Mr. Gray

by Hazel Parker

  “Now you have all of our contact information?” Monica asked. “Emails? Phone numbers?”

  “I do, I promise.” Kelly nodded firmly. Frankly, she was ready to get away from Monica for a bit. She didn’t know if it was the remainder of the drugs, or just that Monica was suddenly maddening. She couldn’t handle this type of pressure right now. Hopefully, she’d feel better after a solid nap.

  “I’ll take a pregnancy test, and I’ll call you as soon as I get the results.” That seemed to please Monica. She reached out, hugging the young girl.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

  “Of course.” Kelly stepped back. Her eyes met Grant’s. He gave her a strong smile.

  “Call us if you feel sick, or if you have any odd symptoms.”

  “I promise.” Kelly smiled at him. Reaching back, she pulled open the main door. “Thank you…for the ride and everything.”

  “We’re in your debt,” Monica told her as she climbed into the Mercedes’s front seat. Grant gave her a wave as he walked back to the driver’s seat.

  “Bye, Kelly.”

  “Bye, Grant.” She stepped inside, letting the door close behind her. For a moment, she allowed herself to think of just how attractive Grant was, and how lucky that Monica was. It was only a moment—and then Kelly headed for the stairs and her dorm room.

  Chapter 6

  A month had passed since the implantation procedure. Just as everyone had hoped, it had been a success. The home pregnancy test that Kelly had taken a week and a half later had come back positive. She had immediately called Dr. Landis, who had confirmed the pregnancy. Grant and Monica were over the moon.

  Kelly tried to tell herself that this was the reason she had agreed to this deal. She was making a childless couple so happy. But she knew at the end of the day her real motivation was money, and that this was just a nice benefit. Still, it made her feel good—even if she did think that the Stones had an odd relationship.

  Kelly had been studying for a test when her room phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Kelly, it’s Grant.” Oh right! She remembered that he was swinging by today to drop off a check.

  “Oh hey Grant!” She got up. “I’ll come let you in.”

  Kelly headed out of her room, and down to the main floor. She opened the lobby door, letting Grant step in.

  “It’s good to see you!” He looked her over as he stepped inside. Kelly smiled at him.

  “Thanks.” She glanced around. The lobby was deserted. All of the other residents were out at class or something else in the middle of the afternoon. “Why don’t we sit?”

  “Yes, let’s.” Grant followed her over to a couch. “You shouldn’t be on your feet too much.” Kelly laughed as she sat down.

  “Grant, I’m fine. Even the doctor says it’s good for me to be up and moving around.”

  “Well, that’s good.” Grant sat down beside her. “So how are you feeling?”

  “Not bad.” Kelly shrugged. “I have some morning sickness. And certain foods make me nauseous. But other than that, I’m good.”

  “You’re not too tired?” Grant asked. “I hate to think of you spending the entire semester sleeping because you have no energy to do anything.” Kelly laughed again. Maybe it was too flirtatious of an action.

  “I wouldn’t be the first college student to sleep through a semester.”

  “I should have guessed. We were that way when I was in school.” Grant leaned back on the couch. “But most of the ones that did that when I was in school failed out.”

  “That happens too.” Kelly was dead set against that happening to her. He mother would really kill her then.

  Grant reached into his coat pocket. He withdrew an envelope from the sport jacket’s interior pocket.

  “Here you go. As per our agreement.”

  “Thank you.” Kelly was glad to get the check. She tucked it into her lap, not wanting to open it now. “So how is Monica?”

  “Oh she’s fine.” Grant shrugged. He always seemed to have few words when Monica came up when they were alone.

  “Is she getting the nursery all set up?” Kelly asked.

  “Oh, not really.” Grant rolled his eyes. “Monica is very busy.”

  “Oh?” Kelly was suddenly intrigued. “Does she have some sort of a new project.” Grant waved his hand dismissively.

