The Baby Shower

by Tasha Blue et al.

  Denise looked at Cami with sheer hatred. "He had a child and he never told me? He had an affair with you?" She raised her voice sharply and Janine turned and handed Emma to Cami, and then looked back at Denise.

  "I warned you,” she said in a low tight voice through thin lips. She grabbed Denise's arm and dragged her out of the room. Cami could hear them arguing in the hall and she looked down at Emma and Roman, wishing it had happened differently. Roman's wife was a gorgeous woman, although obviously medically enhanced, she looked as if she could have stepped out of a magazine. She wondered that such a woman could have such a cold relationship with someone like Roman. She couldn't understand why any woman wouldn't give everything to be with a man like Roman.

  Their arguing grew louder for a moment and then there were other voices, nurses, from the sound of it, and then it was quiet again. Denise and Janine came back into the room and Denise was pouting ferociously. Janine reached for Emma and looked at Cami.

  "She wants to talk with you, and I've told her that if you want to talk with her, you're welcome to do it out in the waiting room. No negative talk in here, and no fighting. Whatever you two feel like you need to say to each other can be said out there. The only thing anyone is talking about in here is Roman."

  She leaned her head closer to Cami. "If you don't want to talk with her, you don't have to."

  Cami looked from Janine to Denise and drew a long deep breath, and then sighed. She felt as if she owed it to the woman. After all, she'd just had a double impact; her husband had nearly perished in a boating accident and she found out that he had a child out of wedlock at the same time. It would be enough to shake anyone up.

  She was surprised that Denise wasn't more concerned with Roman, after all, she hadn't even looked at him since she had walked into the room, but Cami supposed that was because of the shock of learning that he had a child out of wedlock.

  Cami looked at Denise. "I'll talk with you," she said softly. She walked around the bed and turned to look at Janine and Emma. "She's okay with you?" She checked to be sure.

  Janine nodded and smiled at the baby girl. "Of course. Auntie Janine will take good care of her little Pip while mommy is gone."

  Cami nodded and Denise narrowed her eyes at Janine, and then turned and walked out of the door with Cami following along behind her. They headed toward the small waiting room area and when they got there, Denise headed to a quiet corner and then turned and glared at Cami.

  "Who the hell are you and what are you doing with my husband?" she demanded angrily.

  Cami took a deep breath. "I'm really just a friend of his. We met through his work."

  "A friend? A friend? You have a kid with him! It takes a lot more than friends to make a kid! You tell me right now what's going on!" Denise looked as if she was ready to strangle Cami.

  Cami looked around them. "We should sit down," she said quietly.

  "I don't want to sit, I want you to tell me what the hell is happening between you and my husband!" Denise demanded.

  Cami sat and looked up at her. "We met on a business trip over a year ago, and we became friends. One night things got... um... a little heated, and we wound up with a baby nine months later, but it was a one time thing. It never happened again after that. We aren't having an affair. It was just once, and ironically, that one time was all it took. Now we have a daughter. I moved up here from Los Angeles so he could help me raise her and be a part of her life."

  Denise was fuming. "He never bothered to even let me know? You two were going to keep this a secret from me? I'm his wife!"

  Cami shook her head. "Don't be mad at him for that; he didn't even know about her until just recently. He had no idea. We never talked after that business trip. He didn't know about her until I came to him and told him when we moved up here."

  Denise's voice grew louder. "You came up here to steal him away from me! You came up here to get rid of me and move in on my marriage with your bastard kid!"

  In a flash, Cami was up out of her seat and standing nose to nose with Denise. "Don't you dare use that word when you're talking about my daughter! She has her dad's last name. He is in her life and he wants her. Furthermore, I didn't come up here to steal him from you, I came here so that he could have a chance at raising his own child and watching her grow!

  “I'm not trying to break the two of you up. If he wants to be with you, he can stay with you, if he wants to leave you, then that's his business."

  Denise's jaw fell open. "Is that what he told you? That he wants to leave me? After everything I have done for him, I make one little mistake, and I have one little affair and all of a sudden he's out having kids with other women and now he wants to leave me? Well it's not going to happen! He's mine and I'm not letting him go!"

  Cami was shocked. "You had an affair?" she asked.

  Denise realized that Cami hadn't already known that. She drew back from her a half a step and eyed her warily. "He didn't tell you that?"

  Cami shook her head. "No, but somehow I'm not surprised."

  "Well, why does he want to leave me then?" she whined angrily. "What did he tell you?" she demanded.

  Cami sighed and let out a long breath. "He didn't tell me anything about you having an affair; you told me that just now. He didn't tell me that he was thinking of leaving you, you also told me that just now. I've already told you everything on my side of it. We met, we were together one night, we have a child. That's all I know. If your marriage has bigger problems than that, then it's news to me and it's not really my business.

