The Billionaire's Twin Fever (MANHATTAN BACHELORS Book 1)
Page 24
Jamaica groaned. “Oh… Andre. That’s been bad. He made it very clear that he never wants children of his own and he sure as hell doesn’t want to raise anyone else’s children, so he’s hell bent that these two should go as soon as they are born and I should take the money and run and never set eyes on them again. That is his perfect scenario.”
She sighed in disgust. “Penny, he’s been horrible through this whole pregnancy. He hasn’t been supportive at all, he’s never around, he never asks how I’m feeling or if there’s anything that he can do to help me. He never tries to make any effort to show that he cares about me. We haven’t been intimate at all since the insemination because he refuses to touch me at all while I’m pregnant with another man’s babies. He’s being so utterly ridiculous. I’ll be honest, I feel like I lost every part of him that was my boyfriend when I took on this job and got pregnant. We just haven’t even been close to being a couple since then, and it’s awful. I don’t want to let these two kids go, at least not completely, and I know he’s going to be furious when he finds out about that. I have no idea what he will do or say, but I am pretty sure he’s going to hate it.”
“So, are you going to try to do something about it or are you just going to let them go and suffer through it?” Penny asked quietly.
Jamaica looked up at her friend and drew in a long slow breath. “I’m going to fight for visitation with them. I have given it so much thought and I just can’t let them go. I can’t walk away from them like that. They’re half mine, naturally, biologically, they are half mine and I feel like I’d be deserting them if I did that. As far as I know there’s no mother there to take care of them, and I don’t want to leave them in a single parent household. That’s just not something I’m comfortable with. I didn’t think it would be like that, but it is, and now the only way forward for me is to fight for them. I’m going to go talk to Cara Landers and ask her if there’s any way that we can work out some kind of visitation before I even think about looking at legal action.”
“Okay,” Penny replied simply. “You’re not doing it alone. Just remember that. I’m here for you, no matter what, always, I’m here for you.”
“Thank you so much,” Jamaica whispered, reaching for Penny’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
***
A knock at Jamaica’s front door made her heart skip a beat nearly right out of her chest as she looked up at the door. She knew that it was Andre, and she was not at all sure if she was ready for the conversation that she knew that she had to have with him, but it was time to have it. The babies were due in a month, and she had made up her mind about just what she wanted with the babies, and it had come time to talk with her boyfriend about it. She wasn’t looking forward at all to the conversation, but there was no avoiding it. It had to happen, and it had to happen then.
“Come in,” she called out.
He walked in and his eyes went straight to her massively swollen belly. A look of disgust flashed across his face and he looked away from her, closing the door and heading for a chair opposite the sofa in her living room. He sat.
She watched him and braced herself for what was to come. She sat carefully on the sofa and faced him. “Thank you for coming over,” she began with a pleasant smile, though the smile didn’t at all reach her heart inside.
“Yeah sure. What is it that you want to talk with me about?” he asked with a trepid caution to his voice.
Taking in a long slow breath, she lifted her chin and told him. “I wanted to talk with you about this pregnancy and these babies.”
His eyes shot up to her and pierced her sharply. “What’s going on?” he asked directly.
Never one to beat around the bush, she thought to herself. “I know you haven’t been around much at all. You haven’t supported me through this much at all. You haven’t gone to any of the appointments with me, and you have basically made me face this whole thing on my own.”
“Yeah, well you got yourself into this mess. Why would I be around for any of that? It’s not my job, not my mess, not my problem. You shouldn’t be surprised that I’m not around for it. The only reason that I ever allowed it in the first place was because of the money, and you know that,” he said in a cold voice.
She narrowed her eyes and felt the fires of indignation and frustration flare up in her. “Now see, that’s something that’s really been bugging me this whole time. You keep saying that you allowed me to do this… that I have your permission because of the money I’m being paid.
“First of all, Andre, I don’t need your permission or anyone else’s to do anything. I can do whatever the hell I want to do, anytime I want to do it. It seems to have escaped your notice, but I’m actually a real, live, full grown adult woman, and I don’t need a keeper or a caretaker. I’m taking care of myself just fine on my own, thank you very much, and the last thing in the world that I need is a man telling me that I have his permission to do anything with my life, and sure as hell not with my own body. Those choices are my own to make!
“Second, you keep bringing up this money like you’re have some say over that too, like it’s going to be yours at all. It’s not. I’m the one who took on this pregnancy and who has carried these babies. You haven’t been around at all for any part of it, you just abandoned me to do the whole thing on my own, so you should know right now that it doesn’t matter how much money I make on this pregnancy job, because you’re not going to see a single damn penny of it. Not one. So you have no business going on about the money, because that’s going to be all mine. Period.”
He scowled and was about to snap back at her, but she held her hand up to stop him, and she continued.
“There’s something else that we have to talk about though, and it’s pretty important,” she told him seriously.
