Knocked Up on Valentine's Day

by Amy Brent

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “And I am so excited that you’re going to be moving here permanently. At the office today, I did some research on moving, and the things we’ll need to do to get you here.”

  “I did too,” I said smiling. “I had Lily look up moving companies, real estate companies, and all sorts of things.”

  “You had a busy day.” He laughed.

  “I did,” I said proudly. “It’s not just the move that’s exciting, but it’s also what the move really means. It is a fresh start for both of us. It’s the beginning of our life together, the beginning of a family for me. It’s everything I’ve always wanted, including such an amazing little girl like Sicily.”

  “I feel the same way,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing, and I know that the three of us, four with my mom, will make the most amazing memories together. Christmases, New Year’s, Easters, and birthdays are going to be so amazing with you here by our side. We really hit the jackpot.”

  “Aw,” I said. “That’s such a sweet thing to say.”

  I sat smiling at him with a bunch of butterflies in my chest. I was falling madly in love with this man in every way possible. He was smart, kind, charming, and he treated me like I was a princess, someone so very special to him. Not only that, but I was also falling in love with his family and the family we would one day have. I had so many emotions floating around in me, and I wanted to tell him all of them. At the same time, I didn’t want to spill it all too soon. In reality, we had just gotten to know each other recently, and I wasn’t sure if telling him how I felt was a good idea, at least not just yet. I wanted everything to be perfect, everything to be cemented, before I burst wide open with the big I love you. I knew he probably felt the same way, but I also knew that when it was the right moment, we would both know. So, instead of saying it, I leaned up and gently kissed his lips, sliding back down onto the pillow.

  “Thank you for tonight. It has been amazing,” he said.

  “It’s not over yet.” I laughed. “It’s only eight. Now I know you’re older than me but not eight o’clock bedtime old.”

  “You’re right,” he said, laughing hard. “I may have a sore hip from time to time, but I still got some life left in me.”

  “We can get you a walker,” I said sarcastically.

  “You are too much.” He laughed, shaking his head. “I have an idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why don’t we pull all the covers off the bed, drag them out into the living room and make a comfy little nest,” he said. “We can turn on some movies and lie together doing whatever it is normal couples do.”

  “I’m not sure what exactly a normal couple is,” I said, laughing. “But that sounds like an amazing idea. I love snuggling up in a nest of blankets and watching television. Just let our brains relax and release for a little while.”

  “Yep,” he said, jumping from the bed and pulling the blanket off of me. “And no clothes are required.”

  We dragged all the pillows and blankets out of his room and into the living room. I stood back and watched as he arranged them all perfectly, making a soft and comfortable place to lie down. He sat down on the blanket and opened his arms, calling me into him. I smiled and raced over, nestling down with my head on his lap. He pulled the other blanket up over us and snuggled in, turning on the television. My hand moved down over my baby belly, and I rubbed gently against it, thinking about my child growing inside.

  He flipped through the channels until we found a movie and just relaxed. Life had been so hard back in Camden, and I thought that I would never be happy, especially facing being a single mother. But when Brandt had arrived, everything started to change. The light came back into my life, and for the first time, I was excited to be having a child. Everything went from dismal to perfect almost overnight, and I was positive there was nothing that could get in the way of our happiness. We had come so far in such a short amount of time, and I knew it was because it was all meant to be.

  Every kiss, every tear, every whisper, and every wonder had collected together to create this little family that we were growing together. I was finally in Brandt’s arms, and I would finally be able to have the family that I had always wanted. I might not be in Camden, but it didn’t matter. Home was with Sicily and Brandt, and wherever they were, that would be where anyone would find me. I yawned and let my eyelids drop, feeling so completely relaxed. Before I knew it, I had fallen gently to sleep, wrapped in Brandt’s arms.

  Chapter 27

  A Week Later

  Brandt

  As I walked through the aisles of the supermarket, I stared down at my list, making sure I was getting everything I had come out for. I had gone out that morning to run errands, grocery shop because our cupboards were bare, and then pick up some movies for me and the girls to watch later. It was movie night, and Sicily was really looking forward to relaxing with the two of us. She had gotten to the point where she craved time with Emma and me like a real family. I knew she would be bouncing off the walls that night, so I tried to pick up snacks with the lowest sugar concentration possible. I wanted the night to be relaxing for all of us. We had really needed it with as busy as we had been.

  Emma had been at the apartment for over a week at that point, and she had really gotten comfortable there. She couldn’t sit around, so she cleaned, made dinner every night, sometimes with my mother, and sat out on the balcony getting some fresh air. She had even started feeling comfortable going for walks during the days over to the flower market. The apartment always smelled so fresh and floral when I came home, and it was a nice change from before she came. There were constantly beautiful and exotic flowers in a vase on the counter, and Emma had started researching all of them when she got them. She even got Sicily involved, having her help her figure out the different species of plants and where they originated from. I knew that eventually, she was going to have to go back to Camden to take care of things, but for now, I was enjoying the downtime with her.

