A Billionaire In Barcelona (International Alphas Book 8)

by Cherry Kay

  “We’re staying at Ali and Adam’s house and we decided to bring them along for dinner, mom.” Trenton says without hesitation or pause.

  Shatrice’s eyes swing over to her sons, her emotions and thoughts unreadable. “Well I can’t stop you from staying wherever you want to stay, but it was a mistake to bring them along to a family dinner.” Her voice is back to a tone I recognize, she spoke to me the same way when I called her on the phone. My hand tightens around Ali’s and I see her chest heave as she drags in a deep breath.

  “Last I checked, we were all related here, mom. Ali is our sister and we won’t turn our backs on her. Adam is a part of this family too, now.” Tristan replies to his mother’s insufferable tone in kind and her eyes widen in indignation.

  “You better watch how you speak to me, child.”

  Trenton shakes his head angrily and he steps towards his mother. “That’s just the thing isn’t mom? We’re not children anymore. We’re all adults, including Ali. She was being as responsible as any twenty-one year old girl can be, but accidents do happen and we all have to accept it and help her the best we can through this new stage in life.”

  Shatrice is looking at me now, her eyes are angry, but what Trenton said got to her and it’s plain to see as tears start to fill her gaze. “You did this to her. You ruined her future. Her life didn’t have to be this hard and you…you preyed on an innocent student.”

  “I know I messed up, we both did, but I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life if I have to making up for it. Ali isn’t in this alone.”

  “What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Shawn King walks into the foyer and addresses me directly.

  “The boys are staying at Adam’s house with Alicia.” Is Shatrice’s brief explanation.

  “You boys would condone this? Whatever is going on between your sister and that teacher?”

  Shawn is glancing in between his two sons and they simultaneously get defensive.

  Crossing their arms over their chests and widening their stance. “Like we told mom, accidents happen and we refuse to turn our backs on our flesh and blood. If you want to cut Ali and Adam from your lives, not to mention your grandchild, then you’re cutting us too.” Tristan tells his father in a hard tone, staring him down unflinchingly. Shawn is just as tall and built as his sons, his light brown gaze just as hard.

  “Having a child so young is one thing, but having a child out of wedlock is not how we raised you all. This family is not careless or uneducated, so there is no excuse for your sister. This family does not make mistakes, or give birth by accident. If you want to throw your life and career away by getting pregnant, then by all means, do so on your own.” The shock hits us all in waves; I don’t even think Shatrice was ready for Shawn’s words.

  “I especially cannot believe you would bring this man into my house after what he’s done to Alicia. If you two want to pick sides, we can’t stop you. As far as I’m concerned you can all leave.” Shawn finishes crisply and turns to leave.

  Ali’s hand whips out to grip my arm as she’s holding her stomach with her other hand and slightly hunched over.

  “Ali, what is it, what’s wrong?” I hold on to her as she closes her eyes, pain clearly etched into her features. There’s a beat of silence as we all look at Ali.

  “Has she been eating well? Has she been having bad morning sickness?” Shatrice pulls a one-eighty and shoves Trist and Trent out of the way to tend to Ali.

  “Ali, talk to me, tell me what you’re feeling so I know how bad it is.” Her voice is tender as she speaks to Ali; it’s plain to see that she’s scared for her daughter.

  “I don’t know, it’s…it’s really bad cramping.” Ali says weakly. Shatrice moves Ali to sit down on one of the steps of the grand staircase and Ali whimpers. “It hurts really bad,” she says again. I hover around Ali and her mother and suggest anxiously that we should take Ali to the hospital.

  “The car is running Shatrice, let’s get her outside.” Shawn’s voice comes from nowhere and I hadn’t realized the brothers went to get the truck started. I help Ali into the car and we all pile in, silent while Shawn speeds to the nearest hospital.

  "It’s going to be alright, don’t worry.” I try to soothe Ali while rubbing her back; she’s still bent over in pain. “I said I’d take care of us, I won’t let anything bad happen Ali, don’t worry baby.” I continue whispering to her and she squeezes my hand. I let her squeeze, she can squeeze my hand until it falls off for all I care, as long as I can comfort her in some way.

  We pull into the emergency room entrance of the hospital Ali’s mom works at and they take her in right away. Ali is put into a wheelchair and a nurse hurries her into an examination room. I follow beside them, my sole focus on Ali. I don’t know what the others do.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to wait with them until we get her all figured out.” I shake my head at the nurse.

  “No, I’m staying with her. She’s pregnant and I’m the father. I have to make sure everything is okay with them.”