  “My business is that my baby's father is lying in that room in a medically induced coma because he was almost killed in a boating accident. That's my priority right now. If you have any other problems, they're going to have to wait. There are more important things going on right now."

  She pushed past Denise who turned and stared at her, stunned. Cami walked back down the hall and into Roman's room where Janine was sitting in a chair with Emma.

  She looked up at Cami when Cami came in the door. "Are you alright?" she asked curiously.

  "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Let's focus on Roman." She walked over to the bed and took his hand in hers, just as Denise came rushing through the door.

  She looked over at Roman lying there and her face distorted into disgust. "He looks terrible!" Then she saw that Cami was holding Roman's hand in hers.

  "Let go of my husband!" she demanded in a loud angry whisper.

  Cami didn't even look up at Denise. "I'm not letting go of him. I'm going to stay right here with him. He needs me, and that's all there is to it. He needs me, so I'm here and I'm staying. If you have a problem with it, you will have to work that out for yourself."

  Denise gasped in a huff, looked at Janine, who just smiled back at her and shook her head. She started to scream but Cami flipped around and took a step toward her, startling her. "Be quiet and be supportive or leave. He doesn't need any ugliness in here right now."

  Denise stared at Cami for a long moment, and Cami never blinked or even flinched.

  After a few tense moments, Denise looked from Cami to Janine again and then turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

  Janine just chuckled to herself and played with Emma, and Cami turned back to Roman and took his hand in hers. She stayed there with him all through the night, and into the next day, before Janine insisted that she go home and try to get some sleep.

  She finally relented and she and Janine took turns in shifts with him, staying beside him as he healed until the doctor decided it was time to wake him from his coma.

  Chapter Six

  Cami sat with Roman the day that his doctors were talking about waking him up. It was still early in the morning. She reached for her phone and saw a message from Cicely, so she called and her Mama picked up right away.

  "How are you doing baby girl?" Mama asked.

  Cami hadn't had a chance to talk to her mother, so she hadn't told her anything at that point because she didn't want to te
xt it. As soon as her mother asked how she was doing, she felt her throat tighten and her stomach clench. She had held in so much emotion over the time she had been there with Roman in the hospital, and only when she heard her mother's voice did she feel as if she could let it all out and allow herself to release.

  "Mama," she said quietly, "Roman's in the hospital. He was in a boat accident; his boat sank and he almost drowned, but he was rescued, and he's been at the hospital recovering ever since. The doctors have him in an induced coma so he can heal. It's been so hard. I've been here almost the whole time. His secretary Janine and I take turns being here with him so he's not alone."

  Her Mama gasped and cooed to her. "Oh my Lord, honey, I'm so sorry to hear that. It's tragic news. What do the doctor's say about him recovering?"

  Cami took a deep breath and let the stress out. "They say he is getting better. They're going to let him come out of his coma today. I'm so anxious for that. I can't wait for it to happen! It's been so hard sitting here watching him go through this."

  Mama agreed with her. "I bet honey; that's the baby's father, and no matter how you two are getting on, it's always hard to deal with bad things that happen to the other parent of your child."

  Cami decided to tell her Mama everything. "Well, that's not all, Mama. His wife came by the day he was brought in. Janine and I got here first and we were so worried about him, but she came in and she didn't even look at him at first. She found out about Emma and me and after that, all she wanted to do was yell at me and argue with me. She didn't even say anything about Roman. She admitted to me that she has been cheating on him and having an affair, and I guess she's worried that he's going to leave her.

  "I'm only worried about him making it through this ordeal. She hasn't been back to see him, not even once since she left the first day he was here. I just can't believe her, Mama."

  Her Mama made a disgusted sound on the other end of the phone. "What kind of woman is she?" Cicely wasn't asking, she was pondering it. "What have you been doing with the baby while you've been at the hospital? Has she been with you the whole time?"

  "Yeah, she's been here with me and we've been looking after her daddy," Cami said softly. Emma was sleeping just then, nestled in her car seat. Cami smiled at her.

  She heard her Mama hum thoughtfully. "I think you need some help, baby. I think I'll come down and give you a hand for a while. I can work from there for a couple of weeks. Are you moved into your condo yet or are you in the hotel still?"

  Cami smiled wide. She was always glad to see her mother. "Oh Mama, really? I'd love that! I am still in the hotel. The condo is ready, but because we've been here at the hospital, I haven't had a chance to move in yet. That sort of got moved to the back burner. We're just focusing on Roman right now."

  "Well, it sounds like you could use some help from your Mama. I'll come down tonight or in the morning, depending on flights. I can't wait to see you, honey. I'll get a hotel room and then when we get you moved into your new place, I will stay with you." Mama smiled through the phone at her daughter, and Cami could hear it.

  "Thank you, Mama, I can't wait to see you." She grinned and they hung up. She looked over at Emma and whispered, "Your grandma is coming little girl. Everything will be alright when she gets here." Then she looked back at Roman and took his hand in hers. "Everything is going to be alright."