  “She’s busy with charities and basically being wrapped up in herself.” At the look on Kelly’s face he suddenly realized what he had said. “Oh, no, don’t worry about the baby. She’s going to be the most obsessive mother ever, I promise you that.”

  “I really am so glad that I can do this for you guys,” Kelly told him. “Really, I want you guys to be happy.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Grant sounded a little sad. Kelly raised a brow.

  “Is everything not ok?” Grant looked over at her.

  “I just…I don’t know if we’re going to be the picture of a perfect family.”

  “Please don’t think like that,” Kelly offered sympathetically. “You guys really do deserve happiness. I mean, you’re such a beautiful couple.”

  For a second, she couldn’t believe that she’d said that, but Grant merely laughed.

  “Well, thank you. I’m glad to know that others can look at us and see that. You know, we occasionally make magazines. It hasn’t been as much lately, but before I turned thirty—we were in the ‘Top Thirty Under Thirty’ all over the place.”

  “That’s awesome!” Kelly couldn’t believe how exciting that sounded. “You guys are so incredibly lucky.”

  “I guess that we are,” Grant agreed. “It just doesn’t always feel that way.”

  They were silent for a moment. Then Kelly smiled.

  “Well, just wait until this little one gets here. You two will be so wrapped up in him, or her, that you won’t know what to do with yourselves.”

  “I really hope you’re right.” Grant smiled over at her. “It’s going to be a lucky kid. I am going to make absolutely certain of that.”

  It occurred to him that he should go. It was not right for him to be sitting here talking with her like this—he was a married man, after all. But she was such a nice girl, and so incredibly easy to talk to. It made him want to sit with her for hours. The fact that she was such a pretty girl did not help things one bit.

  “Well,” he got up, “I should be going.”

  “Ah ok.” Kelly hated to sound like it bothered her. He was married—and older than she. She did not have a right to want him to sit and talk to her all day. “I should get back to studying anyway.”

  “Yes you should.” Grant headed for the door. “Just in general studying or a specific exam?”

  “Test in Asian history.” Kelly shook her head. Grant winced.

  “That sounds awful.”

  “It is certainly difficult,” Kelly agreed, holding the door open for him. “Thanks for the check.” She held up the envelope. “I’ll get it cashed soon.”

  “Whenever you get around to it.” Grant smiled at her. He looked her over for a minute before turning. “All right. See you later, Kelly. Call us if you need anything.”

  “You know I will.” Kelly closed the door behind him, and Grant headed across the parking lot to his Mercedes.

  Once he settled inside, he had to take a minute to compose himself. Why did he seem to fall apart when he was around Kelly? She was a college student—and he was married. He had to remind himself that he could not relive his youth with her. She was pregnant with his baby—a baby that he was going to raise with his wife of five years. He needed to get his act together—and fast.

  Grant drove himself home. He would get home, and see if Monica wanted to go out to dinner. Maybe the two of them could really talk. He would enjoy that. They could get to know each other again. Maybe it would be the start of them really reconnecting. They needed to get busy on that before the baby came.

  When G
rant pulled up in front of the house, a car that he did not recognize was parked in front of it. Grant frowned. Was it one of Monica’s friends? Or was it a social committee meeting? There were no others, so it must have been a one off.

  He headed into the house, dropping his keys on the front table.

  “Monica?” he called.

  She was not in the downstairs living room, or the den. She was not in either of their offices. That only left upstairs, and he could not imagine who she might have over that required a trip upstairs. There were only bedrooms on the second floor, and absolutely no place for entertaining.

  As he reached the top of the stairs, he thought that he heard voices. They appeared to be coming from the master bedroom. Had he misinterpreted the car? Was it actually a cleaning service? Monica had been talking about having the carpeting professionally cleaned.

  But the master bedroom door was closed. That seemed particularly odd. Why would Monica bring a cleaning person into their bedroom and close the door? He told himself that she must have done it to show them something specific—a particular spot on the carpet or something of that nature.