  As I passed through the frozen food section, looking at the different ice creams I could take home, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened up the texts. It was from Emma. She was asking me to pick up some fresh strawberries, something she’d been talking about for several days now. I meant to do it the day before, but work had me there until late into the evening, and I just wanted to get home when I was done. I smiled, thinking about some of the cravings she was starting to get. Beyond making everything smell amazing, she was constantly in the kitchen cooking something. Our counter looked like a bakery with cakes, cookies, and fresh bread all over the place. My mother thought it was the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

  I texted her back, promising I wouldn’t forget this time and then picked out a couple different ice creams for the freezer. I looked at my list, happy that strawberries were the only thing left and headed over to the produce section. I picked out the biggest, juiciest strawberries I could find and then put a second carton in there for good measure. I knew if she didn’t eat them straight out, she would use them to make something else delicious. I was going to gain a hundred pounds before this baby was born. I headed over to the checkout and unloaded my cart, staring at the tabloids in the racks as the lady checked me out. I always found them so funny, especially anything that had to do with aliens. When she was done, she took my payment, and I met my driver out front. As he packed the bags in the trunk, my phone buzzed again, but this time it was Trevor.

  “Hey, man, where are you?” Trevor said when I answered.

  “I’m at the market loading my groceries into the car,” I said. “We were out of food at home. What’s up? You sound panicked.”

  “Bosworth Financial is trying to pull out of the whole financing deal unless they can speak to you directly,” he said. ‘They said they’re worried about getting too many non-qualifying applications and having to hire more staff to deal with the influx.”

  “So, they want more money is what you’re s
aying,” I said.

  “Well, we aren’t paying them anything.”

  “Yeah, but they want to raise the APR that we negotiated,” I said. “I knew something like this would happen. All right, connect me, and we can have a conference call.”

  “I’m afraid he wants a face-to-face,” Trevor said. “He’s here in the office now, and he’s expecting you to come in and talk to him.”

  “All right,” I sighed. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be over.”

  I climbed into the car and let the driver know I had to go to the office. I pulled out my phone and sighed, not wanting to give up my time with my family. I knew Terri Bosworth was not going to let this go easily, and I would be there for a while. I called Emma to explain.

  “Hey,” she said. “Did you forget the strawberries?”

  “No.” I laughed, though not with as much enthusiasm as usual. “But there’s been an emergency at work, and I have to go in for a little while.”

  “Oh, no,” she said. “Is everyone all right?”

  “Yeah, it’s nothing like that,” I said. “It’s a partnership that I thought we had on lockdown, and now they’re going back on their promises just hours before signing the contracts. I guess I have to start the negotiation process over with them.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll get Sicily started on her homework if you aren’t back in time.”

  “Thank you, my love,” I said. “I will try to hurry, and I’ll have my driver bring the groceries over.”

  “Sounds good,” she said happily before hanging up.

  I put the phone down in my lap and smiled, thinking about how normal it sounded to have her talk about getting Sicily settled in when she got home. Emma was so amazing. She had never even hesitated when it came to being there for Sicily. It all had fallen into place naturally, and she took on the duty of mother to my little girl without question or fear. I had really hit the jackpot with this woman, and I didn’t know how I survived without her.

  “Will you take the groceries back to my apartment after you drop me off?” I asked the driver. “Emma is there to accept them, or you can leave them at the front, and they’ll get them up there.”

  “Absolutely, sir,” he said, nodding his head.

  When I got to the office, I groaned, pulling myself out of the car, thinking I wasn’t going to see the place for a few days. I went straight up to my office, wanting to be briefed before sitting down with Bosworth. Tucker met me at the elevator when I arrived.

  “What’s his mood like?” I asked, walking beside Trevor to my office.

  “He’s playing hardball,” Trevor said. “I knew we should have gone with the other bank. This guy really gets under my skin.”

  “Relax,” I said. “Take a big, deep breath and remember that hardball is my specialty. This guy thinks because he’s old money, he can throw his weight around, but a higher APR will drive potential customers away. There has to be another way around it, maybe paying for the new employees or starting a small sector of our offices just for vetting all applications before sending them to the bank.”

  “This is why you’re the boss.” Trevor laughed.

  I went into the meeting headstrong, not backing down when it came to Bosworth’s threats to back out. In my mind, this was icing on the cake for us, and if we lost it, it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal. The idea had only come to fruition a week before. I knew that if he backed out then, he would be back when he saw the sales of the AIs skyrocketing. This man was stubborn, but he wasn’t stupid. During the meeting, I ignored two calls from Josie. Josie was the last person on the planet I wanted to deal with, especially when I was in a meeting like that. By the end of it, everyone was happy, and we were starting a branch for financials in my offices to help with the overload. Bosworth wanted more money, but he could tell I was willing to walk away before raising the rates on the loans.

