After one big meal together, Sam won Nathalie over. Nathalie joked that she was practically in love with him herself. She couldn’t wait for him to be her brother-in-law. When she saw Sam and Genevieve interacting, she saw two lovers who were meant to be together. Sam was sweet and generous. He teased Genevieve just enough to keep her in line and he never did it in a belittling way. Genevieve was kind to him in return and she saw that both of them found immense peace in each other.
By the time Nathalie and Genevieve got to Genevieve’s apartment, she was ready and willing with her stamp of approval. Genevieve and Nathalie video called their family down South and Nathalie gave them the scoop on Sam. After a half hour conversation, the entire family was sold on Sam’s worth as a man. Genevieve’s father even requested that Sam come down South for some “home cooked gumbo”.
Nathalie stayed in the city for two weeks and she helped Sam and Genevieve get things sorted for their big move. With family approval on lock, their relationship could finally move forward in a meaningful way.
Chapter 15
Genevieve was amazed by their new apartment. With Sam’s the promotion, he received a big cash advance that had enabled him to purchase a nice brownstone in cash. Genevieve was more than happy to move into it. Sam ensured Genevieve’s name was on the deed even if he had paid for it in full. He wanted to let her know that he was committed to making this work. He didn’t distrust her and wasn’t going to put her out on the street for any reason. She was a part of his family too.
By this point, Genevieve was starting to show just a little bit. Her tummy jutted out and her breasts were now the size of cantaloupes. She was gaining a bit of weight too. First, Genevieve was more than self-conscious about her weight but eventually she came to realize that Sam didn’t mind it a bit and neither should she. Pregnant women were expected to gain weight and she refused to judge herself for doing just that.
Genevieve was healthy and soon she would find out the sex of the baby. Before she and Sam had decided to be together, Genevieve had wanted to keep it a surprise. After all, she needed something to look forward to to keep her going through the difficulty of experiencing pregnancy alone. With Sam, there was plenty to look forward to in a more organic way so she agreed to have the doctor reveal the sex of the baby.
With her newfound wealth from living with Sam, Genevieve’s gynecologist and obstetricians now made house calls. It felt good not to have to drag her ass out of bed to get to a doctor’s appointment. When her doctor showed up, Genevieve was nervous to find out what sex the baby was. Would knowing change anything for her? When her doctor finally told her that the baby she was carrying was going to be a beautiful little girl, Genevieve was beyond ecstatic. She might have been happy with either sex, but she was truly overjoyed to bring a gorgeous black, biracial baby girl into the world. Both Genevieve and Sam wondered if the baby would look more like one or the other. Genevieve imagined the baby would get Sam’s gorgeous green eyes; Sam wanted their daughter to have Genevieve’s natural, wooly textured hair.
Once they found out the sex of the baby, Sam and Genevieve went all out to plan for the arrival of their daughter. They went shopping for new age cribs, top of the line baby toys and more. Genevieve and Sam also spent a great degree of time arguing about what the baby should be called. Sam wasn’t the best at choosing girl’s names in Genevieve’s opinion. Genevieve had to shoot down most of his ideas. She had vetoed: Nancy, Betty and Brunhilda among others.
She wanted a name that gave everyone the impression that her daughter was beautiful, sweet and delicate. Genevieve also wanted a name that reflected her French Creole family heritage. They eventually reached an agreement and decided that when their beautiful baby girl was born she would be named Dominique Nathalie Mauricette-Andover. While the name was quite a mouthful, Genevieve was insistent that since she and Sam were unmarried their child carry both of their surnames.
As Genevieve’s pregnancy progressed, more and more positive changes occurred in her life. One of the ads that she wrote had done so well that it had made over $10 million for a company. Because of that, business was booming. Genevieve would get paid $30,000 for a job. Kid you not, there are people out there who make that much just because they can get people to click the buy button. Sam’s new job as CEO was becoming more and more demanding, but he was working on starting a business of his own as a consultant so he would have more time for his new family. Sam was thrilled about the possibility of being a father and he wanted to be a better father to Dominique than his father was to him.
Genevieve and Sam did not hear too much about Greta once the arrest had been made. They both considered her well out of their lives and they were more than happy for it. At first, Genevieve had needed a little bit of therapy to work through the complicated emotions of having a close friend to betray her like that. In therapy, Genevieve learned about some of her own flaws that had been exacerbated by living alone in the city. She understood why she had been so eager to trust someone.