  Janine came into the room a short while later and Cami hugged her. They had grown closer during their time at the hospital and by that point, considered each other friends. Cami didn't to say anything derogatory about Denise, and Janine was more concerned about Roman's well-being than talking about his wife. They were anxious to see Roman when the doctors let him wake up.

  "He's got more color today!" Janine noticed that when she walked in the room. It was true; he had been recovering well while he rested, and it encouraged the ladies and the medical team that was helping him.

  Cami looked at Janine with excitement and told her about Cicely.

  "My mama is going to come down and help me with Emma while we get Roman through this recovery. She's going to help me move, too." Cami smiled in relief and happiness.

  Janine grinned. "Well, I want to meet her while she's here, so let's be sure and have dinner one night during her visit."

  Cami nodded. Then she looked at Janine and asked a question that had been weighing on her heart since she had met Denise. Roman’s wife had left the hospital the first day and had not been seen since.

  "Who will be taking care of Roman while he recovers at home? I know you can go and help him, but I think it would be unbelievably awkward for me to be there helping. I would only be there to do that, but I think Denise wouldn't like it." Cami sighed sadly.

  Janine raised an eyebrow and said, "I could try to send her out of town with her mother. I seriously doubt that she would be of any help to Roman at all. Short of that, though, I think we're going to have to hope for the best with her."

  Cami frowned. "That's what I thought."

  Neither of them could think of a way around it, and they both knew that they'd have to trust Denise to help take care of Roman as he healed.

  The medical staff woke him up that afternoon and at first he was disoriented, but after some time and some explanations, he understood what happened and where he was.

  When the medical staff had left him in the early part of the evening, he was finally able to talk with Janine and Cami. He looked at them both and offered them a tired smile.

  "Thank you both for being here. It means the world to me.” He squeezed Cami's hand.

  Then he lowered his brows and asked quietly, "Where is Denise?"

  Janine narrowed her eyes a bit. "Denise came the first day you were here." she answered. "She hasn't been back since, but she did find out about Emma and Cami."

  Roman closed his eyes and groaned. "Oh no. What happened?" he asked, not sure he wanted to know.

  Cami pressed her lips together, wondering how much to tell him. "Well, she came in and saw Emma and I here and wanted to know who we were, so I told her. I said I was a friend of yours, and told her that Emma is your daughter. She was really upset, of course, and she wanted to talk with me in private, so we did. She told me she had an affair and wanted to know if you were leaving her. I said I didn't know. She seems really worried about it. She left and we haven't heard from her since."

  Roman turned his head and looked at the wall. His expression was stoic. He didn't expect much of Denise, but he would have expected her to at least be present at the hospital for him during such a traumatic experience.

  The knowledge that she had practically deserted him, especially after having an ongoing affair, cut at him and dismay clenched at his heart. He wondered what they had left for each other in their marriage. Cami, seeing his distress, smiled and said lightly, "My mother is coming to visit. so she'll be here to help with the baby and the move. It'll free me up to help you if you need it."

  He closed his eyes a moment and then turned to look at her with a smile of thanks. Her warm brown eyes were a comfort to him; reassuring him that he was not alone and that he had support from her. He knew Janine would be there for him as well; she was always there for him.

  "I would love to meet her," he said quietly, looking at Cami. "I'll be home for a while, but we can work out a visit."

  Cami nodded and held fast to his hand. She was relieved beyond measure to see him recovering physically, but she could see that he was struggling internally, and it made her feel bad for him and wish that there was something; anything, that she could do to ease his frustration.

  Mama was able to fly into town that night, and Cami picked her up at the airport and drove her to the hotel where she was still staying. Cicely was delighted to see them both, and spent the evening cuddling with her granddaughter.

  When Roman awoke the next day, he felt much better. The last thing he had remembered before going under the water was seeing his boat sink, and the memory made him nauseous. He tried to keep it out
of his head as he focused on healing and getting out of the hospital. It bothered him that he had so much to do and less time to do it in because of the boat wreck.

  A short time after he finished his breakfast from his hospital bed, his cell phone rang and he saw that it was Allen.

  "Hello?" he said, glad to hear from anyone in the outside world, and especially from his star employee.

  "Hey sailor, how are you holding up?" Allen asked lightly, but still with an air of concern.

  "Oh, I'm cruising along," Roman half-joked back to him.

  "Janine has been keeping me up on everything. It's been pretty bad for you the last few days. It's good to have you at least talking again." Allen's smile could be heard through the phone line. "I'd come in and see you, but the nurses are only letting family in right now."

  Roman laughed a little. "No problem; I'm not sure I'm up to visitors anyway, but it would be good to get out of here and get back to my life again. What's been going on at the office?" he asked with interest.