The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection

by Natasha L. Black

  It wasn’t Sandy’s fault. She was just going on what I told her. And more specifically, what I didn’t tell her. This wasn’t the first time in my life I’d been told I took things too literally. It just happened to be the first time in my life when taking a question too literally resulted in missing finding out about my pregnancy.

  Hearing the news was such an incredible shock, I didn’t even process it all the way. My doctor told me and I just kind of stared at her. I heard the words. I knew what they meant. But they just didn’t seem real. There was no question the baby belonged to Nick. The timing didn’t add up for it to be Justin’s. I really did have a stomach virus the last time I went through bouts of sickness.

  As it turned out, this second wave wasn’t a return of the virus. It wasn’t stress or anxiety. It was morning sickness. She recommended I handle it with eating a few crackers first thing in the morning before getting out of bed and making sure I stayed properly hydrated. I was supposed to eat regularly throughout the day and never let my stomach get empty. Get plenty of rest. Take my vitamins.

  All sorts of things I didn’t hear when I just had stomach virus, things I never expected to hear. I thought I was going to walk out of the office with a referral to a counselor so I could talk about my stress. Maybe some sort of prescription that would help manage my nausea. At the very worst, she would have told me I had an ulcer and put me on antacids.

  I never would have thought I would have walked out with a stack of papers instructing me on how to deal with feeling sick and how to take care of the baby growing inside me. It shouldn’t have happened. I had been taking birth control for years. Even before I got into the relationship with Justin, I was on the pill. Prescribed when I was sixteen, it helped manage severe cramps and heavy periods.

  And apparently did very little else. At least that night it didn’t.

  I got the news three days ago and was still working on wrapping my mind around it. Pregnant. I was actually pregnant. Not enough to see anything recognizable as a baby on an ultrasound screen. Not enough to make me show. But pregnant.

  I had to tell Nick. This wasn’t something I could just keep to myself and never let him know. At some point, I was going to have to let him know our brief fling was going to be sticking with us for life. Just the thought of it made me break out in a cold sweat.

  Setting the papers aside, I tried to sit back at my desk and concentrate on work. I couldn’t just let everything fall apart because I was trying to deal with the news. If nothing else, I now had to think about somebody other than myself. The baby might still have a long time of growing ahead of it, but I still had to be prepared. I was responsible for another life now, and that meant working hard had new meaning.

  I managed to keep myself distracted long enough to get to the next afternoon when I had my first meeting with the financial lawyer. I’d made the appointment because I hoped sitting down with him would help me to be smarter about my money. I never wanted to be in a position again where anyone would be able to swoop in and hurt me the way Justin did.

  Protecting myself meant protecting my finances, and I needed somebody to help me do that.

  The lawyer, Mr. Bach, was essentially what I expected Nick to be before I met him. A kindly older man with white hair and a round belly that barely fit in his suit, he was warm and welcoming. When I went into the office, he offered me tea. It made my heart hurt, reminding me of Nick, and I wondered if they would ever be a time when everything didn’t remind me of him.

  Checking the tea to make sure it was herbal and decaffeinated, I accepted a cup. I swirled honey into it as Mr. Bach shuffled around getting himself sorted. He struck me as the type of man who was easily distracted but knew what he was talking about. He wasn’t absentminded; it was more like he had so much going on in his brain at the same time he couldn’t decide which train of thought to follow.

  Finally, he sat down and folded his hands on the desk in front of him. He smiled at me briefly, then reached for a folder. “So, you gave me an idea of what happened and the kinds of goals you have. But why don’t you fill me in a little bit more and we can talk about the best options for you.”

  I nodded and went into the story of Justin taking my money from me. As I talked, the lawyer picked up a pen and started taking notes. He nodded and made acknowledging sounds every few sentences. When I was finished, he looked back over everything he wrote down, then up at me.

  “That’s an interesting story. Definitely not something I’ve encountered in my career. But I have helped plenty of people who have had money stolen from them in different ways. And I am more than prepared to help you secure your finances and prevent anything else like that from happening again,” he said.

  “That would be fantastic,” I said. “I’ve already gotten some advice from people in law enforcement and an investor, but do you think there’s any legal recourse I could take against my ex? Is there any way to prove what he did?”

  “That’s not something I can know right off the bat. I would have to look into it more in-depth and contact the bank and the investor. But it’s definitely something we can discuss,” he said.

  “That would be great. I’ve already pretty much resigned myself to not being able to prove everything, and I really am at peace with that. If it’s not an option, it’s not an option. But if there was something I could do about it, I am more than ready to,” I said. “The most important thing to me, though, is making sure I have a way to keep my money safe.”

  “Perfect,” he said, reaching into his desk drawer. “Then let’s fill out some paperwork.”

  As he searched around for another pen with no explanation as to why I couldn’t use the one he did, I thought about the baby and how I needed to protect it into the future. Taking the steps I was taking now wasn’t just about keeping myself safe. It was about making sure my child had everything I could possibly give it as it grew up. It was amazing how something so small could change my thoughts so much.