Genevieve also learned that Greta was probably a sociopath and she wasn’t to blame for missing the warning signs. Through her counseling, Genevieve learned how to trust again. Even if she worked from home alone now, she joined some maternity classes and managed to make some pretty good friends. Genevieve had never had friends who understood her so well in her life. She had certainly never expected to meet such people in the city.
She met a young Colombian mother named Francesca who had a Spaniard banker for a husband. She met a dark skinned Nigerian woman named Adesuwa who was pregnant and getting her PhD at the same time. Genevieve made many other connections, but these two were the closest. For years and years after her daughter Dominique was born, they would remain friends. Greta’s envy had not successfully destroyed Genevieve’s chance at happiness. She had her man, her baby and friends.
Love had prevailed over envy in every circumstance.
Epilogue
Dominique was playing with her brand-new Barbie doll on the floor. Just like her mother, she was a girly girl through and through. She had taken to this gorgeous dark skinned Barbie doll like no other and she never let the doll out of her sight. Currently, Dominique was brushing the long straight hair of the doll under her mother’s watchful eye.
Genevieve was quickly trying to finish up a video sales script as her daughter played next to her. This next client was bigger than ever. If Genevieve did this job successfully, she would have a deposit of around $50,000 that she and Sam could use to move out of the city. While their apartment was nice, Genevieve thought it would be better if her daughter was raised somewhere a little bit further South. Sam wanted to keep his brownstone, but they wanted to live primarily in Atlanta. Genevieve wanted this move to happen desperately. She had seen the mansions like the ones those real housewives had, and she had set her eye on one of them that had recently gone into foreclosure.
Genevieve heard Sam come in through the front door. She was glad that he was finally home. It was almost 7 o’clock and he had been busting his ass at work in preparation for quitting and moving on to consulting. This move had taken longer than expected, but it was happening soon. Plus, Genevieve couldn’t really complain about the pay a CEO made. Sam had a ton of clients lined up, all he had to do was square things away so that his company to get on without him. Sam needed to decide who the next appointment would be too. He was facing a lot of difficulty finding someone who was even close to being qualified.
But when Sam walked in the door he looked differently than he usually did after work. He was dressed casually for one and he was carrying a bouquet of roses. Sam walked into the room and before saying hi to Genevieve, he picked his two-year-old daughter up off the floor.
“Good evening Dominique,” he said kissing his daughter on the cheek and swirling her around.
Dominique let out a high pitched shriek and gurgled, “Daddy!! Daddy!”
Sam ruffled her light brown hair and put her down on the ground. Dominique stared at her father incredu
lously. Her green eyes were just as captivating as her father’s. While Sam was on the ground, he got on one knee and faced Genevieve where she was sitting. Genevieve couldn’t believe what was happening. Sam was on one knee. He had brought a bouquet of roses. She should have known what was coming. Genevieve slapped her hand over her mouth to cover it. Otherwise, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from squealing with delight.
Sam began, “Genevieve… From the moment I met you, I was taken with your beauty. I know that at first he found the rough around the edges, a little bit savage and certainly considered me a playboy. We have been through so much together over the past 2 ½ years or so. We have had some terrible times getting this relationship off the ground. Even your pregnancy totally blindsided both of us. But ever since we decided to raise Dominique together, even with all the pressure, I’ve come to fall deeper and deeper in love with you. Genevieve… I can’t imagine a world where we aren’t together. I want you to be my wife. You are one of the best things to ever happen to me. You’re an excellent mother, a hard worker, and I would be honored if you would please marry me.”
When Sam finished his speech, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Tiffany blue box. When he opened it, the most beautiful ring was inside. Sam knew how much Genevieve loved sapphires so her engagement ring was a simple gold band with a large sapphire stone framed by two small diamonds. It was exactly what she had dreamed of ever since she had been a little girl. When she had moved to the city, Genevieve had put these dreams of ever finding true love on hold. She thought she would become a career woman and in doing that she would have to sacrifice her dreams of love, marriage and a family. Sam had proven her wrong. With just a little adjustment, Genevieve could have it all. Nothing, especially not envy could get in the way of her happiness.
Genevieve began to tear up with joy. “Yes Sam, I’ll marry you,” she choked out through her tears.
Although Dominique did not fully understand what was going on, she understood that her mother’s tears were tears of joy.
“Yay! Mama and Daddy!” Dominique yelled out clapping.
She moved her Barbie’s arms so that Barbie could clap too.
After all the drama, after all the difficulties of raising a child the past two years, both Genevieve and Sam were ecstatic about the way things turned out.
