A miracle in Hawaii: a contemporary sexy romance

by Fiona Miers

  Heat washed up his neck, a spreading sense of shame finding its target near his gut. He’d cum inside her without a thought for the consequences, something that had never happened before. Not even with his ex-wife.

  “But if I’d known you weren’t protected we could have sought out the morning-after pill. You’ve taken away any chance I had in making this decision with you!”

  Her hands went to her small belly, cradling it protectively as she slowly took a few steps back toward the door. “I need you to leave, Julian. Just pretend this conversation never happened.”

  She held open the door to her apartment and he stared at her.

  “Are you serious?”

  She nodded once. “Absolutely. I didn’t want you to feel trapped or hurt, or anything. We had a good time in Hawaii, but we’re home now and you can go back to your own life.”

  As if he could, or would do that.

  But she obviously didn’t know him well enough to know that. He marched straight out into the corridor, his back ram rod straight, his nails digging into his palms and rolling waves of nausea.

  A baby. His baby.

  Not his baby. Hers.

  Chapter Seven

  Oh shit, oh damn, oh crap, oh... no!

  In her hand, Samara held several white pieces of paper. All of which was going to cause a disaster in her life.

  Julian wanted a DNA test. He wanted his parental rights, and worst of all, he wanted her to marry him!

  Marry him? What sort of man put a proposal in a lawyer’s letter, coupled with a very insulting DNA test suggestion? If he didn’t think the baby was his, why was he bothering to even offer her marriage?

  “Oh, you bloody… bastard!”

  Hot, angry tears blurred her vision as she paced her newly carpeted lounge room. He couldn’t do this, surely he couldn’t? A short phone call to her lawyer later and she realized he could. Ask for his parental rights, absolutely. Make her marry him? No.

  Samara lay on her bed and cried and cried, gut wrenching, painful sobs. The baby she’d longed for, wished for, and prayed for would soon be taken from her.

  No.

  She fell asleep somewhere through the night, only to be woken by a door bell, well after sunrise.

  Blinking her eyes awake, her clock read 9:10 am. Who on Earth would be banging on her door this early? She pulled herself out of bed, nausea swimming in her gut and rising in her throat. She grabbed for the crackers on her bed side table, chomping on one of them as she slowly climbed to her feet.

  She tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. Yuck.

  The banging continued and she called out. “I’m coming!” After what felt like forever, she finally made it to the front door.

  Samara squinted through the key lock to see the devil himself standing on her stoop, red horns and a swishy tail present. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she grabbed for the door. She unlocked it with banging precision and pulled it open to glare at him before she’d even thought about the intelligence of that decision. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  He had the grace to look bashful, his eyes averting to the ground. “Can I come in?”

  She bit her tongue, the litany of curses she wanted to hurl at him ready to jump at a moment’s notice. But there was a bashfulness to his submissive stance that made her hold her tongue, and instead, she just stepped back and waved him in.

  Only then did she notice the bouquet in his hand.

  “These are for you.”

  Again, her first reaction was one of violence, but she’d never been one to take her anger out on poor defenseless flowers. She snatched them from his hand and marched over to her kitchen bench. “Thanks. Shut the door behind you.”

  The crystal vase her mother had bought her as a house warming present sat on the top shelf and was the perfect size for her flowers, of course. She pulled it down, filled it with water, and began arranging them.

  They weren’t just red and white roses, there was a combination of greenery, tulips and even orchids. As she stared into center of the vase, water twisting around the stems reminding her of how swamped she felt herself, she asked her tormentor, “What do you want, Julian?”

  He pulled out a bar stool and sat down at her kitchen bench. “I want us to talk.”

  Her head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Talk? Don’t you think your lawyer’s letter said enough?”

  He shook his head and held up his hands. “No it didn’t, and I apologize for that. I think I acted too rashly.”

  Her temper exploded like Mt. Vesuvius. “You think? You think! I am pregnant, by the good graces of whatever deity deemed it possible, but this is still a very high risk pregnancy. I do not need this stress or this shit, Julian! I spend every day meditating, going to yoga, and eating the most organic food I can find to keep my baby alive, and you decide to threaten me with a lawyer! What are you trying to do? Make me miscarry?”

  She was screaming by now as her true fears poured out. She’d put everything on hold for this baby’s health, and its own father had put its life in jeopardy. The stress from yesterday would surely leave its mark.

  He stared at her, his eyes wide and his lips thin. “Are you all right?”

  “Of course I’m not all right! And you can forget about me marrying you. You can wait until the baby’s born and then do your DNA test. Don’t you be thinking you’ll be putting a needle anywhere near my baby! The risk of miscarriage with an amniocentesis is 0.5%! You can go jam it up your arse.”

  Breathing was becoming a problem. She panted, taking long, quick breaths. How could he do this to her?

  Julian pushed himself to his feet. “I didn’t mean to distress you so much. I wasn’t thinking properly. I’m sorry.”

  “You should be!”

