The Object of His Obsession (The Alexanders Book 4) (4 page)

“Good morning, Tyson,” she
slurred. The words came out with a long yawn.

“Good morning, baby,” he
said, leaving a kiss against her cheek. “I just wanted to let you
know that I’m heading to the restaurant, okay?”

“Okay, Tyson.” She opened
her eyes just enough to catch a glimpse of his handsome face. “I
love you,” she said in her morning drowsy voice.

Tyson smiled. “Don’t
forget Tamera will be here some time this morning.”

“Okay.”

Tyson left a kiss against
her lips and said, “Love you with my all, pretty lady.”

She smiled, just barely,
and fell asleep again, probably before Tyson could even close the
front door. Pregnancy had a way of doing that to the female body,
forcing it to rest, even when it didn’t want to. Gabrielle had a
baby to nurture, to care for and being this late in the pregnancy,
she was tired all the time. Completely drained and exhausted by
performing the smallest of tasks. Had she ever slept so much in her
life?

* * *

On his way to the
restaurant, Tyson tossed around ideas of what he would cook –
scones, sweet potato pies or chocolate cakes. All of his pastries
and desserts were delicious, but Padma told him a few days ago that
people were raving about his sweet potato pies. Since they were
simple to make, he decided on that. Besides, he didn’t want to do
anything too elaborate, just in case Gabrielle needed him and he
had to leave. Actually, if Tamera wasn’t coming to town to help
out, he wouldn’t have left Gabrielle there alone in the first
place. She came first. Over everything. Period. Nothing was more
important to him than his wife and son, the little boy that he and
Gabrielle had already named, Tyson Alexander, Jr. and given a
nickname: T.J., short for Tyson Junior.

Tyson parked his Range
Rover jeep and walked into the back entrance of the restaurant. He
saw Prasad sitting alone in the back office.

“You’re over here today,
huh?” Tyson asked him. Prasad usually worked at the Food House
location in Southern Shores, but today, he was at the new location
in Roanoke Island, in Tyson’s neck of the woods.

“Yeah, I’m here today.
Lalita, mom and Heshan are at the other restaurant. They did most
of the work there yesterday, too.”

“Cool,” Tyson said, tying
an apron around his waist. “Where are the kids? With the
sitter?”

“Yeah. Lalita’s only
working four hours today, so she’ll pick them up soon.”

“Alright. Let me get
started so I can get back home to Gabrielle.”

Tyson got right down to
business. He washed a batch of sweet potatoes and then baked them.
He preferred to make all of his pastries from scratch. No canned
potatoes or premade frozen pie crusts for his pies. Everything had
to be fresh. After baking nearly three bags of them, he peeled them
all and placed the flesh of the sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl,
adding ground cinnamon, sugar, evaporated milk and butter. Then he
sat the bowl underneath a commercial size mixer.

Next, he mixed up some
all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, a tablespoon of sugar and a
half teaspoon of salt to make the pie crusts. As he was finishing
with this portion of the preparation he glanced over in the office
and saw Prasad sitting there with his hands against his face. He
looked to be stressed or worried about something. Maybe he couldn’t
figure out what to order for the week, Tyson thought.

Hoping to offer him some
assistance, Tyson washed his hands, then took a towel, drying them
as he sauntered over to the office door. “You alright,
man?”

Prasad glanced up at Tyson
with eyes that looked to be tired and worried. His elbows were
resting on a mess of papers and mail that covered the
desk.

“Man...haven’t been getting
much sleep lately.”

“Why’s that? Are you trying
to figure out the order or what?”

“No, I know what to order.
I just...you know what? It’s nothing.”

“Well you certainly don’t
look like it’s nothing. What’s bothering you, Prasad?”

Prasad blew a breath and
leaned back in his wheeled office chair. “Lalita has been acting
strange.”

“Strange how?”

Prasad shrugged. “I can’t
quite put my finger on it, but I’ve never seen her like this
before.”

“What is she
doing?”

