by Sandi Lynn
“This is Trump Towers.”
“I know.” Max chuckled. “Wait until you see the penthouse.”
We took the elevator up to the thirty-second floor to apartment 32BC. When Max opened the door, an older lady approached us.
“Good morning, Mr. Hamilton.”
“Good morning, Maggie. I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Emma Knight.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled as she held out her hand. “Let’s take a look around, shall we?”
Just stepping through the front door, I already knew this was the perfect place for the three of us.
“This penthouse offers three bedrooms and four bathrooms, a separate den, and two private wraparound terraces. But the best part of this home is the views of Central Park from every room.”
I was blown away by the elegance of the light stained oak flooring and the over-sized picture windows throughout the entire place.
“Let’s start in the kitchen area. You can see this is a chef’s kitchen with a pristine window over the sink, white stone countertops and top-of-the-line appliances by Miele, Wolf, and Subzero. I can envision you cooking many wonderful meals here.”
I looked at Max and he smiled because he knew all too well that I wasn’t all that great of a cook.
“This is the dining area, which will seat eight people comfortably. Next, we have the large living area, which features one of the generous wraparound terraces, which faces the west, a beautiful feature for when you throw elegant parties. Next, we’ll move onto the master suite, which features a private den off the back as well as the second wraparound private terrace. The best feature of this room is his and her bathrooms because we ladies know we need our own bathroom to accommodate all of our beauty products.”
I stepped into the extremely large oversized walk-in closet and swallowed hard. I’d never seen anything like it. It was triple the size of the one I had at my apartment.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Maggie smiled. “Now, if you open this door right here, it leads to the second walk-in closet for Mr. Hamilton. That way, you don’t have to worry about space for your collection of clothes, shoes, jewelry, and handbags,” she whispered.
“Max has more clothes and shoes than I have.” I laughed.
“Not for long, sweetheart.” He winked.
We stepped out of the room and into the hallway, where Maggie showed us the additional two guestrooms, each having their own bathroom.
“Well, what do you think?” Maggie asked.
“I love it. I’m speechless at how amazing this place is.” I looked over at Max and placed my arm around his waist. “I can totally see us living here and making it our home.”
“So you love it?” he asked.
“Yes. It goes beyond love.”
He let out a sign of relief. “Thank God because I already bought it.”
“What? When?” I laughed.
“Yesterday. I knew you’d love it and I was afraid it would sell before you had the chance to see it.”
“I do love it, Max. Thank you.” I reached up and gave him a kiss on his lips.
“You’re welcome. I think the three of us will be very happy here.”
“Congratulations to the both of you. You’ve made the right decision.” Maggie smiled as she walked away.
“Yeah, of course we did because now she gets a huge commission,” Max whispered in my ear.
“We’ll need to go furniture shopping,” I said. “Unless you just want to bring your furniture from your apartment.”
“Nah. If we’re starting new, then everything is going to be new and I want us to pick out furniture we both like together. Especially our bedroom set.” He winked. “The only furniture coming here will be Sarah’s from her nursery and I’ve already hired the decorators to duplicate the room.”
“Have I told you how much I love you?” I asked with a smile.
“Not today, you haven’t.”
We stopped in front of the doorway and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love you to the moon and back, Mr. Hamilton.”
“I love you more, Miss Knight. Now let’s go see our baby girl.”
****
After scrubbing up and stepping inside the NICU, Max and I walked over to Sarah. She was awake.
“There’s my baby girl.” I smiled as I picked up her tiny body and cradled her in my arms. “She looks so good, Max.”
“Yes, she does.” He bent down and kissed her head.
“Good news.” Laney the nurse walked over and said with a huge smile. “You will get to take Sarah home in one week.”
“Really?” Excitement overtook me. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel for us.
“Yep. She’s doing better every day and getting stronger. She’s drinking full bottles now and she’s holding her own. Dr. Cooper will talk to you later when he gets here.”
“Oh my God, Max. We’ll finally get to bring her home. I’m so excited.”
“Me too, baby. That means we have exactly one week to move and get everything in order.”
“It’s not possible,” I said as I looked at him.
“Sure it is. We can do it. If you’ll excuse me, I have several phone calls to make.”
I smiled as he kissed me and walked out.
“Did you hear that, Sarah? You get to come home with Mommy and Daddy in one week.” I smiled as I kissed her head and cuddled her against my chest.
We spent the next day traveling from furniture store to furniture store, picking out every piece of furniture we needed. I had the best ideas of how to decorate and Max agreed with me.
“You’re the interior designer, so anything you pick out will be amazing.”
“Not an interior designer yet, my love.”
“Well, consider our home your first project.”
We picked out everything we needed to fill our space while the movers were at both my apartment and Max’s, packing everything up. Max had to pull some strings to get the furniture delivered within a couple of days. Things were moving so fast that it was making my head spin. The nursery was being painted and the furniture was being moved over to the penthouse. I had given the colors to the painters to ensure they bought the right color paint.
