by Sage S Wolf
I shifted her legs so I could lean closer to stare at her stomach harder. “Are you sure?”
“Get out of here.” She giggled, gently pushing my forehead. “You let that baby bake for the proper amount of time, mister.”
I laughed and sat back. “I’m fine with that. You ready to go shopping?” I started rubbing her calves and she let out a tiny moan.
“You keep rubbing my calves like that and I’m never leaving this couch.”
“We can’t have that happening.” I stopped and lifted her legs so I could stand from the couch, then offered my hands to help her up. “Let’s go get you some new bras and see what other trouble we can get into while we’re out.”
Tessa took my hands and let me pull her up off the couch. “You had me at trouble.”
When we reached the garage, Tessa held her hand out for the keys.
I shook my head. “I’m driving today.” I opened the passenger door for her. “Madame.”
She waited until we were in the Suburban and about to back out before she asked the question I knew was burning in her mind.
“Won’t you get in trouble for driving with a suspended license?”
I stopped backing up and looked at her. “I’m not, though. My lawyer convinced the judge to reinstate it. Whether it will stay that way after the court date, I don’t know, but for now I can chauffeur you around.”
“That’s great. Do you have a court date, then?”
I nodded. “September second at nine in the morning.”
“For a second there I thought you were going to say the first which is my next OB appointment. Not that you have to be there or anything. I just know you wanted to be--”
I reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “Tess. I would have made it work either way. I want to be there, remember?”
“I just want you to know that you don’t have to make it a priority or anything. Your life comes first.”
I shook my head. “Wrong. That baby comes first, always. Just because I didn’t have a hand in making him doesn’t mean I’m gonna treat him as less. And if by some divine miracle I end up with a kid of my own someday, they will both be treated equally.”
“You really mean that?” Tessa’s voice sounded a little shaky like she was fighting back tears.
I refused to take my focus off the road to confirm it though.
“With all of what’s left of my broken heart, Tessa.” I pulled to a stop in front of our local lingerie boutique and finally looked at her. “I already told you.” I pointed to her stomach. “That little boy saved me, and I may never be able to thank him for that but I’m sure as hell gonna try.” I pushed my door open. “Stay there and I’ll come open your door for you.”
I hurried around the front of the SUV and opened Tessa’s door.
“Why are we at a lingerie store, Darik?” She was blushing a little.
I smiled and helped her out. “I know it looks like a lot of lacy stuff, but I happen to know they sell some comfortable bras that aren’t just for looks. I had a wife not long ago, ya know?” A pang of guilt shot through me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought another woman to my wife’s favorite place to buy her underthings.
“It’s okay, Darik. Whatever is causing that pained look on your face will be okay. Why don’t you wait out here while I go in and look around?”
“I’m coming in,” I walked ahead and opened the door for her. “Ladies first.”
Tessa looked a little unsure as she went ahead of me into the shop…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tessa
I had done my fair share of lingerie shopping before Zack, but I’d never taken boyfriends with me, let alone a man who I wasn’t in an intimate relationship with.
To say I’d felt a little awkward would be an understatement.
“Welcome to Natalie’s Lingerie Boutique,” a pretty young girl at the counter whose name tag said Tara greeted us when we stepped inside. “Is there anything I can help you with today?”
I decided to just pretend Darik wasn’t there. I was here for one thing and it wasn’t sexy lingerie.
“I was hoping to find something comfortable and supportive for the girls.” I gestured to my swollen C cups.
Tara smiled and came out from behind the counter. “I think we have just what you need. Follow me.”
I turned to Darik and mouthed “Stay here” before hurrying to catch up with Tara.
She led me to a rack that held some really cute bras. Some looked like they might be supportive. “What size are you looking for?” she asked, pulling a couple of bras from the rack.
“Last I checked I was a 32C. Not sure with my recent growth spurt.” I gestured to my boobs again.
Tara unashamedly looked at my chest. “Hmm, let’s take a measurement then, yea?”
“Sure. The girls need some good fitting support for what they are enduring for my son.”
Tara smiled and pulled a tape from her pocket and then took my measurements. “I’d put you in a 34D.” She went back to the rack and pulled off three bras. One with black lace, one nude, and another that was a beautiful deep red. “I’ll show you to the dressing room and you can try these on.”
“Okay.”
I followed her to the dressing room and took the bras before stepping inside. Lucky for me, my sundress had spaghetti straps, so I just slid them off my shoulders and pulled the top of my dress down.
I tried the red bra first and it had a little too much push up power. The nude one wasn’t quite supportive enough… The black one, though. It had just enough lift that the girls felt like they were laying in a relaxing hammock. The straps didn’t dig into me when I adjusted them to get the lift I wanted.
“Everything going good in there?” Tara asked through the door.
“Yea. I have a question, though.”
“Ask anything you like.”
I looked down at the extremely comfortable bra that I didn’t want to take off. “Can I wear this bra out of the store? I don’t want to take it off.”
“Sure,” Tara laughed. “Just take the tags off and meet me at the register.”
