An Unexpected Baby

by Shadonna Richards

  “Evan!”

  “Yeah, baby?” he murmured still kissing her neck and gently moving his lips down her back.

  “Your meeting in Dallas. You’re going to be taking over that steakhouse remember and opening up another….oh, that feels so good…agency,” she trailed off with delight.

  “Forget it!”

  “Huh? What?” Emma turned around, confused. “But you have your meeting.”

  “Baby, that was before I found out I’m going to be a daddy. This changes everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yeah, baby. I’m not leaving town again. That can wait.”

  “But, honey, you’ve been talking about it so long. If you can buy out that steakhouse and clinch the deal on going 50-50 with that small agency you planned on taking over that could be huge!!!”

  “Honey, having a baby, bringing a child into the world is huge!”

  Emma’s eyes moistened and she swallowed hard. The emotion was so great inside her.

  “I want to spend every second I can with the mother of my unborn child. You have no idea how much this means to me. I’m going to be a daddy. That is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Thank you for making me feel like a real man.”

  Shocked and delighted, Emma reached over to hug him. What could she possibly say in response to those words? She made him feel like a real man!

  ***

  “Gina, you will never guess what happened to me this morning,” Emma said later in the afternoon as she spoke to her best friend on the phone.

  “Oh, no! What is it now, Emma?”

  “I’m going to be seeing my OBGYN in the near future.”

  “What? For your annual Pap smear?”

  “No, silly! I’m pregnant!!!”

  Emma heard glass shatter on the floor on the other end of the phone line. “Gina, are you okay?”

  Her friend screamed into the phone. “No freaking way! Honey, that’s huge! That’s great! Congratulations! How did you find out?”

  “That new ODS test stick. It’s really neat. When I saw the thick pink line…”

  “You mean two…”

  “Huh?”

  “ODS test sticks are two pink lines for pregnancy and one pink line for not pregnant.”

  Emma felt the contents of her stomach about to make an unwelcome appearance on the floor of her bedroom. The blood drained from her face.

  2.

  Evan leaned back in the brown leather executive chair in his den. A wide grin curled his lips as he peered out at the rose garden through the glass double doors. Yes, life was looking rosy, wasn’t it?

  Emma’s pregnant!

  She’s really pregnant.

  I’m going to be a daddy.

  Though the words whirled in his mind, he could hardly believe it. So he could produce children after all. This had always been a fear of his. Not being able to conceive. Most of the friends he’d grown up with had children by the time they were thirty. Here he was married at thirty-four for six months and Emma kept having negative pregnancy test results, one right after another. It tore him apart inside to see the look of sadness and disappointment in her beautiful brown eyes when she told him it was a false alarm. Almost every week, she swore her breasts were swollen and tender—a sign of early pregnancy. She also swore she was having morning sickness and every time she rushed with joy to take one of her home pregnancy tests, her spirit took a nose dive as if she’d lost a child she’d never had. Six months wasn’t a long time, but he had read somewhere that couples who try to conceive for six months without success could need fertility counselling. That terrified him, too. It was as if he was admitting he was faulty.

  Of course, he didn’t let Emma know about his concerns. He had his sperm count checked and everything seemed okay but during their first six months of marriage he thought he may not be able to give her the family she’d always talked about having and this terrified him to the core but he could never admit that to her. Now, he wouldn’t have to.

  She was pregnant. She was really having his baby.

  He was paranoid as hell right now that something would go wrong if he wasn’t around her so he decided it was best to stay in town while his vice-president and long time friend, Dale Thomas, took charge and did the out-of-town visit into Dallas. No way was he going to leave her side. He was determined to be within minutes of her if she needed him during the entire forty weeks of pregnancy, if he could help it. She was carrying his bloodline inside her beautiful, precious body. That meant the world to him.

  Evan leaned forward and hit the speaker on his phone and speed dialed another extension in the house. He was calling his long-time housekeeper, June, who spent years looking after his father before his readmission back into the Dan Baker Center for the Mentally Ill. That was something he wished he could have controlled. He wished he could tell his father about his new unborn child. Well, he could but his father had reached such an advanced stage of dementia that he probably wouldn’t know. But that didn’t stop Evan from seeing him every day. It didn’t matter to him that his father didn’t know who he was—as long as he remembered who his daddy was. That was important.

  “Yes, Evan?” June’s lovely voice sounded through the speaker.

  “June, before you go shopping I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “I’ve been reading up on prenatal diets and I want to make sure that Emma gets everything that she needs on the list, including the prenatal vitamins.”

  “Sure thing, Daddy!”

  Evan grinned.

  “Congrats, again, Evan. I’m so happy for both of you.”

  “Thanks, June. Oh, and don’t forget to send the daily usual to Pops for me.”

  “Sure thing, Evan. A nice gourmet meal that is specially pureed and an order of fresh flowers.”

  “Yes, and please let his nurse know that I’ll be in tomorrow or the day after.”

  “Sure thing. And, Evan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You know, you’ve been a good son to your dad. Practically visiting him every day and working long hours at the office. You know you can only do so much. Don’t overdo it. You’re going to be a daddy soon.”

