Wife by Wednesday

by Catherine Bybee; Crystal Posey

  He shook his head. “I’m trying to find a way to ask you something.”

  “Just ask.”

  “But what if you give me an answer I don’t want to hear?”

  Wow, his honesty humbled her. For a brief moment, Blake appeared to her a man vulnerable to hurt and pain just like anyone else. Instead of that thought making him a lesser person, it made him all the more loveable.

  She swallowed with the thought of love swimming in her head. Where had that come from? Damn, this pregnancy thing was already seeping into her emotions and making her a little crazy.

  “If you want an answer, you’ll have to risk the question. One thing you can count on with me is honesty.”

  The grey of his eyes met hers. “Do you want to keep the baby?”

  Her heart kicked in her chest. “Do you want me to give it up? An abortion?” Her insides started to coil on themselves but she couldn’t read Blake’s expression and didn’t know what he was thinking? Was he just asking to find out where her mind was, or did he want to remove the pregnancy and go on as they were?

  “I’ll answer your questions after you answer mine.”

  That was fair. “I never considered anything other than having the baby.”

  Blake’s shoulders slumped in. Was that relief, or resolve? “Blake?”

  He smiled. “I’m happy to hear that.”

  “Are you?”

  “I am. I know this is all happening fast. It isn’t anything like either of us thought it would be, but…”

  “But?”

  Blake pushed himself off the chaise and started to pace. “This is the way I see it. We’re not kids. Ten years ago my thoughts would have been different, yours too, I think.” He waited for her nod to continue. “When two people, who are not kids, find themselves pregnant they go ahead and have the baby. The bonus here is that we’re already married.”

  Oh my God. He’s jumping really far ahead. “We didn’t plan on staying married.”

  He stopped pacing and moved to sit on the edge of her chair. “I know. And maybe we won’t. I think a baby changes things. No… I know a baby changes things. But until we both know exactly what we want I say we move forward slowly.”

  “How does that look?”

  “I like where we’re at, Samantha. I like coming home to you, having you here. Until one of us wants to change that, I say we just continue on like we’ve been doing.” His gaze searched hers.

  “And after the year is up? After the baby is born?”

  “The year doesn’t have to change.”

  She knew that, but hearing him say it aloud tossed cold water on her face.

  “You didn’t want to hear that,” he said, seeing her reaction.

  “No. It’s what we agreed on.”

  His hand slid up her calf and rested on her knee. “Do you want more than a year?”

  “Right now, I don’t know what I want. I just found out I’m pregnant. I’m going to be a mother forever. That’s the only solid thing I know is going to happen. Everything else is a big, fat question mark.”

  “Let me give you one more solid thing then.” He patted her knee. “I’m going to be this child’s father. I won’t abandon you, or our baby. You have my word.”

  She knew that. Deadbeat duke daddy didn’t sound like Blake.

  “Can I ask you something?” She knew she was about to open him wide with her question, but she needed to know his thoughts.

  “Of course.”

  “Do you want more than a year?”

  He paused, took a breath. “I think we owe it to our child to give each other the option for more time.”

  “Stay married for the baby?” Didn’t that sound like a bad soap opera?

  He didn’t answer, instead he asked. “Do you like it here with me?”

  What a silly question. Of course she did. “It doesn’t suck.”

  He laughed. “So we push aside deadlines and contracts unless it does suck.”

  “Can we do that?”

  “Honey, we can do whatever the hell we want.”

  She laughed then. A real laugh that hadn’t come since she’d learned of the pregnancy. “Until it sucks then. I think morning sickness sucks.”

  He laughed now, inching closer to her. “That doesn’t count. I’m told delivery sucks too.”

  “Yeah, well… that won’t count either. I’ll get fat. That sucks.”

  Blake’s hand inched up her thigh, past her hip, and lay on her now flat tummy. “I’ll bet you’ll be adorable with a baby bump.”

