by Love, Kimmy
Annaya wasn't attractive any more. At least, she wasn't sexy. Her stomach had swollen far more than she'd expected it to, so that when she was standing up straight she couldn't even see her toes and she had to stand leaning backward with her hands pressing into her spine to help support her own weight. She waddled now, rather than glided and no matter how much make-up she put on, she couldn't stop her cheeks from shining pink.
She was far removed from the vision that had attracted him in the club, all fluttering eyelashes and sex appeal. Now she was a waddling frump and she wondered if Jack resented her being around. But if he did resent her, or blame her, or hate the situation, he did a good job of hiding it. He always had a smile ready for her, even after a flight from Vegas or on the way to meet her parents.
Today they'd gone for another scan and had finally decided that they wanted to know the gender of the baby. They were having a little girl. Annaya didn't know what she'd expected to see in Jack when he'd heard the news, but she was surprised to see a big smile spread across his face when the midwife announced it. Jack was rather good at keeping his emotions in check and living under that playboy persona, so it was always a surprise to see the facade break and the man beneath showing his feelings. Jack had told her that he was thrilled they were having a daughter and, the way he'd smiled when he'd said it and gripped onto her hand with bright eyes, Annaya had believed him.
*****
Every time Jack had to leave Bakersfield, it was harder and harder to do. He'd grown up in the largest and most luxurious of houses, being given everything he could have ever wanted, but he never felt torn when stepping out of his mansion or away from the bright lights of Vegas.
No, he felt most like he was leaving home when he stepped away from Annaya, with her dazzling smile and chipped coffee mugs, in her cozy little apartment. He felt at ease with her in a way he didn't with anyone else in the world and every time he left her, he missed her.
She was beautiful to him, even now. He'd first been attracted to a woman with big, mysterious eyes and a body to die for, but now there were different things about her that attracted him even more; like the sound of her laugh and that pregnant glow on her cheeks. He found the little whistling sound she made when she finally sat down in a chair after waddling a short way to be adorable and of course, her dazzling smile was just as it had always been.
His feelings for the woman were growing. He admired Annaya more than he could say. She was strong, capable and unwilling to back down for anybody, which was impressive. When she'd turned down his proposal at his father's mansion, he'd been shocked initially.
Ever since he'd hit puberty, the press had advertised him as the most eligible bachelor around and he'd had women throwing themselves at him when he was in his teens and so he'd felt a moment of shock when Annie had laughed and told him to get off his knees.
Looking back, it had been a terrible idea. Jack thought it through before the proposal and had imagined that a marriage would help give a good impression in the short-term and if it didn't work out long-term... well, that's what divorce was for. His mistake had been forgetting that Annaya wasn't the cynic that he was.
She believed in love and craved it. She wasn't after his money and she was a frail, fragile thing that needed the protection of a man through the ties of marriage. Annaya couldn't be bought and that's why Jack was mad about her. She'd turned down his proposal, and yet returned every one of his longing glances. She felt something for him, he knew, but the question was how to turn it into something more.
Meeting her parents may very well be a good start, he thought – or a disaster. He wasn't in the habit of being brought home to meet a girl's folks, but back in Vegas, he supposed it wasn't necessary. Parents would have killed for their daughters to be chosen by such a wealthy and influential man. Annaya, however, had parents who had raised a defiant and independent young woman, and he was sure that if Annaya was anything to go by, then her parents would be hard to impress.
*****
Annaya saw Jack looking around at the small property with its slightly overgrown garden and that one wonky shutter and wondered what he really thought of them. There were no chandeliers here, no crystals or champagne. Annaya and her parents were just ordinary people from an ordinary background and, for some reason, Annaya felt much more nervous to have Jack step into her world, than she'd ever felt stepping into his. She felt exposed here, like he could see all her secrets. She looked up at his gorgeous face and her doubts melted away. He stepped closer to her and casually laid a hand to rest on the small of her back. Annaya took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
Her mother was the one to open the door. She was a stout, matronly Nigerian woman with lips that could produce either a dazzling smile like Annaya's own, or the most lethal scowl. Right now, her expression couldn't make up its mind which to produce and instead she fixed Jack with a stern, judgmental stare, slowly running her gaze up and down the body of the billionaire.
"This is the one, hmm?" she announced at last. She pointed a wagging finger at Jack disapprovingly. "You have left my daughter in a difficult position. I was not pleased to hear it. Did you not think what your little night of fun might do?"
"Mrs. Towler, I am incredibly sorry for everything," Jack said with a sincere expression on his face. "It was never my intention to leave your daughter in this position and I assure you that she will have everything she needs from this point forwards. Everything."
Annaya's mother, Shona, gave a reluctant nod and, even though her lips were still pursed, she stepped back to let the pair in, pausing only briefly to plant a kiss on Annaya's cheek.
"Seven months!" Shona declared as she led them into the lounge. "It took seven months to meet the man. Where were you, boy, hiding?"