It was now day six and tomorrow was the big day. Sarah was coming home. We spent our first night at our new place last night and christened our new bed more than once. Furniture wise, everything was in its place, including the nursery and all of Sarah’s things I had purchased. Cardboard boxes filled most of the wall space with our things in them from the other apartments and I had planned to start unpacking after I went to the hospital to visit Sarah. It was a Saturday and Max told me he had to stop by the office for a bit to catch up on some work and that he’d meet me at the hospital.
As I was feeding Sarah her bottle and rocking her in the chair, Max walked in with a big smile on his face.
“Hi.” He bent down and gave us both a kiss.
“Hi. Did you get some work done?”
“I sure did. Let’s go to lunch. I’m starving.”
“Okay. We can grab something to eat in the cafeteria.”
“Emma, I was thinking of a nice restaurant. Aren’t you sick of eating this hospital food?”
“A little, but I don’t want to leave her.”
He gave me a small smile as he knelt down beside me. “We’ll come back later and she’ll be home tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
After I fed her, Max took her from me and burped her. Watching him with her was one of the most precious moments of my life. He was a natural and he loved her more than anything in the world. After we laid her down and said goodbye, Max took me to a place called Anassa Taverna.
“What restaurant is this?” I asked as we stepped out of the Rolls Royce.
“A place with really good food.” He smiled.
We walked through the large doors and Max led me up the stairs. When I reached the top step, everyone yelled, “Surprise!” I was taken back as I plac
ed my hand over chest.
“Oh my God. What is this?” I asked in excitement as I looked around at all the people staring at me.
“It’s your baby shower!” Molly exclaimed as she hugged me.
I looked at Max and he had a big grin on his face. “Did you do this?”
“I helped.” He winked.
I looked around at the tables that were covered in white tablecloths with a light pink overlay. White and pink balloons with Sarah’s name were scattered everywhere and centerpieces made of white and pink roses filled each table. Tears sprang to my eyes as Kara and Aubrey hugged me.
“You didn’t think we’d let you go without a shower, did you?”
“I didn’t think about it, actually.”
I was overwhelmed and overjoyed. “I have another surprise for you.” Max smiled as he took my hand and led me over to the corner of the bar, where I saw my mom and Danny sitting.
I could no longer hold back the tears as she walked over to me and gave me a hug.
“Oh, my baby girl. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Mom. I’m so happy you’re here. I can’t wait for you to meet Sarah.”
“You look amazing, Emma.” Danny smiled as he hugged me.
“When did you two get in?” I asked.
“Last night. Thanks to Max here.” She placed her hand on his chest. “Oh my.” She smiled.
I let out a laugh and then walked around to the hundred guests that had attended. A majority were Max’s friends and coworkers and my friends from school.
“Fiona wished she could be here, but she’s in the middle of a job in Paris and couldn’t fly out.”
“She couldn’t get out, but I could!” I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Macy!” I turned and hugged her.
“Congratulations, Emma. I’m so happy for you and Max.”
“Thank you.”
I spent some time talking to Hannah and Austin before it was time to sit down and eat. Max sat beside me and took hold of my hand.
“Are you happy?”
“Incredibly. Thank you so much for this, Max. I think I’ll keep you around.” I winked.
“I hope so.” He brushed his lips against mine.
After I opened the mounds of presents ranging from baby books, toys, equipment, and clothes, everyone was beginning to leave.
“How are we going to get all this stuff home?” I asked.
“I have a truck outside, waiting for my signal to come up and start loading.”
“You think of everything, Mr. Hamilton.”
“I try, Miss Knight.”
I was excited to get home and show the girls and my mom our new home. As soon as we walked through the doors, everyone gasped.
“Holy shit! Look at this place!” Molly exclaimed.
“Absolutely stunning,” Kara chimed.
“Oh, Emma, this is gorgeous,” my mom said with tears in her eyes. She took hold of my hands. “You are so lucky to have Max in your life. He’s a good man, Emma. He’s got a heart of gold. I can tell.”
“Where did he put you up at?” I asked with a smile.
“The Trump Hotel.”
“And what a hell of a hotel it is,” Danny spoke.
Max laughed as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind. “I’m happy you like it there.”
My mom put her arm around Danny and looked at both Max and me. “We have some news of our own. We’re getting married!”
I put my hands over my mouth. “Mom! That’s wonderful news. Congratulations.” I hugged them both tightly. “When?”
“We decided to wait about six months. We’re going to do it right with a wedding and all. I wanted to wait until it was safe for Sarah to travel and I want you to be my maid of honor.”
Tears sprang to my eyes as I looked at her. “Of course I’ll be your maid of honor,” I squealed.
We spent the early evening talking and catching up. As soon as they left, Max and I went to the hospital to visit Sarah. We held her, played with her, talked to her, and gave her lots of little kisses. Our little bundle of joy was finally coming home tomorrow and we couldn’t be happier.
