One Night Baby - A Romance Compilation

by Tia Siren

“All right,” Marcus said as he held up his hand. “That’s enough of that.”

  “I care about Kason, Marcus. He’s a good man,” I said.

  “So, you’re really keeping this baby?” he asked.

  “I’m not a little girl anymore, Marc. And you need to stop treating me like one.”

  “Then you need to start acting like an adult. You need to talk to Kason and figure out what the hell he’s going to—”

  “I already have.” I grinned. “We’ve already talked and come up with a plan. I believe it’s you who’s dodging all his calls.”

  I knew from the look on his face that I had backed him into a corner. Yes, he’d been blindsided, but I was now pregnant when I no longer had any intentions to be. This hadn’t been planned even if it had once been planned before, and I needed someone to try and understand the situation before Kason and I left for San Francisco.

  “And you’re sure you just want to…toss everything away? Your med school plans? Your future career? Anesthesiology? All of it?”

  “I’m not sure why you have it in your head that a mother can’t go to med school, but I have thought about this, yes.”

  “It’s going to be hard, Hanna,” he said.

  “But not impossible, and you talk like it is.” I put my hand on his arm, and he pulled me in for a hug. It felt so good to have my brother hug me after everything that had happened. I broke down sobbing on his shoulder. He rubbed my back and tried to calm me down, and once I had collected myself, I sat back and he took my hand.

  “I can do this. I’m going to finish my degree online, and the great thing about online courses is that I can get all the work turned in before I have the baby. I’ll graduate and work as Kason’s secretary while taking care of the baby until I’m comfortable enough with a nanny coming in, and then I can go to med school. Yes, it’ll be hard, but with Kason’s support and your support, I’ll be all right.”

  “You’re just gonna bring a newborn into the office?” Marcus asked.

  “It’s Kason. Do you think he’s going to have it any other way?” I asked.

  “Probably not. He’s incredibly protective of his family,” Marcus said.

  “I know I’m not hopping into med school like everyone thought I would—like you thought I would. But, Kason’s still giving me the paid internship, and he is going to be there to support us. I’ll sit him down and talk with him in two or three years about me returning to med school, and my graduating with Distinction will make me eligible for plenty of scholarships. It’ll be just like you and Dad always dreamed, it’ll just be offset by a few years.”

  “Isn’t that what you dreamed about, too?” Marcus asked.

  “I enjoy anesthesiology. And, if things don’t work out with Kason and I, it will give me the money I need to provide for my child.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Marcus said.

  “I think you and Dad simply thought I was settling. It’s hard, being a woman who wants something traditional in a society that expects a woman to no longer want that. If I want a traditional house life, people think I’m settling. If I want to be in the workforce for a while, I’m suddenly looking down on stay-at-home mothers and being a selfish woman. Everyone’s been so focused on the persona my life will give off that I don’t think anyone stopped to think to ask me what I wanted.”

  “And Kason did?” he asked.

  “Not only that, but he’s the one that found a way to talk some sense into me. This wasn’t planned—not by a longshot—but I’m still happy. And Kason, he might be overwhelmed, but he’s on board,” I said.

  “You’ve really thought a lot about this, haven’t you?” Marcus asked.

  “I haven’t had much of anything else to do. Not many people are talking to me,” I said.

  “You know you’d have Mom’s support, too” Marcus murmured.

  “When it comes to shopping for baby items, yes. But I’ll also have all her unsolicited advice on how to raise this kid.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who got pregnant.” Marcus smirked.

  “I know,” I whispered.

  “So…you said you and Kason have talked? And he’s sticking around?”

  “Yep.. I’m leaving with him tomorrow so I can start early. He’s got a room ready for me in his home so I can have my own space to study and work. I’ll also be there so he can keep an eye on me. He says he wants to stick around and support me and be a good father to our child, like his father was to him. And I believe him, Marcus. I really do.”

