by Jamie Pope
“I know. She happens to be my mother,” she said so quietly that he had to strain to hear her. “I should have told you sooner.”
“What!” he exploded and propelled himself off the couch. “You knew I worked for your mother and you didn’t say a damn thing to me?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“But you sure as hell found out when I told you. Your mother already thinks I’m reckless, and now she’s going to fire me when she finds out that I got you pregnant. Do you realize how important my career is to me? It’s the only thing I have, and you put it in even more jeopardy by not telling me who you really are. She’s never going to let me head up the trauma unit now.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing to say now. Six weeks ago is when you should have opened your mouth.”
“Would you have stayed away if I had?”
He paused. Would he have stayed away? Could he have stayed away? He wasn’t sure. “I don’t know. But I would have had the option to.” He paced away from her. “I cannot believe this.”
“You sound more upset about this than the baby.”
“I’m not upset about the baby! You should know me better than that by now, but apparently I don’t know anything about you.”
“Yes, you do. You spent an entire week with me. I told you everything about myself.”
“Except who your parents are.”
“You liked me for me! Do you realize how rare that is for me? My father is a billionaire. The entire world knows that it’s all coming to me one day, and people treat me differently because of it. The only people I can trust are in my field, because they don’t care about the money. But everyone on the outside who knows looks at me as if I have dollar signs on my forehead. But you didn’t do that.”
“I don’t care about your money. I have plenty of my own. And I don’t give a damn about who your father is. He could be a postal worker or a garbage collector, for all I care. It’s your mother that I’m more concerned with. What is she going to think?”
“I’ve been trying not to think about it.” Cricket pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “I find her terrifying when she’s angry. I’m more scared about telling her than I was to tell you.”
Elias sat down heavily next to her, his arm pressed against hers. This whole situation was bad. He was beyond angry. His career was in serious jeopardy, but he found her damn irresistible in that moment. He couldn’t stop himself from touching her. “She is terrifying,” he agreed. “How are we going to break the news?”
“I’m supposed to be meeting them here for dinner in two days.”
He looked up at her, and without thinking he said, “Then I guess that means we’ll have to get married tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter 5
Cricket caught a glimpse of her reflection in Elias’s large bay window as she walked by. They had just gotten back from the courthouse. She was a married woman. A wife. A soon-to-be mother. She had someone else’s happiness to consider now.
Elias had insisted that she get a new dress for the day. She was planning to wear one of the simple dresses she’d packed for this trip, but Elias was adamant that she have something new. Something she felt special in.
It would be nice to start our new lives in something new.
She had settled on a blush-colored tea-length gown with a fluffy tulle skirt. It was whimsical and pretty and fit her perfectly. If it were any other day, she might have been overjoyed with it, but it wasn’t the type of dress she’d thought she would wear on her wedding day.
But then again, she’d also never thought she would be pregnant and marrying a man she barely knew.
The joy was missing from the day. The hope. The overwhelming rush of love between them.
She couldn’t gauge how Elias was feeling, but she was feeling quite low. He had told her that she was beautiful that day. He had given her the most perfect ring. A round diamond set in a rose-gold band that was decorated with delicate flowers, each with a tiny diamond set in the middle. And after they were pronounced married, he kissed her sweetly on the lips, but he hadn’t said a word to her since then. Not a single word on the car ride home. Nothing since they arrived back at his house.
It made that little seed of doubt in her mind bloom into a full-blown plant.
She had balked at the idea of marriage when he first brought it up last night. These were modern times. She made more than enough money on her own to support herself and her child. And with her trust fund, she could hire an army of nannies if she wanted to. But Elias had wanted this. And some foolish thing inside her made her want to give him what he wanted.
This is important to me. Family is important to me. Marriage is important to me, and I want to show my child that. I want us to present a united front when our baby comes into the world. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but I need the mother of my child to be my wife.
She relented. If it didn’t work, they could both move on, but Cricket knew she would be hurt when it ended. There would be no way to avoid it. She had wanted to marry for love, and she was positive her husband did not love her.
She watched him as he put the paperwork they had received at the courthouse in a wall safe hidden behind a painting. He looked incredibly handsome today. Dashing, really, in a three-piece gray pinstripe suit that formed to his muscular body perfectly.
She didn’t know what to do with herself now. She hadn’t planned for this. When she came here yesterday, she had planned to just tell him and then retreat to the tiny apartment she kept in the city as he processed the news. But she showed up and before she could speak he was making fast, furious love to her against the door.
Sex was always incredible with him, but last night had felt different. He’d looked so happy to see her. He’d kissed her like he had missed her, and that had given her a tiny spark of hope. But today she couldn’t read him. She would give anything just to know what was going on inside his head.
“Thank you for asking the man to take a picture of us. I would have never thought of that.”
“I thought we needed to have at least one photo of us today.”
“I love my ring.” She fiddled with the band. “Have I told you that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He just nodded.
“I wasn’t expecting it.”
