The Price of Penny

by T. C. Rybicki

  “So now you know. What’s our next step if you aren’t going to send me into hiding.”

  I pointed to the bathroom. “Shower. What else? I think it’s only fitting we celebrate by returning to the scene of the crime. For the record, I’d never put you in hiding. That’s absurd.”

  By the time I got Penny freshly showered and back on the bed, not much other than my carnal desires were running through my mind, but I stopped myself. “Oh, wait. I forgot. Is this okay? I mean, is it allowed?”

  “Yes, it’s perfectly safe. I asked Dr. Brown a thousand and one questions when I found out if I could travel. We’re good. In fact, if you don’t touch me soon, I’m going to combust and I doubt that’s good for the baby.”

  The mention of the baby sent jolts of electric currents up and down my spine. I dreamed a life with Penny for a long time, but it was happening. We were forever bonded and I hadn’t even given her the ring yet. I kissed my way down her neck and to the valley of her precious peaks.

  “Am I imagining this or are these already bigger?”

  “They are and super sensitive, so be gentle.”

  “Always am.” I spent some moments giving the new bounty delicious attention. Penny’s fingernails dug into my back as she pulled me closer. My hand traveled down her body. She was so receptive to every touch and caress.

  “More Chet. Touch me more. I’ve missed you so much.”

  I soon found my head against her flat stomach. One day soon, the product of our love would show for all the world to see. I enjoyed the knowledge I was the only other soul that would be this close to our child for a long time to come. So much of my life was in the public, so the private times were sacred to us. I kissed below her navel.

  “I loved you before you even existed, baby Parker.”

  Penny massaged her fingers over my scalp, “That’s beautiful. You’re making me cry again.”

  I raised my eyebrows, “Want me to make you scream?”

  My large hand skated across her thigh and her legs fell opened. That was a yes and I was a man of my word. She was about to have a refresher course in how well I knew her body.

  We both breathed heavily against each other. I held her against my chest. “That was so worth a miserable flight.”

  “That was worth all the gold in Fort Knox. Damn, my woman is sexy. I think pregnancy agrees with you in certain ways.”

  “I think it does too. I’ve been reading about these hormone surges. Perhaps, I just experienced one or maybe you refreshed my memory how lucky I am. No matter, you’ll never get any complaints from me. So far, I haven’t suffered too many symptoms other than fatigue and queasiness but it’s not too bad. The trip was a little hard on me, but I’m guessing this might be an easy pregnancy. I hope.” Penny believed her lack of symptoms and missing me were the reasons she ignored the possibility she was pregnant.

  I had something important to tell her. She’d fought me on this so far, but we were taking it to the next level. I planned a huge surprise for Thanksgiving week since all our families would be together for the first time. Penny’s surprise trumped mine. I had to spill. “Don’t say anything until you hear me out, but I want you to move in the condo as soon as you get back. Gage will take care of everything.”

  “Chet, I don’t know. It’s so soon and my lease.”

  “I’ll pay off the remaining months. You can have free rein of the condo. Decorate the place how you want except . . .”

  “I know. Enough with the color of your bedroom wall. I won’t touch it.”

  “Our.”

  “Our what?”

  “That’s our bedroom.”

  “You really want me to move in?”

  I’d asked her at least thirty times before I left the country. I thought she knew I was dead serious.

  “Okay, I’ll move in.” She kissed me to seal her promise. “I hope Pepper will adjust.”

  Pepper would be fine. She loved the beach and I could hire the dog walker my neighbor used so Penny wouldn’t have to go out with her alone or when she was too tired to put up with her hyper ass.

  I blurted out the rest without thinking. “If you happen to be nosing through my underwear drawer, there’s something I need to explain.”

  “Is it a sexy man-thong thing? I think most guys have tried a pair at least once.”

  “What? No, no man-thongs and ‘most guys’ is stretching the facts. I’m trying to be serious here.”

  “Oh, sorry. When you acted like I’d snoop through your undies, I thought we were kidding.”

