Choosing Rena (25 page)

Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. “I can
ask. Are we thinking the perp didn’t come in the window,
now?”

“Well, there were major doubts after
your investigation. The police report only verified what you
thought. Now we need to see if someone in security let someone go
up, or if one of the guards took the spare key to Jude’s condo and
let themselves in.”

“Okay, I’ll ask. When the time is
right.”

“Thanks, Rena. Now you be a good girl
and listen to Hank, or I’ll have to punish you the next time I see
you.”

“Promises, promises, Sir,” she sassed
before hanging up the phone. Next to her, Keisha stared at her with
a huge smile on her face. “What?”

“
You did it. I knew you
couldn’t give up the lifestyle. You actually took a chance,
Sissy.”

Rena flushed. “Now calm down, you
don’t need to go announcing it to the whole world…”

“I’m just so-o-o happy for you. Please
tell me he’s good to you. That he gives you what you
need.”

Squeezing her sister’s hand, she
nodded. “Yes, he is, or rather was until this freak started
stalking us. But it’ll soon be taken care of.”

“So that’s what you wanted to talk to
Eddie about?”

“Yep.” She quickly glossed over the
facts of the case, not going in too deep. After all her sister was
in heavy labor at the moment and didn’t need the extra
stress.

They had just rounded the corner
leading back to Keisha’s room, when Keisha’s hand tightened around
hers as another strong contraction hit. This one seemed longer and
harder than the previous ones. There was a sudden gush of water and
Keisha gasped as the floor was deluged. Keisha’s eyes widened in
genuine surprise.

“I made a huge mess…” Her expression
was horrified.

“Well, what did you expect? You’re
having a baby. They’ll clean it up. These floors have seen their
share of amniotic fluid.” When her sister still looked worried,
Rena threw out a red herring. “Now let’s go get this baby born. I
have a hot date with Sir and a belt if you get my drift, and your
boy is holding up the schedule.”

“You’re a loon, Rena MacAllister!”
Keisha panted as Rena guided her into her room.

“That I am, but no one’s crazier than
my baby sister.”

* * * *

“Come on, Sissy, push.” Rena sponged
Keisha’s forehead off as she strained against the stirrups. The
past two hours had been torturous since her sister’s water had
broken. Keisha had alternated between crying and cursing out her
husband as she struggled to bring their baby into the world. Eddie,
the fucking coward, was hiding over in the corner, out of sight and
more importantly out of reach of his wife’s nails. Not that Rena
could blame him on that one. He already sported one perfect set of
grooves on his left hand from where Keisha had clawed him earlier.
Her sister definitely wasn’t feeling very loving towards her
husband right now.

“You push!” Keisha bared her teeth as
she bore down. Between her thighs, her doctor continued to praise
her.

“That’s it, Keisha. I can see his
head.” Dr. Brownell moved a bit closer. “I think one more hard
push, sweetie, and we’ll have it.” The doctor looked up. “Then I’m
going to need you to stop for a moment so I can clean off his face.
Do you understand?”

Keisha nodded, sagging back against
the supporting arms of Karen. The nurse had been invaluable as she
helped Rena with her sister. She definitely would be sending a nice
‘thank you’ card to the patient nurse. She’d even stayed longer
than her shift to help with the birth.

A low wail escaped Keisha as Rena
helped her sit forward. “Come on baby, push one more time for me. I
want to see my nephew,” she pleaded with her.

“You just want to spoil him rotten.”
The words were gritted out between clenched teeth.

“Stop!” The doctor’s order had Keisha
freezing. There was a sucking noise. “Okay, Keisha, one more time,
sweetie.”

Less than two minutes later
her
niece
came
screaming into the world. Rena didn’t know who was more surprised,
Keisha, Eddie or her. As they laid the swaddled baby on Keisha’s
chest, Rena fell head over heels for her new niece. With skin which
was already darkening to the same shade as her mother’s, liquid
dark chocolate eyes and a cute bow mouth, the baby was the spitting
image of her mother as an infant.

