Three threw me into the hot shower and held me under the hot water. The beads of water felt good cascading off my body. I let the pulsating liquid beat down the back of my neck. My mind was starting to clear and I was starting to sober up . . . not that I was ready to get back in the game and deal. But the truth was, I knew on some level that Three was right. It was bad enough that I had lost my baby maker. But I damn sure didn’t have to settle for losing the Joduku Plastics acquisition to that asshat Brooks. Between Brooks and me, I was the better businessman. Three and I had a philosophy that in business the best revenge was being successful. And Three and I were bred to take no prisoners.
“Look, Nicky,” Three said, talking to me through the shower door. “You might be down, but you’re not out, brother. We need you. Big Daddy’s got a lot riding on you. And, Lucia can’t run Milk Money alone. Pity parties don’t become you,” Three said, pulling my shaving kit out of the bathroom drawer and setting it on top of the marbled sink.
“Yeah, well you try dealing with that fuckwad Brooks McKenna tossing your woman around and you not being there to protect her; your woman saying she’s “contemplating a sperm donor,” and before you know it she’s pregnant; and on top of everything else your father wants you to bid on a plastics company that he’s perfectly capable of buying himself, and such business has absolutely nothing to do with your own company’s business. Then father pulls out his trump card, reminding me that my deceased mother wants me to have grandsons. Hell I may drink for three more days,” I growled, continuing to run my head under the hot water.
“I know it’s a tough hand you’ve been dealt Nicky, but it’s not like you to go down without a fight,” Three said. “The family is counting on you. I’m counting on you. Everyone knows you’re the best at what you do.”
I turned the water off and took the white fluffy monogramed towel Three handed me out of the towel warmer, patting it through my hair first and then wrapping it around my waist. I looked at myself in the mirror, sighing loudly and taking a deep breath. I made every effort to steel myself. I stared at my reflection. And what is the best that you do Nicholas Miles Becker? I asked myself in the mirror. You fucking take no prisoners, I answered.
“Get your shit together and get back in the game,” Three said, looking at me sternly. “Nothing is the only game in town, Nicky,” he assured me, slapping me on the back. “Get dressed. I’ll have Ina fix you some hot food. I’ll have a barber sent up to you. You need some food and a haircut,” Three said shaking his head. “Time to play ball, brother. We Beckers never let the fish get away nor leave millions on the table.”
“Must you remind me?” I asked.
“You’re just hung over Nicky,” Three said. “Your head hurts right now. Go close this deal and then go get your woman. You and Harper can work this baby shit out later down the road. Hell, make another baby, Nicky,” Three said. “It’s not like this is the end of the world. She can have more kids you know,” he said throwing his hands up like it was all no big deal. “I should know. I’ve got three of them,” he grunted. “Three for Three.”
Oh God this is a big pill to swallow. I guess I hadn’t thought about the fact that there was still an opportunity for Harper and me to have our own baby. Could I learn to love a stranger’s baby? It wasn’t like this baby would know who its father was. I could raise a stranger’s baby as my own and love it, couldn’t I? I could learn to love Harper’s baby. Who was I fooling? I exist for her. I suppose I could do this. Couldn’t I?
I began to shave, looking in the mirror making sure that the conversation I was having in my head made sense. God, Harper made me so crazy with her shit.
“She hasn’t asked me to share her world, Three. She went to a fucking fertility clinic and made a baby with some stranger’s sperm,” I grumbled. “She told me she was just being informed about her options. She said nothing about making a baby. She excluded me.”
“So you say,” Three said. “You haven’t spoken to her, Nicky. You’re operating on hearsay. You need to hear the words directly. You know, from her lips to God’s ears, remember. Or has that vodka made you forget who you claim you to be?” Three chuckled.
It would be just like Three to make fun of me at a time like this. I was having a fucking crisis. Oh God, just saying the words out loud was killing me. Yes killing me. That was what the fuck Harper was doing to me. Killing me softly. I gazed in the mirror, wiping the shaving cream off my face. I contemplated how awful my future was looking. I needed to shake this off.