“I caught her crying a few
times and every time I ask her what’s wrong, she always say it’s
nothing. I hate to say this out loud, but I think...I think there
may be someone else.”

“Nah, man. Lalita loves you
and the kids.”

“So why the sudden change?
Actually, it wasn’t sudden. I noticed this a long time ago, after
she got back from that stupid Chicago trip. I knew that was a bad
idea.”

“Gabrielle had a good time
on that trip and if something happened, I’m sure Padma would’ve
said something. As a matter of fact, I’m sure Gabrielle would’ve
told me.”

“Mom wasn’t with Lalita
every second of the day, and I doubt if Gabrielle was. What if
Lalita met someone?”

Tyson lifted a brow.
“Lalita? Nah. I don’t see it.”

“Well how would you explain
her sudden mood swings, her intense desire not to be anywhere near
me? I try to touch her and she snatches away from me like I’m a
stranger.”

“Well, the only thing I can
say is, instead of speculating, maybe you should just ask her
straight up. Talk to her, man.”

“I’ve tried, and she won’t
respond to me. How do you
make
a woman talk to you?”

Tyson scratched his head.
“Okay, that is a tough one.”

Prasad sighed again.
“Maybe I’m just overreacting and by that I mean, maybe there isn’t
anyone else. Maybe she just doesn’t want to be with me
anymore.”

“Okay, Prasad, you’re still
overreacting. Look, here’s what you do. Take her out to a nice
dinner. Get a sitter for the kids and wine and dine your woman,
man. When was the last time you took her out?”

“Jeez. I don’t
remember.”

“Then it’s long overdue,
right?”

Prasad thought for a
moment. Tyson was right, but what if he took Lalita out and she was
still behaving strangely, not even talking to him over a romantic
dinner? Candles, wine, soft music...what if that setting only made
things more awkward and tense between them?

“Oh, don’t forget the baby
shower is Saturday at Padma’s,” Tyson reminded him. “My parents
will be in town tomorrow. They wanted to get here early so they’ll
have a couple of days to help Padma with the
preparation.”

Prasad nodded.
“Okay.”

“Tamera is probably already
here. She’s going to be helping us around the house ‘til the baby
comes.”

“That’s nice of
her.”

“Yep. Anyway, let me get
back to work. These sweet potato pies won’t make and bake
themselves. Besides, you have a date to plan,” Tyson said, patting
Prasad on the shoulder, then he returned to the kitchen. He washed
his hands again, then shaped pie crusts into round pans, filling
them with sweet potato pie filling. After placing twenty pies in
the oven, he filled another twenty pans so they would be ready when
the first batch came out. The quicker he could get this done, the
faster he could get home to Gabrielle.

Chapter 5

“I cannot believe I’m going
to be somebody’s aunt,” Tamera said giddy, sitting on the couch
next to Gabrielle.

“And I’m going to be
somebody’s mother,” Gabrielle said with her feet propped up on the
coffee table. “Isn’t that crazy?”

“It is, girl. Are you ready
for that?”

“Yeah...but I’m even more
ready for this pregnancy to be over with. Ugh! No one told me how
hard this would be.”

“I can only
imagine.”

Gabrielle rubbed her
stomach. She found herself doing that a lot lately. “The doctor
told me not to rush it by...said after the baby is born, I would be
one of those worrying, panicky moms and that, right now, I should
cherish the fact that the baby is safely inside of me where it’s
protected.”

Tamera nodded. “That’s a
valid point, but I know you’ll be glad when it’s over.”

“Like yesterday,” Gabrielle
responded.

The women laughed
together.

“How has Tyson
been?”

“Gosh, Tamera, I don’t
think I’ve ever seen him happier. He’s at all the appointments with
me, he rubs my swollen feet and ankles every night. He talks to the
baby...he’s going to be a great father. He already is.”