“So much for ultra-sounds, huh?” Rena
whispered against her sister’s damp brow.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Keisha’s
eyes filled with tears.

“Just like her mother.” She moved to
the side. “It’s safe now, so why don’t you come over and meet your
daughter, Eddie.” She waved him over to stand next to her sister.
He gave her a grateful smile. “I’m going to go get a breath of
fresh air and call Mom and Dad.” Then she slipped out the door,
feeling nearly as wrung out as Keisha. It had been a long, hard
labor. Nearly fourteen hours she noted, as she glanced at her
watch.

Pushing through the doors, she took a
deep breath of the early morning air. The sun was just starting to
rise over Lake Michigan, but luckily it wasn’t hot yet. Tugging her
phone out of her pocket, she made a quick call to her folks,
grateful for the time difference. After informing her mother of all
the pertinent information on the birth, Rena chit-chatted with her
for another twenty-five minutes. Finally, she promised to give
Keisha her love and headed back in.

She was just entering her sister’s
room when her phone rang again. Her sister glanced up from the
bundle of joy cradled in her arms and nodded towards the bathroom,
where Eddie must have been. A smile crossed Rena’s face as she
opened the still ringing phone. “Hey, Jackson. We have a
girl.”

“That’s great, baby. Have you called
Hank yet?”

“No, not yet. I just got off the phone
with Mom and Dad.”

“How did they take the
news?”

“As expected. They’re over the moon.”
She pressed a kiss on Keisha’s forehead. “That’s from
Mom.”

“Well, I’m just around the corner from
the hospital. Why don’t we meet at the cafeteria and I’ll buy you
breakfast?”

“Sounds good.” She answered around a
yawn, noticing her sister’s eyelids beginning to droop. “I’ll even
see if I can drag Eddie away. Then you can ask him in
person.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll
meet you in the downstairs cafeteria in fifteen minutes. Love
you,
ma peekôn.
”

Shock rolled over her as he hung up
before she could answer. Closing the phone she looked at it as if
it were a snake. On the bed her sister giggled, evidently the drugs
were taking effect. “Sounds like lover boy got in the last
word.”

“Always.” She pressed a soft kiss on
her niece’s head. “Have you thought of a name?”

Her sister gave her a shy smile. “I’d
like to name her Aamori Marie.”

Rena’s heart melted as she recognized
their grandmother’s name. “That would be wonderful, Nana would be
happy.”

“And what about you, Sissy? No
objections to the middle name?”

Rena arched a brow at her sister.
“Like I’m gonna say no to you giving my niece my middle name? After
the hell you put me through, girl, I’d be pissed if you
didn’t.”

Keisha gave a huge yawn as Karen took
Aamori from her. “I’m going to take this little darling down to the
nursery for a quick once over by your pediatrician.”

“And I’m going to kidnap your husband
for a bit,” Rena said around a yawn, as Eddie came out of the
bathroom. He looked as ragged as they did, and it was no surprise
to her he was quiet and a bit out of sorts. “Come on, Eddie. I know
of a coffee pot with your name on it.”

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Sitting in the cafeteria, Rena sipped
on a fresh cup of joe while Jackson and Eddie talked about the
birth of little Aamori. The almost ease of the two men warmed her
heart. She knew her brother-in-law didn’t approve of the lifestyle,
but she was happy to see he wasn’t holding it against her Dom. In
front of her was a half-eaten pastry she’d done little more than
pick at since they joined Jackson. She wasn’t hungry but she’d had
given into Jackson’s demands she eat, especially when he had spoken
softly but firmly in his Dom voice.

“So, now that you’re the proud papa of
a bouncing little girl, are you planning on taking some time off to
spend with your growing family?” Setting his own coffee down in
front of him, Jackson looked absolutely delicious in his button
down white shirt and blue jeans. All it did however was remind Rena
of how scuzzy she felt wearing yesterday’s clothing.