Three’s phone buzzed. “Yes, my sweet Bella.”
I knew Three was on the phone flirting again with Lucia. I shook my head.
“Yes send him up . . . Steak and eggs are fine. Good.”
“You need to stop flirting with my partner,” I said solemnly to Three. “You’re married.”
“I may be married, but I’m not dead, brother. Ina is sending your food up. Franco is here to cut your hair. You’re starting to look like a shaggy dog, Nicky. An inch more and you could wear a ponytail.”
I nodded my head in acquiescence, moving toward the walk-in closet to find a pair of sweat pants to put on. I looked for my favorite grey ones. I needed to get in the ring and beat the shit out of Stephen.
“I feel like boxing,” I caught myself talking out loud to myself in front of Three, as I stood bare-chested in a fresh pair of briefs. I found a pair of jeans instead and a t-shirt. I put them on before Franco arrived to cut my hair.
“Shadow box or with Stephen?” Three said. “You’re not in the best of shape right now to be fucking around with Stephen. Trust me. You need to eat.”
“Uh huh,” I said, completely ignoring Three. I had things I needed to work out.
Nope, I couldn’t do this donor-baby business with Harper. But I could win Joduku Plastics. Maybe I wasn’t any good at this relationship stuff, but I had a keen eye for identifying profitable businesses. I was good at acquiring companies. That was why Big Daddy picked me for this job. I knew it. Three knew it. Big Daddy knew it, and Harper sure as hell knew it. If I couldn’t have her or my own baby, I could at least have this company. I’ll take my win where I can find it.
I balled my fists up, moved them quickly in a one-two pattern, my feet doing the Ali shuffle, shadow boxing with myself in the mirror.
All is fair in love and war. . . and business.
“Call Stephen. Tell him I’m coming down to the ring.”
“Not a good idea, Nicky.”
“I shall fear no evil, Three.”
“Idiot.” Three just shook his head.
Chapter Fourteen
Harper
“I swear to God, Mackenzie, this whole situation has really gotten out of hand.”
“Well I don’t know why? You wanted to get pregnant. Now you’re pregnant. What’s the big deal?” Mackenzie said. “So what everyone thinks you’re having unknown baby daddy when really you’re having Nicholas’s baby.”
“Well this is really bad. I called my mother to tell her the news. I said that I was standing outside the fertility clinic and that I was pregnant. She hung up on me before I could get in a word.”
“You knew she couldn’t handle the fertility clinic stuff, Harper.”
“It’s not like I went down the sperm donor path.”
“She doesn’t know this yet Harper.”
“I heard she was so distraught, she called up Big Daddy to cry on his shoulder about the whole matter.”
“Oh my God,” Mackenzie said.
“So now there’s even more confusion. I’m pretty sure Big Daddy has made mention of my pregnancy to Nicky because now, he’s not returning my calls.”
“Yeah, I would say this has gotten pretty ugly,” Mackenzie responded.
“And what’s worse, Reese mentioned to his sister Riley that I was pregnant and that he went along with me to the fertility clinic with me. Apparently, Riley casually mentioned it to her husband Mico, who mentioned it to Lucia, who mentioned it to Nicholas. I think Ni
cky thinks the baby is Reese’s. This is so messed up,” I said.
“Fucked up to the ninth degree would be more like it,” Mackenzie said.
None of her comments made me feel any better.
“Word is, Big Daddy mentioned to Three that I was pregnant, who I’m sure has also said something to Nicholas. Now this whole thing is a complete mess and out of control.”
This whole thing had gotten so messy. I wasn’t sure how to even begin to untangle it all with Nicholas. This had to be killing him. I knew Nicholas. I knew he had the wrong ideas floating around in that pea brain of his. None of this was going to make sense to him. This was not the kind of information that he was going to handle well at all. This time, this wasn’t his fault. This was just a matter of bad information floating around without the right narration.
