The Marriage Pact: A Baby Romance

by Tia Siren

  “Stop! You’re going to make me cry. I am a jumbled-up mess of hormones,” I said, wiping the tears that were already falling.

  “I want you to know. We missed out on a lot of time together because I didn’t have the nerve to tell you before. I’m never letting that happen again. I’m going to tell you every day. I love you. I’m never leaving you or my family,” he said, holding my chin to look me straight in the eyes.

  “I know. I love you, too. I would give up everything.”

  He picked up Gracie, who was starting to fuss, and put her in my arms. I snuggled her close and kissed the top of her head.

  “She’s a cute baby, huh?” he said.

  I giggled. “Yes, she is. So is her sister.”

  He laughed. “We make cute babies.”

  I nodded. “Yes, we do.”

  “I think our girls need a brother, maybe even brothers. How crazy would it be if you got pregnant with twins again?”

  I groaned. “No. You have to have the twins next time. I don’t think my body could do that again.”

  “You know I would take away all the icky stuff in a heartbeat if I could. But, getting back to the topic at hand, ready to try for another one?”

  My eyes widened. “You are out of your mind. Get away from me. You might impregnate me just by looking at me like that.”

  He was smiling. “You know you want my babies. I make beautiful babies,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “I will give you as many as you can handle.”

  “Get away from me. I need to recuperate,” I said, slapping him with the spare pillow in my bed.

  He laughed and took Gracie into his arms, kissing her gently before laying her back down.

  “You can recuperate all you want, but I still think we should get in lots of practice. I want to make sure my aim is true,” he said with a wink.

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think that’s ever going to be a problem. Your aim is just fine.”

  “But just to be sure,” he whispered, kissing me on the nose and then the lips.

  I smiled and nodded. “You’re right. Practice makes perfect.” I sighed, thinking about the pre-pregnancy sex. “Brad?”

  “Yes?”

  “I can’t wait to have sex when I don’t feel as big as a house.”

  He chuckled. “You were a beautiful pregnant woman, and you were never as big as a house.”

  I groaned. “Whatever. I still want hot, dirty, monkey sex.”

  “You better stop or I’m going to have a very hard time keeping my hands off you for the next couple weeks.”

  I chuckled. “I think that might be the other way around.”

  When he crawled back into bed with me, I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy the moment. It was by far the happiest moment of my life. I knew with him and my baby girls, there were sure to be more of these moments that I would treasure forever. The man had turned my life upside down in the best way possible. I wouldn’t give up a minute of the heartache and frustration he had caused me. It had all been worth the wait.

  ***

  END OF THE FIRST STORY

  First Everything

  She was my best friend, my first love, my first everything.

  And then I let her go.

  I won’t make the same mistake twice.

  You know what they say.

  If you love someone, set them free. If they love you, they’ll always come back.

  Bailey returned for her father’s funeral – not for me.

  But that won’t stop me.

  One look at her gorgeous curves and my whole body trembles with the memory of hers underneath mine.

  I’ve only got a few days to convince her to stay.

  I’ll kiss her sweet lips.

  Touch her secret spots.

  Make her moan with the pleasure only I can give her.

  She needs me.

  I can make her whole.

  We should be together.

  Forever.

  *

  Chapter 1

  Darren

  The week usually felt long, but once Friday rolled in, it helped make the grind all worth it. When I worked, I worked very hard; and, when I didn’t work, I didn’t work very hard.

  I worked at Mel’s Air Conditioning & Heat, one of the top A/C companies in northwestern Georgia. I’d been working there for nearly three years, and business was never slow.

  I lived in a small town called Rome. The springs and summers were hot, and fall and winter brought the cold. It didn’t snow as often as it did when I was growing up in Rome, but there was consistently a need for our services. I worked a full forty hours every week, and I was always given major holidays off.

  Sometimes there was an emergency, but rarely did it require Mel to call me in. He usually saved the emergency calls for Garrett Newton, my best friend and co-worker.

  Garrett started working at Mel’s only a couple of weeks before I did, and he insisted that I join up so that we could work together and hang out. We usually worked the same days and hours, and we generally chilled together on the weekends. We crashed at each other’s places constantly, and we often found trouble together.

  On one particular Friday, we were especially eager to go out and do something. I wasn’t sure what Garrett had in mind, but we both agreed we wanted to do something besides hang and play video games.

  “It’s almost six,” Garrett mentioned as we unloaded the work truck.

  “About damn time,” I replied.

  “Some weeks really fly by,” said Garrett. “This wasn’t one of them.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I agree.”

  “Friday night,” he said. “We getting fucked up or what?”

  “Define ‘fucked up.’”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I was thinking we’d go out for drinks and hopefully meet some girls willing to trade free drinks for sex.”

  “Then we probably want to go to Chelsea’s,” I said. Chelsea’s was a local bar that we liked going to on weekends that had incredible drink specials and many beautiful women.

  “All right, then. We’re going out for drinks tonight,” said Garrett. “I’ll buy the first round.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Garrett and I took turns driving us to work each morning, and today, it was my turn. We stopped work right at six, got in my ’10 Ford Focus and hit the road.