  When Mr. Bach finally located a pen that was acceptable for me to use, I filled out the paperwork he put in front of me. That finished, he gave me another bright smile.

  “Anything else I can help you with right now?” he asked.

  I almost asked what I should do about the little bean growing in my belly but decided against it. That probably wasn’t his area of expertise. Instead, I said no, shook his hand, and headed home to stuff myself into pajamas and watch useless TV for the rest of the day.

  As delightful as that plan sounded, it wasn’t to be. I walked out of the office and was staring down into my purse as I turned down the sidewalk. Two steps later I crashed into somebody.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry!” I said, looking up to see who I’d tried to plow down with my lack of attention.

  “Bryn?” the woman in front of me said.

  It took me a second to recognize her. The last time I saw her face, it was behind enormous sunglasses.

  “Minnie,” I said in surprise. “Hi.”

  “I thought that was you! How are you doing, sweetheart?” she asked.

  Well, if this isn’t one of the most uncomfortable moments of my entire existence.

  “I’m doing well,” I said, glossing over reality. “I’m sorry about running into you like that.”

  She made a dismissive sound and waved it away. “Don’t you even think about it. I’m happy to see you no matter how it happens. Are you busy?”

  The question came so quickly after all the other words she said, I was taken aback and found myself responding before my brain was able to think all the way through what to say.

  “No. I was just heading home.”

  “Good,” she said, looping her arm through mine. “Then you can come with me to the bakery for an afternoon treat.”

  Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the bakery across a tiny window table from Minnie. Each of us sipped at our cup of tea and munched on a pile of delicately decorated cookies. Something about her made me open up, and soon I was telling her all abou
t my childhood.

  Minnie was an exceptional listener and just as good a talker. She was a force of nature who clearly wanted her last son married off. She made me laugh, and for a while I wasn’t even thinking about everything that was going on in my life.

  But then I noticed a glint in the older woman’s eye. It was like she knew something. I took that as my cue to get out of the conversation before I blurted out she had a grandchild coming and started talking names. Nick didn’t need to learn he was soon going to be a father by seeing monogrammed onesies first.

  When I finally escaped the bakery and rushed back to my car, I was running on adrenaline and I wasn’t sure why.

  24

  Nick

  “How could you do this to Nick?”

  The voice coming out of the other room as soon as I walked into my house startled me so much, I didn’t even recognize it. I dropped the grocery bags in my hands and whipped around toward it. Lindsey was coming down the hallway from my kitchen, eating an apple and glaring at me.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

  “Having a snack while I wait for you to come home,” she said. “Which by the way, is getting later all the time. You really should try to prioritize your time away from the office. It isn’t good for you to become such a workaholic.”

  “What are you doing in my house?” I asked. “How did you get in here?”

  She looked at me like it was one of the stupidest questions she had ever heard. “With a key. The one you gave me?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, reaching down to pick up my grocery bags so I could carry them to the kitchen. “Why are you in my house? Where is Remy?”

  “Remy is with his father today,” she said with a heavy dose of restrained disdain.

  She really was doing her best to not utterly hate her ex. To his credit, Grant was putting in some sort of an effort with her now. For a while, there was only conflict between them. It was so rough, Lindsey didn’t even tell people around town she had a son. She ended up having to get a lawyer and prepare to fight in court when Grant threatened to take her son away from her completely.

  In the end, she didn’t have to go through with it. Grant finally saw the true effect of what he was doing and called it off. Since then he had been trying to effectively co-parent their three-year-old together. The whole situation wasn’t easy on her. But it’s what brought her and Vince together, and what got her official visitation rights with Remy, so in those ways, it was worth it.

  “Which brings me back to my original question of what the hell are you doing?” I asked.

  “I came for an intervention,” she said.

  “What are you intervening in?” I asked.

  We got to the kitchen and I plopped the bags in the middle of the table so I could unload them. Lindsey came up to the side of the table and held the apple in between her teeth as she took boxes of pasta and canned San Marzano tomatoes out of a bag.

  “You and Bryn,” she said.

  “What about me and Bryn? I haven’t even spoken to her in over a week. She dropped off the seed money for her investments, and that was it,” I said.

  “You might not have spoken to her, but your mother has,” Lindsey said.

  I turned slowly away from the cabinet where I was putting cereal away. “Excuse me?”

  “Yeah, apparently they had a deep and meaningful heart-to-heart at the bakery a couple of days ago. Vince was just getting over all the chaos with Quentin’s baby and Darren’s wedding and everything. Now we throw another pregnancy into the mix and we have your mother all in a flutter about you and Bryn,” Lindsey said.

  “Who did you hear this from?” I asked.