“Which is exactly why you need to talk to him,” Mackenzie said. “According to Stephen, Nicholas has cut all social ties. He’s not exercising. He’s moping. He’s bitchy. Besides throwing himself into his work, no one has seen him. If it weren’t for this plastics thing, Stephen thinks he would have left the country by now.” Mackenzie shrugged.
“Knowing him, I’m not surprised,” I said.
“There’s been no sign of him on the entertainment pages either. Always Mallory Morgan and Jessica Leonard on the gossip pages, but no Nicholas.”
“And that’s important, why?”
“It means Nicholas has taken himself off the market.”
“I feel like I’m in the middle of some huge circle jerk with Nicky.” I moaned. “He’s thinking that I’m artificially inseminated with a baby by a sperm donor.”
“Oh this is scary,” Mackenzie said. “You’re carrying God’s baby, and he thinks you’ve done the do with a no-name stranger,” Mackenzie laughed.
“Mackenzie there is nothing funny about this. Nicholas isn’t speaking to me. When I call his office, Lucia just says that he’s thrown himself into the Joduku Plastics acquisition presentation and is not taking calls.”
“Well that would seem plausible,” Mackenzie replied.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to share the good news about the baby with Nicholas or my mother properly. I can’t even have my time of joy, Mackenzie,” I said, starting to feel tearful for the third time today. I’m just a basket case,” I said, tears rolling down my face.
“No, baby, your hormones are just swinging,” Mackenzie exclaimed. “Everything feels worse than it is when a woman is pregnant. This too shall pass.”
“I sure hope so, Mackenzie, because if it doesn’t, I’m going to slice and dice some balls off a few people if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, girl. Let’s don’t get all crazy hormonal now.”
“You know the least Nicholas could do is to discuss this with me. It’s been a couple of weeks. That’s a long time to ignore me. Maybe this is just a repeat of what happened between us ten years ago and the universe is trying to teach me a lesson. If I didn’t get the lesson then, the objective is to make sure I get the lesson now,” I exclaimed.
“I think you’re reading way too much in to all of this,” Mackenzie said.
“It’s not like I think for one minute that Nicholas deserves the benefit of the doubt, but in this instance, I think before we can start judging his actions, you should at least let him know the baby is his,” Mackenzie said, throwing a Cheeto in her mouth from the crystal bowl sitting on my end table.
Mackenzie was addicted to Cheetos. Whenever I needed to act out and climb the walls, I called her over for Cheeto night at my place. It was what we both did when we were upset. Tonight was my turn.
“Well one thing for sure, next week is the presentation at Joduku Plastics. I will for sure see Nicholas then. He will be there, and so will Brooks Fitzgerald McKenna.”
“I’m not sure that’s the best setting for you to have such a delicate conversation with Nicholas, Harper. Breaking baby daddy news and the ‘Fitz’ don’t go so well together. That’s not the best of circumstances under which Nicholas should hear this.”
“I plan to tell him to his face that this baby is his. And I plan to do it when I see him. If he would take my calls, he wouldn’t have to be in that position of finding out this way, so I really don’t care.”
“This seems kind of risky Harper.”
“He’ll just have to suck it all up and deal with it. I want this acquisition to be over and done. After Montgomery Consulting Group wins this acquisition for Carmichael Ketchup, Nicholas probably won’t be speaking to me anyway. Nicholas doesn’t take to losing well,” I said stuffing my face with more Cheetos and grabbing a sparkling water off my wet bar. “If Nicholas wants to act like he did ten years ago, then this time he might as well tell me to my face instead of disappearing off the face of the Earth for a couple of months,” I ranted.
“Are you going to be able to manage this on your own? What if he decides to take flight and run for the hills?” Mackenzie said. “I’m not sure you should be alone. I could come with you.”
“Thanks but that won’t be necessary. This is business and I have to be able to have a baby on my own and conduct my business.”
“True,” Mackenzie interjected.
“The world won’t stop turning on its axis just because Nicholas Miles Becker decides he wants to act like a child and take flight again. Besides, Charlotte will be with me so I won’t be completely alone. And, I’ll have Scott at my side for protection. I’ll be in good company,” I said, feeling tearful again. “I just need to get this whole business straightened out with my mother first. I figure she’s calmed down enough now to hang on the phone long enough for me to get out the facts.” I sighed. “To think she’s freaking out all on the wrong information.”