Annie wished that the ground would swallow her up when her mother called Jack ‘boy’, but the billionaire seemed to appreciate Shona's motherly protectiveness and he just smiled a small smile of amusement before remembering he was supposed to look repentant and plastered a more serious expression on his face.
"I'm very sorry again, Mrs. Towler. There's a flight between us and I work very long hours."
"What are you? Some businessman?"
They were in the lounge now, where Annaya's father was reclining in his sagging old armchair, half-asleep. He was growing frail in his older years and his once-black curly hair was now a shocking white, but his wrinkles had given him a much kindlier expression than the stern one that Annaya remembered from her youth. Drake Towler had mellowed a lot in his old age and rather than attacking Jack, as Shona had done, he simply stood and extended a hand to him.
"It is good to meet you at last. Jack, is it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Drake. And I see you've met my wife, Shona."
"This businessman reckons he is too busy to be flying over to take care of our daughter."
"A man's got to put food on the table, Shona. Come in Jack, sit."
Drake beckoned for Jack to enter the room and gestured for him to take a seat. Jack thanked him and sat down on the mint-green and pink striped sofa that the couple had in their lounge since the seventies and he accepted a cup of tea from Shona, who was still muttering to herself about this Vegas businessman who wasn't taking proper care of her daughter.
At last, all four were sitting in the lounge, drinking tea and looking around at one another, until Jack broke the silence.
"You have quite an incredible daughter," he said. Annaya didn't know if he was still buttering her parents up, but he sounded sincere and she dipped her head to hide a smile. "I've been amazed with how she'd reacted to this whole thing. She's a very strong woman."
"Of course she is!" Shona declared proudly. "She takes after her mother."
"Annaya has always had her head screwed on right," Drake added. "A straight-A student at school. A hard-worker now. Always very independent. When her friends were out chasing boys, she was out causing trouble. A tomboy, when she was young, she was. You wouldn't know it to
look at her now, of course."
"No," Jack agreed. "She's stunning."
The billionaire shot her a sideways glance that made Annaya blush again. Every time he spoke fondly of her with a compliment or comment about her strength or how he admired her, she couldn't help but believe him. She wanted to reach out and hold onto his hand, but it felt wrong with her parents watching and judging them.
After an awkward beginning, and a lot of questioning from Shona, it seemed that Jack eventually won the pair over with his smooth talking and sincere promises to do right by Annaya and when at last they left, Annaya felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"Thank you, Jack," she said. "It means a lot to me that you met them."
"How'd I do?"
"I think they like you."
"Well, I guess now we've both met each other's parents and they both kind-of approve. That's something, I suppose."
"I don't think any of them approve," Annaya laughed lightly, "but there's no secrets anymore, and that's a start. We'll win them over in time."
"You're right," Jack agreed. "And for now, we have something much more important to worry about."
"What's that?"
"We have to think of a name for our little girl."
That was perhaps the very moment that Annaya realized she was truly in love with Jack Casali. With everything around them so stressful and demanding and nothing going right, Jack was able to bring everything back to a reason to be joyful. He was a man who didn't shirk his responsibilities and who didn't expect her to change to fit into his world.
She felt like they were made for each other, but there was no way to say that without it sounding incredible corny, or like a woman who regretted not saying yes to a tempting proposal simply changing her mind.
Jack came back to her apartment after their afternoon with her parents to wait for his evening flight. She made them both some tea and they sat down on her sofa side by side, beginning to go over some logistics for the birth and for afterwards.
"I'm due July 21st," Annaya told him. "Will you be here?"
"I'll be wherever you need me to be. You have my number."
"The baby could come early, or late, or just on time. I want you to be there, Jack."
Jack reached over and squeezed her hand. "I will be."
"I hate that you're in Vegas."
There, she said it. It had been on the tip of her tongue for months and finally she'd come out and said it. How much easier it would be if Jack was there with her all the time! How much calmer she'd feel knowing he was a drive away, rather than a flight.
How much more willing she'd be to give into her feelings if she had even half a chance of it going somewhere. She didn't want the father of her child to be so far away. She wanted him to be here, a part of their lives.
Jack smiled understandingly and held her hand. "I hate it too, actually. I don't want to miss out on anything."
"You should stay here around the time the baby's due," Annaya said. "Then you'd be here, no matter what."
"You said yourself, Annie, the baby could come at any time. I can't be away from the business for that long. Besides, I don't think you should have the baby here."
"What do you mean?"
"I want you to have the best. I could arrange for you to stay in Vegas and have staff on call for when you went into labor. I could get you in with the best doctors in a private hospital. You would have much better care."
Annaya let out a hollow laugh. "I don't want to have my baby in Vegas, Jack. I want my family around me. How would my mother feel if she couldn't see her grandchild after I'd given birth? I'll be having the baby here, Jack."
Jack sighed heavily. "Fine, but I'm pulling some strings to make sure you get the best here."
