by Sam Crescent
The stall to the bathroom where she was hiding opened. She stared at her long-time friend with her gorgeous blonde hair and blue eyes. Linda was slim like a supermodel. She looked delicate, fragile, and sexy as hell whereas Jennifer was the polar opposite. Jennifer had brown, mousy hair with dull, brown eyes. The word slim would never be applied to her figure. She was frumpy, and no matter how many diets she went on, none of them worked.
Her family were embarrassed by her, and her life was not turning out the way she’d like.
“Those girls don’t care, Jen. You know that. They’ll probably find some excuse not to invite you.” Linda sat on the floor. She pulled Jennifer into her lap and stroked her hair.
“You’ll have to go without me,” Jennifer said.
“No, I won’t. If you’re not going then I’m not going. We’re in this together, remember.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
Jennifer tightened her arm around her friend’s waist. She felt comforted having her friend next to her.
“Who would want to hang around with those girls? They talk about clothes until they’re red in the face. You know that has never appealed to me.” Linda continued to stroke her hair.
They were silent for several minutes. Jennifer remained still in the hope that it would ease her stomach.
“Are you feeling any better?” Linda asked.
“Yes. I think I’m going to need to go to the doctor. I keep having waves of sickness, and then it goes.”
She flushed the toilet, and they walked out to the sinks. Linda handed her some water. She swilled her mouth out and took the mint offered.
“It sounds to me like you’re pregnant,” Linda said.
Jennifer froze. “What?”
“You started to look green when the coffee came out and then the seafood tray. Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” Linda opened the door.
Jennifer looked toward the table where her embarrassment occurred. The waiter and several cleaners were sorting out the mess.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” Linda led the way out of the restaurant. Jennifer watched because her friend had the parking attendant take her ticket. Minutes later, her car pulled up beside them. The attendant tried to keep Linda talking.
Jennifer walked ‘round to the passenger side and climbed in. Being ignored was a regular occurrence for her. Closing the door, she waited for Linda to get in. Several minutes passed before her friend was able to get in and start the car.
“Do you have another date?” Jennifer asked.
“He wishes.”
The car pulled away from the curb. Linda navigated the vehicle onto the main road before shooting questions again.
“You didn’t answer me, Jen. Is there a possibility that you’re pregnant?”
Jennifer felt her cheeks heat. “There is a slight possibility I could be pregnant.”
“I knew it. Spill those details. What man have you been keeping from me?”
“Nothing.” Jennifer rested her head on the door staring out of the window.
“Nothing? How can you being pregnant be nothing?” Linda asked. “I tell you everything, Jen. We’re best friends, and we don’t keep secrets. We made a pact.”
“That was when we were ten years old. We’re twenty-six now. That pact doesn’t count.”
“It does. I’ve told you everything. We live in the same apartment, and you know everything about me. I’ve not seen one guy call on you in all the years we’ve lived there.” Linda argued with her.
“That’s because a guy has never come for me.”
“I don’t know why. You’re a hot woman when you’re not throwing up over seafood.”
The mention of seafood turned her stomach. “Please stop talking about food. I think I’m going to throw up again.”
“If you do you’re so paying for this to be cleaned.”
Jennifer sat back and watched the city pass them by.
“Come on, who else are you going to tell?”
“Oh all right,” she said, caving into her friend’s pout. “You can’t tell anyone. Not even your big brother.”
“I won’t tell. If you’re pregnant, though, you’re going to have to tell someone.”
Jennifer groaned thinking of the dirty looks from her family. They already disapproved of her living with Linda. They thought her friend was a bad influence. They didn’t want bad blood in the family. Her parents wanted her to go and find a man who was worthy of the Dixon name.
“It was only the one time, and he doesn’t even know who I am. I don’t even know if I’m pregnant. Wow, this is all one huge mistake.” Jennifer pressed a hand to her temple in an attempt to stop the throbbing pain of a headache.
“When did you meet a guy and have sex? Not only that, why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been your best friend, Jen. I thought you’d tell me everything,” Linda said.
Her friend had a point.
“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I was hiding away when he walked into the library.”
Linda shot her a glance. “No, no way. You had sex with a complete stranger in your parents’ library?”
Jennifer blushed. “No, we didn’t do it in my parents’ library.”
“Whew. That is not something you’re going to be able to hold down.”
“We did it in his,” Jennifer said.
Linda pulled up at the first available parking spot. She turned towards her. Jennifer would have laughed at the situation, only her stomach was doing flip flops and her nerves were getting the better of her.
“What?”
Jennifer licked her lips and turned to her friend. “We met in his library and had sex in his garden. My parents forced me to go to his party and celebrate something. I had to go, and I hid away in the library. You know how my parents are at those things. They try to advertise my single status.”
“I know this man, don’t I?”
Jennifer nodded.
“Spill. What’s his name?”
“Patrick Thompson.”
Her friend’s eyes widened in shock, dismay, and then total horror. “The Patrick Thompson?”
