by BWWM Club
They slept for a little bit and it was he who stirred, opening his eyes to stare at the woman burrowed under his arm. She had turned his world upside down and there were still a lot of things he had not told her about him yet. He had not meant for this to get so serious but now it was and he realized that he was in love with her. He smiled grimly as he realized the implication of that fact, he was going to have to face his parents and he knew they were not going to approve his match. He was supposed to marry one of his own and to their eyes; Rosa would never be a suitable candidate for marriage. He looked at her beautiful face, flushed with sleep and their intense lovemaking, and he knew he wanted no one else, no matter what he had to give up for her. He wanted to wake up with her every morning and she was the only woman he wanted in his life. He trailed a finger down her soft cheek and she stirred in her sleep, her eyes opening slowly to look up at him.
“Are you watching me sleep?” she asked him huskily.
He nodded and she frowned at him. “That’s totally creepy,” she muttered.
With a soft laugh he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hungrily.
Chapter 5
She spent the night at his place and left early the next morning, feeling weird in the clothes she had on before. He had wanted to go out and buy her something to wear to work and she had reminded him that she had her uniform at home, he had driven her there and waited while she got dressed and took her to work.
He called her several times during the day wanting to know if she was okay and Rosa had to admit that it felt good to have someone thinking about her well being for a change, apart from her mother. They had become a couple, she did not know at what point but they had become one and she spent most of her free time with him. They mostly went to his apartment because as she told him, her apartment was too small and cramped and he was too used to luxury to be comfortable at her place, she had teased him.
He kept buying her things. First it started with little trinkets that she did not mind, until one night he surprised her with a stunning silver chain with a single diamond that flashed each time she moved it.
“I cannot accept this,” she passed it back to him reluctantly. They were having dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant he had discovered a little way out of town. It was cozy and had a family atmosphere.
“Why not?” he demanded, refusing to take it back. He had noticed that she was fiercely independent and he made the mistake some time ago to offer to take her shopping for clothes and she had told him hotly that she was not a kept woman.
“Because this is too much,” she told him, her eyes still on the diamond.
“This is ridiculous Rosa,” he said impatiently digging into his lasagna and ignoring the hand she stretched out to him. He wanted her to move in with him but he knew she was going to say it was too early and she was not sure about that yet. It had been on the tip of his tongue to tell her he was in love with her but he was afraid of running her off. Each time they made love it was like he had touched her soul and they were so entwined that there was no way he could let her go. It frightened him the way he felt about her and found himself wondering if she felt the same way.
The sex was mind blowing and each time they made love he found himself discovering more about her body and what drove her over the edge. He wanted to please her. “I would like to think that we are a couple and I happen to be a rich man who thinks there is nothing wrong in giving his girlfriend presents.”
“So we are using labels now?” she raised a tapered brow. “I believe in equality in relationship and I don’t have anything to give you,” she told him stiffly even though the inside of her had turned to melted butter when he had called her his girlfriend.
With a sudden movement he pulled her across the small wooden table and crushed her lips, his tongue going inside her mouth as he deepened the kiss. He released her just as suddenly as he had taken her and Rosa was left trembling, her lips throbbing. “You give me everything,” he told her huskily, his lashes shielding his eyes.
That was that, Rosa accepted the necklace and wore it everywhere she went.
*****
“It’s like I don’t get to see you anymore,” Hayley complained, rubbing her hands together as the cold penetrated her leather gloves. It was almost Christmas and they were indulging themselves on a rare day out together by doing a little bit of shopping. Hayley and her fiancé had finally decided on a February date for their wedding even though he was abroad on company business.
“You were the one who wanted me to find a man,” Rosa reminded her as she picked up a scarf to get a closer look. It would look good around John’s neck and even though it was cashmere and it would probably eat out a huge chunk out of her savings she was still going to get it for him. He was spoiling her rotten and she had stopped protesting about the things he bought for her.
“You’re right but if I had known he was going to monopolize your time I probably would have thought better of it,” she said with a mock frown. She had exclaimed over the diamond necklace and had chided Rosa when she said she had wanted to give it back. “You’re such an idiot,” her friend had said mildly.
“He’s a great guy Hayley and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Rosa confessed as they went up to the cashier to pay for their purchases. Nostalgic Christmas songs sounded over the speakers and the general air of goodwill was felt all around. Rosa smiled at a young mother who had her arms loaded with gifts and a toddler clutching her skirt.
“Stop looking for problems where there aren’t any,” her friend advised her as they made their way to another store, stopping to admire the huge Christmas tree in one of the stores. “I think that man is falling in love with you if you ask me.”
Rosa looked at her startled. She had shied away from examining what she was feeling for him and had not dared to wonder what he felt about her and besides it was too soon to be thinking about love. There was still the issue of their cultural differences to think about, she had yet to meet his parents and him to meet her mother even though her mother was dying to meet him.
