“How?”
“One night they were brought into the emergency room at the hospital where I used to work by Child Protective Services. I was one of the doctors who helped care for them.”
“What about their real mother?”
“Unfortunately, she was a drug addict, probably not much older than you. But you’re in a different situation than she was.”
Valerie looked at A.J., baffled. “How?”
“You’re determined to stay clean. She made the choice not to.”
“Do you know what happened to her?” she asked with a wobbly voice.
A.J. nodded sadly. “She ended up dead from an overdose about six months later.”
Valerie turned her head to hide the tears that were forming. “I’m scared that’s gonna happen to me,” she uttered, sobbing.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Valerie wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Why you say that?”
“That decision, and the direction of your life and that of your babies, is in your hands.”
“So you think I need to go into that Witness Protection Program?”
“Only you can answer that question, Valerie. Think about the options you have to choose from. You either go back to Scooter and the life you’re trying hard to leave behind, or you start a new life away from the streets and free of drugs. Now, what option do you think would be best for Brianna and Chloé?”
“But I ain’t got nobody to help me.”
A.J. shook his head again in disagreement. “I told you before, sweetheart, you have me.”
“You’d really help me?”
“Yes. I would be willing to take care of Brianna and Chloé until you’re in a position to do it yourself.”
“Really?” she said with excitement.
He nodded, but quickly held his right index finger in front of him. “Only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That you continue to stay clean and work really hard to care for them yourself one day. Understand?”
Valerie nodded.
A.J. scooted his chair closer to the bed. “Okay, now, tell me about your babies.”
A.J. spent the next hour discussing Brianna and Chloe with Valerie. He learned about the twin’s likes and dislikes, their eating and sleeping habits, asked detailed questions about the medical history, immunizations, and family history. He hoped his offer to Valerie to care for her babies wouldn’t scare Vic too much. It wasn’t every day that a woman willingly entered into a relationship with a ready-made family. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Vic loved Taylor and Tyler as much as he did. But could she accept the responsibility of caring for two other children, too? Caring for children was in his bones, buried deep in the very depth of his existence.
When they finished talking, Valerie leaned back, and for the first time in a long time, felt relieved. “Thank you, Dr. B.”
A.J. smiled. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
* * *
After leaving her parents’ home, Vic drove around for hours, finally arriving at her condominium around nine that night. As soon as she stepped inside, the place she’d called home for the last seven years felt foreign.
She walked straight into her bedroom, grabbed a suitcase from the closet, and packed the remainder of her clothes. After she’d finished, she sat on the edge of her bed as tears stung the back of her eyes. She could no longer deny what she’d fought so hard against for the last ten months. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but knew without a doubt that it had.
She’d fallen in love.
In the last three weeks, Baptiste had completely consumed her mind, her heart, and her soul. But without warning, the past flashed before her, causing her heart to pound, and she broke out into a sweat. She recalled what Caitlyn had told her earlier and relaxed, taking comfort in the knowledge that she wasn’t the only woman—or man for that matter—who’d gone through the same experience with a spouse. She released a low laugh as understanding of the prophetic conversation with her mother came to her.
“God, I love him,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her waist. “And I love the girls, too.” She panicked. What if Baptiste’s patience with her had run its course? He’d done everything humanly possible to try and persuade her to give their love a chance. In hindsight, she had only herself to blame for the hurt she’d suffered. Not finding a way to forgive Ron for all these years had stood in the way of her finding love and happiness.
The past no longer mattered anymore. Being with Baptiste, Taylor, and Tyler mattered. Caring for a family, her family, mattered. And for the first time in eight years, the love she felt conquered the fear she’d held on to for too long. Lifting her suitcase off the floor, she headed for the door. There was one other stop she needed to make.
After that, she was going home.
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Vic pulled her BMW X5 into Baptiste’s garage. She used her key to unlock the door and once inside, eased down the hallway with suitcase in hand. Quietly, she opened the door to his bedroom.
“Baptiste…”
From the threshold, she looked at him standing in the center of the candlelit room. With a boldness she didn’t even know she had, she walked inside, dropping her purse onto the floor as she passed him, placed her suitcase in the closet, and turned to face him.
“That’s where it belongs, and that’s where it’s gonna stay.”
“You’re positive?”
“Yes.” She proceeded to tell him about the conversations she’d had with her mother and Caitlyn earlier in the day.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Baptiste, I-I discovered something else today.”
“What’s that, mon amour?”
“I love you.”
“Je t’aime,” A.J. whispered, even though she still hadn’t told him the one thing he longed to hear. “How can you be so sure?”
God, he wasn’t making this easy for her, she thought. She sucked in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Because I’m giving you my heart—”
His mouth swooped down on hers because, besides confessing her love for him, she’d just placed her heart in the safest place within the entire universe—his hands. Lifting his head a few moments later, he muttered against her mouth, “That’s what I’ve needed to hear you say.”