  “You’re brilliant,” Trevor said, laughing. “You were on fire in there.”

  “No, I just wasn’t willing to let him bamboozle me,” I said. “In the end, he’ll have more respect for me. How long have I been here?”

  “It’s been about three hours,” he said, looking at his watch. “A lot less time than I thought it would take.”

  “I’d have to say that might be a record when dealing with Bosworth.” I chuckled. “Especially since the initial negotiation took three full days in that conference room. I was getting tired of finger sandwiches and bagels.”

  “I’m going to go draw up the new contract with the lawyer,” Trevor said. “Good job in there.”

  “Thanks,” I smiled, watching him walk out of the office.

  I picked up my phone and scrolled to Emma, wanting to check in with her and make sure she was doing okay. The phone rang and rang, but she never picked up. I assumed she was either taking a shower or a nap before Sicily arrived. I would try her again in a little while. In the meantime, I had a lot of paperwork to finish up before I could go. I sat there for a moment before starting thinking about Emma curled up in my bed sleeping soundly. I was a lucky guy to have a girlfriend who understood that sometimes my life could shift and really fast. Josie would have flipped out if I had called her like that, especially when she was pregnant with Sicily. It would have been an all-night fight I would be walking into. Not with Emma, though. She was happy to spend time with me when she could.

  “Mr. Ellis,” my secretary said over the intercom.

  “Yes?”

  “You had a missed call from your ex-wife, Josie, while you were out,” she said. “She didn’t leave a number. She said you would know how to get ahold of her.”

  “Did she say what she wanted?”

  “No, sir,” she said. “She just asked you call her back.”

  “All right, thank you,” I said, clicking the intercom button.

  I picked up my phone and scrolled through my missed calls, seeing the ones from Josie. It was strange that she was calling me, but not shocking since I knew she was still in town. Still, the idea that she had called me so many times and that she had gone as far as to call my office was starting to make me feel uneasy. Josie knew it was one thing to bother me personally, but it was another to call my office. Something was going on with her, but at that moment, I didn’t have the time to have an all-out battle on the phone. I glanced over at the time and then picked my phone back up. I dialed Emma, listening to it ring until the voice mail came on.

  “This is Emma. I can’t get to my phone, so leave a message,” the voicemail said.

  “Hey, sweetie,” I said after the beep. “I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay. I have a little bit more to do at the office, and then I’ll be on my way. Don’t eat all the strawberries. Okay, you can eat all the strawberries. See you soon.”

  I hung up the phone and took in a deep breath, biting the inside of my lip. She hadn’t answered my calls or sent me any messages, which wasn’t like her. She always replied to me, even when she was resting. I was starting to get worried.

  Chapter 28

  Emma

  I had just finished up making the bed and putting away the laundry that I started before breakfast. I clapped my hands together and looked around the house, taking in a deep breath of the flowery scent coming from the Ocean Breeze Orchids that I had brought home from the flower market. I had been there for over a week, and I was enjoying every second of it. Every moment with Brandt was more and more special, and every walk in the city I took made me feel at home. I knew that if I ever had a chance to be a family with Brandt, even before I knew he was not married, I would feel good and happy, but it was more than that now. I never fully realized how much I would love being part of something like that. I never realized how good I was at taking care of a family, keeping everyone together, and being there for the people I loved so much. I thought I would go crazy being at home, but I had found a love in the simplicity, a motivation knowing that these two people were relying on me for things and that when they ate my cooking or smelled
the flowers, they looked to me with love and comfort.

  I stopped to take a call from Brandt, and I laughed, figuring he had forgotten the strawberries I just texted him about. I was craving strawberries so much, and I couldn’t wait to dig into them when he got home. When I answered, though, it wasn’t about the strawberries. It was him telling me about some emergency at work that he had to handle. Of course, I was disappointed, but I knew he had a job that required him to jump when it needed him.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll get Sicily started on her homework if you aren’t back in time.”

  “Thank you, my love,” he said. “I will try to hurry, and I’ll have my driver bring the groceries over.”

  “Sounds good,” I said happily before hanging up.

  I held the phone close to me and smiled, feeling the love inside of me growing more and more. I waited for the groceries to be delivered and put them away, all except the strawberries of course. I cut the berries up into small pieces and put them in a bowl before pouring cream over top. I didn’t know why I put the cream on them, but as I relaxed into the couch, I was more than glad that I did. It was exactly what I was craving. I finished up the strawberries and relaxed into the couch, propping my feet up and looking out over the cityscape. It would be a few hours before Sicily got home from school, so I had time to relax.