"I don't care about any of that," Annaya insisted. "I just want you to promise you'll be there when she's born."
"I'll drop everything the moment you call," Jack replied. "I promise."
It wasn't really good enough, but Annaya felt like she was better taking what she could get than starting a row when she wouldn't change Jack's mind. This is what it always came down to with the two of them: logistics. He'd want to be in Vegas, she'd want to be here, and they'd both worry so much about what the whole thing would look like to everyone else that they never made any decisions at all.
She laid her head against his shoulder, weary suddenly from the stress of having so much to think about. Jack laid his cheek against the top of her head and they leaned against each other a while for strength and then, suddenly, Jack raised his head and turned Annaya's face towards him. He looked deeply into her eyes and shook his head slowly as if he was amazed by the sight.
"You're so beautiful, Annie." He leaned forward to kiss her and for the briefest moment, his rough lips brushed against her soft ones, before Annaya pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him away.
"Don't, Jack."
"Why not, Annie? You look so beautiful right now."
"Because we'll do what we've done before. We'll get caught up in the moment, have sex and then go our separate ways until next time. All the while, I'll be wondering if there's really anything between us, only to know that it doesn't really matter anyway, because everything else is getting in the way."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that it's got to be all or nothing, Jack," Annaya said firmly. "Think about it. We've got our whole lives ahead of us. How would you feel if I met a man, but was sleeping with you every time you flew over? Or worse still, what if I never met anyone because I was sleeping with you, but you and me never really got anywhere? I don't want to be on my own, Jack, but unless we sort ourselves out and whatever this is, that's what's going to happen. I need some clarity so that I can plan my life. I don't want to just be someone you screw when you're in town."
Jack let out an offended breath and sat back from her. "Is that what you think of me, Annie? That I'm just hanging about for the chance to get laid? I haven't got any trouble filling my bed."
Annaya rolled her eyes at the way he said it, as if she should be impressed. "Maybe that's the point. You take it all for granted. Me, some other woman – what does it matter to you? The great Jack Casali can have anyone he wants."
"That's not fair. I've been there for you ever since this all started."
"But what do you want, Jack?" Annaya asked exasperatedly. "I'm waiting for you to tell me that I mean something to you and that you want more, but we just let it build up and build up and then you fly away and it fizzles out until next time. That's not how I want to live my life."
"I offered you a commitment, Annie, and you turned me down. How dare you act like I've not done all I can!"
"You only proposed to me because your Daddy told you to."
Jack's face flushed red and he stood up with a scowl, picking up his jacket and his bag from her sitting room and heading towards the door. He turned back on his heel at the last minute as though he were going to say something to her, but then just shook his head in a mute fury and walked away. After he'd left, Annaya buried her head in her hands and burst into tears. He was gone again.
Chapter9
The first labor pains came as Annaya was attempting to walk to the corner store to buy some chocolate for her cravings. At first, she assumed that the shooting pains through her abdomen were just signs of exertion. After all, over the last couple of months she'd grown bigger and bigger and had consequently moved around less and less and so a journey to the local shops was almost a marathon to her.
She ignored the first few pains and told herself it was just due to the exercise, but she couldn't explain it away when two hours later her waters broke in the middle of the main street to the horror of shocked people who passed by.
For the first time since this all began, Annaya felt real fear. Up until this point, she'd felt unprepared and a little in shock and certainly anxious, but it was as the cramps began to tighten around her middle and she knew that the baby was wel
l and truly on its way that she began to really grow frightened of what would come next.
She was about to become a single mother – or as good as – and the baby's father was all the way in Vegas probably playing at some roulette wheel or another, and they'd hardly spoken in weeks, apart from short, angry sentences on the phone.
Jack was mad at her for the way she'd spoken to him and she was angry with him because he hadn't fought harder to keep her. Annaya was so messed up from the pregnancy hormones and the confusion of it all, that she had no idea who was in the wrong anymore.
Perhaps she shouldn't have pushed his buttons the way she had done that night. All she'd wanted was for him to tell her that he felt the same and to convince him to stay, but somehow all she'd managed to do was push him away and now the baby was coming and Jack wasn't here.
Annaya phoned Natalie first and then her mother. It was only when her anxious friend came zooming around the corner in her banged-up little car to rush her to the hospital that she thought about calling Jack.
"You haven't called him?" Natalie said breathlessly, as the panicked driver swung around a bend and put her foot down to accelerate towards the hospital. "You better do it soon, Annaya, or he's going to miss the birth."
"Of course he's going to miss the birth!" Annaya replied, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. "He's all the way in Vegas and I'm in California. He'll never make it in time."
"Call him now."
It was hard to do anything now that her labor pains were in full force, but Natalie was focusing on getting them both to the hospital in one piece, so it was up to Annaya to force her shaking hands to pick up her cell and dial Jack's number. It was hard to speak through the waves of labor pain and her voice came in short, sharp bursts through her winces when she got through to Jack's voicemail.