“And the other two?” I asked.
“If you don’t want them, then just leave them hanging up in there and I’ll get them later.”
“Alright, I’ll be out in a minute.”
I put my sundress back into place. My tits looked great in the new bra… “Focus, Tessa,” I told myself. Then I hung the other two bras up and headed to the register.
“You didn’t find anything?” Darik asked when he saw me empty-handed.
I grinned. “I did. I’m wearing it.”
“Oh,” He did his best not to look at my breasts and turned to Tara. “We’ll take five more of whatever she’s wearing.”
Tara and I gasped.
“Darik, I’m good with one bra for now.” I hadn’t even bothered to check the price tag on the one I was wearing. It was probably expensive coming from a place like this.
“I’m sure you’ll need to change it more than once a week, Tessa,” Darik pulled his wallet from his pocket and approached the counter. “Charge me for six bras and--”
Goddess, the man was stubborn.
“Three bras,” I countered. “There’s a good chance I’ll have to replace these ones in a month or so.”
Tara looked between us, clearly feeling torn as to who to listen to.
“Fine,” Darik relented, handing the card to Tara. “Charge me for three bras and bring the other two back in whatever color she wants.”
Tara nodded and typed in the extra bras after scanning the tag. “Your total is one hundred and fifty-two dollars.”
My jaw dropped at the price. These bras were fifty dollars apiece? I was glad I hadn’t let him buy six of them.
Tara handed the card and receipt to Darik. “What color would you like?” she asked me. “The available colors are the ones I showed you with the other two.”
“Black and nude are fine,” I answer
ed.
“K, I’ll be right back with those.” Tara grabbed a bag and headed toward the bra rack.
I turned my attention to Darik. “You didn’t need to spend that much money on me. I would have been fine with one.”
“I don’t mind spending the money to make you as comfortable as you can be right now. I know being pregnant isn’t a walk in the park.”
“Ugh, I want to punch you for being too nice to stay mad at.”
Darik smiled and pulled me into a side hug. “Good. I don’t want you to be mad at me, Tess. I promise I’m just trying to help you.”
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Darik’s body stiffened and we turned to see Nina standing inside the shop. “Buying your whore lingerie are we, Darik?”
“Don’t be rude, Nina. We’ve already had this conversation the last three times you’ve called me and accused me of shit I didn’t do.” Darik eased me behind him like he might protect me from her words with his body.
Nina scoffed. “I just call it how I see it. And now bringing her here to Cecilia’s favorite lingerie boutique? My sister is rolling over in her grave right now while you flaunt your mistress all over town with that bastard she’s carrying.”
I’d had enough.
I stepped around Darik and got right in Nina’s face. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are to constantly attack someone you don’t even know. And you could come at me all day long. I don’t give a shit what you think about me. You better, however, keep any words that have to do with my son out of your damn mouth! I didn’t even know your sister, but I know what Darik has told me and she would be ashamed that her sister was acting like such a hateful bitch.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond before storming outside.
I had dealt with a monster of a man for two years, and now with women being cruel towards me and my son the last week. I was so fucking over it…
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Darik
“What the hell is wrong with you, Nina?” I asked, doing my best to control my anger. I was livid.
Nina poked me in the chest. “What is wrong with me? I’m not the one who moved a woman in the day after my wife died! I’m not the one buying that same woman lingerie in my dead wife’s favorite shop!” She was screaming at this point.
“Ma’am, if you can’t calm down I’m going to have to ask you to leave the shop,” Tara said, coming back with Tessa’s bras in a bag and handing it to me. “Here you go, sir. I hope your friend likes them. Make sure to come back when you need to upgrade.” She winked before turning her attention back to Nina.
“We will,” I said, turning to leave. I stopped and looked back at Nina. “And by the way, not that it’s any of your fucking business but I brought Tessa here to get new bras because her old ones don’t offer enough support--ya know, because pregnancy changes your body. Get over yourself, Nina.” I left the shop wanting to find Tessa and make sure she was okay. She was leaning against the passenger side of the Suburban, crying softly. “Oh, mama,” I pulled her into a hug, and she buried her face in my chest and cried harder. “I’m so sorry she said those things about you and Erik.”
“I just don’t understand how these women hate us so much when they don’t even know me. And my son hasn’t even been born yet. How can you be so hateful to a baby?” Tessa sobbed, and the broken pieces of my heart broke further.
“I don’t know, Tess. But you were right about what you said in there. What those women think doesn’t matter, and when you do the DNA test after he’s born we can rub it in their rude faces.”
Tessa pulled back a little to look up at me. “Yea?”
I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Yea, mama. As much as it pains me to say this, we will show them that your boy belongs to your dead husband and not me.”
Tessa sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Can we throw a big party and invite them, and when they get there it will turn out to be a daddy reveal party?”
“That’s petty as hell, but sure,” I chuckled, pulling her close again and kissing the top of her head. “You ready for lunch or you just want to go home? I can make you something.”