  “I know, June. Thanks for looking out for me.”

  “You’re a good man, Evan. You’re not perfect. You irritate the hell out of me sometimes, but you’re like a son to me and your father is family. Everything will be alright.”

  “Thanks, June.”

  After Evan got off the phone he felt a sickly feeling come over him. He didn’t know why. He should be on top of the world. But his father was always on about the Fletcher curse with women, marriage and kids. Well, he was determined to shove it out of his head this time. He was going to be a father and that was that! Nothing was going to trash his dream or his hopes this time. Nothing. So help him God!

  3.

  “Oh, God! What did I just do?” Emma cried into the phone.

  “What? What are you talking about, Ems?”

  “Oh, nothing.” Emma’s voice trailed off.

  “Nothing? Emma? Emma, I know you all too well. You didn’t tell anyone about this yet, did you? I mean, until you got confirmation from the doctor with a proper blood test.”

  Emma’s throat closed up. She could feel her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest. She also felt one of her migraines coming on.

  “Emma?”

  Emma sighed. “Listen, I…I’ve got to tell Evan to go ahead with his trip.”

  “What are you talking about, girlfriend?”

  Emma told Gina about Evan’s reaction to the baby news and how he was planning to change his entire plans to expand his business or at least put it on hold. She also told her about the whole Tom-Cruise-couch-jumping reaction, minus the couch-jumping. And how he’d transformed to being all sweet and warm, not cool and distant as he’d been during the last few months. Not to mention the whole “feel like a real man” talk.

  “I mean, I’m over thirt
y now and I don’t have kids. It’s a disgrace where I come from.”

  “Not really. Look at Oprah! Everyone respects her and she doesn’t have children.”

  “Yeah but she just saves the world every day. I’m not her, Gina! And besides, Oprah can conceive. She had a baby boy when she was younger, remember? But he died when he was a baby. At least she knows what it’s like to produce children or at least get pregnant.”

  “That’s true! Well, what about the Jolie-Pitts? They adopt kids from all over the world. Maybe you and Evan can be like them.”

  “Nice try, Gina! Angelina has three biological children of her own with Brad in addition to all the kids she has adopted.”

  “Okay, girlfriend. I tried!”

  “Sorry for being so snappy, Gina. It’s just that…Oh, my God! What am I going to say to Evan? I mean, he told me that he feels like a real man now. I just can’t yank the plug on his real-man-feeling emotion, can I? I mean, not now. Ugh. Talk about bad timing. After I told him he went and called his assistant at work to cancel his travel plans and reschedule the meeting he had planned at Ma Rae’s Steakhouse.”

  “You mean, the big deal with the takeover of the steakhouse and its internal ad agency?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh, girl! That’s huge. He really is into this baby thing.”

  “I know,” she murmured under her breath.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why did she open up her big gob before getting verification from the doctor? Everyone knew that home pregnancy tests were like condoms, they’re only ninety-nine percent accurate. Ugh.

  Her spirit felt so deflated it was as if someone had taken a pin and popped her happy birthday balloon.

  “Girl, you can’t lie to him. I mean, remember what happened last time?”

  “Yeah, I know. Don’t remind me.” Emma remembered when she told her grandfather she was getting married when he was supposedly on his death bed at the Palliative Care Center. She just wanted him to stop crying and feeling sorry that she was still single and he would never live to see her happily married. So naturally, she told him she was engaged. Of course, she hadn’t counted on him asking her then and there who the lucky guy was. Since she’d worked with Evan so long and they had a good working relationship and she secretly fantasized about him being her soul mate since she’d had a crush on him from day one—it seemed to be the only logical name to come to mind. Then of course, Gramps had to ask to see him in person. Ugh. Boy, was she stuck in a bad place between a lie and deception. To make matters worse, Evan was gamo-phobic—which meant fear of commitment or marriage. Then there was this whole Fletcher curse that ran in his family, too. It was a mess. But somehow they made it happened. He only warned her not to ever lie or deceive him again. What was she to do? Break his heart and risk him second-guessing his manhood and resenting her? Or lie a teeny bit to spare his feelings until—well, until she got pregnant for real this time.

  “That’s it!”

  “What’s it, hon?”

  “I won’t tell him now. I’ll just fake it until I can make it! A baby, I mean.”

  “Emma, what if you or Evan can’t really have children? What will you do then? You can only fake pregnancy for so long. Have you lost your mind, girl?” She wanted to add AGAIN, but she refrained.

  “Nope. But if I lose Evan emotionally over this, I think I just might.”

  “Emma, please listen to yourself, girl. You’re not the world’s greatest liar, you know. And that husband of yours seems like he can be really unforgiving if he’s bitten twice.”

  “You know, Gina, you’re right.”

  “You’re not just saying that, are you?”