  “Hold on a second,” Marcus said. He got off the couch and shoved his hand into his pocket. He dialed a number as he walked out of the room. I sighed in relief and felt my eyes flutter closed just as Marcus’s voice wafted in from the room down the hall. I was so relieved to have my brother on my side, even if he still wasn’t fully on board with the fact that Kason and I had slept together. I needed my big brother to tell me this was going to be all right and that he was going to be an incredible uncle and would be there when I went into labor.

  But then, just before my mind stopped racing and I fell asleep on his couch, I heard Marcus exclaim “you better step up!” from his bedroom.

  And I knew he had finally called Kason.

  Chapter 34

  Kason

  When Marcus called and told me Hanna was at his place, I hopped in my car and got on the road. I was shocked he had returned my calls, much less informed me of the whereabouts of his sister, but after yelling at me to step up and be a man and do right by his sister, he wanted the whole breakdown of what had happened between us. He said he’d got a bit out of Hanna but he knew she was still hiding shit. I told him that if she was keeping something from him, that said more about his character than hers.

  That made him angry, but I told him I was on my way to have this conversation with him in person.

  When I got there, I half expected Marcus to not let me in. It would be like him to leave his sister in his apartment and talk to me outside just to show us he could separate us. When I knocked on his door and he let me in, I was surprised. I saw Hanna on the couch with her hair mussed and her voice deep with sleep. I figured she’d probably fallen asleep on his couch. I couldn’t blame her. She was in her first trimester, growing a child, and her family was falling apart around her.

  I’d be tired, too, if I was volleying all she was.

  “Sit,” Marcus said.

  I sat between Hanna and Marcus in order to keep her shielded from what was about to happen, and Marcus took notice of it. He sat on the couch and rested against the armrest. Then he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Now, Kason, what happened when you first got into town?”

  “We went out to that speakeasy,” I said.

  “I mean what went down between you and Hanna after you promised to keep your hands off her.”

  “Marcus,” Hanna warned.

  “Do you really want to know all this?” I asked.

  “Obviously not the parts I shouldn’t hear about Hanna. Dude, she’s my sister. But the story? Yes.”

  “Well,” I said, “it started with Hanna—”

  She elbowed me and I shot her a glance. If she was trying to be subtle, she had completely and utterly failed. Marcus shot her a glance before he whipped his gaze back to me.

  “See!? I knew there was something she was hiding! The fuck happened, Kas?”

  “Marcus, come on. Is this really—”

  “Don’t you think I have a right to know?” Marcus exclaimed.

  “No,” I said coolly. “But, out of respect for our friendship and you being Hanna’s brother as well as the uncle of our child, I’m willing to tell you. But you’ll also direct your anger at me. Yell at your sister again and we’re done. We’ll be gone in the morning.”

  “At least you’re stepping up,” Marcus murmured.

  “Hanna approached me and told me she wanted me to father a child with her.”

  “Excuse me?” he said. “Are you serious, Hanna?”
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  “At me, Marcus,” I snapped.

  He turned to me. “Are you serious, Kason?”

  “Yes, but after a couple of lunches and one protected tryst, I talked her out of it. We flirted and intentionally wore things that would rile up the other at parties, but after I talked her down from her crazy tree—”

  Hanna pouted. “Hey,” she said.

  “It was crazy, sweetheart,” I said.

  “I’m sorry…”

  “I know.” I pulled her in and kissed her on her forehead, and for a split second, I thought Marcus’s face softened. I could tell he was coming around to his sister and her situation, but I knew he still really had his guard up with me.

  And the only thing I could offer him in order to get him to bring down his guard was the truth.

  Either that or threaten his job, but I wasn’t going to be that petty.

  Yet.

  “After that, we just kept meeting up. Her room and my room when the parents were gone. The greenhouse once.”

  “Good grief,” Marcus said. “Kason, you’re an idiot.”

  “Marcus!” Hanna exclaimed.