  She moved around the kitchen bench, and staggered to the couch, falling into the soft cushions and grabbing a pillow to cuddle for comfort. She gulped at the lump in her throat. “And I can’t believe you honestly even want a DNA test! As if this baby could be anyone else’s!”

  That had really pissed her off! She hadn’t slept with anyone in months before she’d met Julian, longer if she was truthful. Accusing her of being a slut was hitting way below the belt.

  Julian sat down in the couch opposite her, his mouth tight. “That wasn’t my idea.”

  “Good, because you’re not getting the results for another twenty weeks.”

  She held tight to her pillow and turned her face away, staring out the window where there was a clear, cloudless fall sky. Bloody stupid weather. Where was a hurricane when you needed one? Maybe it could blow Julian right over a rainbow.

  “I believe you, Samara.”

  She snapped her head back around. “And do you still believe that I did this on purpose?”

  He didn’t blink, but there was a hardness in his gaze that answered it for him.

  Of course you do.

  She fell back against the pillows and let her hands fall down to the side. How was she ever going to make him understand? She would never have deliberately done this to him. Never.

  ****

  Julian regarded Samara as covertly as possible. Her keen eyes were too perceptive for him. He wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her, so no point lying to her. Yes, his suspicions were still there that she had tried to get pregnant on purpose. But there was one thing that was bugging him. She hadn’t told him. Had no plans to do so from her reactions so far.

  So, what had he been? A means to an end? A cheap sperm donor for her baby? Because, despite his lawyer’s obvious fears, she wasn’t after his money. He’d had her investigated yesterday while he stewed in his juices, and although she was nowhere near the league of his parents or himself, she was very comfortable financially. She would provide a nice life for her child, but there was no way he was going to let her do it on her own.

  “It’s not that I believe you did this on purpose. I know the sex in the pool was more my idea than yours.” His mouth twisted as the pi
ece of logic popped into his head. She hadn’t hunted him down, tied him up, and stolen his sperm. She’d engaged in very passionate, hot sex, and he’d been the one with no control.

  The pill lie still bugged him though.

  “But you lying about the pill afterwards…”

  Her groan was immediate as she pulled herself back up to glare at him. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer. I was on the pill for over ten years. Non-stop. I couldn’t go off it because of the bleeding and the pain. I went to my gynecologist in February and told him this year was the year I was going to try to get pregnant. I had an operation to cut out all the endo in my belly and then he said I had to go off the pill if I had any chance of getting my ovary’s working again. I had plans to wait a few months, get my body super healthy, and then start IVF. I never thought I would be able to conceive naturally. Since I turned eighteen I’d been told it would be practically impossible for me to ever have a baby.”

  She was panting now, her chest heaving with her impassioned story telling.

  He nodded and let her words sink in. It would be easy enough to check with her doctor the facts she spouted. He’d once been a man who could tell if someone was lying with a look, but since his massive failure with his ex-wife, and ex manager, he didn’t trust his own instincts.

  Because they were telling him that she was being honest.

  “All right. I will believe you.” He didn’t have his fingers literally crossed, but mentally he had both hands making the motion. “But we still have the issue of the pregnancy. I want to be able to see the child every day. Living together and marriage is the best solution.”

  Originally, he had balked at the idea, massively. But then it had been pointed out to him what would happen if they didn’t marry. Samara was a young, beautiful woman. She would date, perhaps not right away, but eventually she would meet someone. Fall in love and get married. And his child would call that man daddy. He couldn’t have that.

  He didn’t want that. Because although he’d never wanted children, now that there was one, he found he had very specific feelings on the topic.

  Marriage gave him more than full rights to his child, it gave him her. They’d been good together in Hawaii, why wouldn’t they be able to come to an agreement that would suit them both?

  “You are out of your mind if you think that I would ever marry you, Julian.”

  Her hand went to her belly, cradling and stroking in a protective, frantic sort of motion.

  He tried not to focus too much on the bulge of his child, but it distracted him no end. His parents had always demanded he continue the line, the name. But he’d refused up until this point.

  He didn’t want to screw up his kid as his parents had practically tried to do with him. Boarding schools, nannies, no affection or love. What sort of father would he be after the example he’d been set?

  But that had all been before Samara’s body made his baby. Everything was different now. He would be different.

  His mother would be thrilled once she found out.

  “Samara. Think of all the advantages marriage to me entails. Unlimited money to expand your business, take on more people, not to mention what it would mean for our child. The best schools, the best of everything.”

  She pouted a little, her gaze not meeting his. “It’s my child.”

  He clenched his jaw tight. In the eyes of the law, she was dead wrong, but he had to be gentle. Obviously, his lawyers letter had sent her into an absolute melt down which could not have been good for the baby. “Samara, please don’t push me. I am the father. Fifty percent of that baby’s parents.”

  He left the rest unspoken, but even that seemed to agitate her as she stood up and moved to the kitchen.

  “Do you want a drink or something?”

  “Water would be great. Thank you.”

  Perhaps they needed a better compromise, or more time. They had twenty weeks after all. He was sure he could convince her by then.

  Samara served him up a big glass of water and he swallowed it down, his throat unusually parched. He’d headed over here feeling determined, but it was only now that he was realizing that this was probably the most important conversation of his life.