  “Nope. I can’t go through another deception. He’ll just have to understand. I will tell him when he gets back home. He just went out to the bank to do some personal transactions.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yep. I will confront him with the news then.” Emma had never felt so lost, so hopeless. If only she could pray for a miracle. While on the phone with her friend, she’d taken the liberty to sit on the bed and Google ODP pregnancy test on her iPad. And sure enough, one strip was a negative. That would teach her to buy so many different brands. Why couldn’t they all be consistent with their results? Some test sticks tell you that two lines was affirmative, for others it was one line, some had a plus sign and some were digital. Ugh. She really got in over her head again, didn’t she? Telling Evan the truth was going to crush him. But what other choice did she have, right now?

  She closed her iPad case and closed her eyes. She laid back on the bed feeling a mixture of anger and pain following her phone call with Gina. Her best friend was right. She had to come clean. As potentially devastating as it would be. Why was it so much easier to lie to spare someone’s feelings than to hurt him with the truth? She wished she had an answer for that. One of those “human nature” annoyances. Confrontation. Nobody really liked it. She was living in a culture that was afraid of “offending people” and afraid of “losing affection” from those close to us.

  Wishing this was all a terrible dream and she would wake up soon and not have taken that stupid pregnancy home test, she secretly prayed for a miracle—because that was what she would need to save her marriage.

  4.

  “Wow, man, that’s big news! Your wife’s expecting! We’ve gotta celebrate!”

  “Well, not yet, Dale. But I do need you to take the trip to Dallas for me.”

  “What? Man, I thought you’d be there to show them that ol’ Fletcher charm.”

  “That was until I found out Emma’s expecting my child. Besides, I wanna be there with her to go to her initial appointments and stuff.” The thought of this excited Evan and caused his heart to beat hard in his chest. It was really happening, wasn’t it? He was going to be a daddy. He never would have imagined how hard it would have struck him until it actually happened. But there it was. Evan was slowly changing into a new man. He felt a tinge of guilt over not being close to Emma over the past few months, having so much on his mind. Stuff like his father’s slow decline, keeping things afloat at the office, the surprise wedding and going from self-proclaimed bachelor to self-less groom in one day. Holy crap! Looking back at it now, he really did act on impulse when he found out that their pretend wedding to fulfil the dying wish of her grandfather would be the real deal when he got to the hospital. But now that she was having his child—it was all worth it. Months ago, he felt that he didn’t know Emma as much as he wished he could. He just didn’t know. Not that he had a change of heart over his beautiful bride for the woman she was. She had a good heart and a sound mind. And her body? Wow! Her body was to die for. Her sensual curves and long thick black, silky hair and full, kissable lips turned him on every time. He was a leg man, and boy did she have legs to kill. He was changing alright. He was suddenly no longer taking anything for granted.

  “So here’s the deal,” Evan continued his conversation with Dale over the speaker phone. He stroked his five-o’clock shadow and leaned back in his chair. “We both know what vision we have for the Ma Rae’s Texas Steakhouse, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So we need to sell them on going national. Everybody knows they fill up seven days of the week and they have the best tasting steak this side of heaven.”

  “Tell me about it. Man, I’d drive a hundred miles to have dinner there.”

  “Me, too! Well, we need to change the marketing to include their best assets. You can’t visit the state of Texas and not taste Ma Rae’s finest!”

  “Not to mention their indoor amusement park for kids!”

  “Of course. It’s a family oriented business where kids can play after dinner while adults talk and maybe hit the dance floor. What an unusual concept. They don’t even know what they’re missing by not selling their benefits. Imagine having a staff that will mind the kids while they play and you rest.”

  “I’m thinking you and Emma will be paying some visits soon, huh?”

  “Yeah. Y
ou know, I’ve got to get used to being a family, man. Holy! This means so much to me.”

  “I know, man! You didn’t really have a family growing up. This is your time now.”

  “Wish I knew my mom,” Evan’s voice trailed off.

  “Well, the good thing is your kid’s gonna have both parents around and that’s what counts.”

  “Exactly. That’s why I’m doing some major scaling down with work. Emma?”

  Evan was distracted by the beautiful silhouette standing in the doorway of the den. It was Emma, though the look on her pretty face was anything but joyous.

  “Dale, we’ll finish this conversation later, okay?”

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. My queen has just entered the den.”

  “Oh, right!” Dale laughed. “Be sure to tell her congrats and give her a hug for me.”

  “Will do.”

  “I’m sorry,” Emma’s soft spoken voice sounded weak. “I didn’t mean to distract you…”

  “Honey, come here!” He stood up and stretched out his arms and hugged Emma. He’d been doing a lot of reading up on women and pregnancy. He didn’t want to screw this up. He read somewhere that more than ever women need to feel loved, and hugged often. Touch was very important. Not that he needed a book to tell him that.

  He gave Emma a lovable huge squeeze and gently ran his hand over her belly. God, he loved her and his unborn child. He didn’t think before that he was even capable of loving someone he’d never met yet. His baby.

  “You okay, babe?”

  Emma’s soft, pouty lips tugged at his inside. He reached his hand to her chin and gently stroked it as he brushed his lips on hers. “God, I love you, baby. You and our child mean the world to me.”