“I know. He’s been wanting
a son for so long. He almost gave up on the possibility of having a
family. As a matter of fact, before he met you, he told me he was
done with relationships, and now...” Tamera said, choking up. “Now
he has a baby boy on the way.”

“Aw, Tamera, are you
crying?”

Tamera pinched her eyes
shut so the tears that formed in them wouldn’t escape. “I’m
okay...just so happy for you guys. Hey, I know you’re excited about
the baby shower, right?”

“Yes. Leave it up to Padma
and it’ll be the event of the year.” Gabrielle chuckled.

“I know. Aunt Padma
supposedly has a jazz band coming.”

Eyebrows raised, Gabrielle
said, “A jazz band?”

“Yes, girl. All the
volunteers from the restaurant are going to be there and don’t get
me started on the party favors...girl...”

“Now I’m really getting
excited...and my sisters and my Dad will be here Friday
night.”

“Cool! This is going to be
so much fun.”

“Yeah...should be a good
time.”

“Anyway, I am here to serve
you, sis,” Tamera said, placing her hand on Gabrielle’s thigh, “So
tell me what you need.”

Gabrielle yawned,
stretching her arms as far up into the air as she could. “I really
hate to do this to you, Tamera, because you just got here and all,
but what I really need is to go back to bed. I’m
exhausted.”

“Okay. That’s perfectly
fine.” Tamera stood up, reached for Gabrielle’s hand and helped her
stand from the white couch.

Once she got her balance,
Gabrielle waddled to the bedroom.

“I’ll bring you some water,
Gabrielle.”

“Okay. There are plenty of
bottles in the fridge.”

“Perfect. Be right
back.”

Tamera walked briskly to
the kitchen, took two bottles of water, one her for herself and the
other for Gabrielle. After leaving one bottle of water on the
nightstand next to Gabrielle’s bed, she said, “Night
night.”

Gabrielle grinned. “Wake
me up if I sleep too long. I do want to hang out with you
today.”

“Good, because I wanted to
take you to get pampered today.”

“That sounds
relaxing.”

“It will be, but for right
now, go ahead and get your rest. I need to get the rest of my
things out of the car and take a nap myself. I will set my alarm to
wake you up on a couple of hours, though.”

“Sounds good.”

Chapter 6

Dilvan sat on the couch in
Dr. Nash’s office with his legs crossed the sophisticated way like
older businessmen liked to do. His hair was freshly cut and
well-edged, perfectly shaped. His angular cheekbones were
dominantly visible on his smooth-shaven face. His thin mustache
enhanced his slender lips. His thick eyebrows were trimmed and
slightly arched, making the intensity of his gray, eyes shine as
bright as a new nickel in a bed of pennies.

He was dressed like he’d
just left a business meeting – black, tailored Armani suit, shiny
black leather shoes that must’ve cost a fortune, a gold Rolex,
platinum cuff links and cologne that could drive a woman completely
senseless.

Dr. Nash noticed right away
that
this
Dilvan
wasn’t the same Dilvan who was in her office, moved to tears, just
a few days ago. No, this Dilvan had an arrogant, haughty persona
about himself, emanating confidence while at the same time coming
off as autocratic and cocky. His presence, in her otherwise
peaceful space, felt heavy and dark. The way he cracked a half
smile without saying a word to her was a little unnerving, even for
a woman of her expertise.

She didn’t quite
understand him or know him well enough to determine if he had some
personality disorder, or if perhaps he was bipolar and it had gone
untreated for all his life. Something was amiss, and she hoped that
during today’s session, she’d get to understand him a bit more so
she could properly diagnose him and get him the help he strongly
needed.

“So I’ve been thinking a
lot about the baby,” Dilvan said before Dr. Nash could formally
begin the session. “I think Gabrielle should know that I may be the
father.”

Dr. Nash disguised another
frown. “Dilvan, during our last session, you told me that you
didn’t sleep with Gabrielle, and I really don’t think you did. I
think you’re so obsessed with her that you have it in your mind
that her baby is yours. It’s a fantasy for you.”