“We are not there yet,” she said slowly.
Hayley looked at her and shook her head. “You need to catch up girl, you are there!”
*****
It was Christmas Eve and they had decided to do a sort of soup kitchen at the restaurant. Rosa had asked for a contribution from her patrons and had cooked for the people who lived on the streets and who come from homes and for the orphans as well. She had started doing it last year with reluctant permission from Jack and Sherry the owners but she had persuaded them that it would be a good tax write off and they had agreed.
Her mother and Hayley always helped and this year John had told her he wanted to be a part of it as well. He wanted to contribute too. Rosa had been pleased and she had given him a soft kiss on the cheek. “What was that for?” he had asked her.
“For being you,” she had told him softly.
She introduced him to her mother and they hit it off immediately and several times during the evening she saw the two of them chatting and laughing. He looked way too cute with a large white apron over his black pants and black sweater and Rosa felt her heart skipping a beat as he looked up and saw her looking at him. His eyes spoke volumes and her breath caught in her throat as he swept her with a slow lingering look designed to start the heat rising inside her.
It was a huge success and as the people filed inside out of the cold, their eyes lighting up at the sight of the food on the table, Rosa felt herself smiling with pleasure.
Her mother had made her famous fried chicken and sweet potato pies and had also done a huge bowl of collared green and Cole slaw.
“I like that young man of yours, he’s a keeper,” Joan Hurley told her daughter when they were cleaning up later that night. The food had disappeared fast and they had barely gotten anything to eat themselves. It was a little after ten and Rosa was spending the night with John and they were both going to her mother’s for Christmas dinner. He had
laughingly told her that he got the best of both worlds, celebrating two Christmases.
“I like him too mama,” she replied glancing over to where he was talking to a homeless man in a shabby overcoat and tattered gloves.
Hayley took her mother home and she went with John after promising her mother that she and John would be there by four. She watched as he pressed his expensive leather gloves into the man’s hands and watched as the man bowed profusely before him in thanks. He really was a keeper.
*****
The atmosphere at her mother’s house was one of festivity. Hayley had reached there before them and was in the kitchen helping her mother put the finishing touches on the meal.
To her surprise she had included roast pork and chicken chop suey on the menu along with a very large turkey.
John kept them fascinated with the different Chinese cultures and his growing up as a child in a strict Chinese home and living in America. Then it was time to open the presents and her mother smiled in delight as she opened the various gifts she had gotten. Rosa had given her a tan woolen coat, complete with gloves and scarf. Hayley had gotten her a cookbook she had been wanting for a long time. John’s gift left them all speechless. It was an ancient and obviously expensive Chinese vase with a beautiful painting of a girl sitting in the garden amid some of the most beautiful flowers they had ever seen.
“I will treasure this forever,” Joan Hurley said softly, going over to give John a kiss on the cheek.
They left shortly after and in the privacy of his apartment with the fire blazing in front of them, he gave her his gift. It was a beautiful red silk dress with mandarin collar and fine yellow stitching around the waist; it was beautiful and soft to the touch.
“Thank you, I love it,” she said softly, leaning over to kiss him. They spent the night in front of the fire and drank glasses of wine and slept right there on the soft throw rug.
*****
The New Year came, with it freezing cold minus the snow and Rosa having a little more extra time on her hands. It was always slow at this time of the year and she used to opportunity to deal with her paperwork. She had spent the time at her apartment even though John had insisted that with the amount of time she spent at his place she might as well just move in. Rosa had told him no and he had not taken it very well.
It was the second week of January before she started feeling the signs. She had gone into the kitchen to get herself some eggs before going to work, her stomach started churning as soon as the scent of the eggs hit her. She ignored it, chalking it down to her not eating properly the day before. But it happened again when she was at the restaurant, as soon as she went into the kitchen to talk to the chef about something the smell of chicken kiev assailed her nostrils and her stomach started churning. She ran to the bathroom and threw up what little she had eaten in the morning.
She leaned back weakly in the stall, feeling miserable and wondered if she had come down with a stomach virus.
She felt so sick she had to leave early to go home. She was huddled in bed when John came over. He had called her and she had told him she was not feeling well. He had told her he was coming over.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in concern as he saw her huddled under the sheet. “Are you coming down with the flu virus?” he placed the back of his hand against her forehead.
“More like the baby virus,” she laughed shakily, her breath caught on a sob. She had not want to believe it. She kept telling herself that it was a stomach virus but she had checked her calendar and realized that she had not had her period for the last two months. She'd been too busy to even notice. On her way home she had bought a pregnancy test. When she had peed on the stick it had turned blue for positive.
“Excuse me?” he stared at her frowning.
