KNOCKED UP BY THE BAD BOY

by Nicole Fox

  “Of course I did,” she defended. “But that’s the thing about her. She doesn’t care if it’s the truth or not as long as it serves her purpose. I was to claim that you raped me, and then tell everyone later on down the road that I had lost the baby. Mother was going to make me give it away.” She choked on the last words.

  I couldn’t help myself any longer, and I was next to her on the couch in an instant. My arms were around her, caressing her, touching the delicate bump where our child was growing. I couldn’t touch enough of her at once, needing to feel that I could protect every square inch of her skin. “I never would have let that happen. I waited around far too long, hoping you would come back, but I would have fought tooth and nail for that child if it had come to it. I still will. I want all three of us to be together, no matter what happens.”

  Bambi buried her head into my shoulder. She smelled of flowers and sunshine. “I know. And that’s exactly what I realized while I was back at home. For a little while, I had thought you were just like Mother, trying to keep me trapped so you could use me for your own purposes. But then I realized that you were protecting me and taking care of me in everything you did, even when you wouldn’t let me go home. You just wanted to keep me away from Mother because she would manipulate me, and you were right. That’s exactly what she was trying to do.”

  I pulled her closer, running my fingers through her silky hair and pressing my rough cheek to her soft skin.

  “I realized what you were really like, what you were truly about,” Bambi continued. “Even though hopping on a stranger’s bike was dangerous, I’m glad I did it. If I hadn’t, then we would never have gotten together. I can’t imagine a life like that, not now.”

  I pulled away from her to hold her at arm’s length so I could see her face. “I’m glad, too. But do you forgive me? I don’t want us to go on and live our lives together if you have some deep and very deserved grudge against me. What I did was so completely wrong, and I need to know for sure if you truly let it go.”

  Bambi smiled with those gorgeous pink lips. She looked into my eyes, and I could feel the connection between us more than ever. “It might not have been honorable or passionate, but if that was what it took for us to meet, then I absolutely forgive you.”

  I drew her into my chest once again so she wouldn’t see the relief that I was sure was written all over my face. I needed her, and I needed her completely. If Bambi could forgive me for something like that, then I knew we would be all right.

  “You want to know something else nice about this whole thing?” I asked as I looked at a framed picture on the wall on the other side of the room. A little white house took up the background, surrounded by trees and flowers. In the front yard, a mother watched her son play in the grass. The original had been made in broad brushstrokes, so it didn’t show the facial features of either of the people. Still, I could easily imagine who they might be in that idealistic little scene.

  “What’s that?”

  “I really did win the bet. I wanted to use the money to pursue life outside the Warriors. The club is great, but I was beginning to think there might be something more for me out there. I know now that it’s you.” I bent my head and kissed her, savoring the way she felt against my lips. “We can see what life has to offer for both of us.”

  “Sounds wonderful to me.”

  I gathered her in my arms and carried her to the bed.

  Chapter 16

  Bambi

  Nine months later, I sat at the desk in the little corner room off the kitchen. I still hadn’t changed the wallpaper in here yet, and it was driving me crazy. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate, my eyes kept wandering to the hideous old flowers that crawled up the wall and twined together. I didn’t have a problem with flowers in general, and in fact had just bought a floral throw for the couch, but these particular ones were plain ugly.

  Blinking, I focused on the screen once again, comparing the list of classes I needed to take for my degree to those that were available for the upcoming semester. I had been through one round of college classes so far, and I found that I loved taking them from home. It allowed me plenty of time to spend with the baby and work on the house, but I knew I was still striving toward my dream.

  The bundle in my arms squirmed and fussed quietly. “Just a moment, sweetheart. I’m almost done.” Smiling, I clicked the appropriate boxes, enrolled myself in four classes, and submitted the schedule to the university. As a young mother, I had no problem getting grants and student loans, so nobody needed to worry about paying for tuition.

  Ariel reminded me once again that I was taking too long. Her little hands reached out from the long sleeves of her onesie, and she pulled in her legs and pushed them out again. I closed out the browser and headed up the stairs. The master suite was on the left, but I turned to the right toward the nursery. The room was nearly as big as the master suite. Snake had insisted that we remodel this room first, and I didn’t argue. Out came the ancient shag carpet and in went the pale wood laminate and light pink paint. With the angled roofs and dormers of our little Cape Cod style house, there was a perfect vault of ceiling over the crib. It was a gorgeous room, and I always felt so peaceful when I walked in. Even though there had been some rough nights when I had hardly slept and had rocked Ariel in the antique rocking chair for hours, it hadn’t changed my opinion.

  I laid the baby gently on the changing table and pulled a clean diaper from the dispenser. She watched me with those big, blue-gray eyes that I just couldn’t stop looking at. Snake and I were both anxious to see what color they would turn out to be. She was the most gorgeous little child I’d ever seen, with sweet little ringlets of dark hair and a heart-shaped birthmark on her chest.