  The nurse hesitates and then sighs, giving in. “Fine, but you need to stay out of the way of everyone. While we’re checking her over.”

  I nod and watch while he wheels her into room number two and another nurse helps get Ali onto the hospital bed. They ask her questions like, if she has any chronic illnesses, if she’s been having worse than normal morning sickness, under too much stress, any family medical history. All while another nurse gets Ali’s pants off and they drape her to be examined. I stand over by Ali’s head and hold her hand.

  “It’s gonna be alright, who knows, it’s probably just indigestion.” I smile at Ali and she tries to smile in return, it looks more like a grimace.

  Quicker than I could’ve expected an ultra sound machine is wheeled into the room and a doctor is informing Ali that they are going to do a vaginal ultrasound to check on the baby.

  “Okay, so the good news is that the babies look perfectly healthy, you can see their heartbeats there…” The doctor points to the screen and sure enough I see two little beans. Not one…but two, with two flashing white pulsations signifying their heartbeats. Ali’s jaw drops and I simply stare at the screen. They are healthy, they are safe…there’s a they…we’re having twins?

  “The other news is that you had a threatened miscarriage, there was some blood, but luckily not too much was lost.” The doctor finally glances up at Ali and I and she smiles lopsidedly.

  “I take it this is the first time you two are hearing the word twins?” Ali and I nod in tandem. “Well congratulations. So after we get some paperwork done, you will be discharged. I demand you go straight home and get into bed. Rest for a few days, no heavy lifting, and no sex. After about a week, you can have a follow up appointment with your OB and she’ll advise you from there.” The doctor talks at Ali, but her eyes are practically glazed over from shock.

  After the room empties of nurses and the doctor, Trenton, Tristan, Shatrice and Shawn walk in a moment later.

  “So what happened? Is everything okay?” Trenton is eyeing Ali worriedly and after taking in the look on her face they all look to me to explain. Because apparently I look more coherent than she does.

  “It was a threatened miscarriage, Ali has to rest for a few days and follow up with her OB…they did an ultrasound and…we now have two babies instead of one growing in there.”

  Shatrice gasps, her eyes filling with tears. Trent and Trist actually find it exciting and hug and kiss Ali. Shawn’s expression goes from unreadable to misty. He takes a deep breath and wipes a hand over his face.

  “This is almost exactly how we found out your mom was going to have twins when she was pregnant with the boys…she almost lost them, but they weren’t going anywhere.” He says softly.

  Ali finally looks up at him and he takes a deep shuddering breath. “I’m sorry Ali…I’m sorry. The boys are right…you're right. We shouldn’t turn our backs on you. It’s just that we got…scared, we were so
shocked that we didn’t know how to react…” Shawn’s voice wavers and he trails off.

  “We only want the best for you and it felt as if we couldn’t help you have the best life anymore.”

  Ali looks between both parents, her expression guarded and confused. “You…you both said all those hurtful things to me. Being scared for my future is one thing, but completely turning your backs on me is another.” Ali’s voice starts small, but builds in strength. Her suppressed hurt and anger coming to the surface.

  “We handled this all wrong, yes…we said despicable things to you baby, but we can figure things out, we’ll help you get on your feet. I’m just so sorry baby. I should have never said those things to you.” Shatrice asks for forgiveness from Ali and unshed tears spill over to her cheeks.

  “I agree with your mother, we just want you safe and happy. I’m sorry for speaking so harshly to you, sorry that we caused you so much pain that could've caused you to lose your babies.” Shawn is sincere, it’s clear to see in his misty-eyed gaze, as he looks lovingly into his daughter’s eyes. He was just a man, afraid for his daughter, one who doesn’t deal with stress well at all.

  “Anything you need baby, we’ll be there. We want to be in your life, in the babies’ lives…” Shatrice adds earnestly. They may want to mend bridges with Ali, but it’s becoming clear that they don’t hold me in as much esteem as Trenton and Tristan do.

  “Please Ali, just tell us we’re forgiven.” Shawn moves to Ali’s other side to take her hand and I reluctantly relinquish my spot on Ali’s other side so Shatrice can do the same.

  “So…you didn’t actually mean all those things you said?” Ali looks from Shawn to Shatrice and back. The fact that Ali is willing, hoping in fact, to forgive them, speaks volumes about her character. She’s just so fucking perfect and she keeps getting better.

  “No Ali, that was pain and confusion speaking through us. We should've taken the time to accept all of this, but instead we handled it horribly.” Ali’s mom holds onto her daughter’s hand tightly and Ali promptly bursts into tears.