She jerked her head in response. “Yep, the multi-millionaire playboy who has just won a court battle from another woman claiming to be pregnant with his child.”
Not only was Jennifer pregnant with his child, how was she going to convince the father of her child that she was telling the truth?
“He’s a bad one, Jen. You know his reputation with women. Why did you sleep with him?” Linda asked.
She heard the concern in her friend’s voice. They’d connected, and there was more to Patrick than met the eye. She’d seen it inside him. Shaking her head in confusion, Jennifer got out of the car and walked toward the nearest pharmacy. She needed to know the truth before she continued forward.
****
Several days later
Patrick Thompson downed the last of his coffee in one gulp. He was tired of being brought in front of his father like some recalcitrant child. His bad boy reputation was the bane of his existence. He liked to party and fuck women. What guy didn’t? Even though his days of fucking faceless women seemed to be non-existent recently.
“So, you’re not the father,” Robert Thompson said.
“I told you I wasn’t the father. She was just another woman trying to get a piece of the pie. I handled it.”
His father slammed his fist on the table. “This is not some game you can play, Patrick. I’ve put up with your crap for long enough.”
“What crap? I work hard and play hard. Didn’t you do the same when you were my age? I’m not a child anymore. I’m a full-grown man.” He was thirty-two years old and a millionaire in his own right. He’d made his first million before he turned eighteen through a website, and now he did whatever the hell he wanted to do. His father ran his own international business, and Patrick did what he wanted. Patrick had proven himself on more than one occasion. He wasn’t some dumbass looking for a free ride. He worked when he needed
to.
“Don’t you see that your playing hard affects our good name?” Robert threw the morning papers in front of him. There was a picture of him at a party several nights ago. “Another kiss and tell story about the infamous Patrick Thompson.”
Patrick rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the photos. The woman in the picture was fabricating the story. He’d not slept with a woman in months. Apart from the little brown-haired woman at a party his father set up. Patrick thought of the other woman. Jennifer her name was. He didn’t know if it was her real name or one she’d fabricated one. No one knew anything about her, and he’d figured she was part of the waiting staff who’d been trying to catch a free break.
“This is all lies. I’ve never slept with that woman.” He put the paper on the table. The newspaper underneath caught his attention.
“It doesn’t matter. People believe what they read because you’ve slept with numerous women before her. People who hope to invest in my company. The very people who will be looking at my son who’ll inherit my company one day. Are you listening to me?”
“Who’s this?” he asked, picking out a newspaper and pointing at the woman on the front page.
Robert snatched the paper off him and stared at the front page. “That’s the Dixons’ youngest daughter. They’ve been trying to get her married off I think. They were at that party I organised at your house. They’re hoping to invest in one of our plans. What’s the matter, Patrick?”
Patrick took the paper from his father and stared down at the woman he’d connected with.
“A vomiting incident at a seafood place is not going to be good press,” Robert said.
He wasn’t listening to his father. Rubbing his thumb over the page, Patrick recalled the feel of her in his arms. She’d been so damn responsive to his touch. Her cries and screams of passion would stick with him always.
“Do you know her?” he asked.
Robert sat back in his seat. “Yes, her parents are constantly trying to get her married off. She’s a shy little thing. Nothing memorable about her.”
He’d dispute that last part of the statement. Since that night he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head.
“I’ve got to go.” Patrick stood taking the paper with him.
The headline caught his attention far more than anything else. She’d vomited over a plate of seafood, and that night when they’d slept together, he hadn’t used protection.
It didn’t take a genius to work out what was wrong with her. Jennifer Dixon was expecting his child. What he wanted to know was why she still hadn’t approached him about it.
Chapter Two
“It’s all over the papers, Jennifer Dixon. What were you thinking? Now we’re going to be the talk of the city.”
Jennifer listened as her mother screamed down the phone line. She stared at the most unflattering picture she’d seen of herself and cringed. Several days had passed since the incident at the seafood restaurant.
Shaking her head she stared over at Linda who was lifting her arm to show her the time. “I’m sorry it happened. I’ve got to go. Love you, Mom.”
“Don’t you dare hang up on me, young lady.”
Unable to stand the telling off, Jennifer put the phone in its cradle.
“You still haven’t told them?” Linda asked, grabbing her coat.
“What is there to tell? ‘Hi, Mom, I’m pregnant by a man you’re never going to believe. I intend to raise this baby alone. Bye.’”
Her friend glared at her. “I think Patrick would like to know he’s fathered a child.”
She followed her friend out of the door. “Why? He’s disputed the other claims of fatherhood attached to him. Why would he think I’m telling the truth?”
“You need to tell him,” Linda said.
They headed out of the apartment. Jennifer kept her head lowered as they made it to her car. Linda was taking her to her doctor’s appointment for a check-up and also to confirm she was in fact pregnant. The tests she’d done several days ago were all positive. She didn’t believe them. There was no way a stick with urine on it could determine pregnancy. That method might work for the rest of the women in the world, but Jennifer continued to disbelieve it.