“And what is that?” he snapped at her.
“Something happened that I didn’t expect. I have grown really close to these babies. In fact, I’ve grown so attached to them that I want to talk to Mr. Ellison about sharing some custody of them. I don’t feel like I can give them up totally. I want to be part of their lives. It’s become really important to me,” she said in a level tone.
He glared hotly at her. “I knew it! I knew this was going to happen. It almost never happens that a chick can get pregnant and then leave her kids or give them up. Damn it! Well I’ll tell you right now that you better not even think about it because if you do we’re going to have a big problem.”
Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her blood felt hot, racing through her veins and pushing fast as it burned all over her. Her cheeks felt warm. “Then we have a big problem, because while I didn’t expect it or plan it, it’s happened. I love them. I want to keep them at least half of the time. I want to be in their lives. I don’t know how that’s going to happen, if they would be living with him and me or just him and I’d see them there or what, but I don’t want to let them go totally. They are going to be part of my life, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that that happens. If you have a problem with that, then we need to work it out right now.”
He shot up out of the chair that he was sitting in and looked down at her with deep anger in his eyes. “Well then we have to work it out right now, because I have a huge problem with this!”
She looked up at him and felt like everything inside of her was going so fast and so hot that she might explode. “Well then, what do you want to work out?” she asked, feeling a strange mixture of fear, determination, anger, protectiveness, and defiance.
He took a step toward her. “It’s simple. It works like this… either you choose them or you choose me. That’s it. Plain and simple. There’s no alternative. I don’t care how it works out about where they live or how often you see them. I told you that I didn’t want a relationship with anyone where I was going to be raising some other guy’s kids, or one where my woman had kids. I meant that. So, you have a choice to make right now. It’s either me or them. That’s it. Make your choice.”
The realization of it infuriated her. She pushed herself up off the sofa and faced him, squaring her jaw as she gazed at him coolly. “I choose my babies. If that means it’s over between us and you’re out of here, then that’s what it means. You can leave if that’s what you choose, but I’m not asking you to leave. I’m asking you to work this out with me. If you walk out of that door because I’m keeping these babies, then that’s all on you. That’s your choice.”
A wave of shock flashed over his face as her words took hold in his mind, and he gave his head a shake. “My god… you’re serious,” he barely whispered. “Fine!” he raised his voice, shouting at her. “Fine!” he repeated. “You chose them, so I’m out of here. That’s it. We’re done!”
He turned on his heel and stomped to the door, yanking it open and shouting a few obscenities before he went through the doorway and slammed the door behind him. The windows in her little house shuddered and a tremor moved through the living room.
She stared at the door and felt a few tears rising up in her, but she shook her head and swallowed them back down. She wasn’t going to cry over him. She refused to cry over him. He simply wasn’t worth it. If he had cared about her and made her a priority then he might be worth it, but he never had, and she was done with him.
Reflexively she placed her hands on her belly and rubbed it. Her voice was soft as she spoke to the babies. “It’s all right little ones. It’s all okay. I’m here and I’m taking care of you. You’re never going to have to be around anyone like that in your own home. Don’t you worry. Your lives will be beautiful, and you won’t see anything like that growing up.”
It was a promise that she knew she would do anything to keep.
Chapter7
Swallowing hard, Jamaica pushed the button on the elevator and watched the doors as they closed. She hadn’t seen Cara Landers since the day she met her for coffee to be interviewed for the position. Cara had called her a few times during the pregnancy to check on her and see if there was anything that she needed, but there had been no other contact. The doctor and nurses had been good about sending all the information about the babies and the pregnancy to Cara and Henry Ellison, and there had been no need for her to contact them.
The elevator seemed to go upward forever and after a long while it finally came to a stop. She took a deep breath and walked through the doors, relying on her determination to get her through the conversation that she knew she was going to have to have with Cara.
The room she entered was luxuriously appointed. She couldn’t remember ever having been in an office that was so beautifully decorated. There was a large dark wooden desk across the room from the elevator, and on it sat a stained-glass Tiffany lamp, a telephone, and a desk blotter. No one was seated at the desk.
She looked around and saw that it was the only desk in the room. There was only one other door leading out of the room and it was slightly opened. She could hear someone talking in the room, and it sounded as if the conversation was on a telephone because she couldn’t hear anyone speaking in return to the first voice.
Jamaica thought about sitting down in one of the chairs and waiting for Cara to come back to her desk. Her name was stenciled in gold on a bar on the desk, so Jamaica knew that it was hers. She didn’t want to sit, and she definitely didn’t want to wait. She didn’t want to lose her nerve.
The only other option was to see if Cara was in the room with the open door. She heard the voice in the other room go silent and guessed that the phone call had ended. Tentatively she stepped up to the door and knocked. There was a momentary silence and then she heard a deep male voice call out for her to come in.
