Maybe she had not let Tony win. In an obvious way, she had won, and taken away the leverage that he had thought he had over her. After all, he had apparently agreed to drop the threats and had handed back the photos. But he was still close to her family and he could easily tell them everything just to hurt her. In any event, the news was going to some out sooner or later. Sophia could only truly win if she broke the news to her family herself. So far Sophia had managed to circumvent every possible twist and turn of Tony's plot . Imagine his shock when he went to tell her family about the Franklins, and found out they already knew everything!
Maybe it was time for her to come clean, anyway. How else could she proceed with her life? She was starting to show and there was no more waiting. She was about to have a baby and her family had to find out. This could not be a secret forever. Of course, she could lie about who the dad was, but she didn’t want to carry that paranoia that Tony might tell or they might find out some other way for the rest of her son’s life.
****
“Allo?” her mother answered on the second ring. She always kept her phone on her in case one of her children called. Often she complained that they did not call enough. She was always ready to talk, even when she was busy cleaning and cooking. The house was her domain and she kept it perfect, always smelling of Fabuloso and simmering beans. The special smell of home filled Sophia’s nostrils and made her briefly homesick. She would miss all of this! One should not live without family!
“Allo? Sophia?” she repeated.
“Hi, Mama.”
Her mother let out a cry. “You have not called for weeks! You kicked me out of your apartment and you never call! You hate me!”
“I don’t hate you,” Sophia sighed. “I love you, Mother.”
“Then why do you act like you hate me?”
“I don’t Mama. I just needed space.”
“Space? Ah, what kind of daughter are you!” Her mother let out a string of aggravated Spanish. “I have been so worried.”
“Well, thanks for being patient. It took a lot of courage for me to make this call.”
“Why? You can call anytime, girl! What on earth would make you scared to call your mother?”
“Because I have some news, Mama.”
Her mother cried out. “Oh, no. I knew it. You were robbed and attacked, weren’t you?”
“No, Mama, nothing like that.”
“Oh, God.” She heard her mother sitting down. “What is this news?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Her mother was silent. Then she whooped. “Pregnant? With a baby?”
“Yes, with a baby.” Sophia would have laughed normally, but she couldn’t now.
“I knew you and Tony would work things out! Hallelujah!”
“No, Mama, it isn’t Tony’s baby.”
“Oh.” Then her mother began scolding her. “What have you been doing in that big city? Who is the father then? He better not be some no-good thug!”
“The father is…well, it's complicated. I don’t know who he is.”
“Mi Dios! Sophia!” Her mother sounded stunned. Indeed, it was out of character for Sophia, who had previously only been with one man.
“Mom, you have to listen to me. And you may never talk to me again after you hear this. But I need you to listen. I have made a decision that you won’t understand.”
“You aren’t having an abortion, are you?”
“Of course not.” Sophia sighed. “Please just let me speak. I have a lot to tell you. Listen, Mother. I have been dating two men. They are brothers. And either one of them may be the father of this baby. We have agreed to raise the baby together, to be a family. We’re all together, in a relationship together.” She kept speaking to fill the void of her mother’s chilly silence. “Well, they are not dating each other. But they are both dating me and they know about each other. And they have both stepped up to be the father of this baby. And Tony even knows about this.”
Suddenly, the line went dead.
Sophia sat there, feeling cold. She was not sure if she should call back or not. She decided to wait until her mother called back, which took fifteen minutes. Her mother was sobbing as she cursed her to Hell in Spanish and told her how she would burn for eternity and she had fallen so far from the good angel she used to be. “You are not a part of this family! And your filthy whore self is not allowed in my house again so don’t you dare come over or bring by that bastard child! Perverts!” she screeched before hanging up the phone.
Sophia leaned back with the phone against her chest and sobbed into her couch pillows. Then she called the brothers to come join her and comfort her. It took her all evening to cry out her broken heart. Then she finally wiped the tears from her face and saw both brothers, who looked guilty.
“We've ruined your life,” Adam said bitterly.
“No, you haven't. About that I am very clear. You are my family now. And you helped my life begin. I can’t cry over her. She doesn’t want me and its her choice. Hopefully, with time she will reconsider.” Sophia set the phone down. She had been holding it this whole time, as if it were her portal to her mother’s heart.
“That took a ton of courage. I didn’t think you had it in you,” Adam commented. “We’re proud of you.”
“Yeah, well, I suppose it had to be done.” Sophia stretched the kinks out of her neck. “Well, that’s that. I beat Tony and I told my family. What else is there to hold us back?” She offered both men a weak smile.
“Now we just need to stick this out and wait for our child to be born,” Blake said with a shrug.
“Sounds good to me,” Sophia agreed.
Chapter 15
It was a happy day. Sophia was swollen, eight months’ pregnant. She looked like a basketball was under her shirt. She was carrying quite well, however, and if you saw her from the back you wouldn't have known she was pregnant. Sophia attributed her trim look to eating well and exercising every day. She also really loved her new prenatal yoga class, which she attended four times a week at the sleek and upscale gym in the Times building.
