Life Begins (11 page)

              He shrugged. “We will see. I have some other houses on the list.”

Chapter 11

              “Sir, you cannot go in there. Sir.” The secretary said as she tried to rush from her desk to block the door. Gary Cartwright continued walking, ignoring the stupid woman. He stormed into his lawyer’s massive office, waving a stack of papers at the man on the phone.

              “What the hell is this?” Gary shouted, his smooth chocolate face scrunching. “I’m tired of this shit.”

              His lawyer ran his hand through his graying hair. “Hal, let me call you back,” he said to whomever he’d been speaking to on the phone. He then turned to face his client. “How many times have I told you that you cannot come running into my office without an appointment? You aren’t my only client. You aren’t even my highest paying client.”

              “I don’t give a fuck about that. Why is this bitch suing me now? I gave up those fucking brats she just had to have. Now she wants money for them.” He tossed the papers on the desk, which his lawyer picked up and scanned through.

              “This lawsuit isn’t for the kids. It’s for return of payment on the lawyer fees in the divorce you were supposed to pay.” He continued scanning the document. “Truthfully, this suit isn’t from the ex-wife. It’s from her new husband who paid the fees.”

              “Husband? Isn’t that illegal? We just got divorced.” What the fuck was wrong with Josie? See, this is why they couldn’t be married now, she just kept doing things without thinking. If she hadn’t insisted on getting pregnant, they still could have been together, just the two of them making sweet love all day without crying brats. Now she wanted to give herself to someone else, let another man touch that hot body of hers? Hell no. He wasn’t having it.

              “Your divorce is final so technically, she can marry whoever she wants as long as she shows proof. What you should be worried about is proving that you paid your requirement. This could have more legal ramifications if this man makes a big deal out of this situation.”

              Gary started pacing, pissed. Josie never seemed to do what he wanted her to do. She wasn’t supposed to survive during the divorce so that he could have gotten her to give up the kids to the foster care system. Then, he would have taken her back so they could get on with their lives, child free. He’d even gotten a fucking vasectomy to ensure there would be no more mistakes. Fucking bitch.

              “Find out what you can about this man and see if he can be paid off. You promised me that Josie would get nothing.”

              His lawyer sat back in the chair. “If you will remember, she did get nothing. You don’t have to pay child support or alimony, a blessing considering she never had a job and you were making six figures. Paying for her lawyer fees really is the least you can do.” The lawyer set the papers on the desk and picked up the phone. “I would advise you to try and settle out of court because he does have a valid case against you. It looks like either he or his lawyer read the divorce degree from your dissolution and have set their case accordingly.”

              Whatever, he would pay the bitch lawyer, but what he wouldn’t do, is allow his wife to move on without him. She didn’t have the right. “I’ll cut the check, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want every bit information you have on this man. Clearly, I’ve allowed Josie to have a little too much space if she thinks she’s allowed to fuck someone else.”

              Eric laughed. “I told you, you were being stupid in the first place. You don’t leave a hot piece of ass that’s purely devoted to taking care of you. You keep that shit locked away until you have no more use for it. You should have just dealt with having the kids. Once they got to school age, you should have sent them to boarding school or something.”

              Yeah, but he refused to put up with them for the years that he would have had to in the first place. “See if you can repeal my decision to sign away parental rights. I don’t want to let her be happy with another man.”

              The lawyer nodded. “I doubt it, but I’ll see how I can tie them up in court over the children.”

              “Good. I want her to regret this decision. She doesn’t get to walk away from me that way.”

              “Whatever you say, Gary. I’ll let you know when everything is set.”

              Gary nodded as he finally left the office to head into work.

              Five houses and somehow, none of them felt right. One or two of them had potential, but for those making the final decisions, namely Josie, Žarko and the girls, they knew that they needed something more. The girls wanted a large backyard space so that they could have a jungle gym built for them. Žarko wanted a veritable manor like home, something that Josie thought was a bit ridiculous. She, really kind of wanted to have a master suite, something large enough to fit more than just a bed.

              Then there was the fact that she was concerned about the nurseries. Josie liked the idea of having all the rooms upstairs, but most of the houses they viewed split between floors. Neither parent felt comfortable having their kids being downstairs from them. And the idea of bedrooms being behind the stairs didn’t seem hidden enough to offer true protection.

              “Why is finding a house so hard,” she finally had to ask on the way to the sixth house. “Five bedrooms, three baths, and a large backyard, it should be possible.” She sighed. “Maybe we should reevaluate our options?” Even though she didn’t want to do so.

              “We will not change minds about house. We will either find the right home or we will leave city and go elsewhere.”

              The next house on the list required them to drive up a hill, providing a glimpse of a gorgeous home. It was large, three storied and made her think of a smaller manor. It wasn’t quite in the neighborhood she thought it would be in, but the place looked gorgeous on the outside and she felt the excitement of being able to explore the inside. “Are we going to be able to afford this?”

              He turned off the car and waited for her to get out. “We would not be here if I could not afford it.” The girls had already torn out of the car after unbuckling the lone boy of the group. The trio then made their way toward the real estate agent. Josie moved a little slower, knowing that Žarko already had Juljiana in hand.

              “If we buy this one, I’m not cleaning it by myself, not with the babies.”

              “We can hire help.”