  “I forgive you. I never wanted my baby -- my babies to grow up without their grandparents in their lives.” Shawn and Shatrice hug Ali tightly, it’s plain to see the love they all have for each other and I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

  “You did it, man.” Trent claps my shoulder and smiles at me with respect in his eyes. “If it wasn’t for you, well, who knows where we’d be now.” I shrug and can’t help but think that if it weren’t for me, Ali wouldn’t have gone through all she had during the past eight weeks.

  “I just made sure we got everyone together.”

  Tristan shakes his head and then glances at the three still hugging, Ali and her mother still crying as well.

  “No you fixed something deeper than that. Forced it to the surface and it’s being mended right in front of us.” Tristan inclines his head towards me, his expression grateful.

  The Final Chapter

  Two days after my trip to the hospital, I can say I never want to be on bed rest ever again. Though it’s incredibly nice to have Adam cater to me, the hovering of all our family is getting to be a little much. Not that I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I just don’t want to have to go through it again when I’m in my last trimester.

  “Ali, your mom and mama Lina are having a disagreement for what color the babies room should be. Lina says a buttercup yellow; your mom says a soft blue. Honestly I can’t take much more of their banter. Meanwhile, the men are having a debate about how much money fast food chains spend on attorneys. Gabriel’s wife Eve is trying to get them out of the kitchen because in about three minutes aunt Ania will hit one of them over the head with a hot pan as she’s trying to cook and they keep eating everything before it can be made.” Kelsey takes a deep breath after rattling off another report.

  “That’s why I played the ‘resting’ card and came in here to hide out. I’ve got Oreos, you want some?” I offer Kels some cookies and she climbs into bed with me.

  “I’m so happy that Little Bun is back on the table though. It’s so much better than Little Bean.” I giggle and roll my eyes.

  “They are practically the same name Kelsey.” She snorts and whispers that her name is better under her breath.

  “Hey, what are you two doing in here?” Adam walks into the bedroom and smiles, that familiar twinkle in his eye. He looks as if he’s a bit pleased with himself.

  “I should ask you that? What have you been up to?”

  Adam climbs into bed with Kelsey and I, squeezing into the middle and stealing the box of Oreos for himself.

  “Well I’ve just been thinking that maybe I should become a firefighter. The hours are flexible and I’m really good at it.” Both Kelsey and I look at him as if he’s lost it.

  “Adam you don’t even like to get close to the oven.” I remind him and Kelsey laughs at his quirk.

  “Well I was being metaphoric anyway. I settled the great paint debate. We’re going for a blue and yellow nursery and then I successfully proved that fast food chains don’t spend the most on lawyers, department stores do. Aunt Ania is no longer threatening anyone with hot oil. Now everyone is watching a movie downstairs so I’ve come to get you.”

  “Oh! I brought caramel popcorn, I’ll go and make a batch.” Kelsey heads downstairs and I take the moment we have alone to kiss Adam.

  “Hey now, if you keep that up it’ll be really hard to stick to doctor’s orders,” Adam says after I run my tongue along his bottom lip.

  “Adam, I never thanked you for getting my family back together…I really-I…I love you.” The words insert themselves without my conscious decision to tell him how I feel and Adam’s eyes widen with pleasure before the most breathtaking smile spreads across his features.

  “I love you too, Ali. More than life itself, I’d do anything for your happiness.” Adam is staring intently into my eyes and there’s no question that he’s sincere, he really means what he just said.

  My eyes fill with water and I throw my arms around his neck. I don’t think my heart has ever felt so full before. “So what do you say we head downstairs and watch that movie?” Adam picks me up easily and he makes his way towards the bed.

  “What movie are we watching?” I ask and he grins at me boyishly.

  “Finding Nemo.”

  I giggle and can’t help but kiss him again. “Really? Gabriel and my brothers and everyone agreed to watch Finding Nemo?”

  “No, of course not. We’re watching White Christmas.” I laugh and smack Adam lightly on the chest.

  “She can walk you know, Adam.” My mom points this out as we round the corner into the family room. Everyone is cozied up around the TV and fireplace.

  “I know, but I don’t want her to do too much yet when she doesn’t have to.” Adam sets me down on the couch and I snuggle in between my dad and brother Trent.

  Looking around the room with all my family, old and new, I have to say I’m perfectly content in this moment. Adam glances up at me from his spot on the floor and flashes me another sexy smile.

  Yeah, he’s pretty perfect, too.

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