Just Marry Me Already (BWWM Romance Book 1)

by Ayo Campbell

  Left with nothing to say, Hallie leaned on Bridget’s shoulder and urged her bladder to hurry up.

  “Right. Right, I’ll… Go pee on another stick, then,” she said, attempted to grin and walked to the bathroom.

  This time, she held it, not taking her eye off it, until the result popped up again.

  Pregnant. Pink cross for pregnant. That was definitely a pink cross. On two sticks.

  One could be a mistake. Three… Three probably meant that she should accept that she was knocked up.

  Hallie stared at Bridget, her eyes bleak.

  “Look, I know it’s a shock, but Hallie… Look at the positives. You’re financially independent. You’ve got a good support system. Valerie has put in place an excellent policy for expectant mothers, and there’s childcare. All things considered, you’re working at one of the best places you could possibly be if you have to deal with an unplanned baby.”

  Bridget was beginning to go on a roll.

  “Besides, you like children. I’ve seen you with kids, you’re excellent with them. You’ll make a wonderful mother. And I’ll make an excellent godmother!”

  Bridget was quite cheerful now.

  Hallie gaped at her.

  “Bridget, I… I have to decide what I’m going to do, first. I can’t… I don’t want you to just assume that I’m going to have the baby. I need to think about it.”

  Bridget’s face went blank.

  “Oh… Oh! Oh…”

  Hallie began to get irritated. She didn’t want her life to get completely overturned, have all her plans go to hell, because she got pregnant. She couldn’t take care of a child unless she was stable enough to give the child a good future.

  What was the point of bringing a child into the world when the best you could give it was mediocrity?

  Bridget looked thoughtful. It was a few minutes before either of them said a word.

  Finally, Bridget spoke.

  “I’m sorry, love. I just associate pregnancies and babies with happy times. It’s always been like that for me. You know I have a pretty big family, you’ve met all of them. But I know it’s not like that for everybody. And it’s only right that you should do what’s right for you. I can’t help being thrilled that my friend is pregnant. I love you, Hallie.”

  Hallie felt the waterworks start. Why was it that now that she knew she was definitely hormonal, she couldn’t stop the tears? She had been perfectly levelheaded until then.

  “Oh, honey,” said Bridget, hugging her.

  “It will be all right. It will. No matter what, it really will be. No matter what you need, I’m here for you.”

  “Oh, Bridget,” wailed Hallie and let it all out.

  “How could I do this? I’ve been so stupid! What am I going to do? I was supposed to do better. I was supposed to do better than my momma. She had me when she was eighteen. For the rest of her life, her life revolved around me. You know how much talent she has. She is so much better than I am. I don’t want to see it all fade away for me, too.”

  Bridget held Hallie and let her cry it out. She had dealt with her twin sister’s pregnancy a while back. She had a beautiful boy now, and was perfectly happy, but when she was pregnant, especially during the first trimester, she had been forever wailing. There was nothing to do but to let her wail it all out.

  “There, there, honey, it’ll all be all right. Shush now,” said Bridget with the patience and knack of a veteran. She was a veteran. She was the only woman over twenty-five in her family who hadn’t been pregnant, and she was the butt of much teasing about how she was going to forever be the spinster aunt. She shrugged it off, usually, but it meant that she knew how to handle pregnant women.

  She couldn’t quite fathom not being excited about a baby, but she was firmly on Hallie’s side, no matter what. That, she was completely certain about.

  But, she thought, the baby’s father was Aldous Banks. Surely Hallie’s problems as far as finances to raise the baby were concerned would be irrelevant? Hallie was never going to use a baby as leverage to get money. But if a billionaire fathered a child, he was surely honor bound – and legally bound, for that matter – to pay child support?

  Anyway, wouldn’t a billionaire want to know that his child was raised comfortably, even if he didn’t want anything to do with the child, or be a real father to the child?

