by R. Lorelei
He pressed me up against my car rubbing against me with total disregard that we were in public, and then he cupped my face with both his hands because I had nowhere to go and he pressed his warm lips against mine firmly.
My heart took over and I kissed him back with a desperation I never knew I could feel and my brain began pulling my body away from him trying to tear me from his arms. I saw my hand like I had no control over it go up to slap his face as I scurried into Snowball and locked the doors.
I looked out the window to find Nick in tears. The site of him caused me to feel this crushing pain in my chest. Air was being stolen from me as my blood turned cold. The pain radiated into my jaw and down my left arm as I reached for the steering wheel. I was hit with a sudden urge to vomit so I covered my mouth with my other hand. I felt all hot and sweaty, like I was about to lose consciousness. With a heavy foot and a broken heart I bared down on the accelerator.
~46~
I kept my distance from Nick and Aria while I focused on my own changes. Whenever Bradley or I weren’t working we were constantly driving back and forth from the loft to his house in Oakville delivering my belongings. When only the big items were left, we called a moving company and had the remainder of my stuff put into a storage facility located just on the border of Oakville and Burlington. My grey sectional may it rest in peace was left outside in front of the building for the garbage man to pick it up Monday morning.
Bradley spoiled me while I was moving in. He carried all the boxes, and unpacked most of them. He cooked when I wasn’t feeling well and he was gentle in our bed. I missed the wild intimate moments we had but I guess it was a small price to pay while I was incubating this child, which could have possibly been his.
It was a Friday evening, the last day of the month when Bradley escorted me to his brother’s penthouse to drop off the keys to the loft. Chase answered the door and invited us in. He told us to make ourselves comfortable and asked us what we wanted to drink. He disappeared into the kitchen to prepare refreshments.
Bradley took my hand and led me into the dark living room. He turned the light and everyone called out, “Surprise!” I was shocked to find, Nick, Aria, Dr. Thicke, Dr. Morden and some of the nurses we worked with were all there. Shelly spoke up first, “We wanted to congratulate you on your new job and wish you well Chanel!”
I looked instantly at Bradley wondering if he knew about this. He shrugged cluelessly looking at me, “I’m as surprised as you are!” Everyone came up to me and hugged me. I was floored that they would all do this for me. People were asking me about my new job. Then someone asked if I heard back about my exam results and I said I hadn’t. Chase entered the room at that point and pulled an envelope from his inside pocket and said, “You have now.”
I was too nervous to open it and I couldn’t believe I would have to do it in front of so many people so I looked at Chase and said, “You open it!” He tore it open so slowly it was painful to watch. “Come on Chase, you’re killing me!” I yelped.
He slowly pulled the letter from its envelope and read it smiling. He looked up at me pointedly and said, “Sorry Doctor I didn’t know you were in a hurry!” Everyone in the room clapped and cheered for me and started hugging me as tears of joy did more than threaten to come down, they just came down. Damn pregnancy hormones! They make you look like a sappy emotional wreck even at the best of times!
Chase being Mr. CEO, and host extraordinaire, balled into one, hired a server to make and pass around the rest of the cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Bradley came over to me while Aria was standing close by and asked, “Drink?”
“Juice please,” I said.
He handed me an orange juice and Aria commented, “No alcohol? I think we need to go to the loo!” She grabbed my wrist and took me eagerly to Bradley’s two piece bathroom, “You’re pregnant, I just know it! When are you going to tell everyone? Tell me the truth you are, aren’t you?” She talked so animated and loudly like she wanted the entire penthouse to hear her. I shushed her frantically.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Why the big secret?” She stopped talking for a second. I could see a light bulb turn on behind her eyes, “Has it been twelve weeks yet?”
“No, less,” I said.
“Oh, that explains why, for a minute I thought you might be having an affair with Chase! Does Bradley know you’re preggars?”
She was the second last person I wanted to know, “Of course he knows.”
She looked at me slyly, “It is Bradley’s right?”
“Of course it’s Bradley’s” I admonished. “I’m not having an affair! What do you take me for?”
She smiled at me putting her hands in the air like she was surrendering, “I have the utmost respect for you Chanel, just both of the brothers are so hot! I think any red blooded female would do both brothers if they could!”
I wanted to end the conversation so I started to open the door, “They’re going to miss us, we better go.” I stepped out first and my eyes met with Nick’s. He was standing close to the bathroom, too close. He probably heard everything.
I tried to remain casual as I searched out Bradley. When I saw him I went straight over to where he was standing. I whispered, “Aria knows I’m pregnant.” He went into damage control mode without having to say a word back to me. If it appeared we were hiding it than Nick would have become suspicious if he wasn’t already. Bradley took a pen and clinked it against his glass, “Everyone, Chanel and I have another little announcement to make. We were going to wait but now is as good a time as any, Chanel and I are going to have a baby!”
