven’t accompanied him yet. He’s close with his family and it makes me excited to start a family. As you know, my family is anything but close. Well, my mom. Me and my Mimi are extremely close.
He pulls his car up to a giant iron gate like you see in the movies. It’s intimidating as hell. Inscribed on the giant monstrosity is DONOVAN. We’re definitely in the right place.
Grant rests his hand on my thigh. “They’re gonna love you baby.”
“Your parents are Hollywood royalty. Eli and Victoria Donovan. I’m just a waitress from Massachusetts who sits around with her grandmother watching Wheel of Fortune.”
“And that’s why I love you. Get the waitress thing out of your head, you’re no longer a waitress.” He presses the call button and the gates open.
“I should introduce myself as a baby maker?”
Grant laughs. “You’re my PA baby. Own it.”
“Yeah, for a slave driver.” I mumble. Grant’s a complete control freak and is up my butt about every little thing I do for him. You send him on a business trip to China instead of Japan one time and he won’t let me live it down.
I’ve grown accustomed to his likes and dislikes, but he’s borderline a diva. The first time I had to schedule him a flight he didn’t specify with who. I booked him a seat on a commercial flight and he laughed for a solid hour. How was I supposed to know he owned that airplane we took to Vegas? Sure, it had his company logo, but I thought they were easily changeable. The China drama came a month later. It was on his private jet of course. I got that part right at least.
Last night I mentioned not having met his parents and here we are today. He had me cancel all his appointments and flew us out to California first thing this morning. It was all so fast I haven’t had a chance to wrap my head around it. I’m about to meet Hollywood’s golden couple. I used to watch their movies and fall in love with the idea of love because of them.
We pull up to a giant house. It almost looks like one of those southern mansions with the pillars standing proudly in the front.
“Holy crap.”
“They’re people just like you and me.”
“You feel that way because you’re one of them.”
He pulls my hand up and kisses my knuckles. “You’ll be one of us before you know it baby.”
Ah… gulp. “You can’t say that to me right before I meet your parents! They might think I’m a gold digger!”
“My dear sweet Aggie. You are the farthest thing in the world from a gold digger.”
“I could be after your millions.”
“And how many millions do I have?”
I’ve thought long and hard about this. Probably more than I should have and I give him the number I came up with. “Seven million.”
“He chuckles then kisses my nose. “You’re cute.”
“That’s a lot of money and your parents might interrogate me on my intentions.”
“You refused to let me buy you a coffee this morning at the airport and requested we go Dutch. They have bigger things to worry about other than you stealing my money.”
“It’s the only fair way!”
He chuckles and gets out of the car after shutting it off. I step out and wipe my clammy hands on my skirt. Get a grip Agnes! You’re a hoot and they will love you!
Grant walks right in the front door, no knocking. Which I guess makes sense seeing as he used to live here.
“Mom? Dad?”
We hear a faint “over here” and head in the direction of the voices. When we catch up to their laughter, we find them on the back deck. I don’t know how they even heard him calling out for them? This place is like a giant maze of rooms.
“Hey sweetie.” His mom gets up from her seat and makes her way to Grant for a hug.
I thought Victoria Donovan was going to be insanely intimidating when I met her. It’s far worse. She’s tall, I’d say close to six feet, with flawless skin, gorgeous brown hair the same color as Grant’s. If her sheer beauty wasn’t enough, she’s wearing a vibrant purple jumpsuit that screams money and a whole bunch of jewelry that if I had to guess, cost more than every worldly possession I own. Heck, everything I’ve owned in my entire life.
Grant pulls back from the embrace and faces his mother my way. “Mom, this is Agnes Fletcher. My future wife.”
And I cough on nothing. There’s nothing to choke on but it happens. As I’m trying to get it under control I hear his mother ask if I knew about the impending nuptials.
“Sorry. Had a tickle in my throat. It’s so nice to meet you Mrs. Donovan.” I reach out my hand, but she pulls me into a tight embrace.
“Please, call me Vicki. I’m far too young to go by Mrs. Donovan.”
“Vicki.” I confirm after she pulls out of the hug.
Grant’s back at my side and gives me an apologetic look for claiming a future marriage in front of his parents. “Dad, this is my girlfriend Aggie.”
I’m left speechless by this man that I’ve seen and pined for on TV. That sounds as creepy to you as it does in my head, right? But almost immediately, he’s not a celebrity crush anymore, he’s just my boyfriend’s father. Thank freaking god! But still a silver fox.
“Nice to meet you Aggie. So glad you two were finally able to get out here. And it’s lucky we weren’t on location!” He wraps an arm around my shoulders and gives me a squeeze.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Donovan.”
“Eli.” He states.
“Eli.”
“Where are you guys off to next?” Grant questions.
“Bali. We’ll be there for three months filming.”
“Oh wow! That must be so exciting, I’ve never been out of the United States. Barely been out of Massachusetts until recently.” I shrug.
“You must come see us when we’re there. I’ll have my assistant give Grant the itinerary so you two can come down when we have a few days off.”
“Oh, I don’t know. That’s awfully expensive. Depends how much money I can save by then.”
“Told you.” Grant mumbles to his dad causing Eli to laugh. Then Grant looks over the balcony and laughs. “They weren’t lying! That asshole really lives in your backyard!”
“Not for long.” Eli growls.
�
��Be nice dear. Your daughter’s in love.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
“You two must be exhausted after your flight. I figured you could get some rest before we take you out for dinner. We made reservations for nine tonight. Cally, Brent and Liam will be meeting us there plus some dates. I made up the guest room, Grant you know where it is.”
“Thanks mom. Can’t wait to see them all. Is Cally bringing the environmentalist?” Grant kisses her cheek then returns to me.
“What can I say, she’s like her mother. She falls hard when she’s in a relationship.”
Grant chuckles before grabbing my hand and pulling me expertly through the house. “Are you sure it’s okay we stay in the same room?”
“I’m 29, not 19. It may come as a shocker, but my parents know I’m not a virgin.”
“What? You’re not a virgin?” I gasp in surprise.
Grant shuts the door after we enter the bedroom. And I use the term bedroom loosely. It’s like an apartment minus the kitchen. This place is freaking huge!
“Holy crap.”
Grant walks up behind me and plasters himself to my back. His fingers start tracing lazy shapes on my stomach. “I’m ready Aggie, tonight’s the night.”
“Ready for what?”
“I love you and I want you to be my first.”
I burst out laughing. “I have too much baggage for a guy like you. Grant… I’m knocked up.” He growls as I shove my ass into his lap when I bend over trying to catch my breath. That sobers me up real fast. He’s hard!
Quickly, I jump away from him and do a ninja roll across the giant bed. It’s more like two rolls to make it all the way to the other side.
“You can run but you can’t hide baby.” Grant growls.
I throw my hand up like a crossing guard when he stalks my way. “No. Absolutely not Grant.”
“But…”
“No! There will be no getting jiggy with it while we’re here. I want your parents to like me.”
“One, this isn’t a Will Smith video. Two, they don’t care. They’re laid back, it’s the Hollywood atmosphere.”
The Big D Page 13