“Now isn’t that nice.” Drew is standing just by the living room door, holding a bumper pack of diapers. I stand at the same time as Adam.
“Drew, you-you’re early,” I say.
“Early? Not early enough by the looks of things. Don’t get up on my account you just stay nice and cozy now.” Drew is talking through gritted teeth. I haven’t seen that in a long time.
“Drew, I can explain,” I say.
“No need.” He sends the diapers across the floor and holds up a hand to stop me speaking.
“But Drew...”
Drew is staring hard at Adam. Adam faces him.
“Listen, Drew,” Adam says. “I didn’t come here to cause any trouble for Macey—”
“Are you the guy?” Drew says, stepping forward.
“Am I the guy who what?”
“The one who called up my wife, got her all upset so that she ran out of here and broke her leg.”
“What?” Adam turns to me. I nod. “You all right?” Adam asks in a soft voice. I nod again and look at Drew who approaches fast.
“Of course she’s all right.” Drew’s voice is louder than before. “She’s here with her husband. I don’t know why you’re here or what you want, but I think you should just go.”
They’re standing face-to-face. Adam is slightly taller and Drew a little broader. I can feel the levels of testosterone oozing out of them and I can smell the start of a fight. I try to step in the middle of them but Drew pushes my away.
“Don’t you lay a finger on her,” Adam says.
“Or you’ll do what?” Drew pushes Adam and then the fight begins.
I scream as I see their large fists making contact with the face and body of the other. It sounds awful. I hear them grunt. I see Drew stumble into the coffee table and then pull Adam by his legs so he topples to the floor.
“Stop!” I shout, but Drew is up and kicking Adam in his chest. Adam is winded and tries to stand. Drew kicks out again, this time his foot makes contact with Adam’s jaw and I see the blood splash across the room. I don’t see it land, but I see Adam swing the whole weight of his body and hit Drew in his chin. Drew steps backward in my direction and I lose my balance momentarily, holding my stomach as I see Drew reach for a heavy lamp from the table by the sofa.
I scream for them to stop. I tell them I’ll call for the police, but Drew is driving his head into Adam’s stomach and pushing him towards the wall where I see a crack appear in the plaster when Adam jams into it. Drew goes to swing a punch at him, but Adam ducks and Drew’s fist makes another crack in the wall. He’s shaking his fist and staggering towards Adam. Adam is backing up.
“I don’t want to fight with you, Drew. You have to understand. That might be my baby.”
I see Drew’s eyes widen. The whites are exaggerated and I see the most extreme look of anger. For a split second he looks at me, but hurtles towards Adam in an attempt to throw him down again. As Adam tries to dodge he bumps into me and I fly backwards. I can’t stop the momentum of the shove and fall backwards. The only thing behind me to break my fall is the arm of the sofa but is it not a big enough target to stop me toppling past it and landing on my back on the floor.
I cry out in pain. I roll onto my side and hear both men shout: “Macey!”
My back hurts but then another pain comes. It is deep in my lower back and very low in my stomach. It pulls and I cry out from the agony of it. They are both on their knees beside me. Adam tries to lift my head as Drew leans close, his hands on my thighs.
“Macey,” Drew says. “Macey, honey, you all right?”
I shake my head. “Something is wrong,” I whisper. “I think it’s the baby.”
“We need to get her to a hospital,” Adam says.
“You butt out and mind your own business,” Drew snaps. I grab hold of his arm.
“I think we should go.” I look directly into his eyes.
I feel both sets of hands lift me off the floor. I feel another dull pain but I don’t cry out. The evening air is comforting outside. Adam hails a taxi from the main road, but allows Drew to go with me.
He says very close to my ear: “I’ll be right there.”
*
Eight hours after I was brought in to the hospital, I’m in labor and close to having to push this baby out. She or he was obviously in a hurry to get away from all the fighting. The baby is three weeks early. The doctor assures me that’s fine and the nurse has me hooked up to the monitor so I know the baby is fine.
At one stage, Drew refused to come into the delivery room with me because he was so angry. But when he thought Adam might come in instead, he changed his mind. Both of them had to have their wounds seen to and Adam had a stitch in his lip while Drew had his hand bandaged.
I block out the fighting of earlier that evening. All I have to do now is concentrate on pushing and just seconds before I think I will collapse with the pain and effort, my baby is born.
“Congratulations, you have a baby girl.”
Drew looks at me. I know he wants to cry with joy, the way I am now, but he’s holding back. Whose baby is he celebrating the birth of? I can see the question in his eyes as he leaves my side and pushes the delivery door open with his wounded hand. He storms out and the door swings backwards and forwards on its hinges.
“Should I ask what that is about?” the nurse who has been tending to me says.
As I close my eyes and shake my head the tears don’t stop.
“He is the father right? Or is it the guy who’s been sitting on the edge of his seat out there with a swollen eye?” she asks.
I beckon her close as I hold my baby girl. “I don’t know which one it is. Is there any way I can tell?”
“Only if the two of them are willing to take a test.”
“Somehow, I think they will.”