She clung to him like a vine, her body rolling against him. “Je t’aime,” she whispered through trembling lips. “I-I was scared, Baptiste. The harder I tried to run from you, the more I tried to convince myself not to fall in love with you, the more I came up on the short end. I want to be your woman and make babies with you one day.”
He rested his head against hers, his breathing labored. “Let me make love to you.”
Stooping, she grabbed out of her purse the box of condoms she’d purchased after she left her condominium. She straightened and handed them to him. “I didn’t know so many brands were on the market,” she managed to say while her fingers dueled with the drawstring of his pajama bottoms. “Let’s not play with this, Baptiste. Wrap it up, right now.”
He tore the square packet with his teeth. If it had been any other woman, he would have been embarrassed for ripping his pajama bottoms until they hung in two tattered pieces, but he wasn’t. Vic was snatching her clothes off just as fast. When her naked body melted against him like wax—warm and soft—he moaned.
She hadn’t meant to charge at him as if she was in heat. She simply couldn’t help it. It had been so long since she’d made love and felt the warmth of a man’s touch, she was about to go stark, raving mad. So what if she sounded like a mugging victim being assaulted in a back alley somewhere? She just prayed her shrill cries of pleasure vibrating off the walls didn’t wake up the girls. Shame didn’t enter the picture when they hit the bed hard on one side and landed crooked on the other with her straddled on top.
He lifted her hands to his shoulders and settled her on his hips, issuing
a one-word command: “Ride.”
She clamped her thighs next to his and wrapped her fingers around what felt like a rod of steel encased in velvet. Guiding him inside her, she sank slowly down on his hard, strong length. She gasped from the initial contact, her body stretching painfully at first to accommodate his fullness. Adjusting to the marvelous invasion, she rocked back and forth, setting a pace he soon followed. Every doubt she’d feared faded in an instant; every reservation she’d held on to for years was stripped away as she plunged up and down. The friction against her swollen bud became so profound that her head tumbled back and tears streamed down her face. His name floated like a cloud past her lips. As tiny sparks of pleasure appeared, faded, then suddenly reappeared with intensity, she halted. She wanted to feel the strong waves of glorious sensations course through her, and out of nowhere, her body exploded, and she whimpered his name out on a broken syllable.
“Don’t stop,” he begged. For ten long, agonizing months, he’d fantasized about this very moment. He’d even rehearsed how they’d make love long and slow the first time. Now he doubted if he’d make it past the tenth stroke the way she was grinding herself against him. God knows, he tried to retain his control, gave it his best shot to hang on to what little dignity he had. Every movement of her hips pushed him closer to the edge.
The musky scent of their love permeated the air and wafted past his nostrils until they flared. The huskiness of her voice calling out his name made him lose all perspective. On the fourth stroke, he felt like a lethal wattage of electricity had surged through him. He stiffened and roared out her name on a ragged plea.
Slumped over his chest, panting from exertion, Vic tried to sit up, but collapsed from the effort. “Oh, God…”
“Mon amour,” he murmured, breathless, his eyes closed, his hands moving up and down her sweat-drenched back. “Baby…oh, baby.”
“Oh, Jesus,” she called out on a slow exhale.
Chuckling, he planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Our first time was supposed to be long and slow.”
Her body was still twitching. “It was all right by me.”
He rolled them to the side, the connection of their bodies broken, and headed for the bathroom. When he returned moments later, he stretched out on his side, bracing his weight on his elbow. Looking down at her, he glided his hand underneath her hips, caressing them.
She squeezed her thighs together and moaned. Her face twisted in sweet agony as she cupped an ache with her palm that never felt so good, all the while praying he’d make it go away.
“Want me to make it better?” he asked, understanding her dilemma. His open mouth glided down her chest to capture a nipple.
Her hand slid between their bellies, working its way south until she held him. “Depends on how you do it.”
He glanced down at her. “Almost…”
Her lips parted in a sensual smile, her eyes signaling him, daring him. She thought him more than ready.
“Let me take the wheel,” he whispered, accepting the challenge. Cradled between her thighs, he rolled another condom in place. “I don’t want to take the curve too fast this time. I might crash and eject too soon,” he groaned softly, joining them.
She’d chance a head-on collision with him any day. Closing her eyes, she tightened her legs around his and the movement drew him in deeper. She cried out her pleasure because he felt that good. Over and over, she loved him, freeing all the passion and desire she’d felt for this man from the moment they’d met.
But it wasn’t enough.
With her hands locked over her head, she let him ride her, strong hips pumping, and in return, she gave everything she had: her mind, her soul, and her heart.
“Wrap those pretty legs around me,” he growled. Taut lines etched across his face as he lost himself in the ecstasy of making love to her. The woman whose body clasped him so tightly pushed him to the brink of insanity once again.
With her legs at his waist, their bodies became inseparable. Ripples of pleasure swept over her as he plunged harder and faster, and with each thrust, she knew she’d never stop loving him. The need to be closer, if that were possible, made her plant her feet flat on the mattress. Lifting her hips and widening her thighs caused him to touch her womb. And just like the first time, they came together, moaning each other’s name on a hushed whisper.