  “You workin’ tomorrow?” Garrett asked.

  “Nah, he’s having me work long on Monday,” I answered.

  “You’ll probably make overtime next week,” he said.

  “I should be coming in right at forty,” I said. “I wish I was making overtime. I need to have a savings account again.”

  Over the last three years, I’d made some extravagant purchases that emptied out most of my bank accounts. I bought my Focus with cash so I wouldn’t have to pay ungodly amounts of interest over a chunk of my life. Also, I’d loaned a lot of money to Garrett over the past few years for various things. He wasn’t in a rush to repay, and I wasn’t in a rush to collect. And, I bought a house making a significant down payment. Even though I was taking home good paychecks and getting full-time hours, my bank accounts told the world that I was struggling and in trouble.

  There was never much traffic in Rome, but there was some kind of holdup on one of the main train tracks in town. While we waited, I turned on the radio, and Garrett smoked a cigarette.

  “I have to get some tonight, man,” said Garrett. “It’s been far too long.”

  I laughed. “It’s been three weeks. You can’t function without sex for only a few weeks?”

  “You’re one to talk,” he said. “You were bitching and complaining just last week about how you needed some pussy.”

  “It’s been three months since I’ve gotten laid. I have the right to complain.”

  “Whose fault is it that?” he asked.

  “Hey. Believe it or not, I do have some standards, okay? Some of these girls around here have slept with damn near every man in Geo
rgia. You have to be careful.”

  As we continued our drive quietly, eventually the radio broke our silence.

  “WCHR in Atlanta,” said the radio DJ. “I’ve been playing this song on repeat lately. It’s a good one. She’s a new name in the mainstream, but she’s quite familiar throughout our neck of the woods! This is Bailey Wright, and this is her latest song. It’s called ‘Where Are You Now.’”

  My heart dropped at the sound of her name, and I was unable to listen to her song. Before she could sing the first lyric, I changed the station.

  Garrett gave me a knowing smirk. “Not in the mood to hear Bailey’s new song?”

  “Not even a little,” I said.

  I expected him to continue with some snide quips, but he left it alone. He knew just how familiar I was with Bailey Wright and didn’t want to upset me.

  Bailey was a rising star, but I knew her before she started becoming famous. Once she left Rome for Memphis, I made it a mission to forget all about her. Even after six years, it was still a regular challenge.

  Once Garrett and I arrived at Chelsea’s, we quickly found our usual seats. Gina, the bartender, gave us our usual drinks with an additional free shot of whiskey.

  Before I could drink my whiskey, a man walked into the bar and sat a few seats away from us. He didn’t notice me when he entered, otherwise, he would have sat right beside me. This man was Wayne Wright: Bailey’s father.

  Garrett laughed upon recognizing Wayne. “Get the hell outta here. Darren, you see who that is?”

  I stared down at my drink, frowning. “Of course, I do. What are the odds of me running into Bailey’s father right after one of Bailey’s songs starts playin’ on the radio?”

  “Pretty good, actually,” said Garrett. “Rome ain’t that big.”

  I downed my shot, trying to avoid looking in Wayne’s direction. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to speak to him, and I wasn’t harboring any negativity toward him. But I knew he would bring up his daughter, and simply hearing her name over the radio was enough to floor me.

  But, Wayne eventually noticed me. We both looked at each other for a few seconds before he stood up from his seat, beaming.

  “Darren Holt!” Wayne said.

  “Mr. Wright,” I said as I stood up from my seat to shake his hand.

  “How’ve you been, son?”

  “Can’t complain,” I replied. “You remember Garrett Newton?”

  “Sure, I do!” said Wayne as he shook Garrett’s hand.

  “Nice to see you again, Mr. Wright,” Garrett said.

  “Please, you’re not boys anymore. Call me Wayne.”

  Wayne sat down beside me with his tall glass of beer.

  “I haven’t seen you around here in months,” Wayne said. “What have you guys been up to lately?”

  “Working,” I answered. “It’s been a busy year.”

  “I believe that,” said Wayne. “The summers are gettin’ hotter, and the winters are gettin’ colder. I’ve been meaning to have my heat looked at for years. Once I really need it, it’s damned near useless.”

  “I’ll check it out for you sometime if you’d like,” I said.

  “That’d be great,” he said. “Which one of you’s the better A/C man?”

  “Me,” said Garrett quickly.

  “I’ll let him think that,” I retorted.

  Wayne laughed, ushering over Gina. “I’d like another for me, and why don’t you get these boys whatever they want.”

  “Wayne, that’s not necessary,” I told him.

  “Nonsense,” he dismissed. “You’ve always been such a good kid. Don’t think anything about it.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Wright,” said Garrett. “Er—I mean, Wayne.”

  Wayne looked at Garrett. “I can’t remember, did you go to school with Darren and Bradley?”

  “We went to the same school, but I graduated a couple years before they did,” he answered.

  Gina brought Wayne over another beer and Garrett and me another shot of whiskey.