They moved south together and got married in Atlanta. Because of that, everyone in the Mauricette family could attend. Nathalie’s kids were the ring bearers. Genevieve’s parents had flown in some of their Haitian family members. The entire affair was a three day bash. Even Sam’s family managed to make it down. At first, they were a little uncomfortable around Genevieve’s loud, audacious black family members. But by the pre-wedding barbecue, they were doing the electric slide like they’d been doing it for years.
Genevieve would look back years later filled with joy that she’d moved to New York in the first place. She was even happy about all the drama with Greta. It had pushed her and Sam together and put their love to the test. And even through the darkest times, their love had emerged victorious.
***
The End
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Bonus Preview
Climbed to #31 in African American Women’s Fiction…
Trust Fund Baby
Chapter 1
Victoria Brooker had never known struggle. Well, depending on how you define struggle. Victoria defined struggle as forgetting to go to her pedicure that she had last Thursday, or chipping a nail, or her nutritionist taking a vacation. She had always been a little Princess. And that was all by design. Victoria’s parents had built up a seven-figure business from scratch. They had survived through the civil rights movement. They became African American socialites and rose to the top of the hierarchy early on during times that were tougher than Victoria could have ever imagined.
This was a world of Jim Crow segregation. This was a world of hate crimes and abuse. It was hard enough for black people to get jobs, far less start their own business. But Harvey and June Brooker knew what they wanted and they went out of their way to get it.
Her parents were tough as nails, and when they built their fortune up north, they intended to enjoy the spoils of war. Once they gained complete access to the benefits of the upper class, they ensured Victoria had the best of the best. She wasn’t just spoiled. Victoria had some good qualities about her, none of which were encouraged by her upper-class social circle or anyone around her. Thus, everything good about Victoria was muted, and by all outward appearances, she was a nouveau riche spoiled baby. Her parents were typically distant until they wanted something. Victoria had realized the only things anyone valued her for was the ability to look good and shut up.
Victoria had deep burnt umber skin. She was as dark as a blackberry, and her skin seemed to glow with a purplish hue in the afternoon sun. Her parents were the same skin tone, and their family certainly made an impression when they vacationed in all the world's most luxurious places. They stuck out; fellow tourists and locals alike were surprised to find out they were Americans. Victoria took absolute delight in experiencing all of life’s luxuries, exactly the way her parents had trained her. She had a curvy but athletic body like that of a tennis player. She was muscular in all the right places, but still maintained the curves of a video vixen. Victoria’s parents had insisted upon athleticism throughout her life, but now that she was 25, she only did yoga once a week. Victoria’s biggest rebellion was quitting tennis and deciding to engage in mild exercise once a week.
Although Victoria was 25 years old, she still lived at home. Living with her parents, she had access to everything she had during her childhood. She still lived in her massive childhood bedroom. She had plenty of yard space. She had her own sauna and her own pool. She also had access to a pretty fat bank account, the trust fund should inherit when she turned thirty, and another one she would inherit when she turned forty-five as well as two credit cards that her parents paid for in full every month.
She got virgin human hair weave custom delivered to her house and had her very own hairdresser on call for braids, weave installations and wig shopping. Victoria also had a brand new BMW sitting out back. She had received it for her 25th birthday. After University, nearly every one of Victoria’s friends had been in a hurry to move out of their parent’s homes and express their independence, but not Victoria. She knew if she just kept her nose to the grindstone and did what her parents wanted, she would have access to all the money in the world. When you had money, what else did you need?
Money made the world go round. Victoria knew that much. She figured out early what having all this money meant for her. She could buy her way into the coolest social groups, throw the most lavish parties and shop right out of Vogue. Victoria wasn’t stupid. After all, she’d gone to college. Her parents had finagled their way into getting her acceptance letters to every school she applied to whether or not she was actually qualified. They saw no problem with that. Hell, the white people in their social class had been doing it for years. In co
llege, Victoria had studied art history and Italian. Her parents thought the workload was a little bit taxing, but they at least agreed to pay for her semester abroad in Italy. Italy was a nonstop party. Victoria didn’t spend more than thirty minutes of the semester sober. She looked back on college as a fun time. She didn’t understand what everyone else was so stressed out about… Despite her carefree nature, Victoria scraped by and graduated with honors from her degree.
See, Victoria thought she had it all figured out. The only thing was, as she got older, she started to feel restless. She wasn’t sure “restless” was the best way to describe how she felt but she didn’t know what other word to use. It probably wasn’t as much restlessness as it was the general sense of malaise that comes from 25 years of leeching off of everyone in your life.
Love Over Envy: BWWM Pregnancy Romance Novel Page 12