  “Well, you were calm long enough for Mommy to get a few things done, weren’t you?” I said as I performed my duties. “I’ll be starting all new classes in a few weeks, so we’ll get to order some new books. And you’ll have to let me have a little time to read the material. Do you think you can do that?” I knew the answer already. Ariel loved to sit quietly on my lap and watch while I turned the pages of my text books. I couldn’t have asked for a calmer baby.

  Ariel had come easily into the world, if not conveniently. I had gone into labor around two in the morning, surprised by the heavy feeling in my belly and the painful contractions. I had reached over to shake Snake’s shoulder, but he was awake as soon as my fingers had brushed his skin. “What’s wrong? What is it?”

  “I think we’re having the baby!”

  The hospital workers had given Snake some interesting looks, surprised to see a tall, tattooed biker in a leather vest be so attentive to the mother of his child. I had been happy to see that he ignored them completely, focusing on me and the baby instead. He never left my side except when the doctor asked him to step back so they could administer the epidural.

  “It’s a girl!” the doctor had announced only a few hours later. “And she’s beautiful!”

  I had known she would be even before I saw her, but I fell in love all over again when they placed her on my chest.

  Snake had reached out one large finger to touch her tiny hand, smiling when she clutched at him. “She’s amazing,” he had said as he kissed first my forehead and then hers. “You’re amazing.”

  With a fresh change, Ariel was content once again. I brought her back down the stairs. Even though we had lived in this home for several months, I never got tired of looking at it. The money from the bet—which Rusty had forwarded to us along with a little extra cash they had donated as a baby gift—had been plenty to put down on the house. It still needed some work, as it had been coated in old wallpaper from several decades ago and most of the flooring had to be ripped out, but it was structurally sound. Ariel had a generously sized bedroom, there was a garage where Snake could work on his bike, and I had my own little office. Most importantly, there was a big backyard where we would be able to play with our daughter once she got a little older. In our quiet neighb
orhood, we really had started over. We hardly talked about our old lives at all anymore, eager to leave them behind.

  I descended into the formal living room. While it wasn’t formal just yet, it certainly had the potential to be. It had lots of big windows across the front near the door, and a set of French doors that separated it from the rest of the house. It had been my favorite room when we had looked at the place with the realtor, and I dreamed of filling it with beautiful furniture and wall hangings. It would be the perfect place for a future Christmas tree in the front window, with garlands winding up the banister. For now, it held a corner lamp and a sofa. “What do you think, Ariel? Should we paint these walls a pale blue? Or maybe a bright yellow? And I was thinking hardwood for the floors, maybe maple. Or we could go a little darker and do walnut.”

  As always, the baby simply studied me with curiosity if not understanding. I had made a habit of talking to her constantly, telling her about everything I saw and thought. After I was already doing it, I had read that it could help babies learn to speak and understand language better. If that was true, then it would be a pleasant side effect. I loved talking to her regardless, and she didn’t seem to mind.

  We moved into the hallway, past the dining room and the kitchen, to the main living room where we had a flat-screen television mounted on the wall and a furniture set that we had purchased on credit at a local outlet. The overstuffed sofa, recliner, and loveseat were a comfortable place to lounge together as a family during the evenings, and we had made sure the fabric could be easily cleaned in case Ariel spit up on it.

  In this room, Snake had already pulled down all the existing green plaid wallpaper and painted it a pale coffee color. The floor was unfinished yet, with just subflooring in place, but we had plans to go to the home improvement store the following weekend and make our final decision. He had been spending every spare moment he had working on the house when he wasn’t at his day job at a motorcycle dealership in the next town. I often set the baby down and tried to help him, but he rarely let me do so for more than a few minutes at a time. “You have more important things to do,” he would say when Ariel began to fuss. “I’ll take care of this.”

  As the baby and I walked past the living room windows, I saw the mail truck come bobbing up the road. It paused for just a moment at our mailbox before it headed on down to the next house.

  “Let’s take a little walk outside,” I suggested as I opened the door. It led out to a partially covered porch which served as a breezeway to the large garage. “It’s beautiful outside today.” Meandering down the drive, I pointed out flowers, birds, and trees even though Ariel couldn’t really see them yet. Someday, I hoped to be able to write a children’s story for her. Maybe it would be about a little bird who was afraid to do anything on her own until she found out what fun she could have. That little bird, however, would still love to come back to the loving wings of her mother at the end of the day.

  I grabbed the stack of envelopes in one hand and shut the mailbox. I smiled as I walked back to the house, excited about the fact that the stack was so thick. While most folks might imagine it to be bills or junk mail, I had a good feeling it was more.

  When I came back in the door, I heard Snake in the kitchen. “There you are,” I said pleasantly, walking in and setting the stack of mail on the table. “I was beginning to think you’d be working in the garage all day. I’m glad to see you’re taking a lunch break.”

  Snake opened the fridge and retrieved a package of salami, some cheese, the jar of mayonnaise, and a bottle of mustard. “I might not have, except that I happened to look up at the clock. I was getting pretty involved in my work.”

