Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) (10 page)

Zoë
perked up as soon as she heard that. Audrey had been living back in New Orleans
for almost two month’s now. Any woman with even the least bit of concern for
her unborn child would have secured a doctor here within the first few days.

Nate
appeared just as at a loss as Zoë was. “That’s not good for the baby, is it?”
he questioned, nodding at Audrey’s stomach.

Audrey’s
unusually trim figure was one of the first things that had struck Zoë as
suspect when she sauntered through the door, but she wrote it off as her still
being pretty early in her pregnancy. Besides, it didn’t seem all that
far-fetched that she’d be one of those annoying pregnant women who didn’t gain
a pound.

Audrey
waved away Nate’s statement as though it was nothing. It was obvious that she
felt uncomfortable, and it didn’t take very long for that uncomfortableness to
spread to everyone else on that end of the table.

Zoë sat
in silence and stared down at her half eaten salad as she tried to understand
what awful act she’d committed to deserve to be present for this. She was sure
the conversation would only get more awkward, and a few seconds later, it did.

“Well
I’m sure you’re both excited,” Aniyah said with an exaggerated smile. “Having a
kid is a huge deal.”

“Tell
me about it,” Audrey said as she glanced over at Nate and squeezed his hand.
“I’m not sure what I’d do without this guy right here. He’s been so supportive.
I can’t help but pity women who are doomed to go through this alone.”

 
“Well, I wouldn’t call them doomed,”
Aniyah spoke up, immediately jumping to Zoë's defense. “That’s a little harsh,
don’t you think?”

“I know
that must sound terrible,” Audrey continued. “But come on. Every stable person I’ve
ever known has had two parents in their lives.”

Zoë
sighed and fought the urge to say something.

“Well
that’s your opinion and that's fine,” Nate spoke up, stopping Audrey before she
could dig her hole even deeper. “Just keep it to yourself, would you?”

 
“Oh please,” Audrey continued as if he
hadn’t said a word. “It’s not like I'm wrong. Single parents just can't offer
the same sense of structure to a child that a two parent household can.”

Zoë
failed to contain a groan. Enough was enough. She couldn't bear witness to
another second of this. “Aniyah,” she said as she stood up, wiping the corners
of her mouth with a napkin. “Thanks for dinner, but I think I'm going to take
off.”

Zoë was
halfway out the door when Aniyah jumped up and hurried after her. “Hold up a
second!” she called out to her, finally catching up with her in the parking
lot.

“I’m
fine,” Zoë said as she unlocked her car. “I just couldn't sit there and
continue listening to that.”

Aniyah
nodded in understanding and gave her friend a sympathetic look. “If it makes
you feel any better, I highly doubt she’s really pregnant.”

“You
picked up on that too?”

Aniyah
rolled her eyes. “Please,” she said, waving a hand in the air. “She's even
scrawnier than the last time we saw her. There's not a chance.”

Zoë was
too exhausted to laugh, but she did manage a slight smile. “Should we tell
Nate?” she questioned, hesitating with her key in the ignition.

“Nah,”
Aniyah said, glancing back at the banquet hall and shaking her head. “He's a
big boy. He'll figure it out eventually.”

Chapter nineteen

Zoë was
in her office putting in some overtime when she heard her door open, followed
by the sound of heavy footsteps. When she swiveled around to see who was there,
she found herself face to face with Nate.

“My mom
said I could find you here,” Nate remarked, taking a cautious step towards
Zoë’s desk and sliding up onto the edge of it. “I’ve never known you to work
late.”

Zoë
shrugged and glanced back at her computer screen. “Yeah, well, I’m a bit backed
up thanks to the Super Bowl,” she explained. “It seemed like every business in
town wanted a party catered for it, which means my other events ended up
falling to the wayside.”

Zoë was
fully aware that she was rambling, but she didn’t care. After the awkwardness
that had ensued the previous night, she wasn’t even sure why Nate was here. The
last thing she wanted to do was pounce on him for an explanation for Audrey’s
behavior. His expression made it clear that he was drained enough as it was.

Nate
studied Zoë’s face as though it held the answer to a question he had yet to
muster up the courage to ask. When she felt him staring, she glanced up from
her work and raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to look back down at his
hands.

“So I
have some news,” Nate finally spoke up.

“Oh?”
Zoë questioned, tapping her pen against a sheet of paper a few times to get it
writing. She didn’t want to make it seem like she cared too much about what he
had to say, but inside, she was bursting with anticipation.

“It
turns out Audrey isn’t pregnant after all.”

And
there it was.

Zoë
stopped what she was doing and met eyes with Nate, holding his gaze for a few
seconds before speaking. “So what tipped you off?” she questioned. “Her lack of
symptoms, or that glass of wine she downed at dinner when she thought no one
was looking?”

Nate
hesitated as the previous night’s events replayed in his head. As was expected,
he and Audrey had gotten into a blow out fight over her comments at Aniyah’s
rehearsal dinner. Heated words were exchanged, glassware was thrown, and
eventually it came out that her pregnancy was nothing more than a jealousy
fueled ruse to keep from losing him.

Nate
was livid. As soon as Audrey admitted to the lie, he snatched his spare key
from her key ring and tossed her out of his life once and for all.