  “Monica?” Grant pushed open the bedroom door. Instantly he froze. What he saw before his eyes was the last thing that he was expecting.

  Monica lay in their bed—naked. Beside her, was a man that Grant could only see his back. Then the man turned to face him, and he instantly recognized him. The man was Philip Behr—the head of accounting from his office.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  “Grant, I can explain—” Philip was sitting up, pulling the covers to his chest.

  “The hell you can!” Grant yelled. “Get out of here!”

  “But—” Philip stammered.

  “Grant, calm down just a minute—” Monica began.

  “No!” Grant snapped. “For that matter, you get out too!”

  “Now just wait—” Philip tried, but Grant grabbed the handful of clothes which lay at the foot of the bed.

  “GET OUT!”

  “Okay! Okay!” Philip was fumbling into clothes. Monica was getting out of bed, wrapping the sheet around her.

  “Grant—”

  “OUT!” Grant was shoving a crumpled dress at her. “GET OUT! NOW! HOW DARE YOU, MONICA! HOW DARE YOU!”

  Grant turned, storming from the room. He grabbed an antique vase from a hall table. Immediately, he pitched it down the hallway. From the bedroom, Philip and Monica both winced at the sound of the breaking china.

  Chapter 7

  Kelly was officially worried. She’d been sending text messages to both Grant and Monica to check in, but had heard nothing. When she had not received any responses there, she had decided to call. But both phones rang until voicemail picked up. They had done that the first time she had called, and the second, third, and fourth times.

  Kelly could not imagine what had allowed to expectant parents to stop contacting the woman carrying their child. Had something happened? Was one of them sick? They could not possibly just disappear off the face of the planet.

  Even worse, were they avoiding her? Had they changed their mind about this baby? What if they had? What would happen to it? Kelly was in no position to raise a baby, and she did not want to bring a baby into this world if there were no parents to take care of it. But could she have an abortion? She did not want that either. Would she have to find a set of adoptive parents? If she did, how did she explain to them why she was pregnant? She supposed that she could lie, but it would undoubtedly come out that she was surrogate abandoned by the real parents.

  Abandoned. The word scared her because it felt all too true. Kelly had to go and see Monica and Grant. She had to talk to them. Immediately, if not sooner.

  Kelly had never been to the Stone’s house, but she had written down their address. She was going to go and find out just what was going on.

  So on Friday afternoon, Kelly left campus after her final class. She drove through town and into the suburbs. Monica and Grant lived in a beautiful section of town. She was glad the baby would grow up in a neighborhood like this.

  Well, that was if Monica and Grant still wanted the baby.

  Kelly sighed. She had to force that thought away from her mind right now. Of course Grant and Monica still wanted their baby. She was just being silly. They were probably busy. Maybe Grant had been called out of town on business. Anything was possible, really.

  Kelly pulled her car in front of the large, gray-stoned house. It was just as large and lovely as she’d hoped with its peaked roof and finely manicured lawn. Bracing herself, she got out of the car. She had to do this. It was for the baby.

  Ringing the doorbell, Kelly stepped back. Who would answer the door? Grant? Monica? Some kind of servant? Did rich people really have servants, or was that just something Kelly had found television convincing her of?

  But it was only Grant who opened the door. Kelly was surprised at his appearance. He looked rumpled and not like himself. His hair was all over the place. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, and a faded-out Converse t-shirt. Kelly fought back a giggle. It was not a look that she had ever expected to see on him.

  “Oh, Kelly!” he exclaimed, looking surprised. “Hi! How are you?”

  “Um, I…uh…I’m fine,” she stammered. “But I’m more concerned about you. Are you ok?”

  “Oh yeah! I’m fine!” A look of realization washed over his face.

  “What about Monica?” Kelly pressed. “I left you both a bunch of messages, and I haven’t heard back, so I was getting—”

  “Worried,” Grant nodded. “I understand. I’m so, so sorry, Kelly. I kept meaning to call you back, or text you—but things have just been crazy.”