  We all sat quietly and drank our booze, casually watching the game that was on. It was like we were all wondering who would bring Bailey up first.

  “Bailey’s got a new single out,” Wayne said.

  “Yeah, it was playing on WCHR when we were pulling in,” I said.

  “She’s so talented,” said Bailey’s father. “I can’t even put into words how proud I am of her. She’s done more in her twenties than I’ve done my whole life.”

  “Yeah,” I said. My stomach knotted up.

  “She was always so scared that she wasn’t gonna make it,” said Wayne. “I knew she would. I knew she was going to make it big. I only wish her mother was still here to see it.”

  “I’m sure she wishes that, too,” I said.

  “She’s a real sweet girl,” he continued. “Have you two talked lately?”

  “No,” I answered. “I haven’t talked to Bailey in a long time.”

  “She asks about you sometimes,” said Wayne with raised eyebrows. “Just so you know.”

  I hated the idea that my name even entered her thoughts, let alone escaped her lips. I couldn’t look at Wayne whenever he spoke about her.

  “You should call her sometime,” suggested Wayne. “Or, you could even go see her. Tennessee isn’t so far away.”

  “Maybe,” I said. I really meant no way. “I am happy that she has found success. She deserves it.”

  “You could’ve found success too, you know,” said Wayne.

  I chuckled. Gina came back once she saw that my glasses were empty.

  “I’m good for now,” I told her.

  “How long you two been working at Mel’s, anyway?” Wayne asked.

  “About three years,” I replied. “You still working at the paper mill?”

  “Sure am,” he answered. “It’ll have been thirty years for me next February.”

  “Wow, congrats,” I said.

  “Cheers!” Garrett added.

  “You know,” I told Wayne. “If you wanted, I could come by sometime next week and check out your A/C and heat for you. No charge. It’s on the house.”

  “That’d be so nice,” he said. “That’s so generous. Thank you, Darren.”

  “Of course!”

  “Or, and you can say no,” said Wayne. “maybe you could come on by tomorrow for dinner? It shouldn’t take long to look my system over. Let me pay you back with a good home-cooked meal. I’ll grill us up some steaks. What do you think?”

  Part of me felt like I couldn’t say no. “Okay. Sounds good to me!”

  Wayne didn’t stick around for much longer after that. We all had a few more drinks, shook hands, and he departed.

  Garrett and I kept our eyes on the screens, watching the games in progress. I couldn’t stop thinking about Bailey and our past.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to think about her for much longer. My eyes soon found a woman sitting on the other side of the bar, nursing a margarita and glancing at me.

  “Wayne’s a good guy,” Garrett said. “You think he’s onto something about reconnecting with Bailey?”

  “Eh,” I said as I stared at the woman.

  “You know she’d get back with you if you asked,” he said. “Even if you two didn’t want to try and work things out, you know you could always try and be friends again. There’s nothing wrong with friends.”

  “I ain’t looking for friends,” I said as I downed my last shot. “I’m gonna go end my drought.”

  I left Garrett and went to talk to the woman. Garrett and I often floated around bars and clubs whenever we saw girls we liked. So it wasn’t like I was abandoning him.

  Truthfully, I wasn’t really talking to the girl at the bar because I was horny and absolutely needed sex. I couldn’t stand to have any more conversations centered on Bailey. I didn’t want to spend any more time reflecting on our past. Especially since I’d put in a lot of effort to forget about her.

  Chapter 2

  Bailey

&
nbsp; Even though I’d been putting out music for several years, and some of my songs had gained a certain level of popularity, I would never grow tired of hearing my songs being played over the radio.

  I was driving through downtown Memphis on a beautiful Saturday afternoon as I heard “Where Are You Now” playing through my car speakers. I didn’t enjoy hearing my song for some perverted ego gratification. I loved knowing how far I’d come. It was still surreal to hear my voice coming over the same airwaves as many of my favorite artists.

  I was on my way to Gracie’s, a nice little diner that was open all day and night. I was meeting up with Leah Samson, my manager and also my best friend. I realize that most people think you shouldn’t work with your friends, but my philosophy when picking out a manager was to find someone who I could trust. Leah had been one of my closest friends since college, and we trusted each other completely. Luckily for me, she was going to school to make a career in entertainment management. While she’d been looking for “the big client,” she started helping me in her spare time. Now, years later, I turned into her big client.

  Leah already had a booth for us at Gracie’s when I arrived. She was smiling wide and looked like she was ready to burst.

  “I thought you were never going to show up!” said Leah.

  We gave each other a quick hug and plopped down in our booth.

  “I was playing around with a new song I’m trying to perfect,” I told her. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “Please, if you were working, then don’t apologize,” she said. “Help me help you.”

  “Why do you look so happy today?” I asked.

  She smiled. “Why wouldn’t I be happy? Why aren’t you happy? You’re the one that’s climbing the charts!”

  “As if!” I said. “ ‘Where Are You Now’ was just released. We haven’t had time to get plays or views let alone climb the charts.”

  She slid her phone over to me. I took it and looked. Sure enough, even though I didn’t believe what I was seeing, my song and I were on the Billboard Top 100.