“I think I am pregnant,” Rosa told him in despair. She had never factored a child in her planning, it had always been: get her restaurant up and running, then she would think about a family and the worst part was, she was not sure if he wanted a child by her, they had never discussed it.
“Are you sure?” He was not jumping for joy so Rosa realized with a sinking heart that it was not something he wanted to hear.
“As sure as a pregnancy test can be,” she told him stiffly. Her stomach was empty and she was feeling miserable and the thought of food made her want to hurl. She did not have time for him to tell her that he was leaving her.
“What do you want us to do?” he asked her gently, seeing the miserable expression on her beautiful face. He wanted to take her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be fine, they were going to be a family but he knew that would not be totally true. He did not know if she wanted a baby. His baby and he still had not told his parents about her.
Her heart jumped a little and she felt a flare of hope. He had said we, so that probably meant that he was not going to leave her.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, turning her face away from him, feeling the tears starting to trickle down her cheeks.
She felt the bed move and realized he had come beside her and had pulled her around and into his arms. He felt so solid and dependable that she did not want him to let her go.
“Whatever you decided I am here for you and I want you to know that I want us to be a family but I want you to think about what this means. I am here baby,” he used the pad of his thumb to wipe away the tears from her cheeks. “I am here Rosa and I am not going anywhere.”
They spent the night discussing the possibility of keeping the baby and what it would mean.
“I have something to tell you,” he said taking a deep breath,
“If you are going to tell me that you are married and have some Chinese wife and children stashed away somewhere then I am going to kill you,” she warned him.
He laughed in amusement and kissed her full on the lips. “I am not married and I don’t have some Chinese children stashed somewhere.” He paused and with a sigh he told her. “My parents have planned my wedding since I was a child. I am supposed to go back to China and marry some demure young Chinese woman fitting for my station and raise a family together. I told you they are not very tolerant about Americans but it’s more than that. I am their only child and I am expected to carry on the tradition of marrying a Chinese.”
“And you have gone ahead and defied tradition by not only sleeping with an African American without a college degree but also planting your seed inside her.” She looked up at him with a slightly amused look on her face.
“That about sums it up,” he said softly. “I have no regrets and I want you to know that you are the one for me, I love you Rosa.”
She went still as she stared up at him. “John,” she breathed and with a soft moan she pulled down his head and took his mouth with hers. He spent the night at her place and made tender love to her, whispering how much she meant to him.
*****
The doctor confirmed the pregnancy. She was a little past four months and she was given a date to come back for her next check up. She was given some iron tablets to take and something for the constant nausea. She had decided she wanted to keep the baby and was going to her mother’s house to break the news to her. She knew her mother would be happy because she had always wanted grandchildren and was always saying that Rosa was going to let her die before she held a grandchild in her arms.
John went with her and they were sitting inside her mother’s warm living room sipping herbal tea when Rosa told her the news. “Mama we have some news,” Rosa placed the cup on the center table and John reached for her hand. “I am pregnant.”
Her mother stared at them in wordless delight, a smile spreading from ear to ear. “I am going to be a Grandmama!” she exclaimed, coming over to hug them both.
“You finally got your wish,” Rosa said with a wry smile.
John’s smile was a little forced as he watched the excitement on Rosa’s mother’s face and realized that there would be no such reaction on his own parent’s faces. He felt his h
eart sink to his shoes as he knew the longer he took to tell them, the worst it was going to be for him and he did not want them to say anything to ruin this for him and Rosa.
She was carrying his child, a child that had been conceived in extreme love and passion, even though she had yet to say it to him. He could wait, right now he just needed to concentrate on being there for her at whatever cost.
*****
They went to his apartment and he made her plain noodle soup to settle her stomach. “Are you going to start spoiling me now?” she asked him suspiciously as she sipped the liquid tentatively, the fact that she had not been able to keep anything down made her very afraid to eat.
“Of course,” he told her seriously as he brought her some thin water crackers. “So you better be prepared.”
She stuck out her tongue at him and he laughed.
“When are you going to tell them?” she asked him, looking at him underneath her lashes. Her stomach had indeed settled down and for that she was grateful. They were sitting in front of the fireplace on the throw rug, he had not bothered to take up. The day had been gray and cold and it was predicted that they would get snow tonight.
“This weekend,” he did not bother to ask what she was talking about because he knew; it was something that was uppermost in his mind. “They are not going to approve Rosa,” he told her honestly, wishing that he did not have to say that to her.
“But this baby is going to be their grandchild,” Rosa cried, not quite getting it.
“Culture, heritage, lineage and pure blood line, that’s what they are about Rosa and that’s the only thing that matters to them.” He told her with a trace of sadness and Rosa’s heart went out to him. She had grown up with little or nothing but had the love of her parents and to her that was worth much more than extreme wealth.