  “There’s a blue velvet box.” Penny stopped messing around and covered her mouth with both her hands. I took her left hand and rubbed over her finger. “I wish I had the ring to give you right now, but I thought I was asking at Thanksgiving. I know you. I had to tell you now or you’d think I only bought it because I got you pregnant. I was going to ask you, anyway, So will you?”

  “Chet. Is this your idea of a legitimate marriage proposal, telling me about secret boxes in your boxers?”

  “Yes. Would you expect any less from me? I always do shit classy. So, what’s your answer, Penelope Elaine Kopernik? Wanna marry a sexy movie star and have his baby or not?”

  She crawled all the way on top of me. I could see the tears welling up in her beautiful blue eyes. “Yes and yes. That’s the most preposterous proposal I’ve ever heard and I just fell a little more in love with you.”

  I snuggled against Chet in my favorite spot with my head on his shoulder. His strong arms held me tight to keep me from going anywhere, but I never would. This was the best spot on the planet. I was exhausted from the journey and sated from our lovemaking. After his colorful proposal, a guy showed up with chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. Chet slipped him an ungodly amount of money and instructed him to run as fast as he could to find us something non-alcoholic but equally festive. Originally, he planned to toast my surprise arrival, but we were toasting so much more now. Our joy led to more kissing and other things, especially after he fed a few strawberries to me.

  The hour was extremely late, but I couldn’t seem to fall asleep. He and I didn’t have much time with each other, only this long weekend. Chet didn’t want me to make another trip back to Argentina. He worried the long journey was too hard on me. I had to get as much of him as I could absorb. He had a few more questions about what to expect since he knew absolutely nothing about pregnant ladies. I wanted to know why he and Xavier were on the outs. I didn’t have to like X, but I felt bad because no matter how much he denied it, Chet was upset about the strain between them.

  “You aren’t really ending your friendship with Xavier, are you?”

  “Depends. I’ll have to wait and see what this personality specialist does with him.”

  “What’s a personality specialist?”

  “Exactly. Who knows? But starting next week, X will have one.” He said he thought it was some type of life coach and if anyone needed coaching through life, it was Xavier. I shook my head and was thankful I had Chet and pitied the women that spent time with his friend.

  I’d spent days worrying how he’d take this news, but Chet took it all in stride. He seemed thrilled which finally let me take a breath and realize how happy I actually was. I honestly didn’t expect things like this would ever happen for me and now my heart was set on all the promises Chet made to me each and everyday.

  Just before I finally succumbed to sleep, Chet spoke again, “Penny, we’re going to have a baby. I can’t believe it.”

  “Me either, babe. Me either. Goodnight.”

  The weeks and months flew by. I continued to miss Chet like mad, but he was finally back home with me. We stayed locked away the first few days, but it was almost time for the huge combined Thanksgiving. No one had a place big enough, so we’d rented a large home not too far from Chet’s parents place. Our holiday this year was a little more eventful since we were also doing the gender reveal after Thanksgiving dinner. Chet made it back just in time to attend my big u
ltrasound.

  He and I decided to go with the times and have the gender sealed in an envelope so we could all be surprised together. Mrs. Monroe’s bakery was making our cake. However, Chet insisted he saw boy parts. I told him he was clueless. We weren’t supposed to be finding out until we were with everyone. He kept asking if that was it and the technician would laugh and say ‘that’s a leg or here’s the umbilical cord.’ I kinda felt like a boy for some reason as well. I didn’t care either way. I was thrilled to be having a healthy baby.

  Our parents took the news well. Chet insisted on taking part revealing the news despite being out of the country. He made sure he was on Skype both times. First, we told Mum and Dad when they were down for the weekend at Maggie’s new home. Mum about fell out onto the floor. She ended up dancing all around the room with Mags. Daddy looked stern at first, but he eventually cracked a smile when I informed him we were officially engaged. That softened the blow.