***
Jasmine gurgles in her crib. She’s wrapped in her new shawl and ready to come home. Amy is here and she stands over the crib pulling faces at Jasmine when the nurse walks in with someone else from the hospital.
“Macey, this is Delores Mason. She ran the DNA tests of everyone involved and she has the results right here. Open this and you’ll know exactly who the father to this delicious little girl is.”
My hands shake as I take the envelope from her. Both women leave the room and say absolutely nothing else. The nurse only purses her lips and looks behind as she leaves. She is giving nothing away.
“Well?” Amy says.
“Well. This is it I guess.” I look down at the envelope, turn it over and put my finger into the sealed edge. “Amy I’m scared.”
“Look those two have been sitting out there trying not to kill each other all morning. Are you going to put them out of their misery or what?”
I drag my finger along the glue and it comes open easily. I take out the letter and I feel Amy draw nearer.
“You read it,” I say and hand the letter to her while I grip the envelope. I go to sit at the end of the bed and stare down at Jasmine while Amy reads the letter. Jasmine looks a lot like me. Apart from being very light skinned, there is nothing of Adam or Drew in her that I can see.
I look up at Amy who has stopped reading and holds the letter at her side.
“Macey,” she says. “You have a choice here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you really could tell those two anything, couldn’t you? Hide the letter away and choose the one you want to be the father.”
“No, Amy. This has gone far enough. No more secrets and lies. The truth comes out today and I handle it, whatever it is.”
“And what if it drives one of them away?”
“I can’t help that.”
“Out of the two of them, who do you want to spend your life with?” she says.
That is easy to answer, but not so easy to say. I’m in love with Adam. I’ve wanted him a long time, but I’ve tried my best to stay loyal to my marriage. I decided a long time ago that I could stay with Drew. He
’s been amazing and he loves me so much. I know that. So far Adam hasn’t proved a thing to me. He’s been absent all this time but, then again, that wasn’t through choice.
My problem isn’t which of them I love, but which of them I should be with.
“What if neither of them wants to be with me?” I say to Amy. “I cheated on Drew. He might just up and leave.”
“If that was the case, he would have walked out ages ago. He obviously loves you, Macey. But is he the one you’ll pick?”
“I should distance myself from both of them. Take Jasmine and leave.”
“Even if you did that, one of them still has the right to see her.”
“I know.” I stand and face Amy. “Well, are you going to tell me who it is?”
Amy nods and points to a name on the sheet of paper. My heart begins to race. It’s not the name I expected to see. I close my eyes and take several deep breaths.
“I should go out and tell them—shouldn’t I?” I look at Amy as if to find another way out of what is going to be a difficult next few minutes.
My body has turned cold as I walk out into the outer waiting room. Adam stands but Drew sits slumped forward and looks hard at me. I walk over to Drew and he stands to look at me.
“Macey?”
“I’m sorry, Drew. Really I am.”
He shoots a look of hate at Adam then looks at me as if he could kill me right there. But then something in his eyes changes. They soften, almost pleading.
“I don’t care if I’m not the father,” he says. “I want to take care of both of you. I love you Macey.”
“I know that, Drew, I know you do. But it isn’t fair on you.”
“Because you don’t love me anymore do you May? I blew it big time... I have, haven’t I? I’m too late right?” His lips are quivering and his eyes grow glassy. Tears are already streaming from my eyes. I go to hold his arms but he shrugs me off. “I don’t need your pity, Macey.” He looks again at Adam and then at the door to the ward where Jasmine is sleeping soundly. Without a word, he turns his back on me and walks away. I watch the broad shoulders shrink to a narrow heap as his old sneakers drag along the polished floor. A door swings in the distance and Drew disappears behind it. I don’t know when I’ll ever see him again.
I feel strong arms around me and I touch the hands that close around my arms. Adam’s breath is warming my neck as his face nestles there.
“I will make up the time we’ve missed together, Macey. I swear to you I’ll never leave your side.”
I turn to face him.
“Adam, are you sure about this? I can’t have another heartbreak. Jasmine needs a mother who is strong and a father who will be there for her.”
“And that’s what she has. Macey I love you. I’ve loved you a long time. Our lives, all three of them, start here.”
We walk arm-in-arm into the room where Jasmine is just waking. She opens her eyes, only slightly and straight away I see the eyes of her father.
THE END
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Book6
THE BILLIONAIRE'S
UNWANTED BABY
LACEY LEGEND
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A one night stand with womanizing billionaire Lance Carter was never going to end well for Grace Jordan.
But she didn't think it would ever get as bad as this.
A few months on from their night of passion, Grace has discovered she is pregnant. Having lost her job and on the verge of losing her apartment, the timing could not be worse.
So she goes to Lance for help.
However, the young playboy barely remembers her name and makes it clear he has no interest in helping her or the baby.
Now Grace is all alone with no one to turn to but just when she is on the verge of giving everything up she is about to find the help she needs from the most unexpected of sources...
