The Billionaire's Baby (The Romero Brothers, Book 5) (9 page)

The Romeros, Amber
noticed, did a lot of things for themselves and often moved with regular
folks
 
as
well as
fellow wealthy people. Outside of their expensive mansions and impressive
properties, luxury vehicles and prestigious businesses, they were actually like
normal people. She could so relate to them on many levels. And Jules was no
exception.

What had she done
to deserve his wonderful attention? Amber was wrong about Jules in the past. She
was both thrilled and terrified to be able to have a second chance with him
though she wasn’t quite sure what their relationship was currently. They were
just friends, weren’t they? Though deep inside Amber wished they were a couple
again.
A real couple.
Over the past few weeks, Jules
was so attentive to her—taking time away from his business to help her. Yet,
she always felt that it might not even last because she had been traumatized
while growing up into thinking she could never be worthy of being with someone
as amazing as Jules.

Her doubts were
always getting the best of her. And whenever there was a moment she felt good
about herself or her relationships, that doubt would rear its ugly head in her
mind and she would promptly back away psychologically.

“Dr.
Danye
will see you now, Amber,” the receptionist came back
out into the waiting room to inform Amber.

“Thank you.” Amber
dropped the magazine back on the table. The general waiting served a few
offices in that area and had a few people sitting and waiting to see a
professional. She never thought too much of it at the time but today she was
acutely aware of being watched. A man with silver-streaked dark hair wearing a
long dark trench coat and dark sunglasses apparently was gazing right in her
direction. A grim expression pasted on his face. He slowly turned his head away
but for some reason, Amber felt a sense of uneasiness creep over her. She
rubbed her baby bump protectively and walked cautiously into the doctor’s
office.

Don’t get paranoid, Amber. Nobody is watching you. No
one is following you. It’s all in your mind.
Hence, the reason she was still seeing a therapist
so many years after the death of her family members. She hoped she was not
having one of those paranoid panic attacks.

Through much
counselling and focus on the present moment and psychotherapy, Amber was able
to ease her distress. But her selective amnesia hadn’t changed surrounding that
fatal night. “Maybe you don’t want to remember, Amber,” Dr.
Danye
once told her. He told her that sometimes the brain worked to protect a person
from unpleasant memories in order to function. Especially if it was something
horrific to remember that the victim could not change. Some had dubbed the
phenomena “conscious memory loss.”

She wouldn’t know
what she would have done if Dr.
Danye
wasn’t a part
of her life. He had rescued her many times.

“Good to see you
again, Amber,” Dr.
Danye
said as he walked slowly
into his office, limping slightly. From the time she’d known him, he always
walked with that odd gait.
Something from his childhood.
That was one of the reasons she felt so connected to Dr.
Danye
;
he could relate to being scarred from an early age.

Dr.
Danye
closed the door behind him.

“How’s the baby?”
He studied her with a warm smile.

“Great. She
passed her obstetrician visit with flying colors. The baby is doing fine and is
on schedule,” Amber beamed.

“Good. Glad to
hear it. And how are
you
doing
today?” He sat down at his desk. His back faced the door, which Amber found
interesting. She’d always been told it was good to have an escape plan if
you’re ever in a dangerous situation. She’d heard about some patients getting
aggressive and lashing out at the doctor and the poor medical professional
trapped in his own office without the ability to flee.

Oh, why had that
awful thought crossed her mind? Sometimes she had way too much thought traffic traversing
her mind.
Think
positive, Amber.
Think only
good thoughts.

“Getting better
and better every day,” she chanted with an empowering smile. She was not going
let negative thoughts or energy consume her and muddy up her perception of life.
In the past she fought hard to overcome negative emotions and bitterness,
especially over the unfairness of her family’s tragic deaths and the criminals
responsible getting away with the murders. Dr.
Danye
told her that dwelling on that day for the rest of her life would not bring
them back, it would only rob her of a future and that to
honor
their memory it was better that she moved forward because it’s what her parents
would have wanted. He was probably right.

 
She’d also read somewhere about the power
of positive words to heal. She read one doctor had famously told a patient to
repeat the words “every day in every way I’m getting better and better.” She
wasn’t sure how much it would actually help but it couldn’t hurt. It truly lifted
her mood when she chanted the phrase.

“Good. That’s
good to hear. Now, tell me what’s on your mind,” he invited, and he shuffled
some notes on his desk.

“Well, I’m still
having those dreams.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. They had
stopped for a while but then a few weeks ago, it was just terrible. I woke up
in a sweat.”

“Why didn’t you
call my office? You know we’re on call. If I’m not here, my answering service
will pick up.”

“It was late at
night. It wasn’t like I was having a crisis. It’s not like in the past. But it
seemed so real.”

“Was there
anything different in this dream?”

“No. Dr.
Danye
, why can’t I remember? I know we’ve been through this
a lot but…I just can’t remember anything.”

“Maybe there
isn’t anything to remember, Amber. You said you had blacked out.”

“I did. But…I
wish there was something I could remember in order to help the case.”

“Help the case?”

“Yes. Oh, I
forgot to mention. I just learned the police have reopened the investigation. I
think a witness may have come forth after watching some cold case program on
TV.”

“Oh? And how does
that make you feel?”

That’s what she
loved about Dr.
Danye
. He always asked how she felt.
Of course he was paid hundreds of dollars an hour to ask but he genuinely
cared.

