by Kimmy Love
“I could tell! You’re glowing. Like a sunset!” Alexa responded. She was very eccentric, but Tessa enjoyed having someone build her up. “I’m sure your husband is so happy to have such a beautiful woman to carry his child.”
“He is,” Tessa replied. She didn’t want to have to explain her entire life story to this woman right then, so she just went along with the idea of Oscar being her husband. She hoped that would be the reality soon, anyway. Though she was young, she still knew that there wasn’t anyone else she could picture in her life besides Oscar.
“Well, I’ll let you look around. Let me know if I can help you!” Alexa turned around and went back to the counter.
Tessa wanted to buy everything in the store. She knew she could, too, if she used Oscar’s credit card. She decided to only get one thing, however. A small yellow one-piece that said, “made in Greece.” She couldn’t help but buy into the cheeky saying. She had only purchased yellow, green, or other gender-neutral things for the baby so far. She wanted to keep it a surprise. She didn’t want the gender to affect anything about her pregnancy, and it didn’t matter what the baby was when it was born. She knew that she and Oscar would love it the same no matter what.
She couldn’t help but think about how she did hope a little more that it was a girl. For her first child, she just wanted someone that she would be able to relate to more. She knew so many strong women in her life that inspired her, and she wanted to raise one like that just as well. Of course, if it was going to be a boy, she would accept that and love that child no differently than anyone else on the planet.
She feared what the expectations on the child might be if it were a boy. Oscar’s dad had pressured him to attend school to study something he wasn’t passionate about, and he had been forced to take over the company when his father unexpectedly died. Would the same expectations have been placed on Oscar growing up if he were a girl? Would their potential son have to experience the hardships that Oscar had been forced to endure?
She didn’t want to have to think about that. Her baby was still growing inside her body. It didn’t even have a name yet and she was already thinking about how it was going to be forced to go to college for something it didn’t want to do! Tessa reminded herself that there was no way to really know what the future held. She thought when she first left for her European vacation, that she would be headed home by then, studying hard to get ready for grad school in the fall. Instead, she was pregnant, in love with a billionaire, and set to move into a new apartment once they returned to the States.
Oscar had a penthouse in New York City, but Lydia was persistent and demanded that apartment in the divorce. Oscar had no problem giving it over to her. She was the one who had designed it anyway, so he was happy to never have to return to it. Instead, they had managed to find one similar to their Greek apartment and Oscar easily purchased it, all in one swift motion. They had some furniture delivered, but Tessa was looking forward to really being able to make it her own when she got back. She was relieved to know that she didn’t have to worry about seeing anything that reminded her of Lydia in their new home.
Tessa purchased the little outfit for her baby and headed out the door. She decided to treat herself to lunch at a small café across the street. Still, no one had noticed who she was. She ordered a sandwich and some decaf coffee and planted herself in a cozy corner. She looked out at the street in front of her. Everyone walked by, bustling around, not noticing that Tessa Baker, pregnant with Oscar Legros’ child was sitting inside that café.
She was pleased her scheme worked and she escaped from the apartment unnoticed, but she was still a little disappointed that she had to do so wearing the disguise. She wondered how bad New York might be once they returned. The paparazzi were anywhere that a celebrity with a story might be, but they weren’t as rampant in Athens. In New York City, who knows how many might chase after the couple. Hopefully by the time they returned, things would have settled down a bit.
Tessa finished up her meal and opened her phone. She knew she shouldn’t do it, but she searched her and Oscar’s names to see if any new stories emerged. They were still saying the same hateful things, but luckily, not many new stories had been posted. Maybe Oscar had someone take care of that, or maybe the public had just moved on to a new story. Tessa put her phone away, satisfied that Oscar was telling the truth when he said that people would start to fade away.
Tessa pulled her wig off and put some of the jewelry in her bag. Most of her lipstick had smudged off while she was eating as well, and she finally started to look like herself again. She figured no one would bother her too much once she just had finished up there and headed home. She took her time with her coffee. Though it wasn’t giving her the buzz that she craved, the smell was enough to satisfy her intense desire for the sweet nectar.
Just when she was finally feeling a little better about everything, she spotted something horrifying across the street. It appeared to be Lydia walking from the boutique and crossing the street. Tessa knew she had to get out of there before Lydia noticed. She reached to put her wig back on, but in the process, spilled her coffee all over herself and the wig. She ditched it and bolted through the door, screaming sorry on the way out that the barista would have to clean up the spill. Normally she would wait and help, but she had to get out of there. It looked like Lydia was heading right for the café!
Just as Tessa opened the door, she heard Lydia’s voice screech out her name.
“Tessa dear, is that you!” Lydia yelled. Tessa kept walking fast. She was only about a block from her apartment and could run upstairs quick, ignoring Lydia. “Tessa sweetie, wait up!”
Tessa was fuming right now. What could Lydia possibly be doing there?
“Tessa! Wait!” Lydia said.
“What!” Tessa turned around and was standing right in front of her. She wanted to push her back so bad, but Tessa wasn’t that violent of a person.
