An Heir At Any Price: The Billionaire's Obsession - Contemporary Romance (14 page)

I had a griddle of pancakes set and
got ready to make the eggs when I realized that I’d forgotten to
ask Aiden what kind of eggs he wanted. Padding down the hall
towards his room, I was stopped short by the sound of his voice. I
figured that he must be on the phone and I turned to go back to the
kitchen so he didn’t think I was eavesdropping. Then I heard the
word “fertility” and I stopped in my tracks. Like a criminal, I
crept to the door and stood quietly next to it. My stomach began to
churn and I could feel the bile rising to the back of my throat as
I heard him speaking.

“So you’ve had three and it only took
two inseminations for the first one and one for the next two?
That’s amazing! I’ve been trying with my surrogate for over two
months and nothing yet. I haven’t decided just yet if I’m ready to
give this one up, but I thank you for calling me back and I’ll be
getting back to you soon. Okay, you too, thanks.”

I swallowed the vomit I wanted to
expel and all but ran back down the hall. By the time he came out I
had his breakfast on the table and I didn’t care if he liked his
eggs scrambled or not. I told him I wasn’t feeling hungry and I was
going to shower. Once inside my own room I was finally able to cry.
I sat against the door and bawled my eyes out, telling myself how
stupid I’d been. Aiden had no feelings for me at all. I was a
“baby-maker” to him and that was all, easily traded out if I wasn’t
getting the job done to his specifications. I had to get up in a
hurry and run to the bathroom, finally expelling the vomit. I felt
so stupid and worse than that, physically ill. I sat on the
bathroom floor for a long time. I’m not sure how long it was, but I
jumped when I heard a knock on the door.

“Yes!” I said, trying to keep the
tremor out of my voice.

“Holly, I’m going to the office for a
bit. I’ll be home for dinner.”

“Fine,” I said, formulating my own
plan for the day in my head. As soon as he was gone, I showered and
dressed. Then I packed a little overnight bag and called a cab.
Then I called the Best Western near the café and made myself a
reservation for the night. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do
from there, but I did know that today and tonight, I couldn’t be in
the penthouse…I couldn’t look at Aiden.

Chapter
Thirteen

~

It might make me somewhat of a
masochist, but I was glad that I’d overheard that conversation. It
made me aware of who I was really dealing with and what this whole
arrangement really meant to him. He’d sounded so businesslike, so
professional, talking to another woman about her fertility. He was
thinking about cancelling my “contract” without even discussing it
with me first. I had to stop on my way to the hotel and buy a
bottle of tums. My stomach was still churning over it
all.

Before I left the apartment I’d
cleaned up the breakfast dishes and sat down to compose a note for
my “boss.” I wasn’t sure at first what to say, but I decided to
just let the words in my heart pour out through my pen:

Aiden: I wanted to let you
know that I won’t be home for dinner tonight. I regret to tell you
that I overheard your conversation this morning about replacing me.
I know to you this is all about business. I have something you
need, a womb. Apparently, that womb is not performing up to par.
I’m taking too long to conceive and you’re having to endure my
miserable company in the process.

I’m so silly. I somehow
convinced myself that you had come to enjoy my company and that
perhaps you might come to regret me walking away in the end as much
as I have. I’m thinking that perhaps I should do it now instead.
You obviously have another fish on your hook and you don’t
absolutely need me for anything at this point. I’m going to take a
night off and do some thinking. I’ll be back tomorrow to let you
know what I decide. Maybe you could fill me in on your plans for
letting me go then?

I spent the rest of the day arguing
with myself about whether or not I should go back and what I should
do. I needed to take my mind off of all of this at least for a
second. It was Sunday, family day at the facility where my mother
was. She couldn’t have visitors for one more month, but she did get
phone time. I called and told the receptionist who I was and who
I’d like to talk to. There is a list for each patient of those who
are allowed to call or visit. I was the only one on
hers.

“Hi Mom! How are you doing?” I tried
to sound upbeat…it was hard.

“Hi baby girl. Your mama is doing
okay. I got almost two months under my belt. I’ve gained a few
pounds, my hair stopped falling out and my skin looks
awesome.”

“That’s great, Mom. I’m so glad to
hear that you’re acclimatizing there. How is the staff? Are they
nice?”

“Yes they’re really nice and Holly,
I’m glad you made me do this.”

I laughed, “Mother, you did this; I
didn’t make you do anything. All of this hard work is on
you.”

“I would have never done it if not for
your urging. Most adult kids would have taken off by now and let me
sort it all out, or drink myself to death, whichever came
first.”

“I love you, Mom. I’m not ready to
lose you.”

“I love you too, Holly. Thank you
again for sticking by me.” I was getting teary eyed
again.

“Okay, enough mushy gushy stuff. Tell
me about the facility. What is your day like?”

“They keep us really busy. Holly, I
can’t even imagine what you had to pay for this place. You must be
working double time. I’m so sorry…”

“Mom, happy stuff,
remember?”

“Okay,” she said with a chuckle.
“Well, we’re on a pretty tight schedule Monday through Friday. On
Monday I have my one on one therapy. My therapist is so nice, and
she’s been in recovery for ten years herself. She really knows what
she’s talking about. Then I have a few groups and on Tuesday and
Thursdays I do yoga and Friday, acupuncture. I get a massage on the
weekends and they let us go on outings to the beach. I can’t
believe you’re paying for all of this…”

“Oh Mother, hush. I want to pay for
it. It seems like a great place. I’m so glad that they’re helping
you out.”