  “Ha, you say that now. You’ll think it sucks later, I’m sure.”

  His warm hand slid around her waist and up her ribcage. When it reached the underside of her breast, her brushed a thumb over her clothed nipple. “These will swell, that won’t suck,” his voice grew husky.

  Samantha caught her lip in her teeth. “I’m told they hurt and you won’t be able to touch them. That will suck.”

  He leaned forward. The heat of his breath filtered over her lips. “I can handle all those sucky things if you can.”

  “Is that a challenge?”

  His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Maybe.”

  “It sucks that you know how to push my buttons.”

  His lips lingered over hers, not touching, but so close. “I suck already?”

  “I can handle it.”

  A brief brushing of his lips over hers wasn’t enough. She leaned forward wanting more. But he pulled back a tiny bit. “I’m glad it’s you having my baby,” he confessed. “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes, I do.” He kissed her, really kissed her to the point where stars sparkled in her head and she forgot she was outside where the world could watch.

  In Blake’s arms, as he nibbled and kissed his way around her lips, neck, and jaw, the world didn’t suck.

  Chapter Twelve

  The morning sickness got worse instead of better. And that sucked! Each day Blake, trooper that he was, agreed that her morning queasies sucked but he was going to help her through it until it got better. They agreed to keep a lid on the pregnancy through the first trimester, mainly because of the risk of complications and miscarriages. The doctor had assured them both after the second month they had nothing to worry about, but they waited to tell anyone anyway.

  Samantha didn’t even reveal anything to Eliza, which wasn’t easy. But she thought it was best to keep her friend in the dark to avoid any slips in conversation.

  True to his word, Blake stood beside her. There were times he needed to fly to Europe, but the trips were short, three days at most. It sucked when he was gone, but was always wonderful when he came home.

  The days started to drift together, the nights always a memorable experience in Blake’s arms. Then, just as the doctor had predicted, the morning sickness fairy stopped her daily visits.

  Blake returned home after a day in the office when Samantha had spent her time removing furniture and wall hangings from a room across the hall from theirs.

  She was hoisting a small table from beside the bed when Blake’s alarmed voice yelled from the door. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She dropped the bedside table, nearly hitting her toe. “You scared me,” she told him.

  Blake stepped beside her, hands on his hips. “You shouldn’t be lifting furniture.” His eyes swept the room. “Have you cleared everything in here?”

  All that remained was the big dresser, the bed, and tables. “Yeah, so? We talked about this being the baby’s room,” she whispered, careful not to let her voice carry to Louise who was in their room cleaning.

  “This is not okay,” he said under his breath. “Louise, Mary?” he hollered.

  “What are you doing?”

  Louise made it to the room at a run. Her eyes wide in alarm. “Is everything okay?”

  “Go get Neil,” Blake demanded.

  Samantha grasped onto Blake’s arm, her confusion muffled with alarm. No
matter how much she nagged him to tell her what was wrong, he waited until Louise, Mary, and Neil stood before the two of them before he opened his mouth.

  When he did, Samantha was shocked silent.

  “Samantha’s pregnant.”

  Her jaw dropped. They weren’t going to say a thing to anyone until her next appointment with the doctor in a week. Within seconds, she understood his motivations.

  “I knew it,” Louise said, glancing at Mary.

  Mary shrugged her shoulders and offered a motherly smile. “Of course she is.”

  “You knew?” Samantha asked.

  “Dear, we live here. Of course we knew.”

  Blake’s face shifted to Neil.

  “Don’t look at me. I was in the dark.”

  “If you ladies knew Samantha was pregnant then why would you allow her to move all this furniture up here?”

  Neil’s gaze darted around the room.

  “She didn’t want our help.”

  “I didn’t need their help,” Samantha defended herself and them. “What’s the big deal?”

  Neil stepped forward. “Pregnant women shouldn’t life heavy stuff.”

