The Bridesmaid's Baby Bump

by Kandy Shepherd

  ‘Of course I give you a third chance,’ he said hoarsely. He’d give her a million chances if they brought her back to him. ‘But only if you’ll give me a third chance.’

  ‘Third chance granted,’ she said, a tremulous edge to her voice.

  He pulled her into his arms and held her close, breathed in her sweet scent. She slid her arms around his back and pressed closer with a little sigh. He smiled at the feel of her slender body, with the distinct curve of his baby resting under her heart. His baby. His woman. Now he had to convince her—not coerce her—into letting him be her man.

  He looked over her head to the dark night sky, illuminated only by a sliver of silver moon, and thanked whatever power it was that had given him this chance to make good the wrongs he’d done her.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ he said, not sure how to embellish his words any further.

  ‘I’ve missed you too. Terribly.’

  He’d flown back to Brisbane after she’d left him at the lawyer’s office. His house had seemed empty—his life empty. He’d longed to be back with Eliza in her little house, with the red front door and the dragonfly doorknocker. Instead he’d tied her down to a contract to ensure his child’s presence in his life and in doing so had driven her away from him.

  Over and over he’d relived his time with her in Port Douglas. The passion and wonder of making love with her. Thought of the real reason he wanted to spend millions to relocate his company to Sydney. The overwhelming urge to protect her he’d felt as he’d held her hand in the ambulance and soothed her fears she might lose the baby she’d longed for. His baby. The incredible gift he’d been able to give her. The baby was a bonus. Eliza was the prize. But he still had to win her.

  Eliza pulled away from his arms but stayed very close.

  ‘Jake, I don’t hate you—really, I don’t.’ The words tumbled out of her as if she had been saving them up. ‘And I don’t think you’re a bullying thug. I...I’m really sorry I called you that.’

  He’d always known he’d have to tell her the truth about his past some time—sooner rather than later. Her words seemed to be a segue into it. There was a risk that she would despise him and walk away. But he had to take that risk. If only because she was the mother of his child.

  He cleared his throat. ‘You’re not the first person to call me a bully and a thug,’ he said.

  She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘When I was fifteen years old I came up in front of the children’s court and was charged with a criminal offence. The magistrate used just those words.’

  ‘Jake!’

  To his relief, there was disbelief in her voice, in the widening of her eyes, but not disgust.

  ‘I was the leader of a gang of other young thugs. We’d stolen a car late one night and crashed it into a shopfront. I wasn’t driving, but I took responsibility. The police thought it was a ram-raid—that we’d driven into the shop on purpose. In fact it was an accident. None of us could drive properly. We didn’t have a driver’s licence between us—we were too young. With the pumped-up pride of an adolescent male, I thought it was cooler to be charged with a ram-raid than admit to being an idiot. It was my second time before the court so I got sentenced to a spell in juvenile detention.’

  Eliza kept close, didn’t back away from him in horror. ‘You? In a gang? I can’t believe it. Why?’

  ‘Things weren’t great at home. My grandfather, who was the only father I’d ever known, had died. My mother had a boyfriend I couldn’t stand. I was angry. I was hurting. The gang was a family of sorts, and I was the kingpin.’

  ‘Juvenile detention—that’s jail, isn’t it?’

  ‘A medium security prison for kids aged from eleven to sixteen.’

  She shuddered. ‘I still can’t believe I’m hearing this. How awful for you.’

  He gritted his teeth. ‘I won’t lie. It was awful. There were some really tough kids in there.’

  ‘Thank heaven you survived.’ Her voice was warm with compassion.

  She placed her hand on his cheek. He covered it with his own.

  ‘My luck turned with the care officer assigned to me. Jim Hill. He saw I was bored witless at school and looking for diversion.’

  ‘The school hadn’t realised you were a genius?’

  ‘They saw me as a troublemaker. Jim really helped me with anger management, with confidence-building. He showed me I had choices.’ Jake smiled at the memory. ‘He knew I hungered for what I didn’t have, after growing up poor. Jim told me I had the brains to become a criminal mastermind or to make myself a fortune in the commercial world. The choice was mine. When my detention was over he worked with my mother to get me moved to a different school in a different area, further down the coast. The new school put me into advanced classes that challenged me. I chose to take the second path. You know the rest.’

  Eliza’s eyes narrowed. ‘Jim Hill? The name sounds familiar.’

  ‘He heads up The Underground Help Centre. You must have met him at the launch party.’

  ‘So you introduced him to Dominic?’

  ‘Jim introduced me to Dominic. Dominic was under his care too. But that’s Dominic’s story to tell. Thanks to Jim, Dominic and I already knew each other by the time we started uni. We both credit Jim for getting our lives on track. That’s why we got him on board to help other young people in trouble like we were.’

  ‘How have you managed to keep this under wraps?’

  ‘Juvenile records are sealed when a young offender turns eighteen. I was given a fresh start and I took it. Now you know the worst about me, Eliza.’

  * * *

  Jake was such a tall, powerfully built man. And yet at that moment he seemed to Eliza as vulnerable as his fifteen-year-old self must have been, standing before a magistrate, waiting to hear his sentence.