“I don’t know.”
Amber’s voice cracked ever so slightly. She turned her head to gaze out the
window. The trees swayed and their green leaves rustled in the wind. It was a
calming view of the hills outside. She loved living in Mayberry Hill and was
glad Dr.
Danye
moved his office there from the bustle
of the city with the noisy traffic and pollution. But she wasn’t feeling very
calm right now. She could feel her blood pressure soar. Her body pumped on
adrenaline. Amber rubbed her belly and had to remember to think positive
thoughts for the sake of her little one. She didn’t want her baby to feel any
of mommy’s distress. In fact, just this week, Jules lovingly chastised her for
saying a not-so-nice word when she accidentally dropped a plate on the floor
smashing it to pieces. “Not around the baby,” he said playing daddy. She smiled
at the recollection.

Amber drew in a
deep breath. “I don’t really want to talk about that right now, Dr.
Danye
. I…I can’t. I don’t know how I feel about the case
reopening. I don’t know what leads they might or might not have and my aunt
even told me, it won’t bring back my mom and dad anyway.”

“But don’t you
want justice to be served? It could bring you closure.” He looked at her with
concern from across the desk. Amber always thought before seeing a therapist that
one had to
lie
on a couch and confess all her business
to a man sitting with a clipboard on the side. But that image was nothing from
reality that she was experiencing. She felt more like an interview. A business
meeting with the therapist behind the large oak desk and she seated in a plush executive
chair.

“Yes, of course,
I want justice to be served but I also don’t know what it could do to me to
face the past again.”

“Understood. It’s
not easy to face that type of horrible reality, Amber. I’m here for you. Just
remember that.”

She felt warmth
creep over her but then she thought about the man in the waiting room. “There’s
a guy in the waiting area. He’s wearing a long black trench coat and sunglasses
and his hair is streaked with silver. He’s a patient of yours?”

Dr.
Danye
looked puzzled. He shook his head. “I don’t think so.
Why?”

“Well,” Amber
said, getting up. She went over to the door and opened it and peered out in the
reception area in the distance. There were three people earlier but now there were
two.
An older woman and a young man.
Trench coat guy
was gone.

Amber’s heartbeat
escalated in her chest.

“What is it,
Amber? Are you all right?” Dr.
Danye
said behind her.
He’d gotten up to see what she was looking at.

Amber walked back
into the office. She didn’t know why she had done that. “I’m sorry,” she said,
drawing in a deep breath. “I guess I’m getting a bit paranoid again. I
thought…there was a guy…oh, nothing.”

She decided to
let it go. Maybe he was waiting for someone. The waiting area served more than
one specialist.

“He could have
gone to see someone else here,” Dr.
Danye
suggested, his tone soothing. “Are you sure you’re okay, Amber?”

Dr.
Danye
was a psychologist and not a psychiatrist. One
significant difference was that psychiatrists were medical doctors with
advanced specialized training who could prescribe medication, whereas
psychologists focused on therapy but were not licensed to prescribe drugs. Not
that Amber would feel comfortable taking any meds in her condition for the sake
of her unborn child.
At least not if she didn’t have to.

“I…I’ll be fine,
really,” she reassured him, sitting back down on the seat opposite him. “On the
plus side, you remember when I told you I was feeling so lonely and alone?”

“Yes, go on.”

“Well, good news.
I bumped into an old friend of mine. Well, an ex but we were good friends. He’s
been nothing but helpful and supportive to me. I mean, especially considering
that I’m a complex person with a whole lot of baggage under my belt. He’s made
me feel special.”

“Oh, good. Glad
to hear it, Amber. You deserve that.”

“Thank you,
doctor.” Amber told the doctor about their chance meeting at her prenatal class
and all they’d shared together during the past month. They’d practically picked
up where they left off without missing a beat.

“That sounds like
a true friend. When you can just pick up where you left off as if you’ve never
spent time
apart
means you had something special to
begin with. He seems like a really decent guy, Amber,” Dr.
Danye
assessed. He then paused briefly and scrutinized her expression. She was
looking down at her hands. “I sense there is some apprehension there, Amber.”

“Well, there is.
Sort of.
He asked about the father of my child.”

The doctor looked
up, face frozen. “And? What did you tell him?”

“I…I couldn’t
tell him. I decided that I’m not going to tell anybody. There’s no law against
it. The truth is, my baby’s father is out of the picture and has nothing to do
with the child. So that’s that.”

“But if you want
to start an honest and open relationship with this man, don’t you think he
should know?”

“I suppose. But…I
really don’t think I’m ready to mention anything yet. Maybe one day but
definitely not now. I’ve been hurt badly in the past. Oh, God. The worst thing
that could happen is that he wouldn’t understand. I don’t want to be judged.
I’ve spent so much of my life—after the accident, being judged.”

“Fair enough,
Amber. I’m sure if he cares about you the way you say he does he’d understand.”

Amber bit down on
her lip, rubbing her belly protectively with all the love and warmth in her
body. “I sure hope he does.”

*
     
*
     
*

“Well, somebody’s
in a good mood,” Lucas called out to his brother Jules as he entered the study
at Romero Manor. Jules was speaking with his grandfather Toni and their other
brother Zack.

“Hey, Lucas,”
Jules responded.

“Hey yourself,
bro. Look at that cheesy grin on your face. You’ve been in a good mood lately
and something tells me it’s not the new deal you landed with the family
center.”

“Yeah. Very
funny.” Jules looked out the French glass doors to the verdant garden and
scenic hills outside with the panoramic view outside. Truth was, he was
obsessing over Amber. Ever since they’d met up over a month ago, he would think
of nothing else—even while in meetings and boardrooms.