“Well I
have some news too,” Zoë said after awhile. She knew this wasn’t exactly the
ideal time to be breaking the news to him, but if the past few weeks had taught
her anything, it was that there wasn’t any time like the present. “I’m
pregnant. I mean…
actually
pregnant.”

Nate
furrowed his brows as he attempted to process her words. Zoë halfway expected him
to respond with anger, but she was surprised when he tore his gaze from her
stomach and appeared completely complacent instead.

“You
don’t have a ring on your finger,” Nate noted, nodding at her hand. “I’m
guessing that means what I think it does?”

Zoë
nodded at the implication. “Evan and I have been done and over with for weeks,”
she clarified.

“So
does that mean it’s not—”

“No,”
Zoë interrupted. “We always used protection. Besides, my due date doesn’t align
with the last time I was with him.”

“So
it’s mine?”

Zoë’s
failure to respond spoke for itself, confirming that which Nate already knew to
be true. He stood up and made his way around to the other side of her desk,
pulling her up against him before she could process what was happening.

Zoë’s breath
hitched as Nate’s warm lips engulfed her own. When the need for air overcame
her, she broke the embrace and stared deep into his eyes as she struggled to
catch her breath.

“You’re
not going to be alone in this,” Nate said, suddenly understanding the reason
behind her quick dart from Aniyah’s rehearsal dinner. “I love you, and I’m
going to love this baby.”

Tears
blurred Zoë’s vision she stared up at him. His words were everything she’d been
dying to hear, but she wasn’t naïve. She was well aware of the fact that
children had a way of complicating things. She’d watched it happen with her
parent’s after the unexpected birth of her sister during their retirement, and
the last thing she wanted was for her and Nate to end up in the same boat as
them.

Despite
that, the glaring reality Zoë kept circling back to was that she simply
couldn’t picture her future with anyone else. Nate had been witness to so many
focal points throughout her life, and she simply couldn’t imagine him not being
there to witness all their child’s first moments as well.

Zoë met
eyes with Nate when she felt him brush a finger across her nose. It was a
gesture he used to reel her back in anytime she got caught up in her thoughts,
and it never ceased to do the trick. She gave him a coy smile before leaning in
to kiss him again, and it was in that moment that she knew beyond any doubt
that he was the man for her. She didn’t need a crystal ball to tell her how
things would work out for them in the end. She was confident that as long as they
put in the work, fate would handle the rest.

Epilogue

To say
Audrey wasn’t thrilled to be back in New Orleans would have been an
understatement. Her last encounter with the muggy city she grew up in had not
been a kind one, and she found herself dreading every bit of familiarity she
encountered as she hurried through the congested streets in search of the
boutique she had a go-see at.

As
soon as Audrey located the moss-covered building, she reached up and slid off
her sunglasses to take a quick peek at herself in the glass. Much to her
chagrin, her reflection was beginning to reveal her age, and she silently hoped
the client she was meeting with would be more forgiving. She’d already been on
four failed go-sees since she’d landed, and she couldn’t afford to blow this
one too.

After
giving herself a quick pep talk, Audrey set off towards the front of the large
boutique in search of the designer she was meeting with. It wasn’t until she’d
been looking for a good 10 minutes that she found him fitting a customer in one
of his many wedding dresses.

“Bonjour
Jon!” she called out to him, making her presence known.

Jon,
however, didn't appear all that thrilled to see her. He held up a hand to
indicate that he was busy and slammed the dressing room door shut before Audrey
could get a look at the woman insides face.

Audrey
sighed and preoccupied herself by flipping through a few clothing racks. When
she didn’t find anything she could afford given the current state of her trust
fund, she gave up and slumped over to the discount racks instead.

Audrey
stopped short, however, when she noticed an attractive man lingering near the
front of the store. The way he was standing made it difficult for her to see
his face, but she could make out the fact that he was at least 6’4 with a
muscular physique, and that was more than enough to pique her interest.

Audrey
straightened up and craned her neck to get a better look at the man in
question, but she stumbled back and ducked behind a rack of dresses as soon as
he turned to look in her direction.

It
was him.

From
her concealed location, Audrey peered out at Nate in silent disbelief. She
hadn’t seen him in almost five years, but he looked exactly the same as he had
when they were together. However, the real shocker came when she noticed the
young biracial boy whose hand he was holding. She frowned as she tried to
figure out who he could be, but as soon as she got a clear look at his face she
knew without a shred of doubt that he was Nate’s son.

“Just
hang in there buddy,” Nate spoke up when the boy began to fuss. “Remember what
I said about mommy needing to find something pretty to wear?”

The
small child gestured that he understood.

“Well
that’s what she’s doing, but she’ll be done any minute now and then we’ll go
get some ice cream. I promise.”

A
lump of jealousy formed in the pit of Audrey’s throat as she began to put all
the pieces together. It wasn’t like she could ignore the obvious. The child
looked just as much like Zoë as he did Nate.

Confirming
Audrey’s suspicions, Zoë exited the fitting room shortly after Jon did and gave
her family a bright smile. Like Nate, time had only done her favors. The only
difference in her appearance, from what Audrey could discern from her hiding
spot a few feet away, was the presence of a very swollen stomach.

“Thanks
for being so patient baby,” Zoë said as she leaned forward to give her son a
brief peck on the forehead.