Rogue Hearts: A Bad Boy Baby Romance

by Alyse Zaftig

  “Let’s go before I depress the hell out of both of us,” she said after pushing away from the hug.

  She had a lot of respect for Deedee by the time they got to the doctor’s office. Her friend talked the entire time, but she didn’t demand Victoria’s undivided attention or response, almost as if she knew mindless chatter about nothing was needed to lessen the stress of the situation. It was refreshing to get lost in someone else’s drama for twenty minutes without having to be an active participant.

  Victoria signed in and filled out the necessary paperwork that was almost long enough to distract her from the reason why she was in the doctor’s office in the first place. She sat and fiddled with her phone while Deedee talked her ears off and kept her company in the sterile waiting room with magazines that were probably a couple years old.

  When they finally called her name, she asked for Deedee to come back with her. Yeah, she was strong enough to put on her big-girl panties and be the strong woman she was when she was a prosecutor, but she didn’t want to be strong. She needed all the support and help she could get at the moment, and she could see Deedee’s appreciative smile as they went to the back together.

  The doctor was an OB-GYN specialist named Dr. Jacob James, and Deedee was right. He was a prominent doctor. Victoria couldn’t have chosen better on her own. Considering that she normally thoroughly researched every major decision, that was saying something.

  Still her trained mind had taught her not to trust too easily. Victoria had prosecuted enough idiots to make that a personal rule, but she’d also had problems trusting most people. That’s why Andrei surprised her. She’d trusted him easily, which wasn’t like her at all.

  The nurse came in and took Victoria across the hall, where she had her blood drawn, provided them a urine sample, and got on the dreaded scale to get her weight, which was already higher than she thought it was. Already she wanted to go home and crawl back into bed, but she forced herself to stay put. She’d never run from anything in her life, and she wasn’t running from this.

  “Ms. Bellamy,” the nurse said, “I’m going to need you to undress and put on this gown. Then sit back on the examination table.”

  Deedee gave her a moment to change, standing with her back to Victoria and looking at some sort of horrifying diagram that explained the parts of the uterus. That gave her a minute to collect herself before she wound up having a crying fit in front of the doctor.

  She hated doctors’ offices and any kind of medical facility. They felt so sterile and void of life, plus they smelled weird. Then she realized court was similar in a way. Waiting in one room for a person to tell you the outcome of your life was never fun.

  “Ready to go. You don’t have to look at that poster anymore.”

  After Deedee turned around, Dr. James and the nurse soon came in.

  “Good Morning, Mrs. Bellamy. I’m Dr. James and this is Nurse Pratchett.”

  She sighed as she shook his hand. “It’s Ms. Bellamy. I’m not married.” He seemed a little shocked by that, but he didn’t say anything. If he did, she couldn’t promise not to knock him on his butt. She was in that kind of mood today.

  Dr. James turned to his nurse and asked, “Could you help Ms. Bellamy get on the table and into the stirrups please?”

  Victoria shuffled around as the nurse helped her climb into the awkward position on the exam table. “Oh, Lord,” she thought. “Let the home tests be a mistake. I can’t be pregnant. Not now. What would I do with a baby on my own? I’d scar the baby for life. I just know it. I can’t even have a normal romantic relationship, and now I’m going to be a mother.”

  The nurse assisted her to position to the most comfortable position she could be in with her legs up in the stirrups and open wide in a cold and sterile room.

  The doctor examined her cervix, palpated and measured her abdomen, and listened to her heart. Victoria felt like a prize pig who was being looked over thoroughly.

  “We have a quick-result method of testing for pregnancy hormones. The results of your blood test came back positive,” Dr. James said. “Congratulations. You’re going to be a mother.”

  Deedee clapped her hands together. “I knew it. That’s so exciting.”

  Victoria wished she could be excited like her friend.

  “According to your chart and last period, you’re not that far along. Probably three weeks or so at most.”

  “You can tell this early?” she asked.

  “Well, with blood tests and calculations of your last cycle, we can pretty much chart the time. We can’t see the baby through ultrasound just yet because it’s so small, but I’d like you to come back in a couple of weeks so we can see how you’re coming along.”

  “This is insane.” The room felt like it was caving in on her. She put her head on her forehead. “I don’t feel well.”

  “What are you experiencing?”

  “Dizziness and I’m tired all the time.”

  “That’s certainly normal,” the doctor said. “Your body is adjusting to providing nutrients to prepare for the baby. I’m going to prescribe you some neonatal vitamins along with iron, which should both help restore some of your energy and balance you out. I want you to take one of each every day until I see you in a couple of weeks.”

  “I’m not a fan of pills,” she said. She hated taking any kind of medication or vitamins regularly.

  “These are mild, and the pills will help. You may want to take it easy for a couple of days until your energy returns.”

  “I already took time off for my ankle. I can’t take off anymore.”

  “Work should be fine,” he said. “Just avoid too much strenuous activity until you feel yourself again. Sit down as much as you can.”