Chapter 31
As Max and I walked out of the hospital with our baby girl, we finally looked like new parents. I had bought little gifts of thank you to give to all the nurses who took special care of her in the NICU. They had become like family to us. Being there every day, talking to them, and getting to know each of them personally, we felt that they had a special place in our hearts and we couldn’t thank them enough for all they’d done for our little girl.
Stepping into our apartment, I was shocked when I walked in and the mess that consumed us between all the things from the baby shower and our move was suddenly gone.
“Max, what happened here?”
“I had people come in and organize everything. We couldn’t bring our daughter home to a mess.”
“That was so sweet of you. But how are we going to know where everything is?”
“You’ll learn, baby. Don’t sweat the small stuff.” He winked.
We took Sarah to the nursery and laid her down in her crib. She stared up at us with her beautiful eyes and kicked her little legs.
“She likes her new bed.” I smiled.
“Anything is better than what she was sleeping in all those weeks.”
I gently smacked Max on the arm and laughed.
My mom and Danny came over that evening and when my mom saw Sarah, she started to cry.
“She’s beautiful, Emma. She looks just like you.”
“You think?”
“Yes. I do. I can see some of Max in her as well. You two make beautiful babies.”
“We do, don’t we?” Max said as he clasped my shoulders.
After visiting for a while, they left because they had an early flight back to Miami in the morning. I was sad to see her go but more than ready to be alone with Max and Sarah. The past months had been the hardest and it was going to be nice to finally start living a normal life again.
****
The first week was rough. Sarah only slept a couple hours each time, so she was up most of the night. When she awoke at three a.m., Max said that he’d feed her. I didn’t argue because I was exhausted. As I lay there, I could hear him talking to her over the baby monitor.
“You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, well, except for your mommy. Since we’re going to be here a while, Daddy has a story to tell you about butterflies.”
I smiled as I listened to him tell her all about the butterflies. I got out of bed and stood in the doorway of the nursery.
“I’ll always make sure you dance, princess. You will never have to worry about anything. Your life will be filled with love and happiness and no matter what obstacles you face, your mom and dad will always be here to make sure you get through it and continue to dance throughout your life.”
I walked over to him and sat on the arm of the chair, placing my arm around his neck. When he looked up at me, I leaned down and softly kissed his lips. We both looked at Sarah, who was now fast asleep.
“I love you both so much,” he said.
“We love you too, baby. More than anyone else in the entire world.”
I carefully took her from his arms and laid her down in her crib. Max walked over and picked me up, carrying me to the bedroom.
“I need to make love to you right now. If that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay and believe me when I tell you that I’m more than ready for you.”
He raised his eyebrow as he laid me down on the bed, pushing the edge of my panties to the side and feeling how wet I was for him.
“You sure are, my love.” He smiled.
****
Another week had passed and it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Max was so excited to take Sarah for a walk to Central Park. He was all smiles as he put her in her new stroller.
“Look at how amazing this stroller is. Doesn’t she look beautiful
in it? Push it, Emma. Feel how smooth the ride is.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him. He was like a kid with a new toy. As we were walking down the street, Max abruptly stopped. I didn’t know why at first because I had my head turned, looking at some of the window displays. When I turned my head, I saw his mother standing in front of the stroller. He didn’t say a word. He just glared at her.
“Carol,” I spoke.
She looked down at Sarah and tears filled her eyes.
“Let’s go, Emma,” Max said sternly as he attempted to push the stroller.
“Max.” I placed my hand on his arm. “Carol, this is your granddaughter, Sarah.”
“She’s beautiful. What a beautiful name. She’s okay?”
“Yes. She’s doing great. She’s very healthy.”
“Thank God.” She sighed. “Max, we need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have somewhere we need to be.”
“I want to apologize to you for everything. I’ve left your father. Please say we can all have dinner and talk.”
“It’s too late for that. Now excuse us.”
I looked at Carol and could feel her pain. “I’ll talk to him,” I whispered as I touched her arm.”
We walked away. “Don’t, Emma. Don’t say a word. I’m not having this day with our daughter ruined. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay.” He was hurting. I could tell and I respected him enough to wait and talk about it later.
We reached Central Park and headed over to the Alice in Wonderland statue.
“Go sit down on the mushroom with Sarah and I’ll take your picture.”
I smiled as I took her from her stroller and held her. As I sat on the mushroom, Max took our picture.
“Now you come join us for a selfie.”
I scooted over and he sat down next to me, taking Sarah from my arms and holding her up so she was in the picture.
“Smile,” I said as I took our picture a couple of times.
Max got up, and as he held Sarah, he bent down on one knee in front of me.
“What are you doing?”
He swallowed hard.
“Emma, I love you and Sarah so much that I never thought it could be possible. My love for you is so overwhelming that it makes me incredibly happy. You make me incredibly happy and I can’t imagine life without you and Sarah. You’ve completed my entire world. Hell, you’ve completed my entire universe. You have brought so much good into my life and have taught me so many things. I need you and want you to be my forever. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”