"And did he call back? What did he say?" I ask. The possibility of my sister and her husband getting back together makes me irrationally happy. I've never even met the guy, but the idea of them repairing their relationship makes me hopeful that I may be able to find my own happily ever after someday.
She giggles. "He hasn't called back. But I'm okay with that. I've extended an olive branch. We'll see what he does with it."
I actually feel proud of her. "Well that's great, hun. Kudos on being the bigger person."
"Hastag, adulting!" She throws a wink at me over her shoulder.
I laugh as I set Sebastian down on the floor. "Okay, I've got to go pee and I'll come back and give you a hand with dinner."
"Sounds good," she calls out to me as I leave the room.
I hurry into the ground floor washroom and empty out my overextended bladder. I splash some water on my face and stare at my reflection. I'm wearing Grace's plain hand-me-down sweats with my belly straining against the pink cotton-blend. My hair hangs in blond coils around my face. Though I've gained some weight (Jakob insists on feeding me about twenty pounds of food each day), I look healthy and glowing. I look so different from the girl who showed up here a few weeks ago. Yes, I was wearing designer clothes with my salon colored hair but I was completely lost and miserable on the inside.
Maybe Reyfield was a good idea after all. I don’t miss the big city one bit. Not even the cosmopolitans and the shopping and the Sunday brunches at those over-priced downtown breakfast bars.
I mean, I just let a bearded farmer go down on me in a barn. Who am I anymore?
I grin at the thought. I've really been on a high since that day. The way Jakob kissed me, the way he licked me, it overwhelmed every one of my senses. It turned my upside down world right-side-up. Maybe I should feel guilty but fuck it, I don't. I may be pregnant but I'm still a woman and I still enjoy the feeling of a man propping me up. I won't apologize for that, dammit.
I'm not delusional. I know that Jakob and I don't have a real shot. Why would he take on the responsibility of raising some other man's child? I certainly don't expect him to. But feeling his hands and his mouth on me still felt like a little bit of heaven in the midst of my hellish existence.
As I'm washing my hands, I hear the faint sound of the doorbell above the drone of Grace's music. I wipe my hands on a towel and hurry to the door. I swing it open and a tall dark-haired man in a suit stands on the stoop. He's strikingly-handsome even under the layers of fatigue all bagged up under his eyes.
“Hi…” I say waiting for him to identify himself.
"Hello?" He gives me a 'who the hell are you?' look. I give it right back.
Hmm...drop-dead gorgeous man shows up at the door wondering who the hell I am? I'm sensing a trend here.
Just then, Sebastian comes speed-crawling toward the door. When he sees the man, he erupts into an excited babble and crawls even faster.
The man crouches down with a face-splitting smile. "Hey buddy," he says with his arms wide open.
"Uh, who are you?" I ask, stepping between him and the baby. Nobody's kidnapping my nephew. Not on my watch.
Sebastian tangles around my legs, whimpering and pouting. The man eyes me sharply from his kneeling position. "I'm his father.”
Wait..."You're Daniel?”
"I'm Daniel.”
Whoa! Nice job, Grace. Way to procreate!
He's way too boardroom-chic for a Saturday evening but still…
I move out of the way and he scoops the kid up in one fluid motion. I watch them nuzzle each other for a moment, their affection for each other warming my heart. When Daniel’s gaze moves back to me, I stick a hand out. "I'm Lily, Grace's sister.”
"Grace's sister?" His brows lift skeptically as he accepts my hand.
"Her half-sister," I specify.
"Ah, right, right. Her dad did have other children.”
I chuckle. "Yup, three...that we know about.”
He smiles. "Well, it's great to meet you, Lily.”
"Would you like to come in?" I ask gesturing over my shoulder.
"Inviting me into my own house?" he laughs, stepping inside. “Thanks."
The blood drains from my face at the sarcasm in his tone. "Sorry," I whisper, feeling silly.
"I'm just teasing," he says clapping me lightly on the shoulder.
"I'll go get Grace..." ...before I put my foot in my mouth again.
I hurry into the kitchen and find Grace at the stove, stirring the pot and shaking her ass.
"Daniel's here," I tell her.
Her eyes go wide. "Daniel's here?”
I nod.
She freaks. Her hands fly to her hair, smoothing down the wild curls before she rips off her apron and tosses it onto the counter.
"How do I look?"
"Like a goddess!" I assure her with a wink.
She sticks the spoon in my hand. "Keep stirring, okay?"
Oh god. My sister has no idea that I can't be trusted in the kitchen. Everything I touch turns to roadkill. Jakob and Mini can attest to that. But I really don't want to disappoint her, so I stir the thick glob of carbohydrates with all I've got.
I've broken into a sweat by the time she pads back into the kitchen...with Daniel's arm around her waist!
"Lily," he says, "again, it was really nice to meet you."
