Tell Me No Secrets: Secret Baby Romance Collection

by Jamie Knight

  Carrie whines, as if trying to argue the opposite with me.

  Damn it, why did my dog have to get so attached to someone out to hurt me?

  Was she really out to hurt me? I wonder. How could something that felt so real be fake? Could she really be so evil as to have a relationship with me just to… sell a house?

  I know she wasn’t spying on me. She didn’t seem to want to help her dad – just claim what was rightfully hers, and I can understand that. But maybe she figured if she slept with me and played with my heart, I would let her sell the house that would let her take her father’s company into her own hands?

  None of it seems to make sense and I know based on experience that the truth is usually in the middle of two extremes. Yes, she needed work and wanted to sell a house. But she didn’t need to move in with me to do it. She was already having success as a realtor, which is part of why I noticed her. And I’m the one who invited her to – no, practically insisted that she – move in with me.

  Left with nothing to do but stew over my confused feelings, I look back down at Carrie, who seems as morose as I feel.

  “Come on, girl,” I tell her, strapping a leash on her. “Let’s take a walk.”

  Chapter 38 - Mariah

  The night crowd is just starting to trickle in as Elle and I are wrapping napkins around silverware sets, having just cleaned up the tables from the evening dinner crowd. Waitressing is harder work than I’d anticipated; my back and legs hurt, and I’m grateful for the chance to sit down for a minute and talk to Elle, which I’ve been doing for the past ten minutes or so on our break.

  “So, this bitch just let your dad waltz right into the office and spill your secrets to your man?” Elle asks, looking aghast.

  I’ve come clean with her – at least I’m capable of being honest with someone – and told her all the sordid details of everything that had happened over the past couple of months.

  “Well, girl, if you’d have listened to me from the beginning, none a this woulda happened,” Sterling pipes in.

  He’s been eavesdropping as he makes his rounds around the diner, picking up the slack while Elle and I have been on break. I don’t work here that often and somehow the two of them, plus a cook and dishwasher, manage to hold the whole place down. It’s pretty impressive and they’re both hard workers.

  “I know, Sterling,” I tell him. “Honesty is the best policy. Just like you always say. But, it really seems easier said than done sometimes.”

  “That’s not true,” he says. “Telling the truth gets pretty easy when you make sure to practice it. Practice makes perfect, you know.”

  “Okay,” I tell him. “Then, I have a confession to make. Tonight was going to be my last shift here. But then I was never able to get my real estate paychecks, so…”

  Sterling laughs, shaking his head at me. “Girl, you ain’t gotta be that honest. I didn’t need to know you planned on skipping on outta here like we was a bus stop in your journey to bigger and better things.”

  “Sorry,” I say, trying not to blush. “I just thought, I don’t know, like telling the truth about something to someone.”

  “Well, maybe it’s not too late to tell the whole truth?” Elle fixes her ponytail and stares at me. “It sounds to me that you had the real thing with this Wesley guy. He sounds really into you. What if you just go fess up and admit that you made a mistake?”

  I scrunch my nose up at her suggestion. But maybe she’s onto something. I’ve been running from the truth this whole time, trying to hide from it – but it’s always there no matter what I try to do about it. So why not just face it?

  I know a couple reasons why, I think.

  “What if he’s so mad at me that he tells everyone in town not to hire me, and I can never get a job in real estate, even though I’m actually really good at it?” I ask her. “I mean, not to brag, of course.”

  “Well then I guess you’ll have to just keep working here forever,” Sterling snickers. “You thought this was a temporary second job. Oh, the irony if it turns out to be your only permanent one. We don’t care that you got knocked up and are a single mom. There’s nothing anyone could say that could ruin your reputation here.”

  “Yeah, our standards are pretty low,” Elle says. “It’s amazing to find someone who can remember when it’s time to take the tray of food out to the customers. And I like babies. They’re so cute! You’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you need. The baby, too. I’ll even babysit the little booger.”

  “Aww, thank you,” I tell her, genuinely touched by her offer. At least I know I won’t have to live in a motel forever – not that I could afford to.

  “But, seriously, he might be mad at you but I bet his heart will melt like butter when you tell him there’s a little mini-him on the way. I really think he’s in love with you,” Elle says.

  I think she’s right. Or at least, he was in love with me. Can love just go away like that, now that he has good reason to be upset with me? I guess I might have to find out.

  “I’ll try to find the courage to go talk to him,” I tell Elle. “Thanks for the advice.”

  “No problem,” she says with a wink. “And I really hope it works out for you guys.”

  “Don’t forget to go wait on that new table that just came in, and finish your shift before you go running off to all your other big priorities,” Sterling commands.

  “Of course I won’t forget, Sterling.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Look who went from being ready to ditch us, to thankful she’s still on our payroll.”

  I smile back at him, knowing that he’s right. I’ll never take the smaller things in life for granted again.

  Chapter 39 - Wesley

  After my walk with Carrie, I decided not to do any work – for once – and instead to just snuggle up with her on the couch. I’m trying to put off the realization that life as I knew it has ended. But it’s easier said than done.