“Tessa thank god, I’ve been looking all over for you. I tried to call but I couldn’t even get through!” Tessa had immediately blocked Lydia’s number after she had texted her weeks ago before her and Oscar’s date. “I just wanted to make sure you both were okay. I’ve been reading stories and am just shocked at the news. I can’t believe Oscar wouldn’t tell me!” Lydia explained. “I went by your apartment and didn’t see you there. I figured maybe you’d be in the baby store! I wasn’t far off, was I?” Lydia teased.
Tessa was not going to put up with her act. “Cut the bullshit, Lydia. Like we don’t know it was you that leaked the news to the press?”
“Oh sweetie, I really hope you don’t actually believe that! Oh, I would never!” Lydia said. She couldn’t help but have a devilish smile poke out behind her pathetic attempt at making a sympathetic face.
“Listen, just leave us alone. We don’t want anything to do with you. Oscar might not always see through that fake smile, but I do. No matter how hard it is to make an expression with all the plastic you had stuffed in your face.”
“I don’t appreciate you talking to me like this, Tessa. I’m only trying to make things right with us,” Lydia said, playing the innocent girl she was so far from being.
“I don’t appreciate you telling my business to the public. Keep our names out of your mouth. Have a good day.” Tessa turned around and started to walk away.
“Oh please, I did you a favor, sweetie,” Lydia responded. Tessa turned around, angrier than ever. “You were nobody before yesterday. Now your name’s on every top website across the world. Soon enough you’ll be thanking me. Do you really think Oscar wants to date a loser nobody like you? Some washed-up art student who doesn’t even have a real job?”
A few people had certainly noticed their fight, with one man already pointing his cell phone out to record things. Lydia didn’t seem to notice anyone but Tessa, however.
“Just go away! Leave us alone, Lydia! We don’t care about you!” Tessa said, crying and starting to walk away.
“You know he
wouldn’t want you if you weren’t carrying his baby, right? He’d never choose a girl like you,” Lydia said, following her. At this point, a few of the guys who were camped out in front of Tessa’s building must have heard from around the corner and were now snapping pictures of the two. Lydia didn’t notice, but Tessa certainly did. She was hysterical and could feel her throat close up and her chest tighten. She had to stop walking and grab onto the wall.
“I almost had him back, and you ruined it!” Lydia yelled. Tessa couldn’t take everything around her anymore. She was so close and almost back home, but she couldn’t walk anymore. She felt her legs give out from underneath her and toppled to the ground. As her eyes closed, the only thing she could see were flashing lights.
Chapter12
Oscar looked at Tessa while she slept. She was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV with breathing machines coming out of her nose. She had experienced a terrible panic attack in the middle of the streets of Athens after having a confrontation with his ex-wife. All the while, he was away at work, leaving her all alone. The guilt he felt was intense, and he didn’t know how to forgive himself. Tessa started to open her eyes.
“What’s going on?” she asked from her scratchy voice.
“You’re in the hospital, honey. You had a really bad panic attack,” Oscar explained. A tear fell from his eyes, relieved that she was all right. The doctors had told him several times that she would be perfectly fine, but he was still pretty torn up about everything.
“Why do I have all this stuff in?” she asked, tugging at the cords sticking up her nose. She had experienced a panic attack before, but never one that sent her to the hospital.
“They just want to make sure the baby’s getting enough oxygen. You were pretty dehydrated too. They’re just doing everything they can to make sure you both get to go home safe,” Oscar explained. “Tessa, you have no idea how scared I was. I’m so sorry.” Oscar had moved to the hospital bed Tessa was lying in. He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. “I’m never leaving your side again, Tessa. As soon as you get better, I want us to leave for New York. I don’t care about the opening of the store or factory or anything else here. I only care about you and our child.”
“No, you have to be there for the store. I’m fine Oscar, really,” Tessa said. He seemed more upset than her at this point.
“No, I’m not letting you go alone. I couldn’t take it if anything else happened to you, Tessa. I promise I’m not going anywhere.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’m taking a restraining order out on Lydia. You can be rest assured that she’ll never speak to you again. She had no business being there. I don’t even know what she was thinking. Don’t you worry, Tessa, don’t worry one bit.” Oscar was rambling at this point.
Tessa lifted herself up. She grabbed her stomach and felt her baby kick. She smiled and grabbed Oscar’s hand, placing it on her stomach. “I think they’re letting us know that they’re okay in there!”
After Tessa passed out, she didn’t remember much, but still had an idea of what happened. She remembered seeing the paparazzi and then the paramedics. They were all speaking in Greek, so she didn’t know exactly what they were discussing in the back of the ambulance. The entire time, she only thought about Oscar. The only thing she wanted was him next to her, so she felt instantly relieved when she woke up and he was there.
As a little girl, when Tessa would get scared, she would think of her mother. Even after graduating undergraduate school, she still saw her mother in times of panic and high anxiety. This time, the only face she saw was Oscar’s. Of course, like most people experiencing a panic attack, she thought she was dying. She just wanted to reach for her phone and call Oscar to let him know how much she loved him before she died. She ended up being perfectly fine, but in those moments of anxiety, it’s hard to see clearly.