  “I mean, look at you! I have one conversation with you about possibly settling down and you knock up a college senior? Never mind the fact that she’s my sister, but what if this had been any other college girl? You would’ve ruined her senior year and destroyed any chance she had at any higher education!”

  “So you think I’ve ruined your sister’s life?” I asked.

  “Yes! Med school’s going to be postponed, and she probably won’t finish her last semester even though she says she will with online classes and shit like that. That means she won’t walk in June and then she’ll be raising a kid and it’ll be a mess!”

  “Marcus, we had a wonderfully productive conversation. Where the hell is this coming from?” Hanna asked.

  “I have to mend things with you because you’re my sister,” he spat. “But I don’t have to mend things with him.”

  “You do if you want to see you niece or nephew,” Hanna said.

  “Oh, so now you’re going to keep me from my niece or nephew because I’m pissed that my best friend knocked up my sister and ruined her life? Sounds like the mindset of a well-matured mother-to-be.”

  “Marcus, that’s fucking enough,” I commanded.

  “No. Now you listen. You’ve been blowing up my phone trying to get me to talk, so sit there and let me talk. You should’ve never touched my sister. You got a fucking blowjob from some bunny with ruby red lips and big fake tits your first night back in town, and then you promised me you’d never touch my sister. Not in a million years. And here you are, sitting on my fucking couch, mad at me because I’m pissed you knocked up my sister?”

  “This conversation is over,” Hanna stated.

  “Sit back down,” Marcus commanded lowly.

  “The only person who gets to tell me what to do is Kason. And that’s only because he’s the only one I respect at this point.”

  “What the fuck?!” Marcus balked.

  “I’m pregnant, and this entire weekend I’ve been quietly vomiting in bathrooms from stress so no one can hear me, tip-toeing around people who are angry at the fact that I’m sick because I’m pregnant, and no one other than Kason has stopped to even think about what this stress is doing to the child I’m growing!”

  “You’ve been sick?” I asked. “Why didn't you tell me?”

  “Because I’ve had this issue with my brother at front of my mind all weekend!” She motioned to her brother, whose face was beginning to turn red again. The moment he opened his mouth, I knew he was about to say something that would rift whatever it was they had patched up earlier.

  “If you didn’t want the bullshit, then you shouldn’t have gotten pregnant,” Marcus said.

  Hanna stood there shaking, and I got up and wrapped my arms around her. Marcus turned his head like he was about to be sick, and I pressed kiss after kiss to the top of Hanna’s head to try to get her to calm down. The way she was so wound up because of her family and friends was going to do damage to our growing child, and I wouldn’t have it.

  “How about we go home and pack some of your things, hmm?” I hummed.

  “For your fun little internship that starts early?” Marcus mocked.

  “If you don’t fucking shut that mouth of yours, Marc, you’ll be out of a job.”

  He stayed silent, but he didn’t hide his glare, and that was when Hanna peaked out from around my arm. She took a deep breath and patted my chest with her hand. I stood behind her while she said what she needed to say.

  “Take all the time you want to digest, Marcus, but know this: if you aren’t at the birth of your niece or nephew with a smile on your face and joy in your heart and this anger gone? You won’t step near that child. As for tomorrow, I’m heading back to San Francisco with Kason in the morning. I’ll be staying with him while working and doing online classes, and just because I’m there doesn’t mean you can’t come visit.”

  “Whatever,” Marcus mumbled.

  “I love you and I’m sorry you’re hurting, but now all you’re doing is hurting yourself while burning bridges you might not be able to repair,” Hanna said.

  “Have you told Mom and Dad about the internship? About you leaving?” Marcus asked.

  “Mom knows, yes, and she’s actually pretty happy about it, especially since I’m staying with Kason. Dad, not so much. He’s still not talking to me and probably won’t for a while.”

  “Wish I would’ve made the same choice…”

  “You ready to go?” I murmured in Hanna’s ear.

