“What’s just as well?” Ella asked, flipping through the old magazine. “Hey, did you know that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are separating?” She did a mock gasp, then giggled.
Naya rolled her eyes, but grinned. It was a pretty old magazine and the pages were well worn from use. “Who woulda thought it?” she replied with matching sarcasm.
“Well, just because you’re a cynic on relationships lasting, that doesn’t mean that the rest of us are so negative.”
Naya laughed. “Right,” she mocked. “When was the last time you went out on a date?”
Ella’s lips twisted slightly. “Okay, that’s a good point.” She flipped another page. “But at least some men come back!” she said with enthusiasm. “That’s a good thing. Evidence that true love does last.”
Naya rolled her eyes. “Twooo luv…” she mimicked the priest from “Princess Bride”, a movie that they had watched together a zillion times during high school and college.
They giggled, ignoring the curious or irritated looks from the other mothers in the waiting room.
“Hey, did I tell you who I ran into at the office the other day?” Naya asked, straightening slightly as her anger started to bubble again.
“Who?” Ella asked, flipping another page.
“Tamara!”
Ella slapped the magazine on her knees, gasping in surprise. “NO!”
“Yes!” she replied. “And she’s just as irritatingly gorgeous as she was in high school!”
Ella laughed. “I always wondered what happened to her. Wasn’t she supposed to marry some prince or sheik or something?”
Naya shrugged and leaned back against the cushions of the waiting room chair. “I have no clue. But I still don’t like her. And she doesn’t like me.” Naya tilted her head slightly as something occurred to her. “I don’t know if I hated her back in high school, but when she walked into Pierce’s office, I realized that I hate her now.”
They laughed until Naya’s was called by one of the nurses. Instantly, all hilarity ended and Naya tensed, nervous now that the time had come. “Good luck!” Ella whispered, squeezing Naya’s hand.
Naya slowly stood up, straightened her skirt, and followed the nurse through the doors to the exam rooms. She was trying hard not to feel as if this were a walk to a prison sentence, but…she was terrified, not sure what to expect.
The nurse took her to a chair and smiled reassuringly. “This isn’t going to hurt at all,” the nurse told her. Then grinned good naturedly. “At least, not yet.”
The nurse then started with the questions, getting a health history before bringing her to one of the examining rooms. Five minutes later, the doctor arrived and Naya felt better after the confident smile of the obstetrician. She listened for the heartbeat, which was an exciting moment, bringing tears to Naya’s eyes. She was given a prescription for prenatal vitamins, told to get lots of rest, exercise, and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. “And milk,” the doctor cautioned. “Get in the habit of drinking lots of milk. The baby is just a blob of cells at the moment,” she explained with a reassuring smile, “but soon, your tiny bundle will start to develop bones. If you’re not getting enough calcium, the baby will take the calcium from your body. So start drinking it now.”
An hour later, Naya stood in her apartment, alone and terrified. She’d heard the baby’s heartbeat and…it was real. The baby was real! It wasn’t just a missed menstrual period or a bout of morning sickness anymore. Hearing that heartbeat had done something to her. Looking around, Naya felt…lost. Lost and confused.
She needed her mother. Perhaps Naya should have asked Jessica to come to the doctor’s visit with her, but their relationship was still tentative. Ella being here for her first doctor’s visit was better, she thought. Ella and Cassy were steadier partners in this venture. Jessica might flit away at any moment, without any warning.
A half hour later, Naya dumped all of the informational pamphlets from the doctor’s office onto her coffee table and grabbed her keys. For some reason, it had become imperative that she tell her mother as soon as possible.
She hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs, diving into her car and driving out of the parking lot in a daze. She ran a red light and didn’t even notice, too intent on getting to her mother’s apartment and giving her the news.
Pierce watched with fury as Naya ran through the light. It was a good thing that no one had started to drive through the intersection because that kind of an accident never ended well.