  “Is Monica okay?” He had not exactly answered that part. That concerned her.

  “Ah, yeah, I guess she is…” Grant sighed. “Look, do you remember when I stopped over to drop off your check a couple of weeks ago?”

  “Yeah…” Kelly answered hesitantly. She did not like where this was going.

  “Well,” Grant took a deep breath, “I came home and found that Monica wasn’t alone.”

  “Oh?” Now she really did not like this. Grant nodded sadly.

  “She was in bed with another man. Actually, not just another man, but a guy I work with.” Grant shook his head.

  “What?” Kelly could not believe what she was hearing.

  “Yeah. It was a shock for everyone.” Grant ran a hand through his hair, sending it falling into tousled waves. “I’m sorry—really. Neither of us meant to forget about you or our arrangement—but everything happened so fast.”

  “You have every right to be distracted!” Kelly argued. “Really, Grant, is there anything…” she trailed off, uncertain what to say.

  “No, but thank you,” Grant offered. “It’s been a rough few weeks. I don’t have any idea what to say about Monica, other than she’s moved out, and everything’s just been so chaotic.”

  “Oh, Grant. I’m so sorry!” Kelly gasped out the words. She felt terrible. Of course he had been distracted. His life was falling apart—and he had her to deal with on top of everything else.

  “Thank you. And please, don’t worry, I’m going to take care of you,” he assured her. “The baby is going to be just fine. You are going to be just fine.”

  “Thank you.” Kelly did feel better hearing that. “I was concerned, but now?” She shook her head. “I just feel so bad for you.” She really did—and he probably needed someone to say it.

  “I appreciate that.” Grant gave her a faint smile. “Really, I do.” Kelly had to ask her next question, because it was important in this entire situation.

  “What about the baby? What’s going to happen to it?”

  She was worried about the poor, little thing. It was coming immediately into a broken home. How was that good for a child? Would Grant and Monica be able to salvage their relationship for the sake of their child?

  “Don’
t worry about that,” Grant told her. “It’s going to be well taken care of.”

  “But what about—”

  “Don’t worry,” Grant repeated, this time giving her a firm smile. “Here, why don’t you come in?” He stepped aside. “Since Monica’s left, I’ve been hanging out alone here. It’s been awhile since I’ve had some company.”

  Kelly entered the house. She took a moment, looking around at her surroundings. Everything gleamed around them—the woodwork, the floors, the glasswork. Kelly was impressed. She supposed this was how she had always envisioned the upper class living.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “Thanks.” Grant sighed. “Monica really did a great job with it.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Kelly repeated. “Really, Grant. That’s just awful. I can’t imagine how you must have felt coming home to that.”

  “It was pretty bad.” Grant nodded. “I’ve never really been more shocked in my life.”

  They were silent for a few minutes, and then Grant seemed to shake himself together.

  “Hey, are you hungry? I could make dinner. It’s getting to be about that time.”

  “Sure.” Kelly figured that it couldn’t hurt to stay for dinner. Grant was probably lonely, and needed some company. Besides, the two of them had always had such great conversation. Tonight would undoubtedly be good.

  “Great. I was once a starving college student myself, so I know how that life feels.” Grant winked at her, and then headed out of the room. Kelly followed him into the kitchen. It was massive, and just as impressive as the rest of the house. It was all stainless steel appliances, and a thousand gadgets that Kelly could not even imagine working. She settled herself at the kitchen island as he started to rummage in the refrigerator.

  “Anything that you’re craving?”

  “Nope.” Kelly shrugged. “Whatever you make is fine.”

  “Ok then.” Grant took out a package of frozen chicken breasts. He set them in the microwave to defrost. Then he took out a bag of carrots. “Maybe just some chicken, rice, and vegetables?” he offered.

  “That sounds great.” Kelly looked around the spacious kitchen. “Really, this is a great kitchen. It’s like every cook’s dream.”