              The smiling agent motioned them toward the front door. “This house, I think is going to work best for you. It has three levels with bedrooms on the second and third level, just like you wanted. It actually has seven bedrooms, but I didn’t think you would mind that.” She opened the door for them. “The home owners have recently remodeled the kitchen and living room because they wanted a more open concept. There is a restroom for guests down here, and…” she turned smiling at them. “You should really take a look around. They put in a lot of money to recreate this house.”

              The kids didn’t have to be told twice. The girls ran up the stairs, while she and Žarko explored the first floor. The kitchen and living room were massive, the perfect place for her to cook anything and actually bake. She could even see the living room and feel like she was part of it and not isolated when she was cooking. She’d tell her husband that she would take this house just because of this space. It even included heated wooden floors.

              She explored the main floor, finding a large dining room and two bedroom spaces that could probably be turned into an office. A door led to a large backyard, with more than enough room for the girls to have play things built for them. It had a built in pool and a couple of trees to offer great shade when the weather got better. Inside, she found a nice sized family room with a back staircase leading to the second level. There were four bedrooms on the second level, one a large master suite. That was where she found Žarko with the baby.

              “I think this is house we will take,” he said, the moment he heard her walk through the door. “The girls can be upstairs and babies will have room here with us.”

              Josie honestly could say that she had no reason to complain. She genuinely loved this house, even though it was big. “I love it,” she told him. “I think this is a great place for our family.”

              He nodded. “I will tell her we will make offer.” He left her standing in the bedroom, imagining what the space would look like all decked out with their bedroom furniture. On the level above, she heard the sounds of children having the time of their lives, jumping and allowing their laughter to ring through the air.

              Josie let loose a deep breath. God, she really hoped that this worked out. She really needed it. She sound of heavy stomping reached her ears. She moved to the doorway to see all the little ones rushing downstairs.

              “Mommy, this place is great,” She heard her son scream out as he and the girls ran down to the first level.

              Josie smiled. It was a good thing that their
tata
was willing to purchase it.

             
Tata
did make an offer for the house, well below the asking price, and surprisingly, the family accepted it. Josie didn’t question it, she didn’t particularly care about it, because the bottom line was that she had her house. The family they purchased the home from agreed to a short closing and pretty much, within fifteen days, they had signed the paperwork and had the keys in hand. As far as Josie was concerned, only God could have gotten them that sort of blessing, so she for was insisted on praising him.

              Žarko got them out of their leases and before Josie was able to blink, they had been moved into the home. That first night felt great. The girls had chosen their bedrooms and insisted that they be the ones to decorate. Her son cried about being on the second level, because he desperately wanted to be with his sisters and
tata
allowed it, mostly because he had a second bedroom set up for him on their level. Juljiana had no choice in bedroom and so got placed in the one right next door to her parents.

              Josie loved the kitchen and after hiring and working with a cleaning service to make sure that everything had been scrubbed clean, she got to work making something spectacular. The kids were out back playing in the snow, while Žarko kept the baby occupied with tummy time on her play mat in the living room. She had to sigh at the pure pleasure inherent in being back inside a home.

              She practically bounced around the kitchen, she was so happy. She finished putting the potpie in the oven to cook and finally made her way to the living room to check on the baby. Her little girl was busy staring at herself in the mirror and reaching for the hanging stuffed animals. Žarko sat at the side of the mat, his back leaned against the sofa. He held the mirror for the baby, waving it back and forth for the baby to follow.

              “Somebody is being a happy baby,” Josie said, joining them on the floor.

              “She is good baby,” he said, “She is learning to recognize herself.” He put the mirror down finally and collected the baby to his chest. He had her faced outward so that Juljiana could see her mother. “Juljiana is happy with space. When it comes time to crawl, she will be very free to do so.”

              Josie grimaced, even as she leaned over to kiss her daughter. “Let’s not talk about crawling yet. I kind of want her to stay this tiny baby forever.” Her daughter gave a sweet smile that lightened Josie’s heart.

              “She will have to grow. All babies do,” he said, blowing raspberries on the baby’s cheek so that she could continue laughing. “One day she will be big sister,
da
? She will have to learn how to move to teach new baby.”

              Josie paused in reaching for her daughter. “New baby? Why are we talking about new babies?”

              He didn’t seem concerned by her words. “Of course we will have babies. We are both young parents. Unless you have done something to stop babies from coming.”

              She shook her head. “No. I haven’t had my tubes tied. I didn’t want to limit myself from finding a good husband. Most men kind of want children of their own, and I would feel weird dating or marrying someone I couldn’t give children.” Besides, she’d always kind of wanted to have more children. She’d never imagined that she would only have two.

              Žarko stood baby Juljiana on her feet, even if she couldn’t go anywhere. “Is good thing that we bought house then.”

              Josie felt her belly quiver as her body reminded her of what it had been like to lay with him. Having a baby most definitely would happen with him. He only had to look at her to have her body ready for him. “I’m going to check on dinner. You should probably make sure that the kids are inside and cleaned up.”

              She literally ran for the relative safety of her domain. She really had to figure out what it was about him that made her lose what little cool she had. She had never felt this way for a man before, so wanton and desire filled. And she had come to know him enough to know that he would take advantage of her desire for him, knowing that she would never be able to resist him.

              She took a deep breath as she got back to work with finishing dinner. Behind her, she heard the sounds of multiple feet running through the house and up the stairs, where she assumed the girls would decide to use their own bathroom to wash their hands. The smaller patter of her son’s footsteps followed, before they changed directions. She turned just briefly enough to notice that Žarko had hold of the boy and led him toward the first floor half bath.