“What kind of man would I be if I didn’t give my wife a wedding ring?”
“You know, diamond rings weren’t given before the 1930s, when a diamond company put out a large ad campaign. Diamonds aren’t at all rare and are intrinsically worthless. You would be no less manly if you took your money and put a down payment on a house or invested it.”
“Nerd,” he said softly. “You took the romance right away with all your facts.”
She smiled at him, glad that a bit of the tension was lessened. She was nervous, and when she got that way she spit out a bunch of useless facts. “I’m glad you gave me this ring. It makes the little romantic girl in me swoon.”
He nodded again, and she felt so frustrated that she wanted to scream.
“I’m going to take off this suit.”
“Oh. Maybe I should take off this dress, too. But I can wait until you’re done.”
“You don’t have to wait. Come on.” He led the way to his bedroom, where she had slept with him last night. Maybe slept was the wrong word, because she was sure that neither of them had gotten any sleep at all. She liked his place. It was what she would expect from a bachelor doctor.
It was masculine, neat and tastefully decorated with two bedrooms and an office. They could easily live there with the baby. They were probably going to have to live there once he went back to work. She would never see him otherwise. It was something they needed to talk about. It was one of the dozen things they needed to discuss.
>
He sat on his bed to remove his shoes and socks. She watched him for a moment, still unable to wrap her head around the fact that he was her husband.
“Do you want to go out for dinner tonight? I can cook if you don’t. Or we can just order in.”
“It doesn’t matter to me. Whatever you want.” He continued to remove his clothes. His suit coat and shirt, revealing that smooth bare chest that made her lose her train of thought.
“This is not about whatever I want. This is about you and me now and the decisions we make together.”
“Really? The past twenty-four hours have felt like it has been all about you and your choices.”
“Don’t.” She came to stand before him at the bed. “Don’t you dare put this off on me. I didn’t do this to you. I didn’t plan this. I wasn’t trying to trap you. We’re going to have a baby, and you wanted to marry me. If you don’t want this, tell me right now. We can get an annulment and I can take my baby to the other side of the country and you’ll never have to see us again.”
“Are you threatening to keep my child away from me?”
“No! I married you, Elias. If that doesn’t tell you that I want you to be in our baby’s life, then I don’t know what will. But I won’t be the one you take this out on. I won’t allow you to ice me out. I deserve better than that. So if you need space from me, let me know. Because I can be happy with or without you. The ball is in your court.”
He looked up at her, and there was hurt in his eyes and maybe some fear. She only recognized those emotions because she was feeling the same way, too.
He placed his hands on her waist, pulling her closer so that he could rest his face on her belly, on their unborn child. “I don’t want space from you,” he said.
“What do you want?”
“Right now?” He spun her around and unzipped her dress. “I want to take my wife to bed.”
She wanted to say no, to refuse him and stomp off, but she couldn’t. She liked being with him. She liked his scent and the feel of his arms around her. He made her feel good in a way that no one else could, and she knew she could make him feel good in return.
He removed her strapless bra, and she was standing before him in just a pair of nude-colored underwear. “Sometimes I think the only thing you like about me is what’s between my legs.”
“That’s not true at all.” He kissed her still-flat tummy, which she found incredibly sweet. “I like other parts of your body, too.” He covered her nipple with his mouth, sucking lightly on it. She suppressed a moan. Things always heated up so quickly between them, and she couldn’t blame him for losing control because she was right there with him. “You have the most perfect breasts that I’ve ever seen,” he told her right before he switched to the other nipple.
“They’re big.”
He looked up at her, a little mischief in his eyes. “Do you think that’s a problem for me?”
“They were the cause of my teenage insecurities and frustration. I used to wear three bras just to keep them under control.”
“Don’t do that.” He slid his hand up to one of them and squeezed lightly. “You are so damn beautiful. Do you think I would marry an ugly woman?”
“If she was having your baby, yes.”
“Do you think I would get an ugly woman pregnant?”
“Yes. If you liked her very much. I don’t want to think the father of my child is a shallow man. And you’re not shallow. There are so many wonderful things about you. And the ability to make me feel good after I wanted to repeatedly poke you with a fork is one of them.”
He smiled at her, a real smile, and the fist around her heart loosened. He stood up and kissed her forehead. “I like what’s in here, too.” He pulled down her underwear and ordered her into bed.
She obeyed and lay in the center of his big bed under the covers, watching him strip off the remainder of his clothing. She was nervous. Her heart was racing, and she felt like it was her first time with him all over again. Only this time was more momentous, because she wasn’t having sex with a man she had just met. She was making love to her husband and the father of her child.
He settled on top of her, the lower half of his body in between her legs. He didn’t enter her even though she’d been ready the moment he unzipped her dress. He kissed her. Long, deep, unrushed kisses that made her melt into the bed and took her breath away.
She didn’t know what was going to happen between them or if this fragile marriage was going to last, but this moment was nice, this moment she would hold on to and recall when things got tough between them.