The baby kicked between us and Tessa giggled. “I think the bean wants Italian, papa.”
God, I would never get tired of her calling me that.
“Well, let’s not keep him waiting.” I opened Tessa’s door for her and helped her get in before shutting it and getting in the driver’s side.
I noticed Nina glaring at us from inside the lingerie shop as I pulled away from the shop. I wish I knew what her real problem was with Tessa.
The Italian place was only a block over, so it only took us a few minutes before we were parked out front.
“I’m so glad I can properly stress eat now cause this chick is stressed out.” Tessa sighed, rubbing her stomach.
“You sure you don’t want to go home and relax?”
She gave me a ‘don’t question me’ look. “No, Mr. Bishop, I do not want to go home. I want to go into this restaurant and eat until I regret my life choices, and then you can take me home and watch another one of those horrible sci-fi movies with me.”
“It’s like you can read my mind.” I got out and opened Tessa’s door for her, then we headed inside.
We asked to be seated at a table by a window.
“I thought life was hard being stuck in that house with Zack but the shit that has followed his death is starting to feel just as hard,” Tessa said after the waiter took our order.
“Maybe.” I leaned over the table a little toward her. “But you want to know the difference about the hardships now?”
Tessa took a drink of her sweet tea before looking at me. “What’s that?”
I reached across the table and took her hands into mine, looking into her eyes. “You’ve got me now, Tess.”
She beamed at me. “I think you just became my best friend.”
“Was there even another option?” I pulled my hands away when the waiter brought our salads and breadsticks.
“The bean was a possibility. Though he might be a bit young to be the sounding board for all my problems.”
I chuckled. “I’m happy to hold the title until he’s old enough to receive it.”
“We’ll see.” Tessa took a bite of her salad and made a happy noise. “When did salad start tasting so damn good?”
I took a bite of my own and while it was good, it wasn’t happy-noise good. “I think when you started growing another human.”
Tessa laughed. “Yea, probably.”
We finished our salads just in time to get our meals. We both went with lasagna.
“I really am sorry about what Nina said to you earlier.” I didn’t know why I’d felt the need to keep apologizing for someone else’s behavior. Guilt was the likely culprit. I did feel bad for taking another woman to Cecilia’s favorite lingerie shop. I also knew that I shouldn’t because logically I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was helping Tessa.
“It’s okay, Darik. Well, not exactly okay. I don’t mind them bad mouthing me. There isn’t anything those women could call me that I haven’t already heard a hundred times from Zack. It’s them attacking my son that’s upsetting. He’s just an innocent child who doesn’t deserve the harsh things they’re saying about him.”
“I’ll talk to Stephen again about Nina. Maybe he can get through to her.”
Tessa nodded. “I hope she finds peace in her grief soon.”
“Me too.”
We went back to eating our food and when we finished, we were both stuffed.
“I’m ready for a nap now,” Tessa sighed happily, rubbing her stomach.
I laughed. “Let’s get you home then so you can take one.”
I asked for the check and Tessa ordered a second serving to take home for later. I loved that she was eating so well now.
She was asleep in the passenger seat by the time I pulled into the garage.
I didn’t bother waking her, I lifted her out of the seat and carried h
er to her room and tucked her into bed. She didn’t budge the whole trip between the Suburban and the bed. It’d been a stressful day for her.
I couldn’t believe Nina had said those things, and still planned on calling Stephen and letting him know what she was doing to us both. She’d been texting and calling me with all kinds of mean hateful things on top of accusing me of cheating on my wife.
I would never have done that. I wouldn’t even do it now, and she was dead. Cecilia and I weren’t legally bound anymore, but she was still my wife in my mind…
Chapter Thirty
Tessa
I awoke from my nap and stretched. My back was so damn stiff.
I looked around for my phone, spotting it on the bedside table. Reaching over, I picked it up and unlocked it to check the time. Six o’clock. I’d been asleep for almost four hours.
I pushed myself up and slung my legs over the side of the bed. It took a bit of effort and I immediately felt like I needed another nap. “We might have to ask your papa for that crane sooner than I thought,” I said, rubbing my stomach.
I made my way to the bathroom to relieve myself. I was already over the whole peeing constantly thing.
Then I went looking for Darik. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep on the way home earlier, I guess the confrontation with Nina had taken more out of me than I thought. I’m sure stuffing myself with lasagna and breadsticks didn’t help, either.
Still, I would have preferred to put myself to bed.
I found Darik crashed out on the couch. He looked younger in his restful state. More handsome, if that was even possible for him. Even his long eyelashes were blonde, I realized. They rested almost invisibly against his cheeks. His strong arms were crossed over his broad chest that moved with each breath…
“Now I know how you feel when I stare,” Darik said, his eyes fluttering open to meet my stare. “Everything okay?”
I felt myself blush and looked away. “Everything’s fine. I just woke up and came looking for you.”
“I’ve been right here since I tucked you into bed earlier. You were sleeping pretty hard by the time we got home so I didn’t bother waking you.”