Chase was the first one over to congratulate us. Everyone came over to shake Bradley’s hand and give me a hug, except for Nick. His face lost its blood as he turned white. He walked over to Bradley almost solemnly and shook his hand to congratulate him while he came to me and hugged me mechanically like he was just going through the motions. Aria was oblivious to Nick’s reactions, Bradley and I weren’t. There wasn’t much he could do.
The euphoria of becoming a doctor was only slightly tarnished by Aria’s outburst in the bathroom and Nick’s reaction in the living room. I had worked so damn hard for so many years to accomplish that honor; nothing was going to ruin it for me. I stood proudly at Bradley’s side as I basked in the afterglow of becoming a medical practitioner!
~47~
The wedding was upon us. It was the first frost of the season and there was a chill in the air that could be felt right down to our bones. Aria and I were chauffeur driven compliments of Chase to the salon that Shelly referred me to several months ago. We had our hair, makeup, and nails, done leaving there resembling Glamor Barbie’s.
The limousine brought us back to Aria’s loft where we did our final preparations and dressed for the wedding. I brought some tea sandwiches we could snack on while we were preparing. I used white bread with the crusts cut off, and put small amounts of meat with cucumber and Swiss cheese on them.
Aria was in a fit to be tied state almost bordering on panic trying to make sure that nothing was forgotten. We went down to the front doors of the loft where the limousine was waiting for us. The driver came out and assisted us into the car. It was difficult managing the dress making sure it didn’t touch the ground as she got in.
I gave Aria a five dollar bill which was blue, and told her I wanted it back after the wedding. That was something borrowed and something blue. She only needed something old and something new. I gifted a locket in the shape of a heart with an old photo’s of her and Nick in it. She was ready.
The limo driver pulled into a drop off area so we wouldn’t be seen entering the Old Mill. We were escorted into a holding room until all the guests were present and the wedding was about to begin. I wore a satin red sleeveless dress with a white faux fur around my neck and my red Gucci pumps from Las Vegas.
There was a tap at the door and Bradley poked his head in, “Ten more minutes’ girls!” He left instantly and then I heard my phone vibrat
e in my little handbag. I took my phone out and there was a text from Nick. He must have typed it while Bradley gave us the ten minute warning.
Nick: Meet me in the back of the building where the limo dropped you off now!
I deleted the text and shut my phone off. I looked at Aria, “I have to talk to Bradley, and I’ll be right back!” I scurried from the room where we were, to find Nick. He was pacing outside until he saw me and froze. His eyes took me in from head to toe. I walked up to him and asked nonchalantly trying to hide my apprehension, “Is everything all right?”
“No!” he seethed, “It’s not! I’ve been waiting for you to say or do the right thing and so far you haven’t. You’ve gone ahead and passed this baby off as yours and Bradley’s and you were just going to go ahead and let me marry Aria. When were you going to involve me? When were you going to give me a chance to have a say?”
“It could be Bradley’s,” I argued.
“It might not be, right, Coco? Say it! The baby could be mine.”
“The baby could be yours,” I repeated.
“I never took you for a bitch until now,” he raged.
I argued, “I was trying to save you and Aria, me and Bradley.”
He looked at me with fire in his eyes, his hand touched my chest and then his own, his voice softened, “At the expense of you and me?”
A sob escaped my lips as his hand grabbed the nape of my neck and his mouth covered mine. My eye fluttered open and I saw Bradley’s silhouette witnessing the passion between us. Nick held my face an inch from his and he gazed into my eyes, “We could have worked everything out, but you chose to scheme with Bradley.”
Nick called out to Bradley, “I need to speak to Aria.” He ordered, “Get her now!” Nick looked at me with disgust and said, “I abhor what you’ve done. You were my best friend.” Bradley disappeared for a few minutes and then came back out with Aria.
Bradley led me away by grabbing my wrist the way he always did and he said quietly to me, “Nick is going to tell her what you guys have done.”
We watched from a distance as Nick did just that. He was talking to Aria, and then she started pummeling his chest with her arms screaming, “Why didn’t you tell me! Why! You had all this time while you knew she was pregnant that you could have said something!”
Nick stepped back from Aria and walked away. She collapsed down to her knees crying into her hands. Aria’s angelic weeping could be heard everywhere. Nick treaded through the long grass of the field towards the parking lot, turning his back on all of us.
I glanced at Bradley and then towards Nick. This time my brain watched as my heart controlled my actions. I tore my wrist from Bradley’s vice-like grip and I ran like hell to catch up with Nick.
He heard me closing in on him from behind and turned with his arms spread open to catch me. Bradley and Aria were watching us, witnessing what we had together. I was carrying my shoes in my hand and when we kissed my Gucci’s were dangling from behind his neck. In between kisses I managed to tell him, “You’re the one I can’t live without, your kisses put me on cloud 9. You’ve become my rock, my life support and if you had died in that car accident, I would have too. Nick, you’re the one I want to be with, forever.”