  Chet’s parents were overjoyed, even Heather and Teddy got overly excited about their impending Aunt and Uncle status. We didn’t tell anyone else for as long as we could keep it a secret. Eventually, I showed. I hid it well, but an overzealous fan discovered me coming out of Dr. Brown’s office one afternoon. She blabbed on about how she couldn’t believe Chet Parker’s girlfriend went to her OB-GYN, but of course, she would never repeat that news. I was entitled to my privacy. I never even confirmed her suspicion I was indeed pregnant. However, the next day, I was followed on three separate occasions. By nightfall, my “bump” was plastered all over the Internet. At least we made it well into the second trimester without the news going public.

  It was unbelievable we were about to cross the halfway mark. Life was so much better now that Chet was back with me. He had a promo tour after the premiere of the movie right after Christmas then a quick break. I finished up work after the holidays. I went on an extended leave of absence. I would miss it, but it was nice not to worry about money for a change. Focusing on the nursery preparations and a secret wedding were extremely time consuming. Chet had his mind made up on buying a real house as soon as the dust settled. We decide to hold off on the search until after the baby arrived. There was entirely too much going on, especially in Chet’s world. With the third film premiering and the fourth about to wrap, there was suddenly chatter about a fifth installment. That was totally unexpected. The plan had always been four films. Chet said with each movie grossing millions more, it was almost a given, greedy execs would want to milk the series for all they could get.

  Wayne chastised Chet in front of everyone when I brought him a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner. “Making your pregnant girlfriend serve you. You should be ashamed.” I threw a cloth napkin at him. I had gotten up to stretch so I offered. Chet waited on me plenty. Our relationship was equal give and take. “Well, you’ll never catch me making Aub serve me. She is my queen and I wait on her.”

  Aubrey rolled her eyes. We knew the truth and she pointed it out. “What about when you’re gaming?”

  “That’s different, babe. I can’t risk quitting when I’m in the middle of something. I have a record to uphold.”

  They were too cute. Wayne finally got the nerve to ask her out for coffee and the fact that Aubrey went through with it even though he asked her to pick him up meant she was a keeper. They’d been dating for almost two months now. Turns out, Aubrey always thought Wayne was cute and hilarious. Chet said she hadn’t figured out yet, he wasn’t trying to be funny. There was funny- haha and plain funny- strange which is what Wayne was, but we were all happy for them.

  Chet patted his food baby and said he had just enough room for dessert. It was time to cut the cake. The room erupted with a celebratory chants. I heard equal shouts of boy and girl predictions.

  Wayne was confident. “It’s a boy. Chet told me some stuff, so I know.”

  I glared at Chet and then shook my head at Wayne. I had no idea what that meant but I was immediately embarrassed. Chet joined me in the kitchen to help with the cake.

  “That’s one of his many delusions. I’ve never given him details no matter how much he begs.”

  I stomped his foot from the side. “You better not or else. Come on, let’s see whether Mags is returning all the frilly dresses or the basket of sports clothing.” I kept telling her to wait, but she bought for both sexes like I was having twins or something, one of each.

  Chet wrapped his arm around me and kissed my neck. “Or we could keep all of it for when we have the second one. I kinda like making babies with you Penny.”

  I needed to get through this first time, but he and I both agreed, we definitely wanted our son or daughter to have siblings.

  Chet and I held the knife together as all our friends and family looked on. Wayne started an annoying drum roll with his mouth. We cut into the cake. I thought we would have to pull out the first piece to reveal blue or pink velvet cake, but as soon as we lifted the knife, it was totally obvious. Blue crumb covered the blade. Sheila shouted first. “Boy! They’re having a boy!”

  We finished cutting the first slice before Maggie took over. Chet pulled me into his side to give me the congratulatory kiss. “See, told ya. I’m always right. Never forget that. Thanks for growing me a son.”

  I giggled, “Thanks for planting the seed.”

  We were beyond elated. A son. Baby Parker was a boy and we had the perfect name picked out, but we kept it to ourselves. We weren’t telling until the day he was born. I could hardly wait for that day. I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like to look at his face and study all the details. I already spent so much time imagining how he would look. Would our child have Chet’s chin, my crazy hair or my mouth? Would he have dark eyes or blue like our Polish side?