“They are, honey. I’ll probably always
crave it but they’re teaching me how to push those cravings aside
and move forward.”

“That’s great, Mom.”

“How’s your work coming along?” she
asked me. I didn’t tell her about Aiden, or about not working at
the café any longer. I would get around to it. I rubbed my hand
across my still flat belly and thought the time will come when I
won’t be able to hide it any longer. For now, I didn’t want to
worry her.

“It’s going fine, Mom. You know same
old…”

We talked for a while longer and after
a while, I felt myself feeling better, calmer somehow. My mother
hadn’t had that effect on me since I was a kid so it was definitely
a good thing. That night when I lay down to go to sleep I had
decided to go talk to Aiden the next day before my doctor’s
appointment. Maybe he had an explanation…

***

I got up early the next day and the
first thing I did was check my phone. I was really surprised that
Aiden hadn’t called. Was I just fooling myself again? Did he really
care that little that the fact I’d left didn’t faze him at
all?

I took a cab to the penthouse and was
greeted warmly by the doorman as usual. When I got upstairs, I
could tell that something was wrong as soon as I walked in. For one
thing, all of the curtains were drawn. It was the middle of the day
but it was as dark as night inside the apartment. I switched on a
light and was greeted by the grumpy and annoyed voice of my
“employer.”

“Shut it off!”

“Aiden? Are you okay?”

“I said, turn it off!” I did as he
asked, or demanded I suppose.

“Why are you sitting here in the
dark?”

“Why are you back?” he said, his words
slurred. He sounded drunk.

“I was hoping that we could talk,” I
said. I moved closer as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. When I
got close enough I could see that he was still in the same clothes
he’d left the house in yesterday morning. His collar was open and
his tie was askew. His hair was disheveled which it rarely ever was
and he had a ten o’clock shadow on his face and an almost empty
bottle of bourbon sitting next to a glass on the table next to him.
“You’re drunk,” I said. It just came out because I was so
surprised.

“I’m an adult, I can get drunk if I
damn well please.”

I sat down next to him. “Aiden, this
isn’t like you. What’s wrong?”

“How do you know if it’s like me or
not? Maybe this is what I do. You don’t know me Holly; you only
think that you do.”

“Okay,” I said, still trying to stay
calm and avoid a drunken confrontation. “I should have said that
I’ve never seen you like this. Did something happen?”

“Maybe it’s not about what happened,
but what didn’t happen. We’re two months into our “contract” and
nothing is happening. I’ve had my fertility checked, Holly. My
swimmers are fine. Maybe I should have had yours checked too. That
was a failure on my part.” He sat forward and with a shaky hand he
poured what was left in the bourbon bottle into his glass. Picking
it up and sloshing some of it over the sides on the way, he brought
it to his mouth and drank until it was empty.

“So you’re ready to give up?” I asked
him. “You’re ready to call it quits because I’m not pregnant fast
enough for you?”

“I was ready to explore a back-up
plan. You’re the one who walked out. You did what all women do, you
left.” He could barely hold his eyelids open and I wondered how
long he’d been sitting there like that. I felt angry at him and
sorry for him at the same time. I decided we weren’t getting
anywhere this way however. I wasn’t going to win an argument with a
drunk. I started to stand up when I felt his hand on my
wrist.

“Leaving again?” he said,
angrily.

“Let go of me, Aiden. I’m trying to
forgive your behavior because you’re roaring drunk, but you don’t
want to take this any further.”

“Why, Holly? What are you going to do?
Walk out? Haven’t you already done that?”

“I just needed some time alone, to
think, Aiden. I came back to talk, but I can’t talk to you like
this. Let go of me.”

He did and I stood up. I looked at him
and hardly recognized the man that I saw. I felt another surge of
pain in my chest for him, but at the same time I was disgusted. It
was a familiar feeling, the same one I got when I looked at my own,
drunken mother. I could tell that he was hurting, but I needed him
to talk to me before I could help.

“Aiden, do you want to tell me what’s
wrong? I understand you’re upset with me, but surely that’s not all
there is to this?”

He had his head down on his chest and
I couldn’t see his face. His breathing seemed heavier and I
wondered if he’d fallen asleep. “Aiden?” I said, again.

He didn’t answer and then suddenly I
heard a big snort. He had passed out. I stood watching him sleep
for a few minutes knowing that I couldn’t leave my baby with this
man. He was so cold sometimes that he was practically sterile and
now I find out how he deals with his problems -just like my
mother.

I packed the things that were mine,
the ones that I’d brought with me or bought with my own money since
I’d been here. I didn’t want anything he’d paid for like the pretty
dresses or shoes he’d bought for me to wear out. Once my bag was
packed I sat down and wrote him another note:

Aiden,

As you’ve probably already
figured out, this is not going to work. I struggled with putting
aside my personal feelings and everything I’d always believed about
being a parent. I think I did a pretty good job, and in spite of
any emotions left inside of me, I was still willing to uphold the
contract. Yet all along, you had some kind of silent timeline that
you hadn’t let me in on. When I heard you interviewing a new
surrogate on the phone, it made me physically ill. I needed to
think, I needed some time and space alone to figure all of this
out. I thought I had, and then I get here to find you drunk and
obnoxious, unwilling to talk to me about what is bothering you. I
don’t want to bring a child into the world that will have a father
who looks at the world as one giant business deal. A child who is
either an inconvenience or a tax write off for a father who handles
his troubles by looking at them through the bottom of an empty
bottle. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors Aiden,
and thank you for everything you’ve given me thus far.