“Whatever made you think that Elizabeth Carmichael Montgomery would handle you having a baby with a sperm donor well?” Mackenzie laughed. “Were you trying to send your mother reeling? Even I could have told you Elizabeth was not going to take to that idea very well at all. Seriously Harper, were you shooting to get disinherited or something?” Mackenzie said, shaking her head.
“Oh, mother would eventually get over the idea of it sooner or later. Once she finds out that this is Nicholas’s baby, she’s going to be tickled pink. Mother thinks Nicholas walks on water,” I said rolling my eyes up in my head.
“That she does,” Mackenzie said stuffing another Cheeto in her mouth.
“I’ll give her a call tomorrow after my appointment with Dr. Richards and let her know the real truth. I’m due to update her on the status of the Joduku acquisition anyway. The presentation is next week and so I need to bring her up to speed,” I said. “It’s not like she’s going to let this whole business of a baby get in the way of her own business for too long,” I said.
“Well just remember, I’m here for you, girlfriend. At the end of the day, you still have me.” Mackenzie smiled.
It was so nice to have Mackenzie as a best friend. She was loyal to the end.
“So let’s figure out baby names . . . What shall we name him if the baby’s a boy?” Mackenzie squealed.
Juniorrrrrrrrr, the panicked voice in my head said in a very high-pitched, glass-shattering operatic voice.
Perhaps, it will be a girl . . .
“It’s good to see you again, Harper,” Dr. Richards said. “Dr. Stone called to thank me for your referral. I see you went to the fertility clinic. How did things go? Did you feel you want to proceed down that path now that you’ve visited the clinic?”
“Well actually Dr. Richards, my visit to the fertility clinic revealed that I am already pregnant. Apparently I’m not in need of a sperm donor. Nicholas Becker has already donated. I’m having Nicholas’s baby,” I said.
“Well I guess congratulations are in order.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling shyly.
“So you and Nicholas decided to have a baby together? That’s interesting news.”
“Well not exactly.”
“What do you mea
n?” Dr. Richards said, looking a bit perplexed.
“I haven’t had a chance to share the news with Nicholas,” I said solemnly. “He doesn’t know.”
“Oh really?” Dr. Richards said, raising her eyebrow.
“Well he does and he doesn’t,” I said, knowing I wasn’t making sense. “Everything was happening so fast. You see, I went to the fertility clinic to explore my options. While I was there, they ran the usual routine tests on me and in the process, they discovered I was already pregnant.”
“Well, I bet that was a bit of a surprise,” Dr. Richards said.
“Everything happened so quickly. Before I knew it, I tried to share the information with my mother and all hell broke loose.”
“How so?
“Mother got the wrong impression. She hung up on me before I could explain that I hadn’t gone through with sperm donor process,” I said, shifting uncomfortably in my chair.
“Go on,” Dr. Richards said patiently.
“Later, I discovered Mother had shared my pregnancy news with Nicholas’s father. Before I could explain to anyone the real truth, word got around with Nicholas’s family and staff that I had gone to the fertility clinic and that I was impregnated.”
“Oh my,” Dr. Richard exclaimed.
“Now I believe Nicholas has the wrong impression as well. He’s not been taking my calls these days,” I said, exasperated.
“Oh goodness. You really have had a tough go of it dear. How have you been feeling?” Dr. Harper asked sympathetically.
“Well, I’m having morning sickness and a few tearful moments that I guess comes with any routine pregnancy, or so my obstetrician says. Physically I’m holding up pretty good, to be nine weeks pregnant, but emotionally I feel like a basket case.”
“Well that’s to be understood in light of the circumstances,” Dr. Richards said. “I don’t want you to get your spirits down now dear. There’s every good reason that all of this miscommunication can be readily cleared up. This should be your happy time.”
Milk Money Page 21