  “How’s that old bike doing, anyway? Is it everything you thought it would be?” Snake had purchased a vintage motorcycle with the rest of the money from the bet. He had looked it over thoroughly and deemed it worthy of fixing up and reselling.

  He grinned as he assembled his sandwich. “Better than you might think. I know you weren’t too sure about it. I saw that look on your face when I brought it home. But I’ve just about got the engine put back together, and it should be ready for a new paint job by next week.” Snake took a big bite and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling while he thought. “I hate to spend the day working on it when I could be gutting the downstairs bathroom or peeling wallpaper, but the money I stand to make on this deal will really help finance all the remodeling.”

  I blinked. “Really? You think you can get a decent price for it?”

  His smile grew even wider. He had a trick up his sleeve. “Sweetheart, I know I can. I already have a buyer for it. A guy came to the dealership last week looking for just this sort of bike. Of course, we had nothing like it on the floor or in the lot. You know Harvey. He only wants the cleanest, most popular styles in his inventory, but that doesn’t suit everyone.”

  “Isn’t he going to be angry that you’re selling something to this guy on the side?” I had worried a lot ever since Snake had decided to leave the Warriors and settle down. I worried about whether or not he would be truly happy if he wasn’t on the road, even though motorcycle club life was not one that was suited for a young family. Even more so, I worried about money. With his looks, Snake couldn’t get a job just anywhere. Most places didn’t want to hire an ex-biker with intense eyes and tattoos, even if he were to agree to wear business casual attire. But the dealership had been a good opportunity for him. Snake enjoyed both selling and fixing bikes, and the hours weren’t too bad. I didn’t want him to lose this job until he was ready to move on to something else.

  Snake finished another bite of his sandwich and turned around to rip a paper towel off the roll on the counter. “I’m sure he would be if I hadn’t asked him first. When this customer couldn’t find anything he liked, I stepped into Harvey’s office and told him the situation. He said to go right ahead. Harvey figured if I was helping the guy out, he might come back to the dealership in the future when he needed something else.”

  I beamed at him. Ever since we had started this new life together, he had found a way to make everything work. Every time I worried that things would fall through or that we wouldn’t have enough money, it all came through just fine. “What color are you going to paint it?”

  “I hadn’t really decided yet, but the customer says he wants it to be a nice dark green so that’s what I’ll do.” He polished off his lunch, wiped his hands once again, and reached out for Ariel. I transferred her into his arms, and she stared at the shiny zipper on his jacket. “I think he’ll be thrilled with it, and I just might take a little bit of money from the sale to buy another bike if it’s all right with you.”

  How could I say no? It made him happy to have his side job and provide a little extra money for our budget, and he definitely knew what he was doing when it came to motorcycles. “Of course.”

  He was focused on Ariel now, his face soft as he stared down at her. “I’ve got one in mind that I saw online the other day. I just kind of dismissed it since I hadn’t sold the current one yet, and I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself. But now that I know I have a buyer, it’s a different situation. Isn’t that right, Ariel? Daddy’s going to get a new bike, and he’s going to make it all pretty. Maybe someday he’ll make one for you.”

  The little girl gurgled at him pleasantly.

  “I think she likes that idea,” I remarked, imagining how adorable it would be once Ariel was old enough to ride behind Snake on his bike. Of course, she would have all the appropriate safety equipment instead of just jumping on wearing a pageant gown. And I knew I would never need to worry about anyone taking advantage of her and talking her into doing things she didn’t want to do. We would teach her early on that she was a fierce, independent woman.

  “What came in the mail?” Snake asked.

  I had nearly forgotten about it at this point. I turned back toward the counter where I had set the stack of envelopes and began to sort through them. “I’m hopeful for some good letters from the pape
r today. When I first started writing for the Myrtle Creek Messenger, I really wasn’t sure anyone would be interested. The editor assured me they would read my column, but I just didn’t believe her. After that first letter, they’ve just been increasing in volume each week.”

  When the editor for The Messenger had first contacted me about writing an article, I had thought she was joking. Once she convinced me she was serious, I had turned her down anyway. There was no way anyone would care about what I had to say now that I had shamed the town and left.

  But after a day or two, I had called her back. I wanted to be a writer, after all, so it would be foolish to turn down a paid position at a professional paper. It would be a good credit on my resume at the very least. I wrote the first article and crossed my fingers.

  The readers soon proved me wrong. The editor called the next week, thrilled over how well my writing had gone over. I continued to write every week. Sometimes I discussed the challenges or pleasures of motherhood. Other times I reminisced on what life was like in Myrtle Creek compared to our new place in Wood River, Alabama. Just last week I had received a few letters from young girls back home who wanted my advice on growing up beautiful and strong. I couldn’t have asked for something so wonderful. I had once told my mother that I would have things to write about geared toward young women who wanted to know about my beauty pageant days, and that lie had now come true.