Twenty-Nine
Nyx
The next Monday, I visit Aldridge Enterprises. It’s just a quick meeting to walk through the facilities and meet the interim CEO. After we’re done, we agree to meet on Tuesday to start our project. I also make an appointment with the human resources director. Apparently, Pierce and his brother cleaned house and we need to hire new personnel.
As I’m leaving the building, Demetri is waiting for me. Marcia, Nate’s assistant, crammed my day with appointments. The OBGYN is first, followed by the nutritionist, and ending with the imaging place where I’m getting to meet my baby.
The doctor’s appointment takes almost two hours. Between lab tests, a pap smear, and getting all my medical information, I am out around two. Demetri, who had given me chicken soup when he picked me up, hands me an apple.
He drives me to the nutritionist who asks me about my likes, dislikes, allergies, and eating habits. After an hour of asking me questions regarding my parents’ trips and all the exotic foods I ate while growing up, she promises to have a menu ready for me by tomorrow. She asks me to call her if there is something that doesn’t work for me and to also visit again after the baby is born to change my diet.
When I arrive at the imaging center, Nate is waiting outside the modern steel and glass building.
“Hey,” I greet him.
“How are you feeling?” he asks, handing me a sandwich.
“You have to stop feeding me.”
“Have you eaten anything since Demetri gave you that apple?”
“How did you know?”
“I asked him to give you a snack because you forget to eat.”
I glare at him, “And what about the soup?”
“That was lunch,” he says, giving me a sly grin. “Did you eat anything else?”
“It’s hard to remember.”
“Which is why I’m trying to be here to remind you. You know what they say, you make a habit after twenty-one days.”
“You are spoiling me. The habit I’m building is having you looking after me—all the time,” I joke as I eat my sandwich, and he leads us to the twentieth floor where the imaging center is. “Are you going to keep doing this after it becomes a habit?”
“What did the doctor say?” he asks as we ride the elevator, avoiding the question.
“She can do the non-invasive paternity test and send it to the lab too. The nutritionist will send me a menu that I should follow religiously.”
He nods a couple of times, “Forward it to me since I am working on that bad habit of pampering you.”
“Which you should stop,” I insist.
“You secretly love it,” he argues and asks, “What’s happening at work? Do you like the place?”
“It was like the first day of school. There was nothing important and a lot of information that I have to assimilate,” I answer, wondering if we’re avoiding each other’s comments and we should just sit down and talk about what is happening between us.
Last night, he set up a baby monitor in my bedroom so he could hear me if I got sick—which I did. He was right by my side the moment he heard me rustle and run to the bathroom. After the fourth time, he just stayed with me in bed until I fell asleep. At least, I think that’s what happened. I have no idea when he left the room.
“How about you? Did you take over the world, or not yet?”
“No, but I have a couple of new ideas in the works. I have to figure out production and marketing while both products are in development.”
The elevator doors open to the lobby of the imaging place. The receptionist greets us.
“Hi, Nyx Brassard,” I announce. “I have an appointment at—”
“Yes, we have the room ready for you,” she answers.
“Do you need my insurance, credit card…ID?” I ask, a little put off by her prompt service. Maybe I’m used to crappy customer service and this is how it’s supposed to be.
“No,” she hands me a paper. “I need you to confirm that the information on there is correct.”
I look through the paper that has everything and frown. “Yes, it’s me, but how?”
Giving her back the paper, I also take out my credit card.
“It’s already paid for and your doctor sent all your information,” she explains. “You’re all checked in. Just follow Alicia. She’ll give you more instructions.”
I cross my arms, press my lips together, and narrow my gaze at Nate.
“They are waiting for us,” he says, giving me a slight squeeze and guiding me toward the back offices.
“You can’t just pay for everything I need,” I whisper shout.
Alicia hands me a paper sheet. “Strip from the waist down and cover yourself with this. The technician should be with you soon. She points to the big machine in front of me. “That’s the main screen. On the left is the second one, a bigger one to appreciate the ultrasound best.”
“I’ll give you a couple of minutes,” Nate announces.
I want to stop him and give him a piece of my mind because he can’t seriously think that this is all right. He paid for the nutritionist too. Since the insurance doesn’t cover the services, she requires a card before making an appointment, and Marcia just paid for it. Of course, he leaves too fast and I can’t say anything.
I’ll find a way to repay him for everything that he’s spending. I get it. He has money, but I can pay my way through this rough patch.
A couple of minutes later there’s a knock on the door. The technician and Nate enter. He approaches and whispers, “I didn’t ask if it’s okay to stay with you.”
We didn’t discuss this before, but I truly assumed he’d be by my side, just the way he has been since this journey started.
“Can you stay?” I ask. My heart is pounding, and I’m not sure why I am so nervous about this. “It’s…overwhelming.” And you always make everything bearable.
“I’m here for you,” he whispers, brushing my hair to the side. His blue piercing eyes stare at me tenderly. “I like it when you wear your hair down.”