A grin invades my face just seeing the way Grace is beaming in her husband's arms. "It was nice to meet you, too."
Sebastian crawls in behind them, pulling on his father's pant leg for attention. Daniel scoops the boy up and plants kisses on his cheeks. Grace's arms come around them and the three of them stand there, lingering in an embrace. Daniel's eyes drift shut as he savors the feeling of being reunited with his family.
A family. They're a family.
Guilt twists my insides because I can't give that to my son. His father doesn't want us.
Grace leans back and Daniel brushes hair from her eyes. "I can't wait for next Saturday," he whispers.
She gives him a squeeze. "Me, too."
"You know I'm coming back home, right," he says almost in warning. Like he's telling her he has every intention of putting his family back together.
She pats his chest softly, giving him a teary-eyed smile. "Let's take this one step at a time. Okay?”
He leans down and puts his lips on her cheek. She looks like she might swoon. He ruffles the boy's hair as he glances at me. "See you soon, Lily."
"See you, Daniel."
He disappears out the door.
Grace floats over to the stove, taking the spoon from my hand.
"What on earth just happened?" From what Faith told me, Grace and Daniel were done. Their marriage was over. But it looks far from done to me.
My sister smiles widely, holding up a pair of tickets to the theatre. "Do you think you can babysit next Saturday? My husband just asked me on a date."
Chapter 23
Jakob
Mini sits at the kitchen table and watches boredly as I empty the grocery bags. She's been ornery as ever since Lily left for her sister's a few hours ago. The two of them are like old pals and Mini gets irritable when Lily isn't around to keep her entertained.
"Since when do you eat Fruit Loops?" she asks with a challenging stare as I pack the box of rainbow-colored cereal into the cupboard. I'm not surprised that she's pissed to find me sneaking the sugary treat into the house without her knowledge. I put a moratorium on all her favorite treats when her health problems started getting out of hand. Processed sugars were completely banned, much to her dismay.
I feel a smile coming across my face. "Lily loves this crap," I say. The girl has zero talent at the stove and (like Mini) she has the food preferences of a toddler. At least she has some milk with each bowl of cereal so I try not to bug her too much.
My grandmother smirks at me. "Hmm...Thought you were waging war against sugar?"
"Don't you start with me." I turn away from her so she won't be able to see my ex
pression.
I ate Lily's sweet pussy in the barn, I watched her come all over my tongue and days later, it’s probably still written all over my face. Mini's searching for gossip but I'm not about to give it to her.
"Lily is a pregnant lady with epic cravings,” I tell her. “You're an old lady with diabetes. It's not the same thing."
She chuckles at me like I'm a hypocrite. "Since when do you care about the pregnancy cravings of your employees," she teases, "Aren't you a stone-cold businessman?"
What a facetious little hag! I keep packing away the food — some fancy-ass cherry pastry thing I think Lily might like, tinned sardines full of good stuff for the baby's brain, soda crackers for morning sickness — determined not to engage further with my annoying grandmother.
But the more I try to ignore her, the more utterly amused she becomes. She cackles at my discomfort.
"I hope you're enjoying yourself," I grunt as I slam a bottle of her medication down in front of her.
Her eyes soften just a bit and I catch a glimpse of the fun-loving woman who used to play tricks on me as a teenager just to get me to lighten up when my walls were up too high. I remember the Christmas when she found out that I’d started fooling around with girls. She filled up my stocking with condoms just to get under my skin.
"I'm only fooling around, Jakob," she says to me. "Do you know how good it is to be able to joke with you again, to see you smiling? The past few years you've been so serious that sometimes I'd get nervous just trying to start a conversation with you. You were so defensive. But since Lily got here..." Her voice catches in her throat and her eyes go misty. "Lily's been good for you."
My heart goes tight seeing my grandmother get all emotional. "Lily's not mine," I remind her.
"Well don't you think that you should do something about that?"
I push out a heavy breath. "It's not that simple. She's pregnant. I don't even know the status of the situation with the child's father."
"You could ask her."
I could. But I won't. Because what the hell would I do with that information anyway? I can't just step in and take some other man's place.
"Look, right now, Lily just needs a friend. I'm just going to be her friend.” I can still taste her pussy on my tongue even as I'm saying the words. I can still hear her moans in my ears.
But I've got to put that out of my mind. I can only allow myself to be Lily's friend. That's already a big step because I've never had an employee for a friend.
Friend...
I haven't had one of those in a long time. I hope I still remember how to be one.
Chapter 24
Jakob
"You really don't have to do this," she says as I hold the door to the clinic open for her.
"Shut up, Lily," I growl with a firm slap to her stubborn, curvy ass, coaxing her inside.
"Ouch!" she yelps in surprise, rubbing the sore spot as she steps into the building. I grin to myself.
This is me being a friend.
Friends are allowed to slap each other's asses, right?