  “Hold on,” she whispered. She walked away from my grasp, and the entirety of my body wanted to pull her back into it. If she was in my arms, I could protect her. Her and the baby. I could keep her heart beating and her stomach growing and her soul full of happiness, but when she slipped from my grasp and walked slowly toward Marcus, it was like watching her approach a dog poised to attack.

  When she wrapped her arms around her brother and kissed his forehead, I knew then and there that she wasn’t just going to be a great mother. She was going to be a great life partner. If she could have this kind of unconditional love for someone who despised her existence right now, then god only knew the kind of love she would have for her own child.

  “You ready to go pack now?” I asked.

  “I love you, Marcus.” she said. “Come visit anytime.”

  I grabbed her hand and we walked toward the door. Marcus didn’t budge. He was staring out the window with his head in his hand, and when we shut the door, we stood there to see if that would jog his body.

  To see if he would at least come after his sister.

  But when the door didn’t budge and there wasn’t a sound coming from behind the door, I scooped a crying Hanna into my arms and carried her to my car.

  It was time to pack her stuff and get her to a place that made her happy.

  Chapter 35

  Hanna

  We left my brother’s that night and Kason took me back to my house. I thought he was going to help me pack, but instead he kissed me on my forehead and told me he had somewhere he needed to be. I didn’t mind, though, because I knew I’d eventually be standing in the exact spot I was now.

  I met him at his private jet on the tarmac Monday morning. My mom dropped me off with a massive smile on her face and kept telling me about all the wonderful things that were about to change in my life. She kept telling me stories of how Marcus and I had been growing up and how the sleepless nights had been worth it when the baby cuddling came in the morning because the child was tired. I enjoyed the stories until we got to the airport, because once I saw that neither Marcus nor my father were there, my heart sank.

  I understood why they were angry. I just didn’t understand why they couldn’t put that anger aside to at least see me off.

  “It’ll be all right. They’ll come around,” my mother said. “Just give them a little while.”

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nbsp; “And why should that be my responsibility, Mom? Why shouldn’t they just grow up and act like adults?”

  “Because, honey, while this is beautiful and we are so glad this is with Kason, it is still a little…out of sorts,” my mom said.

  “Thanks,” I murmured.

  “Honey?”

  “Yeah, Mom?”

  “Message me when you land, all right?”

  I leaned over and gave her a kiss. Then I was off. I rolled my suitcase full of stuff up to the jet plane, but Kason came out and started walking toward me. I couldn’t help but drop my suitcase and run for him. He took me in his arms and swung me around. I buried my head deep in the crook of his neck. He smelled like home, and I was ready to get in the air and leave all this behind. In his arms, I knew I was making the right decision. I was about to go live with the man who was fathering my child so I could start an internship as his secretary. I had a plan to call Stanford at the beginning of next week to talk with them about taking online classes, and I told Kason I’d simply be honest with them. It would be easier with the internship that way, and it came with the possibility of spending more time with Kason.

  If his work allowed it, of course.

  I waved good-bye to my mom one last time and then we boarded. I strapped in next to Kason’s seat while he stored my luggage, and when he came back, he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips to kiss. God, I was in for the ride of my life, and I was ready for every second of it.

  “How’re you feeling?” Kason asked.

  “Relieved. There’s a lot of stress here and I’m ready to get away from it,” I said.

  “You looked a little better after we ate breakfast.”

  “I felt a little better after eating something,” I said.

  His hand was warm within mine, and a spark of desire ignited in my chest. His leg was resting against mine, and I could see his sleeve tattoo from underneath his rolled-up sleeves. My word, that tattoo was fantastic, and suddenly my mind was swirling with thoughts of tracing those outlines with the tip of my tongue.

  “You all right?” Kason asked me.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. The plane took off and I closed my eyes. Immediately, Kason started drawing comforting circles on top of my hand. I felt more relieved the further we climbed into the sky. I knew, deep down, that my family had reasons to be upset with me, but I was also ready to be in a place where no one was angry with me.