  She leaned up and kissed him on his cheek. It wasn’t time yet for any other kind of kiss. Not until they knew where this evening might take them. Since they’d last stood on this terrace together they’d accumulated so much more baggage. Not to mention a baby bump.

  ‘That’s a story of courage and determination,’ she said. ‘Can you imagine if someone ever made a movie of your life story?’

  ‘Never going to happen,’ he growled.

  ‘Well, it will make a marvellous story to tell your child one day.’

  ‘Heavily censored,’ he said, with a hint of the grin she had got so fond of.

  She slowly shook her head. ‘I wish you’d told me before. It helps me understand you. And I’ve been struggling to understand you, Jake.’

  To think she had thought him superficial. He’d just been good at hiding his wounds.

  He took both her hands in his and drew her closer. ‘Would it have made a difference if I’d told you?’

  ‘To help me see why you’re so determined to give your child a name? Yes. To make me understand why you’re so driven? Yes. To make me love you even more, knowing what you went through? Yes. And I—’

  ‘Stop right there, Eliza,’ he said, his voice hoarse. ‘Did you just say you love me?’

  Over the last days she’d gotten so used to thinking how much she loved him, she’d just blurted out the words. She could deny it. But what would be the point?

  She looked up into his face, saw not just good looks but also his innate strength and integrity, and answered him with honesty. ‘Yes, Jake, I love you. I fell in love with you...I can’t think when. Yes, I can. Here. Right here on this terrace. No. Earlier than that. Actually, from the first moment. Only you weren’t free. And then there was Port Douglas, and I got all tied up in not wanting to get hurt again, and...’

  She realised he hadn’t said anything further and began to feel exposed and vulnerable that she’d confessed she’d fallen in love with a man who had never given any indicatio
n that he might love her.

  She tried to pull away but he kept a firm grip on her hands. ‘I...I know you don’t feel the same, Jake, so I—’

  ‘What makes you say that? Of course I love you. I fell in love with you the first time I was best man to your bridesmaid. We must have felt it at the same moment. You in that blue bridesmaid’s dress, with white flowers in your hair...’

  ‘At Andie’s wedding?’ she said, shaking her head in wonder.

  ‘At Dominic’s wedding,’ he said at the same time.

  He drew her closer. This man who wanted to care for her, look after her, miraculously seemed to love her.

  ‘You laughed at something I said and looked up at me with those incredible blue eyes and I fell right into them.’

  ‘I remember that moment,’ she said slowly. ‘It felt like time suddenly stopped. The wedding was going on all around me, and all I could think of was how smitten I was with you.’

  ‘But I was too damn tied up with protecting myself to let myself recognise it,’ he said.

  ‘Just as well, really,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t ready for something so life-changing then. And you certainly weren’t.’

  ‘You could look at it that way. Or you could see that we wasted a lot of time.’

  ‘Then the baby complicated things.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said.

  The spectre of that dreadful contract hovered between them.

  ‘Your pregnancy brought out my old fears,’ he said. ‘I’d chosen not to be a father because I don’t know how to be a father. I had no role model. My uncle lived in the Northern Territory and I rarely saw him. My grandfather tried his best to be a male influence in my life but he was quite old, and suffering from the emphysema that eventually killed him.’

  She nodded with realisation. ‘You were scared to be a father.’

  ‘I was terrified I’d be a bad father.’

  ‘Do you still think that way?’

  ‘Not so much.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because of you,’ he said. ‘I know you’re going to be a brilliant mother, Eliza. That will help me to be the best father I can be to our child.’

  ‘Thank you for the vote of confidence,’ she said a little shakily. ‘But I’ll have to learn to be a mother. We’ll both have to learn to be parents. And I know our daughter will have the most wonderful daddy who—’

  ‘Our daughter?’

  Eliza snatched her hand to her mouth. ‘I haven’t had a chance to tell you. I had another ultrasound last week.’

  For the first time Jake placed his hand reverently on her bump. ‘A little girl...’ he said, his voice edged with awe. ‘My daughter.’

  For a long moment Eliza looked up at Jake, taking in the wonder and anticipation on his face.

  ‘So...so where does that leave us?’ she asked finally.

  ‘I’m withdrawing my offer of marriage,’ he said.

  ‘What?’

  Jake looked very serious. ‘It was more a command than a proposal. I want to do it properly.’

  ‘Do what properly?’

  But she thought she might know what. Hope flew into her mind like a tiny bird and flew frantically around, trilling to be heard.

  ‘Propose,’ he said.

  Jake cradled her face in his big, strong hands. His green eyes looked intently down into hers.

  ‘Eliza, I love you. Will you marry me? Do me the honour of becoming my wife?’

  She didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes, Jake, yes. Nothing would make me happier than to be your wife. I love you.’

  Now was the time to kiss. He gathered her into his arms and claimed her mouth. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, her heart singing with joy. She loved him and she wanted him and now he was hers. No way would she be alone in that palatial guest apartment tonight.

  Jake broke away from the kiss. Then came back for another brief kiss, as if he couldn’t get enough of her. He reached inside his jacket to an inside pocket. Then pulled out a small embossed leather box and flipped it open.