The two brothers stood on either side of her as they climbed the stairs into Dan Shrader’s office. Dan was waiting behind his old-fashioned desk with all of the documentation.
A few weeks before, Sophia and Marcy had had a gender reveal party with the brothers. Marcy had brought her two boyfriends. She had finally managed to get her own polyamorous relationship, though the two men were not brothers. She loved calling Sophia and they would exchange details about their exciting threesomes and offer each other advice for how to navigate jealousy and fights. When Sophia bit into her cupcake and saw blue, she cried with the brothers. She had intuitively known that it would be a little boy.
Now here they were at Dan’s.
“Are you sure about this?” Dan asked, as he pushed two separate packets of papers at the brothers.
“Totally sure,” Adam said with a cheeky grin.
“Not a doubt in my mind,” Blake said.
Sophia sat between them. She didn’t really need to be here, but it felt ceremonial to her. She watched as the brothers read over the terms of their wills and then signed. Dan and a secretary signed as a witness.
“I have set up a five million dollar trust fund for our son,” Adam declared, the first to finish signing the packet. As he pushed back toward Dan along with the old-fashioned ink pen, he grinned at Sophia. She clasped his arm and snuggled into him to thank him.
Then Blake said, “And I've done the same.” Sophia clasped his arm and planted a firm peck on his cheek. He was letting his beard grow out at her request, since she liked feeling the bristles against her inner thighs when he went down on her. She had also requested Adam to remain clean-shaven and he had obliged her.
“You do know that you have just agreed that your child will be your sole heirs and will inherit the Franklin Corporation in the event of your deaths?” Dan confirmed.
Both brothers nodded eagerly. They had already thought about
all of this. When Sophia had questioned if they really wanted to do this, they had both said yes without any hesitation. They did not have any other children, nor did they plan to. They promised to reconsider the terms of their wills if they ever did have other children, but for now, their unborn son was their sole heir.
“And now here’s the financial agreement between the three of you, as per Adam and Blake's request. In addition to the trust funds they just set up, Blake and Adam Franklin agree to help support Sophia Nueva with her living expenses and all expenses related to this child, until he reaches the age of 21 years, and they agree to support this child in any of his future educational pursuits. They accept full responsibility for all expenses associated with your son, including educational and medical expenses. This agreement protects you and your son even if your romantic relationship together ends,” Dan went on. He produced many more papers for the men to sign. He glanced between the three of them, looking unsure of how to judge this situation. But like any good lawyer, he reserved judgement and remained discreet about the strange affair his clients were entertaining with this woman.
Sophia sucked in her breath, extremely surprised and feeling a bit winded. She had not known that the brothers had arranged for this. What generosity! They were both such good men, so keen to make her happy and provide for the baby. The fact that they were both taking financial responsibility for the baby without knowing whose it was meant everything to her. She squeezed their arms.
“We just never want you to ever suffer or worry,” Blake said kindly, reading the shock on her face.
They left the lawyer’s office and Sophia commented, “It feels like we just got married.”
“In a way, we did. I consider you my wife,” Blake agreed.
“Me too,” Adam said, taking Sophia’s hand.
“So how about we go shopping for the nursery now?” Blake proposed.
Sophia was ecstatic to satisfy her nesting instinct and start preparing the baby’s room. She had already chosen the second bedroom in her penthouse to be the nursery. With the exception of a bassinet that she would keep beside her four-post bed, she planned to furnish that room and hire a decorator. The brothers had already contracted one of the New York’s premier designers and had chosen gold and silver to be the theme, with lots of teddy bears.
The brothers told her that expense was not an issue. She ran from store to store, picking out adorable clothes and tiny shoes. She picked out dozens of teddy bears and blankets and accessories. She picked a little baby bathtub and kits for baby care. Her natural instincts guided her, but she also had plenty of advice and lists of things she needed from her new book, a gift from Marcy, What to Expect When You’re Expecting. “This book is mandatory for pregnancy,” Marcy had told her when she produced the book wrapped in blue paper at the gender reveal.
At one baby store, the brothers were drawn to a huge white crib that was priced at two thousand dollars. “Are you sure?” Sophia laughed. “I hadn’t expected to spend that much.”
“Let’s get it,” Adam urged her.
They needed the assistance of Adam’s personal driver to load up the car with all of the things they bought. It took many trips to get everything up to the nursery. They also put some toys and a Pack’n’Play in the Franklins’ apartment.
“It really looks like a baby is coming,” they joked as their apartment transformed.
Sophia was ecstatic as she began to unpack the bags and find places for everything in the nursery. It looked so cute and smelled like fresh paint. She lifted the window to let it air out. The decorator had down a fantastic job. She tenderly folded clothes in the organizer in the walk-in closet, and put little newborn diapers in neat white rows in the special baby-safe built-in dresser that the decorator had installed near where the crib was meant to go. The brothers struggled with setting up the crib and agreed to let Sophia redo it with her woman's touch.
Together, they stood with their arms around each other, surveying the room. Then they retired to the living room. Adam began to make dinner while Sophia relaxed with her feet up. She had few bad pregnancy symptoms but shopping all day on her feet made her exhausted.
“Foot rub?” Blake offered.