  Maybe, thought Bridget dreamily as she patted Hallie’s head, Aldous Banks would want to be a father to the child. Maybe when he knew about this, he would want to be with Hallie, and what a fairy tale that would be!

  Maybe Hallie and Aldous Banks would live happily ever after. Maybe she could be a bridesmaid at their incredibly extravagant wedding.

  Even better, maybe she could cater it.

  “Bridget?”

  Hallie’s voice broke into Bridget’s dreams of magnificent wedding feasts.

  “Yes, love?”

  “Practically, now, what do you think I should do?”

  Ah, thought Bridget, the crying jag was over for now. But she didn’t think it was quite the time to broach the topic of Aldous Banks.

  “Sit tight, and I’ll make us some tea. We’ll figure it all out.”

  Hallie sat listlessly. She wasn’t silly enough to think that a pregnancy was the end of the world. But it could very well be the end of the life she had worked so hard to make. It could be the end of all her simple dreams.

  She didn’t want it to be.

  But she wasn’t sure what to do. She wasn’t sure if she could go through with it.

  Chapter 5

  Hallie woke up with the queasy stomach at the crack of dawn.

  Well, if she’d had any doubts at all, they were gone now.

  She ran to the bathroom and heaved. She hugged the toilet, and lay on the mercifully cool tiles of the floor. She dozed off for a while, until she heard a knock on the bathroom door, and got up groggily. She had hazy thoughts of finding a weapon and bludgeoning to death whoever had broken into her apartment before she’d had her coffee.

  “Hallie, honey?”

  Of course. Not an ax murderer. Bridget. Bridget had stayed over.

  “Man, you’ve started early. Wait, I’ll get you something that’ll make you feel better.”

  “Sure, go ahead. Not like I’m going anywhere,” said Hallie weakly.

  Was that psychological? Seriously, she'd had absolutely no nausea until the day before. She gets the positive test and the next day, wham. She’s hugging the toilet, without the usual benefit of having had an extremely fun time the night before.

  Though, she revised, this was happening because she had had an extremely fun night. The bitching part was that she’d had a hangover the next day, too. She should at least be spared the hangover if she was going to end up knocked up.

  Bridget came back.

  She had a tray of toast and jam, and, Hallie hoped, coffee.

  She grabbed the mug and took a big gulp.

  She swallowed.

  “Where’s my coffee?”

  “Caffeine’s bad for the baby.”

  “I haven’t even decided if I’m keeping it!”

  “Well, in case you are.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “I don’t know, caffeine addicted baby?”

  Hallie glared.

  “Any child of mine is bound to be a coffee drinker anyway. So what’s the point?”

  “Hallie…”

  She drank the tea again.

  “This isn’t even proper tea!”

  “It’s peppermint tea.”

  Hallie upped that glare quotient.

  “You gave me peppermint tea.”

  “Yes, I went out and got it now.”

  “Why do you hate me, Bridget?”

  Bridget chuckled.

  “Look, if you don’t keep it, it’s just till you’re sure about that. If you do, you’ll have to switch to decaf anyway.”

  “That could be the deciding factor in the equation,” muttered Hallie, d
raining the cup of peppermint tea desperately.

  A thought struck her.

  “What else would I have to give up if I decide to keep the baby?”

  “Well….”

  Bridget was wondering whether Hallie could handle it. Hallie could see the wheels turning in her head.

  “Bridget…” It was a warning.

  “Well, some kinds of cheese, some kinds of fish, all alcohol, and you don’t smoke anyway so that’s fine, and quite a bit of junk food, and some people give up processed sugar.”

  Hallie’s jaw dropped.

  “I make desserts.”

  “Well, yes.”

  “I’d have to give up desserts?”

  “You could have some sugar, I’m sure…”

  With a moan, Hallie shoved the toast in her mouth.

  “Waiwhuda,” said Hallie.

  “What?”

  Hallie swallowed.

  “What’s in the jam?”

  “Oh, I got organic preserves with no processed sugar.”