  Blake smiled and patted Neil’s back. “Someone who understands.”

  “Is that what this is about? You don’t think I’m capable of clearing out this room?” Oh, now she was just getting pissed. Of all the sexist things…

  “From now on I don’t want Samantha lifting anything other than a dinner plate or shopping bag… and if the shopping bag is heavy not even that.” Blake wasn’t talking to her, but over her to the staff.

  “Now you wait just a minute—”

  Mary backed up and motioned to Louise “I think we need to leave.”

  “Blake is right,” Neil voiced his opinion. “Let me help with this stuff. No need for you to hurt yourself or the baby.”

  Samantha shot out an arm when Neil moved around them to pick up the table she’d been struggling with. “Hold on. I’m pregnant, not an invalid. The doctor didn’t say anything about restrictions.”

  “Neil,” Mary barked. “I think we should leave Samantha and Blake to work this out without our help.”

  The three of them quietly slipped away, leaving Samantha holding her lips with tightly controlled anger and Blake squaring his jaw with determination.

  “I thought we agreed to hold off telling anyone about the baby.”

  He glanced around the room. “I think we missed the mark on that one. Damn, Samantha, you could have gotten hurt up here moving this stuff around.”

  “It’s just stuff.”

  “Heavy stuff that you shouldn’t be lifting.”

  “Oh, please—”

  Blake lifted his hand, silencing her protest. “What if you lifted this table,” Blake kicked the wood at his feet. “And started to have stomach pains?”

  A shiver of worry caught her unaware. “That probably wouldn’t happen.”

  “But what if it did?”

  Samantha shifted her eyes around the room, noticed the size of the queen bed for the first time, the bulky weight of the dresser she was determined to scoot out of the room before Blake had interrupted her.

  Maybe… maybe Blake had a point. “I can lift shopping bags,” she said under her breath.

  Blake stepped into her personal space and pulled her into his arms. His hands felt cold as they rubbed up and down her back, and she could hear the rapid thump of his heart in his chest. He’d been worried, really taken back by her actions. The emotional woman in her sighed in contentment that he cared. The independent woman in her shook a tiny fist in the air.

  “Please promise me you’ll ask for help in the future.”

  Promises weren’t something she offered unless she could deliver, so she didn’t rush the words he wanted to hear from her lips.

  Blake eased back and took her head in his hands. “Promise me.”

  “I was feeling so good today. I think the morning sickness is behind me.”

  “Promise me.” Blake didn’t let up his plea.

  “Okay, fine. I won’t lift anything heavy. Satisfied?” Her clipped words came out a bit harsher than she wanted, but Blake didn’t seem to mind. His smile reached his eyes.

  “You promise?”

  “I promise!” She pushed against his chest. “Geeze, do you always get your way?”

  Nodding, Blake offered, “I promise to jump on anything you need lifted. You won’t have to nag me to get stuff done.”

  “Okay, buster, put your muscles where your mouth is. I want this room clear so I can prep the walls… paint…”

  Blake’s eyes shot up and a frown fell on his lips.

  “Paint fumes?” he questioned.

  Already she knew there would be more promises made before night fell.

  In the end, she promised to leave the heavy work to Blake and anyone he hired to make it happen, and Samantha had rein to point, spend, and dictate as many changes as she deemed necessary.

  ****

  Instead of announcing the coming heir to his father’s lawyers with written correspondence, Blake opted for a much grander delivery. As soon as Samantha felt well enough to travel, they planned their trip to his ancestral home to tell the rest of the family.

  The small dinner party rumbled with excitement until Blake finally hushed the family and took Samantha by the hand. “I think by now most of you have guessed why we asked you here tonight,” he began.

  “You know how much I adore assumptions,” his mother called from the far end of the table.

  Those around laughed and waited for his next words.

  “Samantha and I are expecting a child in late January.”

  “I knew it.” Gwen hopped to her feet and circled the table to hug Samantha and then him.