* * *
The restaurant where they were meeting Cricket’s parents was one of the best in Miami. This was no casual dining establishment, and they had to dress the part. Elias wore a navy blue suit and his best pair of shoes, but Cricket was the stunner. She wore a cream-colored lace dress that fit her curvy body like a glove. It was distractingly sexy but still appropriate enough for dinner with her parents.
She was nervous. There was no denying it. He didn’t blame her, because he had been dreading this meeting all day. It could make or break his future, but he was more concerned about her at the moment. He took her hand, and she looked over to him almost gratefully. He had no words for her, but he could offer his touch. They had that. If nothing else, they could take comfort in each other’s bodies even if it wasn’t in bed.
“This is my mother’s favorite restaurant,” she told him as they entered.
“Mine is the burger joint on Calloway Boulevard.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened a bit. “Can we go there after we leave here? I don’t think I’ll be able to eat.”
“Of course. You haven’t eaten all day. You need to feed my child.”
“I’m too nervous.”
He squeezed her hand, and when that didn’t seem like enough, he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek.
The hostess showed them to their table. Mr. Jerome Warren and Dr. Lundy were already there. The eccentric billionaire was wearing a houndstooth-patterned sport coat and a teal bow tie. He smiled broadly when he spotted them. Dr. Lundy looked gorgeous but understated in a black cocktail dress. She didn’t smile. She frowned in confusion.
“Dr. Bradley,” she started. “I had you banned from my hospital, and you track my daughter down to meet with me. I don’t know if it’s clever or stalkerish, but you could have simply called. Though it wouldn’t have made a difference. I got the report from your orthopedist. You haven’t been cleared to return to surgery yet.”
“We’re not here on account of my career tonight.” He pulled out Cricket’s chair before taking his seat beside her.
“Franny,” Jerome said, “you sound like you already know Cricket’s friend.”
“He’s not Cricket’s friend. He’s my top trauma surgeon, who broke his hand doing some ridiculous mud race.”
“Those look like so much fun!” Mr. Warren said. “If I were younger, I would do one myself.”
“You don’t have to be young to do them, sir. My sister-in-law’s father just did one with my brother. He had a wonderful time. I’m Elias, by the way.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Elias. It’s an unexpected pleasure.”
“What are you doing here, Doctor?” Dr. Lundy stared at him in a way that could make flowers wither.
“Mother, you were right about Elias not being my friend. He’s my husband.”
Elias hadn’t expected Cricket to blurt it out like that, but he was glad she did. It was out in the open now.
“Your what!”
“Congratulations, honey!”
Cricket’s hand crept into his, and he locked his fingers with hers.
“We’re married, Dr. Lundy,” Elias said. “I didn’t know she was your daughter when we met.”
“You
’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I’m very happy about it. I didn’t marry Elias because I’m having his baby. I married him because it felt right.”
That comment made him pause. He kept asking himself why he’d asked her to marry him. The words had just popped out of his mouth.
It wasn’t love. It couldn’t be, and if he were in this situation with anyone else, he wouldn’t have asked. But he wanted all of Cricket. Marrying her felt like the right thing to do. He was the first man to make love to her. He had given her a baby. He felt like he needed to be her husband.
“I knew you wanted to be head of trauma, but I didn’t think you would stoop this low. You seduce my daughter, get her pregnant and marry her! You thought this was going to force my hand?”
“I don’t care if you have a low opinion of me, but your daughter is no naive dupe. Even if I was so evil, Cricket is smart enough not to get pulled in. I want the job, but I knew it was a never a guarantee. I’m a damn good surgeon, and if I could get hired at your hospital, I can get hired at another top institution. Our relationship didn’t start with you in mind. In fact, I didn’t even know you were her mother until two days ago.”
“It’s true, Mother. I knew that Elias worked for you, but he didn’t know that I knew.”
“He was in your home, and he had no clue who your parents were.” Dr. Lundy shook her head in disgust. “I thought you had gotten smarter since your college days.”
“Don’t, Mother. I was seventeen!”
“It was the same story. You told us he didn’t care about who your father was. That he loved you for you, and next thing we know you were trying to cash out your savings account to buy him a car.”
“I learned my lesson. I was a kid. Why can’t you let that go?”
“Because now you have gotten yourself pregnant. I wish I could trust you, but I can’t.”
“Enough, Frances,” Jerome said in a stern voice that Elias was sure no one else dared to use with Dr. Lundy. “Cricket is our only child, and she is bringing a life into this world. She is a grown woman with two doctorates who has dedicated her life to making the world a healthier place. We are inordinately proud of her, and we’re thrilled to be grandparents. And if the man she chose to marry is a doctor that you yourself hired, he mustn’t be all that bad. Instead of biting everyone’s head off, take a moment to see the joy in this situation.” He reached across the table and set his hand over Cricket’s free one. “I can’t wait to be a grandfather, honey. I prayed for you to find happiness. I’m happy for you. Congratulations.”