  “Vince,” she said sharply, taking a forceful bite out of the apple. “He called me from work because your mother couldn’t stop talking about how nice it was running into Bryn and how lovely a girl she is. Which, she totally is. I’m not going to lie. I really like her. But can’t you just have a normal beginning of your relationship?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “There is no relationship. Bryn and I are not together. We are not dating. We are not even talking to each other about potentially dating. There’s nothing but business between us.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Don’t you think that’s something I would know about? I’m fairly certain if I was in a relationship with somebody, I would be fully informed about it,” I said.

  “Then you aren’t the person Bryn slept with about a month ago? A little bit more?” she asked.

  I sagged into the refrigerator where I had been filling the vegetable drawer. “Oh, please tell me Vince didn’t hear that from Mom, too.”

  “No. Vince heard that from me. And I heard that from a woman named Trish who was at my bar with Bryn. See how quickly things turn into one big-ass game of telephone when you don’t tell your best friend things?” she asked.

  I closed the refrigerator and went back to the table for another round of groceries. The chances of me being able to relax and enjoy my plan to throw together a quick pasta primavera and eat in front of the TV while I didn’t think about anything were rapidly dwindling.

  “I didn’t tell you, because there was nothing to tell. Yes, Bryn and I slept together. It was a one-night thing. Her ex-boyfriend showed up at her house and acted like a complete ass. It upset her, I went over to make sure she was okay, and it just happened. That’s it. We never talked about it. We never made a big deal out of it. It was a fluke, and now we’re back to just being business,” I said.

  “Are you sure about that?” she asked.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “I just want to make sure you’re actually being honest with yourself. And that you really know how she’s feeling, too,” she said.

  “Did she say something to you?” I asked.

  “No,” Lindsey said. “And according to Vince, she didn’t really say anything to your mother, either. But that hasn’t slowed down Minnie’s dedication to getting the two of you together.”

  “Fantastic,” I said. “Maybe I need to have a talk with her. I really thought she had given up on Bryn and me as a match. On the other hand, she means well.”

  “Of course she does,” Lindsey said. “She’s your mother. She loves you, and she wants you to be happy.”

  Lindsey was right. It wasn’t like Mom did this to be annoying, or to interfere with my life. She really was trying to find a way to make me happy. Which meant that despite how much it didn’t sit well with me to have to just let it go and not confront her about yet again interjecting herself into my business, that’s exactly what I had to do. I needed to just let it go. Not think about it. Not let it affect me.

  Which was what I did. Right up until I was leaving work the next day and found Bryn leaned up against my car. Her ankles were crossed in front of her while she flipped through the glossy pages of a thick magazine.

  “Bryn?” I said as I approached her.

  She looked up at me and let the magazine flip closed. That’s when I saw it was a bridal magazine. The expression on her face was several shades less than glowing bliss.

  Oh, damn.

  She took a few steps toward me and held the magazine out to me with an annoyed look in her eyes. “Can you please tell your mother that even though the sex was good, she doesn’t need to send any more bridal magazines to my house. You don’t need to be saddled with me.”

  I was taken aback by how candid she was but didn’t move. She shoved the magazine toward me a bit harder, and I took it from her. “I can definitely tell her that the sex was great, but I’ll modify the rest to say you didn’t want more than one night.”

  It was the best I could do, and I figured it was an honest shot. But if I was hoping for any kind of revelation for Bryn, I was immediately disappointed. Rather than explaining why there was never any more between us, or why she completely withdrew from me, or even responding at all, Bryn shook her head. She walked away fro
m me without saying any other word, and all I could do was watch after her.

  What she said stuck with me. It wasn’t just that Bryn wanted me to tell my mother not to send her any more bridal magazines, or even that we weren’t a couple.

  Unfortunately, my mind didn’t agree with me. As much as I tried to convince myself to just push the whole situation away, I couldn’t get the thoughts and questions to quiet down. On the off chance she wouldn’t be at the bar that night, I sent Lindsey a text.

  It used to be that she was at the bar basically every moment of her life. She inherited it from her father, who got it from his. That bar was always going to be her life. It was her family’s legacy, and she always knew that no matter where she went in life, she would end up back here in Charlotte running the favorite neighborhood spot.

  That was one of the reasons she took some time away a few years back. She always said there wasn’t even a part of her that didn’t think she would come back. It wasn’t like she was trying to run away and find a new life. She just wanted to see what else there was out there for her to experience before it was time to take up her birthright.

  Spending every bit of time she could at the bar meant making as much money as possible and trying to prove herself. But now that she was with Vince, she was taking more time off and entrusting the bar to her staff more. Luckily, that was one of the nights she decided to stay at home.

  And I was going to be a terrible best friend by asking her to come to my house instead.

  Half an hour later, she and Remy were sitting in my living room. He was happily playing with the sensory toys I’d laid out for him, and she was sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out, her arm propped on the back and her head rested in it. The other hand held a cup of hot tea.

  “Go through that all again,” she said.

  I let out a breath and went through the entire story again. “But what could she possibly mean that I didn’t want to be saddled with her? Are you sure she didn’t say anything to you? Or to Mom?”