The Billionaire's Baby (13 page)

“If I get my hands on her she’ll have other things to worry about.” Favian practically growled in anger.

“But the fact is that she needs help,” Adira said. “God knows what she’s been put through before her mother met your father. She seems abused and deeply troubled and like help was always denied her. I don’t know and I certainly don’t care right now. Our son is in there fighting for his life and that’s what we should focus on, not vengeance on Hillary.”

“I know, my love, and until he is at home with us, this issue will be set on the back burner.” Favian stroked her fingers. “I’m so relieved you’re okay. I have never been so scared in my life.”

Get strong, Adira. He’ll need you to be strong.
She kept repeating the words in her mind over and over. She already ached to hold her son, to kiss him and let him know that he was loved. Even though he came into the world in a rush, he would always be safe and protected in their arms.

Chapter Eight

Forty-eight hours later, Adira was adamant on seeing their son. This wasn’t the way Favian expected him to come into the world. It frayed his nerves each time he thought about the call from Remy and being alerted by his security team that there was trouble at the house. Their son was tiny, but each hour he was getting stronger. Thirty-two weeks and his lungs were already showing signs of improvement. The neo-natal doctor said that he wasn’t showing signs of the problems most premature babies faced. In fact, his cry was strong and demanding and that was a good sign. Still, it broke Favian’s heart to see him with so many tubes and monitors attached to his tiny body.

His fear mixed with anger because there was nothing he could do to change his son’s situation. It made him want to crush everything in his path. As soon as his family heard what had happened, they rushed to New York and were currently camped out in the NICU waiting room and the maternity floor of the hospital. Lynette, Aunt Carmen, and Cousin Santia were always with Adira and each took turns checking on the baby. His Aunt Carmen asked for her rosary to be hung over the incubator so her prayers were with the tiny life.

The baby had so much love on his side that Favian hoped God heard all their pleas and would watch over his son. His family was all very religious and somewhere along the line in his life he forgot that aspect of his family’s culture. But now he prayed, saying words from his childhood that he hadn’t said in years, even as he walked down the hall pushing Adira in a wheel chair.

The doors of the NICU whooshed open and, as procedure dictated, they both put on a sterile gown and washed their hands in the area for parents. The unit was divided up by how premature the child was. The sickest babies had towels covering the incubators and many more monitors. Baby Rivera was in the transition section where the walls were decorated with colorful giraffes, elephants, cheetahs and other animals. The transition section was for the children that were gaining weight and making progress. The babies almost ready to go home were closest to the doors. Their little boy was in one of the incubators closest to the wall.

“How is my little guy doing today?” Favian asked the nurse as he pushed Adira’s wheelchair up to his incubator.

The nurse smiled. “He’s a feisty one. The first thing I heard when I came in this morning was him crying.”

Adira gasped. “Why was he crying? Is he in pain?”

“No, he was hungry and had a wet diaper. He doesn’t have a feeding tube anymore,” the nurse said as she looked into his chart. “They gave him two ounces of your colostrum that you pumped by bottle today. He took to the nipple nicely.”

Adira leaned forward and looked at the tiny baby in the incubator. She reached out to touch him through one of the ports in the side and pulled her hand away.

“It’s okay, you can touch him,” the nurse said gently.

“He’s so small,” she whispered and Favian could hear the tears in her voice.

“Mrs. Rivera, he’s strong. Thirty-two weeks is so much better than what you may think,” the nurse explained. “Those little tubes in his nose are giving him oxygen so he doesn’t have to work too hard to breathe. But other than that, all those wires are just monitoring his heart and pulse. It’s not as scary as it looks. We also count how many wet and poopy diapers he makes to make sure that his liver and kidneys are working.” The nurse started writing things on his chart. “Let me make sure to take his readings and then I can help you hold him.”

She looked up at Favian and then to the nurse. “I can hold him?”

“Being close to mommy and daddy’s chest actually has been proven to help premature babies thrive,” the nurse said. “He’s going to be here until he is at least five to six pounds. I’d say over the next few weeks I’ll be seeing you holding this little man quite often.”

“Yes, we will. You can be sure of that,” Favian said.

They waited patiently while he was carefully checked and his progress charted. During that time Adira stroked his leg through the little ports in the incubator. When it was finally time to hold him, the nurse took him out gently and arranged him carefully in Adira’s arms so his monitors and breathing tube would not be compromised. Favian looked down at the tiny pale brown face. The baby opened his eyes and he swore the baby knew who they were. Adira stoked his tiny fingers and they outstretched as he yawned. Both she and Favian laughed softly.

“Hey, my lovey, I’m your mum,” Adira whispered. “Look at you, my precious little one.”

“I don’t think he can be called Baby Rivera forever,” Favian said huskily. “What should we name him? We never really discussed names.”

“I’ve had one for a while, one that I would love for him to have. Mateo,” she said. “I saw your family photographs; he should have your father’s name. Mateo Favian Rivera.”

He didn’t know if he could love her more than he did at that very moment. Adira thought enough of him and of his family to give their son his father’s name. This time, as he touched Mateo’s hand, his tiny fingers curled around the tip of Favian’s digit.

“Hello, Mateo. We’re your parents,
mi hijo
,” Favian said. “Get big and strong so we can take you home.”

“Now two men hold my heart,” Adira said. She kissed the top of the baby’s head. “You don’t know how much we love you, Mateo.”

“Yes, he does.” Favian kissed her temple.

The nurse brought another rocking chair for him and he sat close as Adira held the baby. Soon after, it was his turn and the tiny body fit just perfectly in the crook of his arm. He rocked back and forth and sang a song his mother used to sing to him while he was growing up. The anger he felt earlier drained away and the only thing left in his heart was pure joy at being a husband and father.