I sure do hope so because I want to do it again. I love how that ass feels under my palm. And hell, if big, hulky NFL giants can get away with a friendly swat on the butt every now and then, why can't I?
The truth is, I'm falling in real deep with this girl and I'm trying my best to look the other way. My attraction to her is out of control. I fall asleep with her on my mind every single night. I jerk off to the thought of her every single morning. The other day when I drove into town, I bought condoms. Yes, condoms. As if I'm gonna fuck the pregnant lady who takes care of my grandmother.
I'm ridiculous. She's turning me into a mad man.
But at least I know I'm alive again. The parts of me that have been dead for so many years — they're alive again. My breath hitches when she smiles, my head spins when she touches me and my cock jerks excitedly each time she walks into the room. I'm alive.
Her outburst draws the attention of the olive-skinned older woman sitting at the desk. A smile spreads across the receptionist's face. "Good morning, folks!”
"Good morning," Lily says, still giggling. "I have an appointment for an ultrasound. I'm fifteen and a half weeks along." She rubs her belly.
"What's your name, love?" the woman asks, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her thin nose.
"Lily Monroe.”
The woman taps away at her computer before lifting her eyes. "Perfect, I have you down. Our ultrasound technician will see you in just a few minutes. Have a seat.”
We drop into two plastic chairs in the nearly-empty waiting room. Lily picks up a fashion magazine and starts babbling on about this designer and that trend. I just listen with a grin on my face. I love listening to her. The girl could talk for days, non-stop.
Before long, a dark-skinned woman with a curly afro and a wide smile comes out to greet us. "Hello there. I'm Kim, your ultrasound technician today," she says, extending a hand to Lily.
I watch as they shake. "I'm Lily. Nice to meet you.”
Kim's attention moves to me. "You must be her partner?"
Lily and I turn to each other. Her cheeks pink up and I can tell that she's embarrassed by her current relationship status. She opens her mouth to correct the technician but I speak up quickly. "Yeah, I'm Jakob. I'm her partner," I say as I rise to my feet and take Kim's outstretched hand.
I'm her partner. Gosh, it feels good to say that. Even though it's a load of crap.
Kim's eyes dart from me to Lily and back. "God, you're a good-looking couple," she mutters. "Your baby's gonna be a stunner."
"Thank you," Lily says, giving me a coy glance.
"Come with me," Kim tells us, "let's go get a look at your future supermodel baby."
Lily giggles as we follow the woman down a brightly-lit hallway to a tiny room full of medical gadgets. She gives Lily a paper gown to drape over her dress and she leaves the room for a few minutes. When she returns, she instructs Lily to sit in a vinyl-covered reclining chair then she squeezes jelly onto her stomach. Kim presses the flat head of the ultrasound wand to Lily's belly and a blurry image appears on the monitor.
"Oh my god," Lily mutters, staring at the screen, "That's my baby..." She reaches for my hand.
"That's your baby!" Kim's excitement is so real you'd think it was her first time seeing an ultrasound, too.
I squint at the image not too sure what I'm looking at in the sea of black, white and gray. Kim points out the limbs and some of the internal organs and I just nod along, with Lily's fingers tight around mine.
The technician punches a few buttons on her keypad. "It's too early to determine the baby's sex at this point, but I'll tell you, this munchkin has a hell of a heartbeat."
Lily glances over at me and smiles so big that my heart feels like it might burst.
Kim continues. "And, as an added bonus, I can confirm that your little one has a head!”
Lily throws her head back and laughs deep in her throat.
"Good to know," I say, unable to keep from smiling.
"The baby also has ten fingers and ten toes attached to very long limbs." Kim chuckles. Lily leans forward, getting closer to the screen. "The internal organs I can see appear normal but we’ll get a better look at your next scan. Everything is looking good, folks. Everything is looking good.”
I reach over to where Lily's hand is lying beside her on the chair and wrap my fingers around hers. She gives me a squeeze and a smile for the ages.
Kim sets down the wand and moves over to the machine. “So, before you get to see the doctor, a nurse is gonna come in and draw some blood. Are you okay with that?”
Brave as ever, Lily nods.
“Perfect,” Kim says, her finger hovering over the power button. “Oh! I almost forgot to ask — would you like a print-out of the sonogram?”
Lily shoots a semi-threatening look her way. "Don't tease me, lady. Of course I want a print-out!"
Chapter 25
Lily
&nb
sp; I tiptoe down the dark hallway and peek through the crack in the door. The TV blares an infomercial about steak knives made from some special kind of inoxidable steel or something.
Jakob lies on his back with his hands behind his head. He's staring up at the ceiling. Just the sight of him in bed wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants turns me liquid on the inside. I imagine what it would be like, lying next to him, bathed in his heat, inhaling his scent. I ache to feel his lips on me again. And by god, I want to return the favor.
Dirty Farmer (The Dirty Suburbs Book 6) Page 8