She swallowed again and walked through the door. The man sitting behind the desk lifted his head and looked up at her, and in that moment, she felt her breath catch in her chest. It was almost as if everything inside her stopped and froze instantly. She paused in mid-step and blinked.
He was staring at her. She felt as if he could see right through her. She realized as she stood there that the man she was staring at was Henry Ellison. It was the father of the two babies she was carrying in her.
She had seen photographs of him online, but nothing she had seen could have prepared her for what he looked like in person. He was beautiful. There was no other word for it. He was breathtaking and beautiful. She felt heat flush her cheeks as everything in her began to rush and her heart began to pound.
Blinking and trying to steady herself, she walked slowly toward his desk. “Henry?” she asked quietly, and he stood up and stared at her as realization dawned on his face. His eyes grew wide and his hand flew to his mouth, covering it as she reached him and he gasped quietly, staring at her.
“Are you… are you Jamaica Franklin?” he asked in a quiet whisper.
She nodded. “Yes, I am,” she answered with a slowly growing smile.
He laughed softly with sheer joy and his eyes fell to her belly. “That’s… those are…” he said quietly.
“Yes,” she said quietly. He lifted his eyes to meet hers again and shook his head once in amazement.
“I wasn’t expecting you! Cara didn’t tell me that you were coming in! Wow… it’s incredible to have you here! Please, have a seat,” he said as he hurried around his desk and reached for one of the chairs before it, pulling it out for her.
She sat down carefully in it and he reached for her to help her. It felt strange to have his warm soft hands on her arm. When she was seated, she looked up at him and saw that he was totally focused on her. It was almost as if everything in the universe had suddenly disappeared and all that remained was her and the two babies in her belly.
“Can I get you anything? Juice? Water? You should have some water. It’s important for you to stay hydrated.” He rushed over to the bar in the corner of his office and poured her a glass of ice water, bringing it back to her.
As she took it from him and thanked him, he sank into the chair beside hers, never taking his eyes from hers. “This is amazing,” he said quietly as he gazed at her.
Jamaica laughed a little, feeling some of the nervousness in her subside a little. “It’s really nice to meet you Henry,” she told him with a growing smile.
“It’s incredible to meet you, Jamaica,” he answered with a soft tone filled with wonder.
“You could call me Jami. My friends call me Jami,” she told him sweetly. She couldn’t get over how gorgeous he was, and how nice. She wondered why in the world a successful, wealthy, good-looking man like him would ever need anyone to have a surrogate child for him. There had to be women pining away left and right for him, and how he hadn’t married was beyond anything she could imagine.
He nodded. “Jami it is, then.”
She took a long drink and set the half empty glass on his desk. He kept his eyes on her face.
“I came in today to talk to Cara, but I guess it would probably be all right if I talk to you instead, wouldn’t it?” she asked politely.
He nodded emphatically. “Yes, of course! I’d be glad to talk with you. Whatever you need… It’s absolutely fine. What can I help you with?” He asked looking as if concern was edging into his thoughts.
Jamaica bit at her lower lip, and as she did she saw that his eyes dropped to her mouth and then back up to her eyes again as she began to speak.
“Well, you see the thing is this: I know that we have an agreement in place already. I am supposed to carry the babies to term and then give them to you and leave and not have any interaction at all with them after that, but something has changed. I really thought I could do it that
way when I started, and give you what you originally wanted, but as this pregnancy has progressed, things have changed for me a bit. I’ve grown really close to the babies, and I tried not to connect with them, but I have. They are half mine at least biologically, and I don’t think that I can just let them go when they are born. I really want to be part of their lives. I really want to help take care of them all the time and watch them grow up and be there for them as their mom. I realize that’s not what we agreed to, and that you were going to take them and raise them on your own without me in the picture at all, but I’ve changed my mind, and I wanted to come to talk with you about it. I wanted to know if there is any way that we can work something out so I can be around the babies. I want it… no… I need it so much. I know it isn’t what we agreed to, but please consider it.” She had just poured her heart out to him and she was desperately hopeful that he would find a way to let her have at least some time with them.
He blinked and she saw deep puzzlement spread over his face. He seemed to fumble for words, trying to find the right ones to use for whatever it was that he was going to say to her. “Uh… Jamaica, I’m not sure what it is that you’re talking about. I’m sorry but, you were always supposed to help with the babies once they were born. That was the arrangement. You would take on the pregnancy, carry the babies, give birth to them, and then come to live either in the house with me and them, only in your own area of the house so you could maintain some independence, or you would be given a private house near mine where you could live, but you were supposed to help me raise them for the first two years of their lives, and then you were going to be done with the contract and you could leave. I was going to pay you five hundred thousand per year each of the first two years in addition to the original five hundred thousand that I was giving to you for carrying and delivering the babies.” He seemed totally astounded. “I’m not sure where the confusion came in. Why did you think I didn’t want you to be around after they were born?”