“Good afternoon,” the technician greets us. “I’m Stella, and I’m here to introduce you to your little one. Are you ready?”
I nod, watching her take a seat, grabbing a wand that looks like a thin dildo and placing a condom on it. “It’s going to feel slightly uncomfortable, but this is the best way to get an image of the baby since he or she is too small for a regular sonogram.
“Here we are, our little passenger,” the tech says. “Say hi to Mom and Dad.”
“What’s that noise?” I ask, confused.
Nate smiles, “Is that the heartbeat?”
The technician nods. “Yes. It’s beating pretty fast, almost 170 beats per minute. That little one is already moving. She’s almost an inch long.”
“It’s a girl?” I ask.
“No, we can’t know that until the baby is about fourteen to sixteen weeks,” she says, taking some screen shots. “That should be around five to seven weeks from now. According to the sonogram, your due date is on April tenth.”
“See, the baby is not coming on a Monday. She’s arriving on Saturday,” Nate whispers.
The brightness and excitement in his eyes are just as thrilling as the sound of my baby’s heartbeat through the speakers.
The silhouette of the baby is more like a peanut, a tadpole, or a bean held by a thread. It’s strange how I feel attached to her…or him. Tears stream down my face, and it’s not sadness but the many emotions that suddenly explode inside me.
Nate kisses my forehead and says, “You okay?”
“I’m going to be a Mom,” I whisper between sniffs. “Look at her. She’s so little.”
He smiles and nods while cleaning my tears. “It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?”
“I can’t even describe what I’m feeling. It’s…this is the best thing ever,” I say.
“Wait until you hold her. That’ll be the best moment of your life.”
He kisses my fore
head and says, “Thank you for letting me meet the little blueberry demon.”
A gasp sob escapes me because this moment would’ve been so much more perfect if I had shared it with the man I loved. But it’s okay because at least I have Nate, don’t I?
Thirty
Nate
As we leave the imaging offices, I’m emotionally exhausted or…I can’t explain what just happened in that room. One moment I’m there to give emotional support to Nyx, and the next, my heart is pulsing just as fast as the baby’s heart. My stomach roils at the memory of the first time I heard Wyatt’s heartbeat.
That’s the moment when I realized he was a person and not some unexpected news. Now, something I wasn’t ready for during today’s sonogram was Nyx. Well, her reaction and everything that transpired in that room. I witnessed the exact moment when the baby stopped being her new project, and she fell in love with her child. I felt sucker punched. Nothing had ever prepared me to witness such a powerful moment.
What concerns me most is that I think there was some bizarre exchange of hearts, souls, and shit going on inside that room, and I’m not sure what it is that I have inside me. There’s a lightness and yet a heaviness inside my chest. Addressing anything would be stupid because Nyx was extremely vulnerable after what just happened.
Trying to add a lightness to what I witnessed, I grab one of the grainy pictures the technician gave us out of the plastic folder and study it.
“This isn’t a blueberry,” I protest as we make our way outside the building, and I’m trying to figure out exactly what we can call the baby based on this image. “A peanut, maybe?”
“We’re not calling her Peanut.”
“Thumper?” I ask. “That heart was beating pretty fast.”
“What’s wrong with Berry.”
“Like Barry Manilow?” I say. She frowns, and I enunciate, “Berry and Barry sound almost the same. Do you want people to sing “Copacabana” when you tell them about Berry?”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m sure you’re the only ridiculous person who can compare berries to Barrys, but now you just ruined it for me. Fine, we’ll find something new.”
“Thumper,” I repeat in case she didn’t hear me the first time.
“Nope. It reminds me of Thumbelina, and I didn’t like that story while growing up. It’s a pretty dark tale if you analyze it. I’m pretty sure there’s human trafficking involved in it. Maybe Bean?”
I stare at her for a beat. She got that from a children’s book? Who are you kidding. You do the same with movies?
“Thumper as in the rabbit in Bambi,” I clarify. “The best friend.”
“Oh right. The one where the mother was killed in the middle of the woods and the child was left an orphan,” she answers. “Such an uplifting tale. We should call my child something after a joyful movie.”
“It was just a movie,” I insist.
“They killed the mom. That’s not a happy feel good movie—”
“Okay, let’s try something else. This looks like a smudge,” I mention, working harder on deflecting the emotions that are just pushing against each other.
Because in my story, they killed off the fucking father and gave the boy a new one. It’s like I never existed. Fuck, I’m still angry, and listening to her baby just brought everything up to the surface.
I’m not only angry at Bronwyn, or myself. I’m fucking upset at Edward because he doesn’t care about his baby or this moment. My blood is boiling the most because this isn’t my moment to share with Nyx. This isn’t my baby. And I might never get to have this again. Also, because I want to kiss her hard. Hug her and twirl her around and celebrate that we just met her beautiful baby.
“We’re not calling her Smudge,” she contends.
“I never said that. I just brought it to your attention that it looks like a smudge,” I correct her. “We can try something like Sweet Bun.”
“That’s…cute.”