She knew now more than ever that Oscar was the one for her. Everything that they had been through had only brought them closer. It felt like fate that they had lost each other but reunited once again in the very gallery that had brought them together. Everything that the media had to say about them and all the hateful words that Lydia had told her, she knew was all complete garbage. She knew how much she loved Oscar and she wasn’t going to let him go anywhere. She scooched over on the bed, so Oscar could lay next to her.
The nurse came in and asked if she needed anything, but she had everything she wanted right there in Oscar. Physically, they were a perfect match. His legs folded into hers so nicely on the bed that she would have been satisfied if they fused together. The way his arms wrapped around her felt like they were crafted specifically to hold her. She didn’t know that it was possible to feel this good while sharing a tiny hospital bed with someone.
Aside from being physically connected, the emotions she felt for him were so strong they almost scared her. There was just something about him that made her feel completely whole. He had everything that she had been searching for throughout her life and she knew that there was no way she was ever going to let him go.
The paparazzi didn’t matter. Lydia didn’t matter. Nothing meant anything to her besides Oscar and their baby. She would suffer a panic attack every day if she had to if it meant that Oscar would end up holding her at the end of the day.
“I really don’t know what I would have done if I would have lost you or the baby, Tessa,” Oscar said. “I almost fell over when I got the phone call. They said you were having trouble breathing and that it could affect the baby. I thought I was going to die right there.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out today. I should have just taken a bath. But I couldn’t stop the thoughts. I couldn’t stop thinking about what everyone else thought of us. What bad could happen if I lost you,” Tessa said. “I know now that none of that matters. The only thing that does is making sure that we’re all okay, together. I’m so sorry, Oscar. I never want to scare you like that.”
“Don’t be sorry, Tessa. I’m the one that did this to us. I’ve already talked to the rest of the board about finding someone to replace me. I’ll still own Legros but someone else can help open the store instead of me while we raise our baby. I want to direct all my focus towards you.”
She couldn’t be happier to hear him explain that. “I’ll be the stay-at-home dad while you go get your degree. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you and our daughter the happiest girls on the planet,” he replied.
“Hold up, daughter?” Tessa asked. She and Oscar had always agreed that they wouldn’t know the gender of the baby until it was born. They always referred to the baby as “it” or “them.”
“Oh, what did I say? I meant baby. Our baby,” Oscar said nervously. Tessa could tell when he was lying.
“What did you do, Oscar? What’s going on?” Tessa was getting angry that he was keeping the truth from her.
“Nothing Tessa, really. It was just a slip-up,” Oscar replied. Tessa was mad at him for lying but partially relieved that he wasn’t good at it. At least she would always know whether he was telling the truth.
“Oscar, I’m getting upset. I’m sure that’s not good for me and the baby.”
“Okay, okay. I might have peeked at the results last time we were at the doctor’s.”
“Oscar!” she yelled. “How could you?”
“I’m sorry, Tessa! I promise you I regretted it immediately and didn’t want to spoil the surprise for you!” Oscar said.
Tessa couldn’t stay mad at him for long. He was too cute in the way that he tried to pretend he didn’t know. Besides, she was having a daughter. How much happier could she be?
*****
Tessa Baker glowed in the sun, illuminating the streets of Athens beneath her balcony. Her short brown curls created a halo around her head as the sun reflected from her golden radiance. She truly could have been a Greek goddess herself atop the balcony, overlooking the busy street connected to her apartment building.
This time, she was standing on one of the highest balconies in
Athens overlooking the city from a much higher distance than her original apartment. She took a long hard sip from her glass of lemonade. She wished she could enjoy one final glass of wine as she prepared to leave the city for several months, but the baby in her belly made that a terrible decision. She wiped her forehead. Though she had been in Greece for almost seven months, she still hadn’t gotten quite used to the heat.
When she arrived in Athens, she had only planned on staying for a week or so. She was on the greatest adventure of her life when she first laid eyes on the most handsome man she had ever seen. What she didn’t realize then was that he was actually the one who would be bringing in the adventure. Tessa had gone on her European vacation hoping to find something greater or learn a truth about herself.
She experienced some of the most difficult moments of her life, but she had certainly found something greater. She discovered a love that made her life on Earth make sense. She always felt like just a body drifting from place to place, but with the family she gained while in Athens, she started to feel whole. This love made her feel so great about herself and blessed to even be alive. The pain she felt at the same time didn’t hurt like the other emotions she felt.
It was a pain derived from fear, thinking about what she could lose. This fear only made her grow stronger and more passionate, realizing she couldn’t give up on her dreams or else she’d hurt the family around her. She felt everything so much deeper than she did before, allowing her to love even stronger.
The glass door leading inside slid open and Oscar walked out. “Hey gorgeous girl. We should probably leave, we don’t want to miss the flight, do we?”
Oscar had stuck to his word. Following Tessa’s hospital visit, he decided to step down and let someone else take over the opening of the store for a bit. He still made most of the decisions, but he was certainly dedicating all of his time and energy towards Tessa now, and she couldn’t be happier.