  “Look, Samara. We can do this, I’m sure. I want this to work and I’m sure we can hash out a solution that works for both of us. After all, we worked really well in Hawaii together.”

  That drew a tiny smile from her and his heart fluttered in a strange way. He’d forgotten how much her happiness affected him.

  “I suppose so.”

  Her shoulders were slumped and he tried not to be affected by her defeated posture. The main reason he’d hunted her down after so long was because he wanted her in his life. She was normally such a unique person. So vivacious and lively, happy. This sadness didn’t suit her at all.

  “All right…” He thought fast, what were his options? “Well…. I will look into buying an apartment closer to here, maybe even in the same building. That would give us more time together.”

  She raised her head, her clear eyes watching him. “Sorry. Do you mean you want to spend time with me, now? Or us, when the baby’s born?”

  “Probably better to start looking now. The market around here is tightly held.”

  She had bought in a nice area, and he admired her for that.

  “Yes. There’s great schools too.”

  She reached over to her bag and began riffling through it. His stomach dropped with worry. Was she going to throw his lawyer’s letter literally in his face?

  That had been a dumb idea. He’d realized it pretty much as soon as the letter was sent. Aggression and lawyer letters were not the way to deal with a situation like this.

  “Here’s some of the pictures the doctor took on Tuesday.”

  She passed him two small black and white photos and for a moment he didn’t know what he was looking at. Just blotches of white and out of focus shapes.

  “There’s the head, and nose…” Samara explained, running her fingernail over the picture.

  The photo transformed and suddenly, Julian could see a baby.

  “Oh my God.” He couldn’t believe it. There was a whole person in the photo and he hadn’t even seen it.

  “The doctor asked me if I wanted to know the sex, but I didn’t. I like the surprise.”

  He just nodded, not caring about that. Up until two days ago he wasn’t having a child at all, so its sex wasn’t important to him.

  She pressed on. “Do you care what it is?”

  “Uh…no. Not at all.” He tore his eyes away from the picture and slowly placed it down on the table.

  A baby. He really was going to have a baby. His throat tightened and his chest began to squeeze tight, the air in the room thinning out so he couldn’t breathe.

  “Um, I think I need to go. But, can we organize a lunch, or dinner… Some time when we can talk.”

  So many things to sort out. He needed to change. Everything. His life did not suit a child.

  “I have a hospital appointment next week if you want to come?” she asked, her voice a little anxious.

  Why not? In for a penny, in for a pound. It would probably help him understand how this had all happened in the first place. “Yes. I would love that. Email me all the details, yeah?”

  He was not coping suddenly and he needed to get away. Guilt or pure panic, he wasn’t sure which, but they were chasing him and he couldn’t get away fast enough. He turned toward the door, when he saw the flowers and he realized why he’d come here in the first place.

  A calm washed over him. He would change. He was sure he could.

  He swiveled back around and injected as much sincerity into his tone as possible. “Please ignore everything in that lawyer’s letter. We can work things out ourselves, and we have time. There’s no rush.”

  She nodded, her eyes a little shiny. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  He nodded once more and left, his thoughts and feelings whirling around in a
big mess that was quite cathartic. He had to let go of his pre-conceived ideas and get on board with this new plan.

  For the first time since he’d found out about the baby he was beginning to think that things might actually be okay. She was a sensible woman, and he’d forgotten that in the stress and hassle of the past few days.

  Perhaps his luck with women, and people, had finally changed.

  ****

  He was late. She’d told him not to be late.

  “Samara Jenkins?”

  Her name was called by the nurse and with anger gripping her stomach, she pushed herself to her feet from the hospital waiting room. The doors of the lift opened with a melodic ding and Julian rushed out.

  “I’m sorry I’m late.”

  He looked properly contrite and she was surprised about how quickly her anger dissipated and happiness filled her. She was actually very relieved to see him and that surprised her.

  She’d spent the week trying to come to terms with the fact that she would now be sharing her precious miracle with another person, and although it initially stung, she was warming to the idea that her child would have both a mother and a father who loved them.

  “It’s okay.”

  He smiled at her and they both walked over to where the nurse was directing them into one of the suites. They sat on the leather chairs and her obstetrician walked in.

  “How are you today, Samara?”

  “Good, Alex.” She indicated to the powerful man in a suit next to her. “This is Julian King. The father.”

  She gave her obstetrician credit, he didn’t blink an eye, simply turned to Julian and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Doctor Alex Lilliac. You must be excited about your little miracle here.”

  Julian’s smile was forced. “I was surprised, to be honest. Samara told me that she believed she couldn’t conceive naturally.”

  She resisted the need to roll her eyes. Let him ask his questions and check if she was being completely honest. She’d never lied to him, not on purpose anyway.

  Alex sat down and stared straight at Julian. “By all accounts, she shouldn’t be able to. I’d estimated at least three rounds of IVF, and then perhaps a surrogate if she couldn’t carry to term. Samara is amazingly healthy and so is the baby, considering the limitations of her body.”