  That was the problem. She was pregnant. There was no feeling-like-herself place to ever go back to. Not only that. Now she had to worry about telling Andrei when she was hoping to avoid him for as long as she could. She still had to process his bombshell.

  What would he think? He already had two kids, and they hadn’t even been together long enough to discuss it. She didn’t even know if he’d be a good father.

  She’d really done it this time. Andrei had changed her whole life in the space of a few weeks. It wasn’t all his fault. She was a grown woman, and she didn’t stop him from doing anything. In fact, she wanted him to. Over and over again.

  It annoyed her that even then she could feel her body craving him, longing for his touch. The way he kissed her and made her call out for him...she just couldn’t forget about him.

  “Ms. Bellamy, are you listening?” Dr. James said.

  “I’m sorry,” she said pushing all sexual thoughts of Andrei to the back of her mind, but she knew they’d be back before long.

  “Don’t forget to schedule your appointment with the receptionist. l want you to come back in two weeks for a checkup and ultrasound, but be sure to contact my office if your dizziness or fatigue increases.”

  “Okay,” Victoria said, dreading coming back. She hated her yearly physical and going to the dentist. Now, she had another medical professional to add to her list.

  “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he said.

  “Thank you, doctor.”

  He stopped to chat with Deedee briefly about her kids before leaving them.

  “Do you want me to go and make your appointment, while you get dressed?” Deedee asked.

  “You’re a godsend, Deedee,” Victoria said. “I’d appreciate it. The faster we get out of here, the better I’ll feel.”

  “You didn’t like Dr. James? I thought he was great.”

  “It’s not that. I’m just not a fan of doctors’ offices.”

  “Got you. Don’t worry. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

  She told her friend the days that were good for her and Deedee left her to make the appointment. Victoria wondered what her boss would think. The promotion didn’t seem possible now. Maybe he’d let her pass on the offer and stay in New York. They did
n’t seem like too much to ask. She always looked up to him and respected him. That had to count for something, right?

  Victoria and Deedee left the doctor’s office together.

  Deedee talked as they walked out to hail a cab. “I thought you were pregnant when you started vomiting. That’s one of the first signs.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do next. I’ve never even considered what I would do if I had a kid. How do you even manage it?”

  “Day by day,” Deedee said. “I am taking you home so you can get some rest.”

  “What? No. There’s no way I’m missing another day of work.”

  “Smith will understand. He is a lawyer, and you’re pregnant. He has to understand. I’m pretty sure there’s a law against him not understanding.”

  As much as Deedee protested, Victoria didn’t change her mind. She went to work like she always did, and being pregnant wasn’t going to keep her from doing it.

  When she got to the office, she wasted no time going straight to DA Smith’s office. She wasn’t taking any chances on him finding out from someone else. As much as she trusted Deedee and Rosalyn, the rest of the office were natural-born gossipers. If they had a bone, they would run with it, and the last thing she needed was another scandal.

  Smith was on the phone when she entered his open office, but he beckoned her to sit down. She closed the door before doing so, because she didn’t want a nosy intern to pass by while there is talking.

  “Heck, figure it out!” Smith slammed the telephone down on the receiver. “What is it, Bellamy?”

  “I can come back later, sir,” she said. This was certainly not a good time, and she didn’t want to talk to him when he was in a bad mood.

  “You’re here. Just say what you came to tell me.”

  She gripped her hands together tightly. “About the position.”

  “Yeah? What about it?”

  “I was wondering if there’s any possible way to accept the DA position and do the work from here.” She didn’t think that there was a way to make it happen, but she might as well ask.

  He looked at her the same way he stared at new employees to see if he could get under their skin and make them squirm.

  Even though she was nervous, she wasn’t going to back down from looking at him. She stared down many bad men in the courtroom. Her boss wasn’t going to send her running.

  “Let me get this straight. You want the position, but instead of going to Chicago, where the job is, you will do the work from here?”

  “When you put it like that, the whole thing sounds ridiculous.”

  “That’s because it is ridiculous, Bellamy! I recommend you for one of the most prestigious job positions a state can offer an attorney, and you return to say you want to have your cake and eat it too? You can’t have it both ways. Either accept the job and go to Chicago, or turn it down and stay here. There is no other option.”

  “Under different circumstances, sir, I wouldn’t even think of asking you this. But this morning, I got news that’s going to change everything for me.”

  “Don’t tell me someone died. I just got off the phone with one of my other attorneys. There’s only so much death a man can take it one day.”

  “No one died. I’m just… pregnant.”

  He smiled. “Is this fuck with the boss day? Tell me this is a joke.”

  “I wish it was, sir. I really do.”

  “Bellamy, I took a big risk recommending you for that position. There were even a couple of people who are more qualified than you, but they don’t have your tenacity and bravado when it comes to getting shit done. Anyone in this office has the potential to do some good in this damn world, it’s you. Now, you come and tell me that you can’t accept the position because you’re pregnant?”