Chapter One
At the end of a long lane, winding through a beautiful property lined with tall full trees and filled with manicured hedges and gardens, dotted with ponds and walking paths, and the occasional gazebo, stood a grand old mansion. It was three stories tall, built sturdy and strong, like the wintered gentleman who owned it and who had worked hard to get it and keep it all of his life. The house had a pair of tennis courts, a nine hole golf course, two outdoor pools; one was an Olympic pool, and the other was a large swimming and diving pool shaped like a seashell, twice the size of the pool inside the house. There were vegetable gardens and a small orchard filled with fruit trees, a rose garden, and near those was a solarium and greenhouse where the gardeners tended to all growing things inside and outside of the house.
Also inside the house were three men. One was the old gentleman who owned it all, Henry Carter, and he was the father of the two younger men, who were brothers. The oldest brother, Lance, was an extraordinarily good looking man. He was tall and solidly built. He had dark bronzed hair his father used to have before time turned it. He had dark mysterious eyes, a chiseled jaw line, perfect straight white teeth, a small cleft in his chin, and a straight nose that curved gently at the tip. He seemed made of muscle from his golden boy smile down over his sculpted stomach, narrow waist and hips, to his long solid legs. He looked like a Greek god, and he knew it.
His younger brother, Oliver, looked similar in many ways; he had the same strong body, though he was two inches shorter in stature than his older brother's six and a half foot frame. He had dark hair, almost black, like his mother's, and he had her hazel green eyes, which were most often hidden behind a pair of glasses. His toned and strong body was only ever hinted at in the way his button up shirts and suits hugged him a little closely and even then it was but the outline that gave it away.
Lance preferred to show his body more in the way of snug pants and shirts that opened further at the collar. His hair was always combed perfectly into place, whereas Oliver's waves sometimes fell slightly askew, escaping formality to hang loosely near his eyes. He was so often concentrating on business or some such thing, that he rarely noticed it, and though he did not know it, it gave him a devil-may-care look.
He was sporting that look as he walked swiftly through the wide open halls of the mansion, over the dark hardwood floors here and marble floors there. The sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the voluminous space and their sounds wafted into the distance as he walked further on.
Oliver went past the foyer and through the sitting room, through the dining room and a gallery room, a reading room and one of the libraries, into a sitting sun room, and through that into the indoor pool. He had looked everywhere else. There was no other likely place that his brother could be. Just as he came to the doorway of the pool room, he heard voices and he knew he had probably found Lance.
He did not expect to find what he saw when he walked through the door, though it did not surprise him in the least. Lance was laying sprawled across a wide cushion near the pool, with not a stitch of clothing on. There were empty champagne and booze bottles laying around him, and nestled between his legs was a young woman whose only cover was the mane of brown curls that laid over her back. She was clinging to Lance's hips, enthusiastically burying as much as she could of his erection down her throat.
Lance wasn't solely focused on her, however, for as she worked away wildly at his groin, another woman with enormous breasts and a wildfire mass of red hair was making out with him, and all of his attention was on her lips and her nipples as he pumped his hips into the face of the brunette.
Oliver thought he might vomit. He turned away from them and called out over his shoulder. "Lance, you need to finish what you're doing and come with me to see father. He's requested a visit with us. I'll.... uh.... I'll wait for you outside."
Lance groaned
in immense pleasure and Oliver could hear the grin on his face. "What, he wants to see us right now?"
Oliver paused in mid-step. "Yes, Lance, right now."
There was a breathless groan of bliss from Lance and then he spoke again. "Just hang out and wait... I'm almost done here; just stay there. I'm... almost..." His breath grew thick and swift and Oliver wished he could close his ears as easily as he could close his eyes. He thought for a moment of walking to the door, but from the sound of things, his brother was already reaching an orgasmic climax and he knew by the time he reached the door it would be over anyway, so it was useless to try to leave. He sighed.
Lance cried out in pleasure, gasping, and then groaned happily. Oliver faced the door and folded his arms across his chest. It wasn't a few moments later that Lance walked toward him. Oliver heard him and turned to look at him, trying to hide the disgust he felt from showing on his face. Lance smiled at him as he zipped his pants up. Pausing for a moment, he looked from Oliver to the two naked women who had followed him and were caressing his bare back, shoulders, and arms. They were not shy about being nude in front of Oliver.
"I guess I should introduce you. Oliver, this is... ah.... what are your names again?" he asked with a smile as he wrapped one arm around each of them.
"I'm Shayna, but you can keep calling me baby." said the large breasted redhead.
The brunette pouted slightly and then smiled. "Well, maybe after the fun we've had, you will remember me. I'm Brianna." She batted her eyelashes at him and snuggled close to his torso, kissing his bare chest. She leaned up to kiss him and he held a finger in front of her lips.
"Ah no, honey, brush your teeth first." He winked at her.
Then he looked at them and said, "This is my younger brother Oliver. He's a little more straight laced than I am." He smiled at his brother.
"Brother?" Shayna said with a wide grin. "I didn't know you had a brother. Look, Brianna, one for each of us, or we can swap now and then. You know I'm game."
The Baby Shower Page 54