What the hell was she doing? Why wasn’t she paying attention? And where was she going in such a rush?
Damn it, he was aching to hold her and she was rushing around town, acting as if she didn’t even remember his name. He’d worked twenty hour days so that he could get back to her. Why hadn’t she called him?
Not that he could have spoken to her for very long, but still, it would have been nice to hear her voice.
Following her, he caught up with her just moments before she pulled into another apartment complex.
“What the hell?!” he growled, pulling into an empty space.
Naya got out of her car and looked up at the building. It was an older complex with more run-down apartments. It was a place where the residents were probably living paycheck to paycheck, most living just above the poverty line.
Why was Naya here? Who would she visit in a place like this?
Pierce watched as Naya took a deep breath, almost as if she were bracing herself for something bad to happen. Was she buying drugs? Was this where her dealer lived?
No, he didn’t believe that. Naya didn’t do drugs. Hell, while she’d been with him in the Caribbean, she hadn’t even had a glass of wine. He knew that she wasn’t an alcoholic but she drank wine occasionally. That first night they’d been together, she’d had a martini and at least one glass of wine, plus a few sips of the brandy he’d offered to her. So she wasn’t a teetotaler, but nor was she a heavy drinker. After that first night, she’d barely finished half a glass of wine.
So, why had she not drunk anything while they’d been in Aruba?
He hadn’t thought anything of it before, but now, seeing her walk into the run-down apartment, looking so…tense, he couldn’t think of any other reason why she would be here.
Still he sat there, waiting. If he’d known which apartment she’d gone into, he might have banged on the door and demanded an explanation. But he’d hadn’t seen which door she’d entered.
Less than a half hour later, she reappeared on the stairway. She was much more relaxed now, a smile on her beautiful features. His whole body tensed and fury ripped through him as he watched that smile. He knew that smile! He’d seen her relaxed, beautiful smile so many times over the past several weeks and seeing it now, as she was coming out of a stranger’s apartment, made him livid!
A fury unlike anything he’d ever experienced hit him now. Naya was having an affair behind his back! It was impossible, and yet, the evidence was there! She was smiling and even tightening the belt on her coat. Damn her! And damn whoever was having sex with his woman!
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel of his Mercedes and he wanted to do physical harm to whoever had touched Naya!
Even as he sat there, he watched her drive by, singing along with whatever was playing on her car’s stereo system, completely oblivious to his presence.
Stepping out of his car, he peered up at the door she’d just left. He was going to confront whoever lived there and find out what the hell was going on. If she was having sex with someone else, he would…Pierce didn’t know what he was going to do.
Banging on the door, he was ready to tear someone’s head off. So, he was more than slightly stunned when an elderly woman opened the door with a welcoming, curious smile. She was about Naya’s height, but with grey hair instead of Naya’s darker tresses. She looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties. Perhaps older. Her lips were wrinkled and her forehead creased from age and anxiety. But her green eyes
were wide with curiosity.
“You must be him,” the woman said, smiling cheerfully up at him.
He wasn’t sure what she meant and looked behind her, searching for the man who had put that smile on Naya’s face. “Is he here?”
The woman pulled back, silently inviting Pierce inside. “Is who here?
“The man!” he snapped as he stepped through the door, looking around.
The woman closed the door and folded her hands in front of her, seeming to be at peace. “I’m the only person here,” she stated. “And I believe you are the man who has been seeing my Naya. Am I correct?” she asked.
Pierce’s eyes sharpened on the woman. “Your Naya?” he demanded, furious because he couldn’t hit a woman. A man, sure, he had no compunction about punching out another man. But an elderly woman? No way.
“My daughter is in love with you,” the older woman walked over to the kitchen cabinet, taking down two glasses. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of tea, pouring it into the glasses. “She’s a bit confused and hurt though.”
Daughter? Was this…? His thoughts were still reeling, so it took him a minute to process. Pierce accepted the glass, even though he didn’t want tea. He wanted answers. “Your daughter is Naya?”