She nodded gratefully.
“I really feel good about this,” she said, eyeing the little brightly colored play mat that she had set in the center of the living room. It delighted her that she had everything she needed, even a car seat set up in the back of Adam’s car. Adam offered to buy her a car earlier but she had refused, having no need or desire to drive in the city. She would entrust her life and her son’s life in the driver, though, who had proved his excellent navigational abilities thus far.
“I do, too. I am so excited.” Blake laid his head against her belly and the baby began to kick. They both oohed over it and Adam hurried over to feel it. Watching these men dote on her, knowing that they were going to support her, helped her feel better. It did not matter who the father was and she was determined to never find out. Maybe it would become obvious when the baby grew older. That had always worried her. But now she knew that even if that happened, these men were never going to abandon her or lose interest.
“Even if we don’t work out, we will be good dads,” Blake promised.
“I know,” she said happily, rubbing her tummy and playing with the baby’s tiny feet. Feeling him wrestling around inside of her made her feel so whole and complete, confirming her motherhood. She loved to sit and just enjoy time peacefully feeling her child. Often she read him books and played classical music and Spanish songs that she remembered from her childhood. Sometimes she would cry, but out of nostalgia, not sadness. She liked to do this alone in order to bond with the baby and not have the brothers fawning over her, but now she enjoyed sharing this time with the fathers.
“He will go to St. Xavier’s, where we went. It’s one of the best schools,” Adam declared.
“I think he should pick his own school,” Sophia replied gently yet firmly. She hated the idea of sending her kid to a Catholic school against his will.
“Yeah, duh, Adam,” Blake said. “You really think this kid belongs in a Catholic school?”
Adam shrugged. “So maybe an alternative school.”
“We’ll decide later. I just want to thank you both.” She leaned her head back and smiled at them. “I’m really happy that this has happened.”
“Now we’re just waiting for him to come!” Blake said joyously.
“Just one more month,” Adam crowed from the kitchen, where he was making a meal specifically nutritious for pregnant women and their babies.
Chapter 16
It was a short trip from their condominium to NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Sophia thought the Franklins might have chosen New York Presbyterian because it was so close, but actually it was because it is the best hospital in Manhattan and where Dr. Sugarman had hospital privileges. Sophia was sure that the hospital was great, but right now she had a more immediate issue - squeezing an eight pound bowling ball through her legs. She had initially wanted a natural childbirth, but the pain was like something she had never experienced, so after the first fifteen minutes had begged her doctor for an epidural. Sophia leaned back against the pillows and heaved a sigh as exhaustion swept over her like a great cloud. After twelve hours of labor, her entire body was completely worn out from pushing. But with encouragement from both Adam and Blake, Sophia gave birth to a healthy eight pound seven ounce baby boy.
The nurse carried away her baby before she could see him and they rapidly swaddled him and bathed him. She could hear his little screams and she began to cry as joy overwhelmed her heart. Blake stood at one side of her. He too was crying at the sight of his new son. Looking at his face made her love him even more than she had ever imagined. Then she looked to her other side and saw. Adam, moved to tears but holding them back stubbornly, trying to be macho.
Both men had been there with her for the past twelve hours, as she fought to give birth to
their son. Exhausted, Sophia fought to stay awake so she could experience her newborn child. The doctor and nurses spent the next few minutes cleaning up the boy and then swaddling him tightly in a baby blue blanket.
“Here is your son,” the nurse said kindly, laying the little bundle against her chest.
For the first time, Sophia was able to get a close look at her son. He was a perfect mixture of the three of them. He had olive skin, and a few curls of wet red hair. When he opened his eyes to blink as his mother, she realized that they were a shocking deep blue. He was a healthy baby at eight pounds seven ounces, but he was so tiny. Knowing that this little child was all hers, and completely dependent upon her, made her feel both terrified and overjoyed. All she knew was that she loved this child in a way that she had never loved anything before. Her sense of tenderness and desire to hold this child overwhelmed her. Her heart felt as if it was bursting.
“Are you sure about his name?” Adam managed.
“Of course. I want to name him after your father,” she began. “Vincent.”
“And his middle name will be Angelo, after my brother. Vincent Angelo Franklin.”
Both brothers smiled, happy with her choice. She had removed any conflict about who the father was by selecting a neutral name. But it was an honorable and noble name. “I like it,” they both agreed.
She handed the baby up for one of the fathers to hold and Adam accepted him first. At first he looked a little awkward holding little Vincent, but soon got the hang of it. Blake then took him next. They both gazed at the child that was their son and heir. They were as terrified and clueless as Sophia was, but they were also as happy as she was as well.
The nurse brought in a pen and the birth certificate. Sophia wrote nothing in the name line. It did not matter who the father was. They were all in this together. She did, however, give him the last name Franklin.
Blake and Adam tried to fit on his first diaper together. Sophia smiled and laughed as happy tears flooded her eyes. It was so nice to see both of her lovers try to be fathers. While she was not sure what to do, she was grateful for their help. The nurse seemed confused about who was the father but helped them out with suggestions.
Stroked by my Dad's Best Friend_A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance Page 59