  Hallie glared at it.

  “It’s not too bad,” she admitted grudgingly. “But,” she went on, “something’s going to have to give as far as the coffee is concerned. I cannot survive without coffee. And neither can the world. You know I get mad enough to destroy the world without coffee.”

  Bridget winced. The one morning Hallie hadn’t had coffee was legend in the office. She had yelled at every supplier until one poor young kid had hidden in the closet.

  “Well, darling,” said Bridget, gathering her courage, “you’ll just have to figure out a way to deal with it.”

  Grumpy, Hallie got up to stalk over to the bed and plop down on it.

  “Hallie…”

  Hallie looked up grumpily.

  “Never mind, maybe this isn’t the best time to ask you about this.”

  “You know how much I hate having something brought up and not finished. It makes me curious and I can’t focus on anything else. It stays and niggles at my mind all day. And,” added Hallie, her tone ominous, “I haven’t had coffee.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I… Okay, okay,” she hastened to add as Hallie glowered. “Well, the thing is, are you going to tell Aldous Banks about this?”

  Hallie scowled.

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” she admitted.

  Bridget waited a beat.

  “Well, what have you been thinking?”

  Hallie shrugged.

  “I would have to get through his admin to even talk to him.”

  “You don’t have his number?”

  Hallie glared at Bridget.

  “We were drunk and more focused on putting his thing in my thing than his number in my phone.”

  “Oohhkaaay,” drew out Bridget.

  “How the hell am I supposed to let him know he knocked me up when I have to go through his admin?”

  “Well, you kind of liked his admin. Or so I seem to remember. I’m sure she’ll put you through to him?”

  “Layla is… super competent. I haven’t the slightest clue if she’ll put me through to him when I can’t give her a business reason to do that.”

  “Well, we can come up with a business reason?”

  “Won’t work. She wouldn’t fall for anything. The woman has a sixth, seventh and eighth sense of some sort for bullshit.”

  “You have to try, Hallie. I mean, it’s his baby, too. If you decide not to have it, then that’s your call. But if your reason for not having it is financial, he deserves to have a say, too, don’t you think?”

  That made sense. But…. But, thought Hallie.

  “It’s not all about money, Bridget. I honestly don’t know if I’m ready to have a baby. To raise a child. I don’t know if I’m ready.”

  The tears, to Hallie’s mortification, started again. Bridget just pulled her into her arms and held her close again.

  “Shhh… It’ll all be all right, Hallie. One way or the other. Most of the crying is just hormones, so don’t beat yourself up about that. For the rest… Well, you’ll figure it out.”

  Hallie hoped Bridget was right as she waved goodbye.

  She had to get ready and go to work.

  She didn’t want to. She wanted to stay at home and wallow. Surely she was entitled to a bit of a wallow.

  Apparently not, she thought, as she checked her emails. There was no way she could miss the whole day.

  But she did have a two-hour window around lunch time. Maybe she could make that count.

  Hallie considered her wardrobe. She felt bloated, but she was going to try and see Aldous Banks, so she should probably dress well, she thought. She stood sideways and checked if she was showing, then told herself to stop being so utterly ridiculous.

  Of course she wouldn’t be showing yet.

  But she still decided to go with a wrap dress instead of one of her usual skirt and jacket combos. She didn’t feel confident enough to wear the usual.

  So she pulled out a lovely wrap dress in fall colors that she knew looked lovely on her. At least, it did when she wasn’t swollen with child, she thought bitterly, despite the evidence of a perfectly flat tummy and barely noticeable bloating.

  She was being irrational.

  She didn’t give a bleeding fuck if she was being irrational.

  She wished she were bleeding like she was supposed to be.

  “Hell with this,” muttered Hallie and got dressed. She pulled her hair back ruthlessly and tied it back. She got her makeup kit out and used some bronzer and blush because she thought she looked a bit hollowed out.

  She probably didn’t look hollowed out.