  Congratulations and a chorus of well wishes rose. If anyone in the room questioned when Samantha had become pregnant, none said a word.

  Howard caught his eyes from the far end of the table, his lips fell into a straight line. Blake blamed his father for the strain on his relationship with his cousin. If the man hadn’t named him as the second in the will, perhaps Blake and Howard could have been closer. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Paul leaned forward and whispered something to his son and Blake turned his attention back to his wife.

  Samantha radiated pride and a special glow that many people spoke of when they talked of pregnant women.

  She wore a summer dress with short sleeves and belt around her still small waist. He noticed a swell in her breasts, which responded with more sensitivity when they made love. Each day he woke to a new wonder. Prior to their trip over the pond, at the last doctor’s appointment, they heard the tiny fluttering beat of their child’s heart. Tears had welled in Samantha’s eyes and his throat clenched in a painful grip. An instant attachment to the child not yet born felt more solid than anything had in his life. Well, nearly anything, he mused.

  His gaze fell to his wife in the sea of people pulling her in for a hug. Identifying his love for their child collided with another reality.

  The love for Samantha.

  Instead of scrambling away from potentially devastating emotions, Blake held them close to his chest like a good hand in a game of poker. He had plenty of time to decipher Samantha’s feelings before he opened himself wide. It wasn’t routine for Blake to play any cards until he knew he’d win the game.

  Parker sequestered himself with Blake for a few moments before leaving the party at the end of the night. “I see you’ve secured all your father’s requests.”

  Put like that, Blake felt a slimy film of dirt slide over his consciousness. Although he hadn’t done anything deviant in obtaining his ultimate goal, the fact that he’d never told Samantha about the need for an heir weighed on him.

  “So it seems,” Blake said.

  Parker held out his hand for Blake. “We’ll meet again after the birth and sign papers. Congratulations again.”

  “Thank you.”

  As Blake watched Parker leave his
home, he felt eyes of someone on him. When he turned, he found Samantha standing in the hall. “Your father’s lawyer… right?”

  Blake gave a curt nod. “They were close friends.”

  Samantha moved to his side and placed a hand around his waist before leaning into him. “I guess he has no need to doubt your intentions now.”

  Her gaze drifted toward the door.

  “He will doubt until our baby’s born, I’m afraid.”

  Samantha leaned her head on his shoulder and stifled a yawn behind her hand.

  “You’re tired,” Blake announced. “We should get you to bed.”

  “But there’s still a lot of people here on our behalf.”

  “People who will just have to do without us.”

  When Samantha didn’t offer any more resistance, he knew the extent of her exhaustion and ushered her to bed.

  ****

  Blake and Samantha stopped over in New York for a couple of days on their way back to California. While Blake met with his lawyer, Sam braved the sweltering heat of Manhattan and did a round of completely unnecessary shopping.

  As much as she tried to focus on the need for maternity clothes, the baby section of the department stores sang to her in a way she hadn’t expected. Maybe it was the fact that everyone who needed to know she was pregnant now did, but Sam had the strange urge to buy one of everything.

  Not knowing the sex of the baby made some things more difficult, but a green baby outfit here, a yellow one there worked. She found a hand-knitted, white blanket in which they could bring the baby home from the hospital. With several bags in hand, Samantha was shuffling through tiny socks and plush toys when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  Cooing over a musical rattle, she twisted to whoever was searching for her attention.

  The Viper stood before her, all blonde and bombshell. “Why am I not surprised to find you here?” Vanessa all but hissed between her pink lips.

  Samantha really didn’t care what the other woman thought, and certainly didn’t want to engage in a conversation with her. What were the chances of seeing the woman in a city the size of New York anyway? Sam knew she lived there, but what were the odds?

  “Vanessa.”

  Vanessa tipped a finger at the elephant rattle Samantha held. “Isn’t this cute. So when are you expecting your bundle of joy?”