  Eliza was too stunned to say anything, to do anything other than stare at the huge, perfect solitaire diamond on a fine platinum band, glinting in the faint silver light of the new moon. He picked up her hand and slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand. It fitted perfectly.

  ‘I love it,’ she breathed. ‘Where did you get—?’

  ‘In London.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I was planning to propose in Sydney. But then Tristan invited me here.’

  ‘Back to where it started.’

  He kissed her again, a kiss that was tender and loving and full of promise.

  ‘Can we get married as soon as possible?’ he asked.

  She paused. ‘For the baby’s sake?’

  ‘To make you my wife and me your husband. This is about us committing to each other, Eliza. Not because you’re pregnant. The baby is a happy bonus.’

  ‘So what happens about the contract once we’re married?’

  ‘That ill-conceived contract? After I left you at the elevator I went back to the meeting room and tore my copy up. Then I fired my lawyer for giving me such bad advice.’

  She laughed. ‘I put my copy through the shredder.’

  ‘We’ll be brilliant parents without any need for that,’ he said.

  ‘I love you, Jake,’ she said, rejoicing in the words, knowing she would be saying them over and over again in the years to come.

  ‘I love you too, Eliza.’ He lowered his head to kiss her again.

  ‘Eliza, are you okay? We were worried—’

  Andie’s voice made both Eliza and Jake turn.

  ‘Oh,’ said Andie. Then, ‘Oh...’ again, in a very knowing way.

  Gemma was there too. She smiled. ‘I can see you’re okay.’

  ‘Very okay,’ Eliza said, smiling her joy. She held out her left hand and splayed her fingers, the better to display her ring. ‘We’re engaged. For real engaged.’

  Andie and Gemma hugged her and Jake, accompanying their hugs with squeals of excitement and delight. Then Dominic and Tristan were there, slapping Jake on the back and hugging her, telling her they were glad she’d come to her senses and that they hoped she realised what a good man she’d got.

  ‘Oh, I realise, all right,’ she said, looking up at Jake. ‘I couldn’t think of a better man to be my husband and the father of my child.’

  ‘You got the best man,’ said Jake with a grin.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE BEAUTY OF having your own party planning business, Eliza mused, was that it was possible to organise a wedding in two weeks flat without cutting any corners.

  Everything was perfect, she thought with satisfaction on the afternoon of her wedding day. They’d managed to keep her snaring of ‘the Billionaire Bachelor’ under the media radar. So she and Jake were getting the quiet, intimate wedding they both wanted without any intrusion from the press.

  It had been quite a feat to keep it quiet. After all, not only was the most eligible bachelor in Australia getting married, but the guest list of close family and friends included royalty.

  Andie had found a fabulous waterfront house at Kirribilli as their venue. The weather was perfect, and the ceremony was to be held on the expansive lawns that stretched right down to the harbour wall, with the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge as backdrop.

  It really was just as she wanted it, Eliza thought as she stood with her father at the end of the veranda. Andie had arranged two rows of elegant white bamboo chairs to form an aisle. Large white metal vases filled with informal bunches of white flowers marked the end of each row of seats.

  Now, the chairs were all filled with guests, heads turned, waiting for the bride to make her entran
ce. Everyone she cared about was there, including Jake’s mother, whom she’d liked instantly.

  Ahead, Jake stood flanked by his best man, Dominic, and his groomsman Tristan, at one side of the simple white wedding arch completely covered in white flowers where the celebrant waited. On the other side stood her bridesmaids, Andie and Gemma. A jazz band played softly. When it struck up the chords of the traditional ‘Wedding March’, it was Eliza’s cue to head down the aisle. On the back of a white pony named Molly—her father’s wedding gift to her.

  Her vintage-inspired, full-skirted tea-length gown hadn’t really been chosen with horseback-riding in mind. But when her father had reminded her of how as a little girl she had always wanted to ride to her wedding on her pony, she had fallen for the idea. Andie had had hysterics, but eventually caved in.

  ‘I really hope we can carry this off, Dad,’ Eliza said now, as her father helped her up into the side saddle.

  ‘Of course you can, love,’ he said. ‘You’re still the best horsewoman I know.’

  Amazing how a wedding and a baby could bring families together, she thought. Her father had mellowed and their rift had been healed—much to her mother’s joy. Now Eliza was seated on Molly and her father was leading the pony by a lead-rope entwined with white ribbons down the grassy aisle. There was no ‘giving away’ of the bride as part of the ceremony. She and Jake were giving themselves to each other.

  Her entrance was met with surprised delight and the sound of many cameras clicking.

  Jake didn’t know about her horseback entrance—she’d kept it a secret. ‘Brilliant,’ he whispered as he helped her off Molly and into his arms. ‘Country girl triumphs.’

  But once the novelty of her entrance was over, and her father had led Molly away, it was all about Jake and her.

  They had written the words of the ceremony themselves, affirming their love and respect for each other and their commitment to a lifetime together as well as their anticipation of being parents. Her dress did nothing to disguise her bump—she hadn’t wanted to hide the joyous presence of their miracle baby.