  Did pregnancy screw with your face, too? Why did nobody tell you about all this stuff? It was always about the glow and the happiness and all that, never about what the hell to do when you’ve no idea what you want to do.

  That, she had to admit, was the real problem. She had no idea what she wanted to do. She felt a reluctance to get an abortion, but thought that might be her most practical option. She wasn’t even sure if the reluctance was because there was a part of her that wanted to have the baby, or because she felt like she shouldn’t feel like she didn’t want it.

  She was thoroughly confused.

  Surely it was only reasonable to expect the father of the child to give some input? It would still be her decision, of course. She would make that perfectly clear. But she did, also, think that Aldous deserved to know of this. If their positions were reversed, she would want to know. And Aldous Banks was nothing like her. He was a man who was used to being in control, and demanded perfection from everybody.

  She didn’t think he would take kindly to anybody keeping anything like this from him, no matter how she felt about her right to do so. She had a feeling he would see it differently.

  She had baited and challenged him. She knew that. She wouldn’t do differently. But she had known that there was a ruthless, compelling streak to him, even when she was naked under him. She didn’t want to cross him. Especially when she felt that doing so would be unfair and unkind.

  That meant that she would have to shelve her pride and call the admin.

  Fine, she thought, irritated. If that’s what she had to do, then that’s what she would do.

  Nobody was ever going to say that she hadn’t made every effort to give him a chance to give his two cents’ worth.

  Determined, she called his admin’s number.

  “How may I help you?”

  That wasn’t Layla, thought Hallie, a bit confused.

  “Layla?”

  “I’m sorry, Layla has taken a leave of absence. This is Mandy.”

  “Well, hello, Mandy. I need to speak with Aldous Banks.”

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “Well, no…”

  “I’m afraid you need an appointment to speak with Mr. Banks.”

  “Fine, then I would like an appointment for one today.”

  She heard what sounded like a snort of derisive laughter.

  “I�
�m sorry, but Mr. Banks’s schedule is full for today. Who is calling, please?”

  “This is Hallie Holt. I catered an event for him.”

  “We have no events scheduled to be catered.”

  This Mandy sounded so haughty that Hallie wished she were standing right there so that she could punch Mandy’s lights out. She was probably one of those silly, underfed, willowy blonde models that Aldous seemed to favor so much. She could, thought Hallie, tie the silly girl up into a bloody knot and leave her tangled for the rest of her life.

  Did pregnancy mood swings start so early, or was she just feeling particularly vicious that day? Hallie wasn’t so sure.

  “May I help you with anything else?”

  She sounded as if she was asking if she may escort her out to the trash or would she like to take herself out.

  “No, thank you, you skinny bitch,” snapped Hallie and cut the call.

  Well, she would just have to go there herself and demand to see him. It wasn’t like they could just throw her out.

  Could they?

  Well, she supposed she would find out. It wasn’t like Aldous lived in his offices. And she knew where his home was, but the security there was like Fort Knox. She didn’t want to get arrested. She thought that might actually be a distinct possibility if she went that way.

  She would take her two hours in the middle of the day and go to his office. That was her plan. It was the best she had.

  Hallie was uncharacteristically scatterbrained throughout the day. She kept wondering what would happen.

  She needed to see Aldous. The more she thought about it, the more imperative it seemed. Finally, she took her two hours and left.

  All the way to the office, she thought about the last time she’d gone there. She had been dressed perfectly, full of confidence and determination to make her point and defend her colleagues.

  At the moment, she wasn’t dressed so sharply. She was wearing plain black trousers and a white shirt. She looked professional, she supposed, but her makeup wasn’t done meticulously. Her hair was feeling just a bit rebellious, too.

  Just typical, thought Hallie. Just when she would’ve liked to be perfectly poised, she looked like a hot mess.

  Ah well. She had to deal with it.

  Trying to put confidence into her stride, she walked into the building. She walked to the elevator that led exclusively to Aldous Banks’s office.