  I can’t believe that I don’t have Mariah in my life anymore. I want to be mad at her, but instead I’m still mostly just confused. Did we even have what I thought we had? How could my heart be wrong about that?

  During my walk, I called my Aunt Shelly and told her about my predicament. I thought she might be disappointed in me for going too quickly and possibly ruining my career. But I should have known her better than that.

  “Don’t let all of this messy real life stuff get in the way of the universe’s plan for you,” she said. “I know that energy that exists between you two isn’t going anywhere. Whatever Mariah has done is forgivable. Forgive her. Follow your destiny and be with the woman of your dreams.”

  It was good advice and all, but I don’t want to be a schmuck and take it. Plus, how am I supposed to forgive someone who keeps running away from me and not telling me where she is? My dear aunt didn’t have an answer for that, except to say that fate will reveal its plan to me and that I shouldn’t be too stubborn to follow it.

  Suddenly, there’s a knock on my door, and my pulse seems to skip a beat.

  If it’s her, slam the door, I think, as I get up to answer it.

  It is her. But Carrie has already pounced on her and is all over her, all up in her face and licking everywhere – just like I still want to be, despite everything that has happened.

  Man up, I tell myself. Don’t be a pushover.

  “What are you doing here?” I demand, grabbing hold of the door and getting ready to shut it.

  “Please, Wesley,” she pleads, her eyes full of tears. “I’m really sorry. I just want to talk to you. To explain some things to you like I should have done a long time ago.”

  “You know you’ve ruined everything we had, right?” I ask her. “Our relationship. Our living arrangements. Our work arrangements.”

  “I know,” she says. “And I’m not asking for them back. I don’t want the money. I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to apologize and explain.”

  Well, I guess
that’s the least she could do.

  I open the door all the way and say, “Come in, I guess. But I don’t have long.”

  “Thank you!” she says.

  Then, we sit down on the couch, with Carrie in between us, resting a paw on each of our legs as if she wants us to make up and come back together again. And Mariah tells me everything. Every little heartbreaking detail about her dad and his plan to marry her off to the creepy Charles guy, and how even after she did what he thought she couldn’t do, he still wouldn’t honor the deal.

  She’s told me some of this before, of course – about her bad relationship with her dad, and about the fight they had had – but this is the first time she fills me in on the parts that explain how and why she came to work at my office. No wonder she’s such a good realtor. She was trained to do this her whole life, and he’s a fool not to let her. How sexist – to give his company to a near stranger rather than his daughter, just because he’s a guy.

  I try hard to stay mad at her, because it’s all rather fucked up. But I also realize it must have been tremendously hard to grow up in the shadow of that kind of father, and to do whatever you think is necessary to try to impress him. I had that same kind of issue with my own father, and I know what that pressure can make people do.

  “I really wasn’t using you just to sell the house or anything like that,” Mariah says, her lip quivering. “I was very glad for all the opportunity you gave me. I even imagined us working together in the future, instead of me having to grovel to my dad. And I really was- I really am in love with you.”

  She puts a hand over her mouth, as if she hadn’t meant to say that last part. Neither of us had ever said it. I love you.

  I’ve felt it, and I have felt that she’s felt it, too. But after all those talks of how we shouldn’t be together, and how we had to make sure our relationship remains a secret, I guess both of us were afraid to open up and admit it.

  “I’m in love with you, too,” I confess.

  In a split second, she’s leaned over Carrie and wrapped her arms around me. I hug her back, deciding that if I’m being a fool, then I’ll be a fool all the way, until the bitter end. But, I don’t think I’m being a fool. I’ve always known that there was something between us, and now I know it’s even bigger than I thought.

  “There’s one other thing I have to tell you,” she says, and takes a deep breath.

  What else could there possibly be?

  “This part is really crazy, and I know it might really hurt us professionally, but someone who has become a friend to me has told me that honesty is always the best policy, so I figure I should just come out with it, and that I shouldn’t have ever even kept it from you.”

  Suddenly, I know what she’s going to tell me. It has to do with how she got sick at her celebratory office party. And why she didn’t want even a sip of champagne. And it explains the missing piece of the puzzle – why she ran away and didn’t come into the office until it was time for the closing, plus, the reason she thought she had to quit.

  “You’re pregnant?” I ask her, at the same time she starts to say, “I’m pregnant.”

  “How did you know?” she asks, pulling her head back from me a little bit and looking amazed.

  I place my hand on her stomach. “It just all seems to fall into place now.”

  “It does, does it?” she asks.

  “And I want our lives to fall into place, too,” I tell her. “Thank you for coming here to talk to me. I know it wasn’t easy and took some bravery on your part. And I want to promise you that no matter what happens, I’ll be here for you and the baby. I’ll make sure you both have the best life imaginable. I won’t ever make it conditional, with strings attached, like your dad always has. I’ll keep my word to you, and be honest with you, and you do the same for me, okay?”

  “Okay,” she says, leaning her head into my chest. I bend down to kiss her, but Carrie gets in the way, squishing her face between us and lapping both of us with her big tongue.