“Yes,” she replied, laughing softly and gestured to a sofa that should have been tossed into a dumpster twenty years ago. “She is my daughter, but I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a good mother to Naya.” She looked at him calmly. “Which is probably why you are so frustrated at the moment.”
He blinked, holding the glass of tea between his hands. “Your relationship with Naya is why I’m furious?” he asked, adding in his own emotion instead of the milder “frustrated” she’d used. He wasn’t frustrated. He was livid.
She smiled gently at him. “I wasn’t a good mother,” she admitted. Sighing, she shook her head. “In fact, I was probably the worst kind of mother one could have.” She lifted her hand towards Pierce when he started to stand up. “No, I never hit her.” She shook her head, sighing as Pierce slowly lowered himself back to the sofa. “Perhaps I wasn’t the worst. But I was bad.” She looked at him gently. “You see, I left Naya. Her father left us first, and I was…overwhelmed. Which is no excuse. But I drank. Heavily, back then. And I convinced myself that I couldn’t handle being a mother. So I…” she sniffed, blinking back tears. “I just left her. At the park.”
Yebena mat! Was he understanding correctly? “You abandoned your child?” he growled, his fists clenching and unclenching.
She nodded, and a tear slipped down her wrinkled cheek. “Yes. I abandoned my daughter.”
Some of Naya’s actions made sense now. Why she kept leaving him in the morning. Why she didn’t initiate communication with him. Naya had been wounded. Chert voz’mi! The two people in the world she should have been able to count on had left her.
“I have to go,” he snapped. Pierce stood up, dumped the tea down the sink, and carefully placed the glass on the countertop. “How old was she?” he asked, needing to know, but feeling sick.
“Naya was five…the first time,” the woman admitted, shame causing her to turn her face away slightly. “Because of me, Naya doesn’t trust easily. But…” she paused, crossing her arms over her stomach and she forced her eyes to look up at him. “She loves you. I don’t think she’s ever loved anyone and it’s been hard for her to believe that you won’t abandon her like I did.”
Pierce muttered a curse. Then repeated it in four other languages. “You’re right. You weren’t a good mother.”
And with that, he stalked out of that apartment. Stepping into the stairway, he breathed in deep gulps of air, trying to cleanse himself from the woman. If he never saw her again, he’d count himself a lucky man.
Then he realized something else. He’d taken Naya to Aruba, made love to her all weekend, and then…he’d flown off to another country. He hadn’t abandoned her, but Pierce was pretty sure that it felt that way to her. No wonder she was so cautious! No wonder she didn’t trust easily! She didn’t believe that anyone could love her enough to stay with her!
Damn, he wanted to punch someone! Or even better, he wanted to find Naya and pull her into his arms, tell her that he wanted to be with her forever!
He took the stairs two at a time, heading to his car, but as that thought hit him, he paused and looked up at the sky. “Forever?”
Yes. After being with her in Aruba, then having to live without her for the past week, he knew that he wanted her in his life forever.
But now he’d have to convince her of that. And with her mother and father’s abandonment, she wouldn’t be easy to convince.
Chapter 17
Pierce stood outside of Naya’s apartment, wondering what to do. For his entire adult life, he’d always known what to do. Part of his success in business was his ability to look at the facts, make an assessment, and formulate a plan of action. But Naya was different. He hadn’t known the facts. He had no clue how to reach her. She was like a beautiful hummingbird. She’d flit towards him, take the nectar, and move on so fast, one wasn’t sure that it had actually happened. Surely a beauty like that wasn’t real.
But Naya was real. Her beauty and the sunshine she brought into his life was real. And her pain was real. Somehow, he had to get through to her, convince her that he wouldn’t leave her.
That she didn’t need to leave him first to protect herself. He reached out, but he didn’t knock. Instead, he braced his hands on the frame of her door, trying to figure out what to say, what words he could use to convince her.
