An Heir At Any Price: The Billionaire's Obsession - Contemporary Romance (13 page)

I had dinner set out and his tantrum
caused the plates to jump and the gravy to slosh over the sides of
the gravy boat. He looked at it, with disgust. Grabbing his
briefcase up and knocking over a glass of water then he said, “I’ll
be in my study. I’m not hungry. If I get hungry I’ll order
something in later.” I watched in shock as he stormed out of the
dining room and down the hall. Not only leaving me in shock, but to
clean up his mess as well. His behavior only reinforced the notion
that I was right not to tell him I was pregnant. Not just
yet…

Chapter Twelve

~

Aiden’s behavior improved
over the next week. I suppose he got past the initial
disappointment. It took me a while to get over the image of him
throwing his briefcase and having a tantrum like a small child. We
were still having our nightly sessions of
baby-making sex
, and he’d gone back
to being friendly and warm and having meals with me. But I’d seen
the other side to him, and the more I saw the more I was beginning
to regret this entire thing and beginning to wonder if I might be
able to take care of a baby on my own. I actually knew I could do
it on my own, I guess I was wondering more if I had the nerve to
just walk out on him, never letting him know the child even
existed.

On Saturday he called from his meeting
or wherever he was that day and asked me if I wanted to do dinner
and the Opera that night. I was ecstatic and hoped that it would be
as wonderful as the first time that I went with him. I went out
shopping for a dress to wear as soon as I’d hung up. Aiden had told
me to go back to the same boutique I’d gone to before and they
would be expecting me. While I was out I went into the pharmacy to
pick-up my prenatal vitamins. As I listened to the pharmacy tech
give me verbal directions on taking them I felt someone walk up
behind me. I didn’t think anything of it until the young girl put
my vitamins in a bag and I turned around to face Myra.

“Hi,” she said with a grin.

“Myra, oh my goodness! It’s so nice to
see you.”

“You too, girl. Imagine my surprise
seeing you here, picking up prenatal vitamins.”

“Myra, about that…please don’t tell
anyone.”

“Why not, girl? Is it Aiden Scott’s
baby? Of course it is, you’re a one-man woman, I know that. Honey,
you don’t have to be ashamed that you’re not married…I bet he’s
going to ask you soon anyways, right?”

I laughed, I had forgotten how fast
Myra talked and how quickly she could change tracks. “I’m not
ashamed; but I do have an issue or two,” I said, trying to laugh it
all off. I suddenly felt the need for someone to talk to. Do you
have a few minutes? Can we get a cup of coffee?”

“Yes and yes, I’d love to,” she said.
“Let me just pick-up my prescription and I’ll be set.” Ironically,
Myra was there to pick up her birth control.

Myra and I walked down the street arm
in arm to a coffee shop on the corner. We made small talk about the
café and all the people I missed, and a few that I didn’t. She
claimed that Joe was even grumpier with me gone and some of the
creepy old men had even stopped showing up. I knew she was trying
to make me feel good and I appreciated it.

When we got our coffee we took a seat
outside. It was a gorgeous day and it felt good to be out with a
friend. It had been too long for me.

“So, tell Mama what’s going on,” she
said with a smile. “I can tell there are some heavy things sitting
on your shoulders my love.”

I knew Aiden and I hadn’t talked about
whether or not I was supposed to share our situation, but nothing
in my contract forbade it and I really needed to just unburden my
soul to someone who I knew loved me and wouldn’t tell me I was a
complete idiot. I also needed some advice.

“I’m not sure where to start,” I
said.

“At the beginning, honey,” she said
with a grin.

“Well, yes. I’m pregnant and yes the
baby is Aiden Scott’s. But it’s not what you would
think.”

“Are you still working for him?” She
had “sexual harassment” written all over her face.

“Yes, but not as his assistant, the
truth was harder for me to say, so I made up that story. I’m sorry
that I lied. He approached me a couple months back with a
proposition…” I told Myra the details, most of them anyways. She
already knew about my mother so she knew what my financial
obligations were and how tight things had been for me. When I
finished talking she looked like she was trying to take it all
in.

“Now that you’re pregnant, have things
changed for you? I mean I know you said you gave this a lot of
thought, but thinking about what if’s and seeing that blip on the
screen are so different. Are you wishing at all now that you hadn’t
agreed to all of this?”

“Yes and no,” I told her. I’m actually
excited to be pregnant. I’m just starting to have some concerns. I
mean, I guess they were there all along, but like you said, reality
is different.”

Myra smiled sadly and said, “The
thought of walking away from your child has gone from a future
fantasy to a sudden reality, right? I have read things and watched
on television about surrogates. The one thing that I’ve noticed is
that they’re usually older and have their own families. They also
usually carry someone else’s egg. It’s very unusual to be asked to
use your own, I think.”

“Yes, I always knew it would be hard,
but now that I know he or she is in there…growing…a part of me…that
and the fact that I have concerns about Aiden’s emotional health
and how that would affect his ability to raise a healthy child.
I’ve tried really hard to think of this as only his child, but
lying to myself is impossible.”

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked. “I
knew that boy was too good to be true when he used to come in the
café.”

I smiled, “It’s not really that
anything is wrong with him…he’s been hurt, badly. He grew up
without his parents, he has an almost non-existent relationship
with the rest of his relatives, he’s shut down his emotions to
protect his heart and he looks at everything as a business deal,
that way it’s all in black and white and it doesn’t leave room for
heartache. I don’t know all of the details but his ex-wife hurt him
pretty badly as well.”