  “It looks like someone is very happy about this arrangement,” I say, petting Carrie.

  “That makes three of us,” Mariah says.

  I place my hand back on her stomach, excited for the baby to grow so I can feel her or him kick. “You mean four.”

  Chapter 40 - Mariah

  “Congratulations!” Matthews says, and everyone else in office joins in with their praises. I had made another sale of a house for over a million dollars, and it’s another office party in my honor.

  It’s one month after Wesley told me that he’d give me another chance and that he’d always be here for the baby and me. I was so happy.

  And I’ve been on cloud nine ever since. Work has been going great – I’ve been selling houses left and right, and I’ve just made another big sale, which is the reason everyone’s congratulating me.

  “Here’s your cake,” the new receptionist, Boyd, says, passing me a piece on a plate, with a fork.

  “Thank you,” I reply, winking at him.

  He’s much nicer than Kristy, and he doesn’t have to wear skimpy clothes. In fact, no one in the office is encouraged or even allowed to wear them, now that I’ve changed the dress policy. And no one better be hiring any coffee girls.

  I take a big bite out of the cake. “Mmm, chocolate, my favorite.”

  “And this time you can actually eat it,” Wesley jokes.

  “No champagne for you, though,” Boyd says, and I snap my fingers and say, “Awww, man.”

  “Don’t worry,” he adds. “I’ve got you covered, with some fake bubbly.”

  He pops open a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling apple drink, and pours it into a glass for me.

  “Cheers!” he says, and everyone joins in by toasting their own glasses of champagne.

  “To another sale for you, and a happy future for us,” Wesley says.

  A couple weeks ago, Wesley took me back to Seafarer’s and proposed to me. He had the large diamond ring put into a chocolate cake and he got down on one knee in front of the whole restaurant and asked me to make him the happiest man in the world and be his wife.

  Everyone in the restaurant clapped for us and it was definitely the best moment of my life. What a better restaurant experience than the one I had had with my dad and Charles, that set off this whole crazy chain of events.

  I couldn’t wait to go tell Sterling and Elle the good news. I’ve stopped working at the diner but I still drop in to see them. Plus, they have amazing potato soup.

  “Girl, I knew you and that fancy realtor were meant to be,” Sterling said, as he gave me a congratulatory hug. “I’m glad you took my advice to be honest, too.”

  “Hey now,” Elle said, with a wink. “She took my advice to go talk to him before it was too late.”

  “Thank you both so much,” I told them. “For everything.”

  The next Monday, Wesley and I returned to the office and let everyone know we were together, and engaged. Now that Kristy was gone, no one really cared – and the board members were just happy to hear that it was consensual and that we were getting married.

  “There’s more,” Wesley said, with his hand on my stomach. “We’re having a baby.”

  “Oh, my goodness,” Boyd said – it was his second week at the office – “if this gets any more perfect I’m just going to puke.”

  Now, after we finish the champagne (and fake champagne) and cake, it’s time to set up my new office. This one is bigger and has a better view. I take a moment and look around at the spaciousness, wondering how I should decorate it and make it my own.

  It seems like just yesterday I was reluctantly donning a schoolgirl outfit to serve coffee at the one job I could get. Now, I’m so happy I’ve gotten a promotion in the office – to senior realtor – as well as the promotion I’ve received in real life – to future Mrs. Drive.

  My journey here has been fraught with drama but I’m so glad I went through it all. As we move in some fu
rniture, Wesley comes over and gives me a kiss, putting his arm around my waist.

  “Are you sure you’re okay to move this?” he asks, pointing at the lightweight bookshelf we just carried in and have been moving around to different places in the office to see where it looks best.

  “Honey, I feel fine,” I reassure him with a smile.

  “Okay,” he says, “because I don’t want any harm to come to you or our little baby in there.”

  I stand on my tiptoes to kiss him, so happy I found him. Marrying Charles just to pretend to get my dad’s company would have been the worst mistake I could have ever made. But going out on my own to seek my own destiny and earn my own fortune has been the best decision ever – not to mention that otherwise I never would have had the opportunity to work at Drive Realty and I never would have met Wesley, nor would I be having his baby.

  I guess life works in funny ways sometimes. And all we can do is everything in our power to work with it to try to make things go the best way possible for us.

  Chapter 41 - Mariah

  Five months later, I’m marrying the love of my life. I walk down the aisle to meet him as he stands and waits for me under the altar. My dad isn’t here – I didn’t ask him to be. I haven’t heard a word from him and don’t expect to. But that’s okay because I have Wesley. And we have our business, together.

  I’ve been working as a senior realtor and closing so many deals that they’re going to make me a partner soon. I know that one day Wesley and I will own it all – not just as husband and wife, but as equal partners and owners in the business. But I want to earn it the old fashioned way.

  Kristy isn’t around to accuse me of anything, but no one can say I slept – or married, or inherited – my way to the top of this company. Everyone has seen me there working late, even sleeping on that couch sometimes out of sheer exhaustion – and closing deals.