He pulled a diamond ring from his pocket. It sparkled even in the dim light from the moon and the streetlights, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t sure anything would be enough. After what Naya had experienced at the hands of her mother and father, maybe nothing could be enough.
But he had to try. The past week without her had shown him that he didn’t want to live without her. Oh, he could do it. He’d be absolutely miserable, but he would survive.
Straightening up, he slid the ring back into his pocket. He’d talk to her. He’d get to know her better and they’d date, he would show her over time that he wasn’t going anywhere. Yeah, that would work, he thought. Pierce would give her time and show her through his actions how important she was to his life. And how he wanted to be important to her as well.
With the decision made, he lifted his hand and rapped on the door. Almost immediately, it opened and there she was. Damn, she looked gorgeous!
“Pierce!” she gasped, her hand moving to her heart and, for the first time, his eyes stayed on her pretty eyes instead of skimming down over her lush figure. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’ve been pushing my staff and myself hard over the past week to fix everything that came up last weekend. I needed to see you,” he told her honestly. “Everyone on my staff is about to kill me, either out of exhaustion or because I’ve ripped their heads off one too many times.”
Naya stared at him for a long moment and he could see her sifting through his words in her head. But he wasn’t prepared for the one word question. “Why?”
For a moment, he pressed his lips together, not sure how to explain. In the end, he couldn’t give her anything less than complete honesty. “Because you weren’t there with me, Naya,” he told her watching her eyes to see if she might feel anything for him. Anything at all.
She pulled back slightly and he could see her eyes shutter. She wanted to believe him, but wasn’t going to let herself hope.
“May I come in?” he asked.
She hesitated again, but then stepped back. “Of course,” she opened the door wider.
After a brief sweep of her small apartment, he turned to look at her, noticing that she didn’t move away from the doorway. In fact, both of her hands clung to the doorknob, almost as if she were bracing herself against whatever was coming next. “I know that I didn’t call, Naya. But it wasn’t because I wasn’t thinking about yo
u.”
Still, she held back. “That’s very kind of you.”
She didn’t understand, he realized. “I got back several hours ago, actually.”
Mentally, she did the math. He clearly wasn’t winning the discussion. “Was your flight okay?” she asked.
“It was miserable.” He followed her as she moved into her small kitchen. “I contacted a real estate person a couple of weeks ago,” he announced. “I wanted to find a place for you.”
She turned, still looking confused. “But, I have an apartment.”
He smiled and leaned against the counter. “I know. Bear with me, okay? I need to explain something and I’m not exactly sure how to say this, okay?”
“Okay.” She reached into the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk, and looked down at it as if it were a foreign object and she had no clue how it had gotten into her hands. “Um…right!” and she turned around, returning the milk to the fridge. When she turned to face him, Pierce suspected that her cheeks were a bit pink, but he wasn’t sure. And he was concentrating on finding the right words.
“This past week…and the weekend before, when we were together in Aruba, I figured out something. I realized that I don’t–” his eyes moved over the coffee table and something caught his eye. “Are you…sick?” he asked, seeing the prescription bottle on the table. He walked over to it and felt her move behind him. He could feel her tension. “What’s wrong, Naya?” he demanded. He didn’t recognize the name of the medicine, but that wasn’t a surprise. He was rarely sick, so he didn’t have much knowledge of medicines.
“Nothing is wrong, Pierce,” she told him, clasping her hands together.
She was lying! He picked up the prescription bottle and shook it at her. “You’re sick. What’s wrong?”
She laughed, but it didn’t sound right and his tension increased. “Nothing is wrong, exactly. I promise, I’m not sick.”
He glared at her, furious that she would keep something like this from him. His gut clenched and he…he couldn’t stand the thought of her in pain! “What’s this for then?”
Pregnant with the Tycoon's Heir (The Ladies of The Burling School Book 5) Page 14