* * * *

Four weeks later Mateo was allowed to go home. He grew quickly and hit every NICU milestone. He was six pounds by the time he left the hospital and Favian had taken to calling him
pequeno muchacho gordo
which meant little fat boy. The way he said it was filled with so much love that no one could chastise him for it. Even his aunt and the rest of the family had picked up the loving nickname. They cooed it to him as they held him or as they watched him in his crib when they came in for a peek.

It was during that time that their house reminded Adira of Grand Central Station. Mateo was going to be spoiled. Adira knew it, but she didn’t care. He had made it through the first difficult month of his life and was progressing in leaps and bounds. He deserved all the extra special love he was getting.

Hillary was taken care of, so to speak. Favian was still unwilling to forgive but didn’t press charges. She was barred from their home and it was made clear she was not allowed to ever approach his family again or he then
would
press charges. She kept her allowance, but not much else. Favian barred her from the offices and from using his name for her various charities. And to keep her allowance, she would be forced to get a job. For Hillary, that was probably worse than prison. Adira was relieved. She wouldn’t have to deal with the spiteful childish woman any longer. She would have never felt comfortable with Hillary around her son and now that wasn’t even a possibility.

They were blessed in so many ways and the greatest man in the world loved her. Favian had been working from home since Mateo came home from the hospital. His business was run from his home office with video meetings and conference calls. Between Suzie, his aunt and cousin, she had more than enough help. But Favian was firm; he didn’t want to miss anything.

“I’m the boss and I can do whatever I want, and I want to take extended paternal leave,” he said and kissed her. “Remy is at the office.”

“No, Remy is upstairs feeding Mateo his afternoon bottle and Lyn is putting him in that onesie she bought him that has little skulls all over it,” Adira pointed out with a smile. “Everyone has been here at some point, love. I fear Carol may be running the whole show at the office.”

He kissed her again and took the basket of laundry from her hands. “It’s in good hands then. I’ll fold; you put away.”

“Suzie is going to be mad at us,” Adira said.

“We’ll let her take the midnight feeding and she’ll sit in the recliner and sing to him,” Favian said. “She’ll love that and we’ll get some extra sleep.”

“Love, how about we send everyone away tonight and be parents alone?” Adira took back the basket from him and put it on the kitchen table. “I love having them here and the help has been marvelous, but at some point we should be able to walk into his nursery and not find someone camped out in there.”

“This is true,” Favian murmured.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Plus, my darling man, we can once again do certain things, like coupling.”

“Is that your way of saying we can make love? Because I like it,” he murmured. His hand tugged at her hip and brought her closer.

“Then let’s have them go to their respective homes and have a night with our son and our family alone.” Adira kissed him and felt passion bloom in her lower stomach.

“
Mi querida
, this will be done.” Favian kissed her long and deep.

It took more than a few hours to get everyone to go home. Suzie was uncertain they’d get up for Mateo’s feeding and said that Adira may still need to recuperate. Aunt Carmen wanted to make extra meals before she left. Lynette said she had no problem working quietly downstairs in case they needed help and Remy actually used the excuse of taking care of business in the home office for Favian. She and Favian shot them all down gently but firmly and ushered them out of the house. The promise that they could come back the next day was the only thing that got them to leave.

Finally, they were alone and the house was quiet. They gave Mateo a bath and he smelled so good as she nursed him. Adira still could hardly believe he was theirs. She put him in the crib and watched his little face as he slept.

Favian came in and wrapped his arms around her waist. “He’s our miracle, isn’t he?”

She leaned her head back against him and sighed. “Yes, he is, and I can understand why no one wanted to leave tonight. I’m having a hard time leaving the nursery myself. We almost lost him—”

Favian shushed her with his finger to her lips. “No more, my love. We weathered that storm and our little fat boy is strong. Now we look towards the future.”

“Yes, we do,” Adira agreed.

“And a little girl,” Favian hinted.

She turned in his arms. “How about we let him reach the age of two before we start that task? Birth control is in place until that time.”

Favian sighed. “Fine, but a man’s lot in the world is to procreate and spread his seed over fertile land.”

Adira led him out of the bedroom laughing. “Seriously, did you just say that? I’ll compromise. You can spread your seed anywhere on me that you’d like and when the time is right you can sow once more.”

“Deal.” He swung her into his arms and crossed the hall to the master bedroom.

“Go back, love. We need the baby monitor.” Adira reached over his shoulder.

Favian reversed his steps and she grabbed it before returning to the bedroom. Their kisses became fierce, almost desperate as they clung together and tried to get their clothes off at the same time. With everything they had been through, the tension, the fear, the anger and the pain culminated into this one moment of passionate release. She had longed to be in his arms again. Their son was safe and perfect and they were in love. Their family had beaten the trial and came out stronger because of it.

“Have I told you today how much I completely adore you?” Adira said as Favian set her gently on her feet beside the bed.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing it,” Favian answered and kissed her neck tenderly. He skimmed his hands over her body and cupped her full breasts. “I am beyond happy to be alone with you right now and may I add that I am completely jealous of Mateo nursing at these beautiful breasts?”

“You can have a taste as well, you know.” Adira stepped back and undressed the rest of the way. She lifted her breasts to him. “Come have a taste of me.”

“That’s a head rush,” Favian murmured. “All the blood just rushed to my cock.”

He came close and lifted the fullness in his palms as he kissed the hard nipples and sucked them gently. She could feel when she actually released milk into his mouth. He groaned and sucked harder. Some women may think it untoward to have their husband taste their milk, but it excited her especially when he groaned and she felt his cock press against her. With his mouth against her breast, he reached between her legs and felt that her pussy was already moist and slick. Adira spread her legs further apart so he could slip his fingers inside, but Favian teased her clit instead.