Two hearts had finally merged into one, bound by an eternal love.
Chapter 12
It was a little past one in the morning when Vic awoke to the squalling cry of a baby. She sat straight up in bed and listened intently. “Baptiste, who’s that?”
A.J. had already roused from his sleep and smiled as he looked at his shredded pajama bottoms, which lay in a heap on the floor along with Vic’s clothes. “The newest members of the family,” he answered and got up. He went to the dresser to retrieve another pair of pajamas.
“Who?” Vic yawned, rubbing her eyes.
He grinned. “Brianna and Chloé.”
Vic shot off the mattress and headed straight for the door.
A.J. called out to her from behind. “Honey?”
“What? What?”
“Baby, don’t you think you need to put something on?”
Vic looked down at her naked body. “Oh, Lord, I forgot.”
A.J. came over and gave her a quick kiss. “Take your time and get dressed. We’re just down the hall.”
She took the quickest shower of her life and hurried to the room two doors down where she found Baptiste. He’d already gotten the girls’ bottles and was just about to feed them when she entered. “How? When?” she ecstatically asked, lifting one of the infants from her crib.
“Hmm…late yesterday afternoon.” He told her the details of his conversations with Zach and Valerie and also how Gail Bishop, the social worker with Child Protective Services had contacted him after speaking to Valerie’s mother, who had absolutely no interest in taking in Brianna and Chloé. At his request, the twins had been placed with him.
“I still can’t believe you’re a licensed foster parent.”
“Well, I am.”
Vic finished feeding the baby she held, listened for a burp, and snuggled her against her chest. “Okay, who do I have here?”
A.J. knelt beside Vic who was seated in a rocker. “You’ve got Brianna, but the girls and I decided to call her Bébé. We call Chloé CeCe.”
A.J. lifted CeCe from her crib along with her blanket and sat in a matching rocker next to Vic. “Hey there, sweetheart,” he crooned against her ear. He wrapped her tightly inside the soft material, placed her high on his shoulder, and began humming a soft tune.
Vic watched in sheer amazement at their interaction and how quickly CeCe responded to Baptiste. Now she truly understood that being a pediatrician wasn’t simply a job for him. It was his calling.
“And Valerie’s doing okay?”
“She’s doing great. Honey, I believe she’s going to make it.”
“I pray she does. She’s been through so much. I’m going by and see her later today.”
“I think she’d like that.”
“Baptiste?”
“Oui, mon amour?”
“You’ve always wanted to be a doctor, haven’t you?”
“From the time I was six, but it wasn’t an easy road getting there.”
“I don’t understand.”
A.J. chuckled. “I could best be described as a militant growing up. I almost gave the sisters at my high school a stroke.”
“How?”
“Refusing to cut my hair for one, and being stubborn for another,” he admitted, laughing out loud. “Sister Theresa would cringe every day when I entered her class and she saw my hair hanging down my shoulders. Plus, I was known to get into a fight or two in my younger days.”
“No,” Vic replied mockingly. She’d heard the family stories of him and the fights that had caused him to be suspended from school on more than one occasion. “What happened to make you change?”
/> “Father David. He became the principal the year I entered high school. One day, he took me inside his office and asked me what I wanted most in life, and I told him.”
She chuckled. “So you stopped your Black Panther ways?”
“Not at first. My mère had died the year before, and I think one of the ways I dealt with her death was by becoming a rebel. Anyway, Father David must have seen something in me. So, he talked with Pop and asked if he could serve as my mentor. After that, he arranged for me to shadow some physicians he knew at a local hospital a couple of days a week.”
“It worked, huh?”
He smiled. “Yes, it did. I saw that in order for me to become what I wanted to be more than anything in the world, I had to change, so I got rid of the hippie look—some of it, at least—buckled down, studied hard, and the rest is history.”
“Angelique,” Vic said happily, referring to A.J.’s late mother, “would be so proud of you.”
A.J. nodded. “I certainly hope so.”
Vic chuckled a while later. “See, I always told you, you were stubborn.”
“I’ve never denied that character flaw, but I learned you do what you have to do if it’s something you want badly enough.”
“Why did you give up your position as chief of pediatrics?”
“Because of T-One and T-Two.”
Vic shook her head, confused. “I’m not following you.”
“Baby, I’d reached the top of my career when I got that position. Plus, I was swamped with administrative work and wasn’t able to do what I became a doctor for in the first place—help little people get well.”
“Trust me, I understand what you mean. And you never wanted to be in private practice?”
He shook his head. “Never. After I graduated from medical school and finished my internship and residency, I practiced a couple of years with the World Health Organization.”
“Really?” Vic said in awe. That piece of information was something new to her. “Why?”
“It was a chance for me to give back and use my training to help others.” He shrugged. “I doubt I would have ever developed an interest in public health if it hadn’t been for the stunt K-Mart and I pulled during our last year of medical school.”
When a Man Loves a Woman (Indigo) Page 13