Around them, the cafeteria bustled
with doctors, nurses, and other visitors who were eating breakfast
or just getting an early morning bite to eat. Sitting across from
her, Eddie was readily inhaling every scrap of food on his plate.
“Damn that’s good. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.” He leaned
back in his seat before finally answering Jackson’s question. “I
plan on taking a week off to help Keisha around the house. My
superiors were reluctant to give me that, but I told them if they
didn’t I’d haul their asses into court on an F.M.L.A
violation.”

“That’s one of the perks I enjoy with
being my own boss. If I ever have kids, I’d want to be able to stay
home with them and their mother.” As he spoke, he looked directly
at Rena as if to judge her response. At forty-two, Rena had long
known motherhood wasn’t in the cards for her, not just because of
her age, but because of some medical issues which had forced her to
have a partial hysterectomy. How was she going to tell her Dom if
he wanted kids, and she’d known he probably would, there wasn’t a
chance of her having them?

“True.” Eddie looked between Rena and
Jackson as if he could feel the tension running between the two of
them. “It’s something…” He patted Rena’s hand. “…Rena won’t have to
worry about. Right?”

Rena wanted to jerk her hand away and
stalk off. Mortification filled her. She couldn’t believe Eddie had
been so blasé about the fact he’d just torn her world apart. She
met Jackson’s gaze. “Thanks for laying all my short comings out on
the table, Eddie. So I can’t have kids, it doesn’t mean I’m
defective.” She jerked her hand back and wiped her mouth on her
napkin before tossing it on table. “I think I need a breath of
fresh air.” She shoved back against the table and stood to leave
when Jackson stopped her.

“Do you think it honestly
matters to me,
ma peekôn?”
He stood, crowding close to her, his hands gently
cupping her shoulders.

Between his caring touch and the
whispered endearment, she was on the verge of bawling. The sting of
tears at the back of her eyes had her blinking rapidly. “I…it’d
matter to some men.”

“But haven’t we already agreed I’m not
most men?” He nuzzled her ear. “I want you with or without kids,
Rena. If you decide you want them later on, we can look into
adopting them or possibly a surrogate mother if that’s an option.”
Turning her to face him, he lifted her chin. “I’d love to raise a
couple of young-uns, but only if it’s what you want because I’ll be
damned if I’ll be having them with anyone else. Either way, we’ll
cross that bridge when it comes right down to it. I love you for
you, not your reproductive parts.”

“You’re honestly dating him? Didn’t
you learn your lesson in New York? You lost a job and I had to
transfer because of your choice to pursue this lifestyle. How can
you date another guy just like the last one?”

Eddie’s garbled statement barely
reached her. All she wanted to do was lean into his hand. It was
the same hand he had spanked her with and brought her numerous
pleasures they’d both enjoyed. For once she’d found a Dom who
seemed to get her, the real person – faults and all. After pressing
a kiss against his palm in gratitude, she allowed Jackson to guide
her back into her chair.

“Well, I don’t know if dating actually
covers it or not, Eddie. He’s my Dom.” She caught Jackson’s gaze
even as she continued to answer Eddie’s question. “I know you don’t
understand but he’s perfect for me. He actually understands what I
need. My perfect Dom – the one I’ve been looking for so
long.”

A dangerous hiss came from her left as
Eddie seemed to explode. His fist hit the table. “You slut! Do you
realize what I’ve done to keep this man from…from…degrading you
with his deviant perversions?”

* * * *

Jackson was basking in the
warmth of Rena’s confession when Eddie’s words shattered the
euphoria he had been feeling at her acceptance of his part in her
life.
What the fuck…
Across the table, Eddie seemed to go off the deep end on
Rena.

He continued to berate Rena, his loud
voice carrying across the cafeteria. For all the hurtful, hateful
words spilling out of the man’s mouth, Rena stood her
ground.

“What have you done?” Rena looked
horrified.

Eddie’s face actually reddened as the
vein in his forehead throbbed. “I did what you couldn’t or wouldn’t
do. You allowed him to grope you at your place of business – you
should’ve filed charges, but instead you lapped it up like the
whore you are.”