  I soon had the chance to congratulate my father. He seemed awfully quiet when everyone else was at full volume. “Hey, Poppa. You excited about your grandson?”

  “Oh sure, sweetie. I’m over the moon. It’s just a bit surreal, you know. Didn’t seem so long ago your mother and I were having our son.”

  “Daddy.” I kissed his cheek. “I know you miss him.”

  “Yes, always, but I have my girls. Strange how I lost you both so close together. It’s been an adjustment.”

  “You didn’t lose us. We’re still your girls. At least, we both found good men.”

  “I know and I’m thankful for that. A father never wants to imagine his daughters with men that don’t appreciate them as much as he does. I still worry. You know that’s my job.”

  “Yes, I’m usually the one worrying right along with you, but this is a happy time. No worrying allowed.”

  Chet joined us and shook Dad’s hand. They both congratulated one another. “You keep taking great care of my little girl and soon my grandson.”

  “I will, sir. Always. You know you can trust me.”

  Dad patted his back before stepping away. “Yeah son, I know I can.”

  Chet whispered, “If I ever screw up, he’s having me killed.”

  I shook my head with determination. Neither of those things were happening. Chet caught me by surprise when he lifted me up and spun me around. He yelled the whole time. “I’m going to be a father and this woman is about to be my wife. This is the best year of my life!”

  The following weeks were more hectic than ever. I had events and interviews and the premiere. One particular interview, Penny came out of hiding and did her very first question and answer alongside me. It was totally spontaneous. I knew the interviewer well and trusted she’d only have respectful questions for her.

  Of course, she started out with the question I’d been sidestepping for months. “So, any chance you’ll give me the exclusive details about the wedding, Penny?”

  I interrupted in case Penny’s nerves got the best of her and she cracked. “Who said anything about a wedding?”

  “Come on, Chet. That ring on her finger has it’s own Facebook page. We all know the two of you got secretly engaged in Argentina.”

&nbs
p; Penny looked at me shocked. “She’s teasing.”

  “Or am I?” All three of us laughed, Penny’s was forced. She still couldn’t believe people knew so much about us.

  I assured Ms. Stephens I was plenty busy with work and our plate was full at the moment, but she’d be the first to know if we announced a date. We weren’t and she knew, so we stopped dancing around the subject.

  She asked Penny a few things about the instant notoriety of being with someone like me. She wanted to know how we met. Even though Penny and I agreed a long time ago, the exact details of our relationship were reserved only for us, I shared that our meeting was purely accidental while Penny was helping her sister prepare for her wedding.

  “So was it love at first sight, Penny? Could you believe this handsome actor was in your presence or that you were on his radar?”

  I laughed loudly. Penny was hesitant to answer. “More like love at first sight on my part and an instant disliking from her.”

  “What? You mean you didn’t like Chet Parker?”

  Penny nudged me with her elbow then she brought her hands back to her swollen stomach. Our son was showing himself a little more each day. I kept telling her she was too tiny and then one day, she ballooned; although, I’m pretty sure I never called it that to her.

  “Um, well, I had a preconceived notion, a man like Chet would be arrogant and full of himself, so I wasn’t exactly caught up with him unlike most of the female population on the planet.”

  “Oh, I see, but then you found out he wasn’t like that at all and he won your heart?”

  “Yes and no, he pretty much is full of himself like I suspected but he definitely won my heart. He is the kindest, most thoughtful man I’ve ever known. It was easy to fall for him in spite of his over-abundant self-love.” She stopped talking and added she was teasing. “Seriously, we’re truly blessed.”

  I leaned over to kiss her cheek. Kelsey Stephens, interviewer of the rich and famous, looked a little surprised at our candidness. She said we were adorable. “But, seriously, Penny. You had some tough critics out there in the beginning. I won’t read any of the hateful comments, but many celebrity followers can be overzealous. How do you handle the mean things said about you for absolutely no reason?”