“You know these tests are going to confirm it as well,” Linda said the moment they got into the car.
“I don’t care. I need to be sure.”
“I think it’s so cute. You’re going to have a little you and Patrick. Your baby is going to be adorable.”
“Please, Linda, I love you like a sister, but shut the hell up and get me to my appointment.” The words were said with all the love Jennifer could muster.
Linda patted her knee and then negotiated the city traffic. While her friend drove, Jennifer took the time to sit back and think about everything that had happened. Her mother would be on her case for the vomiting episode. The restaurant had phoned offering her a free lunch.
She gazed out of the window trying to process her thoughts.
“If Patrick turns his back on you, I’ll help you raise the baby, Jen. We’ll live very happily in our apartment.”
Jennifer turned to her friend. “I love you,” she said.
They openly admitted their feelings. They knew they loved each other as friends, not as lovers.
“BFF’s forever, sister. That’s what we are, right? No one is going to ruin us.”
Smiling, Jennifer sat patiently. She knew she was pregnant. There was no denying the morning sickness or her tender breasts.
“Even if Patrick wants to be a father, which is highly unlikely, you’ll still be my best friend, Linda.” She squeezed her friend’s hand trying to offer her comfort.
They were at the doctors several minutes later. Linda went inside with her. Her blood was taken, and they even asked her to give a urine sample.
She did everything they asked, and finally at the end, the nurse confirmed it with the urine sample.
“What about my blood sample? Won’t that be more concrete? I mean, pregnancy tests can give a false positive, right?” Her heart was racing. Part of her had hoped the appointment would tell her she’d done the test wrong or something.
“Pregnancy tests are accurate. The blood test will confirm it, Miss Dixon. Congratulations, you’re going to be a mother.”
Congratulations? What kind of advice was that?
Linda helped her back into the car. The nurse said they’d call when the tests came in and what they said.
“It can’t be true,” she said when they were back in the car.
“Jen, you took over ten different tests. The doctors have confirmed it. When are you going to realise you’re pregnant?” Linda asked.
Her cell phone started ringing. Jennifer handed the phone to Linda to answer. She couldn’t talk to her mother now. What the hell was she going to do? Pressing a hand to her stomach she stared out of the window. She wasn’t ready for a baby. Shit, she wasn’t ready to talk to the man responsible for putting it there.
She was given her cell phone, and then Linda shut her door.
“What did she want?” Jennifer asked.
“Your mother is demanding your presence at the manor.”
“No, don’t take me there. I can’t face them knowing this.” Linda pulled out of the parking space and began driving in the direction of her parents’ house. They lived outside the city in an eight bedroom manor with a front entrance that reminded Jennifer of an entrance to a hotel. She loved her parents. They didn’t like the way she was living. Even though Linda was from a similar background, they felt she was a bad seed for their prospective daughter. Linda’s mother had been a model. Jennifer never understood what was wrong with Linda’s family. Jennifer had been accepted from a young age into their family.
“I’ve got to take you, Jen. You know they hate me, and it will just give them more arguments when they’re at a gathering with my own parents. I’m sorry.”
“Fine, you’re coming inside with me, and we’re leaving at
the first opportunity.”
“I think your brother is there as well,” Linda said.
“Great, now I’ll have my parents and Evan berating me. My life is about to end.”
She leaned back in her chair and put a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. Seeing her parents after having been told by the doctors she was pregnant was daunting. She wanted to get a movie, curl up on the sofa, and eat ice cream. Her parents wouldn’t allow her to get a job, and she had an allowance deposited into her bank account. Linda could work if she wanted. Her friend was currently writing a book in her time at home.
Jennifer pressed a hand to her stomach. “You don’t think they’ll make me get rid of it, do you?”
“Even your family couldn’t do that.”
“They’d cut me off.”
“Would that be a bad thing?” Linda asked. “You’d be free to do what you wanted without fear of them demanding something from you. They’ve got a lot of hold over you.”
Jennifer couldn’t argue with her friend’s assessment. When she’d left college she’d had so many plans, which had soon been nipped in the bud because her family refused to let her work. None of their friends’ daughters worked. The women got married and raised a family.
“When we get home I’ll order pizza and ice cream. We’ll veg out on the sofa and watch soppy love stories,” Linda said.
“You’re such a good friend.”
Linda smiled.
Jennifer climbed out of the car when Linda parked the car in her parent’s driveway several minutes later. Several of the staff were preparing for the summer ball her folks liked to host. The garden was being turned into a garden fit for a queen.
She passed them, nodding her head in acknowledgement.
Linda walked by her side with her arm linked through hers. “We’ll get through this. Do you remember when you climbed out of your bedroom window to my house?” Linda asked.
“This is more serious than escaping the bedroom, Linda. I’m coming home pregnant by a man I bet they don’t approve of.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Jen,” Linda said.