“Oh honey, heartache is part of life.
We’ve all been hurt. You have to learn to suck it up and move on.
He can’t live in a bubble, especially if he’s going to raise a
healthy child. Nothing makes you see things in the world unlike
you’ve ever seen it before than looking at it through the eyes of a
child.”

“I do know that, Myra. I was hoping,
subconsciously mostly that I could change him, that this whole
situation would change him. I had delusions that he and I would end
up together, but I don’t see it happening.”

“Can you get out of this contract? I
mean, what would happen if you just took what was in your own body
and left? He can’t sue you…I mean he can, but what do you have for
him to take?”

“The child I promised him,” I said.
“The one that I signed a legal contract giving up
already.”

“Yes, but let me tell you something,
and I know this because I’ve been there with my sister. Her ex
tried to take her babies just because he’s meaner than a junk yard
dog. There was an investigation, but my sister was told by her
attorney that unless you’re a despicable person the courts will be
very hesitant to take a baby from its mother. At the worst, you
might have to share custody.”

“Even though he has so much more money
than me?”

“It’s just what I think, honey. I
don’t know any of this for a hundred percent. But if you decide to
walk away be very sure that you can live with that, okay? Otherwise
it will be your emotional health in jeopardy.”

I nodded. It was good to finally have
someone to bounce things off of. I needed to say so much of it out
loud. I left there that day still unsure of what to do, but at
least feeling like my soul was lighter. I went to the boutique
where Aiden has an account and got my dress and shoes for the
opera. I decided on the way home that I would let us have tonight
to enjoy and tomorrow I would tell him. I would also talk to him
about all of my concerns and from there, decide what to
do.

***

I was dressed in my beautiful, black
designer gown and heels by the time Aiden got home. He looked at me
and let out a low whistle.

“Wow, Holly…you’re
gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” I said, blushing. “I’m
looking forward to tonight.”

“Good, I’m looking forward to it,
too,” he said. “I’ve seen a few, but not this one in particular.
Let me shower and dress and then we’ll go.”

On the way, Aiden told me that the
opera “Macbeth” that we were going to see was composed in 1847. He
wanted it to reflect modern times, and times in Europe at that
point were very dark. He wanted me to know that the sets and
staging would be dark and ominous.

“It sounds fascinating,” I told him,
honestly.

“Yeah, it does,” he said with a grin.
“I like your enthusiasm for life, Holly,” he said, catching me off
guard.

“You think I have a lot of that?” I
asked him. I didn’t really see myself that way.

“I do, and I enjoy being around it. I
feed off of it even at times.”

I laughed and said, “Well then, I’m
glad I have it too.”

We of course sat in one of the private
boxes once we’d gotten to the opera. One of Aiden’s business
associates and his wife were seated in the box behind us and Aiden
introduced me to them as his “girlfriend.” I found it strange and
thrilling at the same time. It gave my imagination fodder for more
hope that he’d somehow come around to wanting more out of our
relationship. When the curtain came up and the lights went down, he
even reached over and took my hand in his…this led me on
further.

I tried to concentrate on the show.
The lead soprano…Lady Macbeth was a gorgeous woman with a big, big
voice. Aiden whispered at one point that Verdi had wanted her to be
hideous. With this one, he would have been disappointed. She was so
pretty, it was hard for even me to look away.

When she wasn’t on stage however, I
found much of it to be very dark as Aiden had said it would be, and
had to keep myself focused on it. I was wondering about his
“girlfriend” comment, and the fact that he was holding my hand, and
all of the things Myra said earlier. I was practicing in my head
how I would tell him that I was pregnant…and I was wondering if he
would still want to make love to me once he knew we’d been
successful.

After the opera was over we had dinner
at a cozy little steakhouse. I was feeling a warm glow by the time
we got home, and was more than ready for Aiden’s amorous advances.
We kissed and touched and got each other worked up out on the couch
and then we played down the hallway, finally falling into my bed
and into each other’s arms. Our lovemaking seemed different to me
somehow. It was still mind-numbing but it seemed that Aiden was
moving slower, savoring it a bit more. When I fell asleep in his
arms that night I wished that I could wake up in the very same
position.

Imagine my surprise when I did. The
first thing I normally do is roll over and stretch out on the big
bed. This day though I didn’t want to move. I was afraid of waking
him up and breaking the spell. My whole body felt warm from the
inside out. I could feel his steady breaths on the side of my face
and his lips brushing lightly against my skin. I thought about the
baby growing inside of me and I had another silly fantasy that
Aiden would wake up and decide that we should raise him together. I
was lost in these thoughts when he did wake up.

He looked around the room,
disoriented, and when he realized where he was he pulled back and
away from me and I knew without asking that he had fallen asleep by
mistake and not because he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving
the comfort of my arms. After he stretched, he did look at me and
smile. It was a forced smile, but I suppose I should give him
credit for trying.

“Do you want some breakfast?” I asked
him.

“What were you thinking?”

I don’t know if it was the pregnancy
already or if it was all the sex, but I was craving pancakes. “How
about pancakes…and eggs.”

“Mmm, sounds sweet and tempting. I’ll
take it,” he said. “I’m going to shower while you fix them if you
don’t mind.”

“Sure,” I told him. I hate to admit
it, even to myself but I was hoping for a kiss before he got out of
bed. Unsurprisingly, I was disappointed. He jumped up and headed
out of the room and back to his for his shower. I got up and
slipped on my robe and slippers and after brushing my teeth and
hair I went out to make the breakfast.