  “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “No. I’m positive you don’t know what I’m thinking. You may feel that I’m mad at you, but I’m not. If anything, I’m disappointed. I don’t have any children, you know that. This job has been my wife and my child for years. Some can do it with the family and others can’t. Even the ones with the family can never commit as much as those without. Just the way it is. There’s no harm in it.” He leaned forward, and a form of sincerity filled his eyes that she never got to see often. “But I thought you are like me, vicious in the courtroom because you know the bad people who’d be roaming around out there hurting other people if it weren’t for us. We’re the ones who come early and stay late, not because we have to, but because we want to. Without that kind of dedication, who knows what the justice system would be like?”

  She didn’t know what to say. Earlier in her career, that was exactly what she was like. It’s why she left the private firm in the first place. No amount of money was enough to make up for the feeling she got when she put a known criminal behind bars.

  The pay was shitty and the hours were long, but she got a rush every time she saw how happy people were when they saw that justice had finally prevailed. In a world where that wasn’t often, she savored the times when it happened. She knew Smith felt the same way. It was a drive neither one of them could describe to someone who hadn’t been through it, who hadn’t lived it. That’s what made her job one of the most rewarding parts of living. She never wanted to throw that away, even if she was pregnant. But she had to adjust her life accordingly, that was obvious.

  She almost preferred seeing her boss’ anger rather than his regret, because she knew what he was saying. As much as she would try to do everything in her power to be the same way she was before getting pregnant, there was no way it could ever be the same. Many people accepted that, but she knew that part of her would always wonder how far she could’ve gone and how great she could’ve been at her job as the DA of Chicago.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “No more than I am,” he said.

  Although she knew he didn’t mean to hurt her that way, it still felt like a knife being shoved in her gut and yanked back out. She nodded and left his office without saying anything else. She wrote to her office as quickly as she could and shut the door. She didn’t want anyone to see how heartbroken she was or the tears that started falling from her eyes again.

  Chapter 14

  Andrei

  “Didn’t I tell you this would happen?”

  Andrei wasn’t a day drinker, but he’d stopped by Erik’s bar for a drink. He needed one. Plus he wanted his father off his ass. He didn’t need that shit today. Not now.

  “I doubt you foresaw this exactly,” Andrei said.

  “But I told you she was going to get upset about your daughters. You can’t just keep something that big a secret.”

  “Wasn’t trying to lie to her. I just wanted to enjoy being with her before something like that got in the way. And look what happened, no Victoria.”

  “You brought this on yourself, man. No one else to blame about it, and that whiskey isn’t going to help you much either.”

  “Probably not, but it sure feels like it could numb the way that I’m feeling right now.”

  “What’s up with heartbroken people wanting to feel numb? How the hell does that help anything? If it was me, I want to feel every damn stab. Even if it killed me. That’s what life’s about, feeling it.”

  Andrei groaned. “No philosophy today. I can’t take it right now.”

  “I thought you lawyers were all about philosophy, which is all about discovering truth. Just so you know.”

  Andrei drained his glass and shook the ice cubes to get his friend to notice.

  “No more for you. Cutting you off.”

  “I’m not drunk yet. I need at least another two to get there.”

  “Have you heard? Day drinking is bad for you.”

  “It’s a stigma. No one ever said it’s bad for you. Right now, I’ll take whatever I can get. That makes you my friend, my bartender, and my priest.”

  “You’re not Catholic.”

  “It’s a new day, and I can be whate
ver I want to be. Drunk, Catholic, it doesn’t matter.”

  “You sure you aren’t drunk? You sound like the idiots I have to keep reminding that last call is it.”

  “Not drunk. If I was, I wouldn’t be thinking about her as much as I am now.”

  “Don’t you think you should just try to talk to her?”

  “She asked for space, so I’m giving her space.”

  “It’s only been one day. At this rate, your liver may give out before you do.”

  Andrei was puzzled that Erik had strongly encouraged his relationship with Victoria to begin with. If he was being honest with himself, he had hoped that Erik would have talked him out of it. Not because Victoria was black but because she was another lawyer.

  He heard the horror stories of other lawyers tried to have relationships with each other. Some were good enough to pursue and then they ended in a peaceful breakup. Others led to fighting during courtroom cases. A few people had even gotten fired for it due to the ethical agreements it violated at the firms they worked for, not to mention the bar association’s ethics board. His place didn’t have a clause like that, but his father was strict enough to punish him anyway. One mention to the bar association, and he might be banned for life.

  He had a lot of time to think after Victoria left his apartment. Moving to Chicago sounded amazing, and she was someone he could see making a lifelong change like that with. New York came with baggage, the commitments he had made to his family, his father, and the father that he needed to be for his children. He needed to remain in town for them. He loved too much and needed to always be in their lives. They meant the world to him, and if he moved away, he could miss out on some important aspect of their life. Trish wouldn’t give two shits about what he missed, so he had to stay to make sure they knew how much he loved them and that his ex-wife never poisoned them against him.

  Out of all of his obligations, his girls were the only bright side to his life, at least until he met Victoria. She was woman enough to handle him and then some.