“Just like her mother.”
“The flattery won’t get you out of the doghouse,” she argues. “I’m not happy about your ‘help.’”
“So, are we coming back after the sixteen weeks to find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” I deflect, again. She lost her job. I’m still unsure that the new project she’s working on might be right for her, and her house hasn’t received any offers yet. She has to save as much as she can in case things don’t work out for her. “Listen, I think we could get one of those 3D ones. Maybe those are for when they are older? We have to ask about it.”
“I…I don’t know,” she answers. “Should we learn if it’s a boy or a girl? It can be a surprise.”
“That’s a great question because there’s the nursery, the clothes, and most importantly, the name,” I offer.
She sighs, I can feel the tension creeping in as the muscles in her jaw begin to twitch. I take her hand, wave at Demetri when I spot him driving right in front of the building, and walk with her to the car. After opening the door for her, she slides into the back seat and I follow right behind.
“Listen to me. We can’t stress out about those simple details. I can have someone get the nursery ready within a day, and just like we did this weekend, I can get the clothes with a snap of my fingers. We can have a list of names for boys and girls.”
“You…” She looks at me strangely and shakes her head.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure if we should be friends while I’m going through this. What if I get the wrong idea? What if—”
“Are you getting the idea that I want to be there for you and Sweet Bun?”
“Well, yeah,” she answers and opens her mouth.
“Good, then we’re on the same page. The way I see it, I’m your best option.” I show her my index finger. “Persy is busy with her book, her rebranding, and my brother. Take it from me, that guy is a full-time job.”
“I wasn’t going to mention her.”
I show her now two fingers, “Eros is busy with the business, and he’s going to Costa Rica.”
“We’re not joining him?”
“We could if you want to, but I’m thinking that with your pregnancy it might be safer to travel during your second trimester—and I’m not leaving you alone.”
She sighs and nods. “That’s sensible.”
“Your parents…” I shrug.
“They want to visit me.”
“I’ll get them plane tickets for the weekend if you want,” I offer.
“Only if you let me pay you back,” she counteracts.
“That’s a no. You have to save your money for the blueberry demon,” I remind her.
She stares at her hands and then asks, “Do you think I should start searching for a place in Colorado?”
“What do you want?”
She laughs. “I want a house like the one you have in Seattle. It’s close to a lake, has a pool, and it’s so big that the master bedroom faces east and west so you can watch sunrises and sunsets. Since that’s impossible, I’ll take a property I can afford in a good school district.”
“That’s easy. I’ll get Demetri to search for that.”
“You’re like my fairy godfather.”
“More like Jaq,” I correct her.
“The mouse?”
“Yes, but that mouse made the impossible happen to get everything for Cinderella because he adored her,” I explain. “If he had been a guy, he’d actually be the one she would fall in love with and not the prince who had nothing going on for himself.”
“That’s too deep for a children’s movie, but true. You analyze movies…a lot,” she complains.
“When you grow up with a grandfather that couldn’t watch a movie without discussing the actors, the plot, the music, the lighting, the editing, the meaning of each scene, and what the screenwriter failed to notice and would have made the movie a lot better…let’s just say I can ruin almost every movie for you.”
“You miss your grandparents,” she states, grabbing m
y hand and squeezing it.
Usually those gestures are welcomed, but right now I can’t handle it, so I smile and take my hand away. It’s not that I don’t want her to touch me. It’s because I have this craving for her that’s becoming harder to control. If I’m not careful I’ll cross the line and as I promised Ford, I won’t do anything stupid until I fix my shit.
Not that kissing Nyx is stupid, but doing it when I’m in a bad place will just hurt one of us, or both.
“Some days,” I agree.
“Are you going back to the office?”
“No, I left for the day. I want to work from home and keep an eye on you. Brock must be missing his Nyx, and we can show him the picture of the blimp.”
“Blimp?” she squeaks.
“I am more convinced that we can call her Helios.”
“It’s Helium,” she corrects me.
I smirk. “See you’re even warming up to it.”
“Stop taunting me.”
“Now, where is the fun in that?”
During the drive home, we keep discussing nicknames for the baby. It’s hard not to get sucked into the idea of being a part of them. This isn’t me, or what I should be planning. I know how this exact story ends. Maybe Nyx hasn’t met the love of her life, but she will. When it happens, she’ll just wave at me and say, this was fun but it’s time for me to have a family.
Earlier, Ford and I had a long discussion. He’s concerned that I’m with her just because I might want to play house while pretending that I have Wyatt back. I told him that what’s happening with Nyx is nothing like what I felt for Bronwyn. The only thing he said was, go to fucking therapy.
This time I didn’t tell him that I would if he did. We are both pretty fucked up, but he was able to get past his issues and find Persy. I…I need someone to help me because what I’m feeling could be a mirror of what I lost, or it could be the real deal. And until I understand which one it is, I’m just betting on the wrong horse and losing what can be the best thing in my life.
Thirty-One
Didn't Expect You (Against All Odds Book 2) Page 19
