The One (The Only One Book 1)
Page 14
Adelia’s eyes drifted out the window. She furrowed her brows, contemplating how this news affected her feelings. “I love my husband, but this is obviously upsetting. I can’t imagine what I would do if I thought that Miles was responsible for my parents’ deaths. I don’t like the idea of keeping a secret from him, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way. It’s not a very strong foundation on which to begin a life together, is it?”
“Adelia, you have to focus on what you feel. Focus on the honeymoon. Focus on the love between you.” David felt like a phony evangelist delivering a sermon. He knew nothing would make him happier than seeing her marriage fail.
“You’re right. I feel cherished and loved. We’re having a wonderful time. It’s beautiful here! You’ll have to bring the woman you love here. It’s very romantic!”
“Well, since no one fits that description, we’ll just leave that for some day in the future.” David stared morosely at his desk, feeling a wave of jealousy overcome him. He tried not to picture the woman on the other end of the line. “Call whenever you like, Adelia, day or night. Just make sure you’re alone. I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks for everything, David. I’ll speak to you soon.” She hung up and wiped the call from her phone’s history. Through the window, she could see Miles, Karolin, and Todd returning from shopping, loaded with bags. She gripped her stomach as she wondered about what David had said. A few minutes later, Miles entered the suite, followed by a steward, her arms filled with packages.
“Just lay them on the table and chair. Thanks, Gail.” Gail arranged the bags on the table and was gone in a moment. Miles sat on the bed and bent to kiss Adelia’s forehead. “Feeling any better?”
“A little. I don’t know what’s come over me lately. I seem to be suddenly overcome by waves of nausea. I don’t understand it.”
A hint of a smile curled around Miles’s lips. “I have an idea of what the problem might be.”
Adelia looked quizzically at Miles. “Really, Dr. Bremen? Please don’t let me stop you from sharing your professional diagnosis.”
He leaned down and kissed her so deeply that she could feel her insides quiver. Releasing her lips, he whispered, “You’re pregnant, Mrs. Bremen.”
“I’m what? I can’t be. I…I…how is that possible? I’ve been on birth-control pills.”
“From what I understand, it can happen, especially when two people make as much love as we do. Maybe you were a few hours late taking a pill, or missed a day. I looked it up online, and I read it can happen. Regardless, I couldn’t be more delighted, Mrs. Bremen. Knocking you up has been a pleasure, and a baby will only add to that pleasure.”
“But, Miles, the Grand Prix circuit! All my years of work!”
“Sorry, life happens. You made the team once, and they all know who you are now. You can do it again.” Miles’s face darkened with serious intent. “Adelia, I’m putting you on notice that you are forbidden to ride horses while my child is gestating in you.” Then his face brightened. “Even our lovemaking is going to have to take a decidedly gentler pattern. In fact, I believe we should start practicing that gentler pattern right now.”
He kissed her hungrily with an urgency that melted her worries. She reached for the buttons on his shirt, revealing his hard pectoral muscles. Everything about him stiffened beneath the delicacy of her touch. He threw his shirt on the floor and bent to slip her sundress over her head. His hands caressed her stomach as he lowered his lips to kiss it, whispering with adoration, “Our baby is in here.”
She smiled, her fingers disheveling the dark crown of neatly groomed hair, her breath coming in short bursts of excitement as Miles’s kisses reached her groin. She groaned longingly as the heat from his mouth radiated through her body.
“Ohhh, Miles, I love how you make me feel. Promise me that it will always be like this.”
“I promise that I won’t ever tire of this…us.”
He stood and removed the linen trousers that could barely contain his excitement. He allowed his eyes a moment to appreciate the woman who now carried his child. “I want to remember you like this”—he lowered himself gently on top of her, pressing himself against her, seeking entry to her—“wanting me and only me.” He made his way into her, opening her, groaning as he felt the walls of her vagina close around him. Gently and slowly, he made love to her as she received him. It was not their usual passionate physical combat, two lovers wishing to conquer each other. This was more of an adoration of her as Miles’s eyes feasted on the elation that transposed her features as he slowly brought them both to climax. This was something new to be added to their repertoire, this meeting of mind, body, and soul.
“I love you, Miles,” she cried as she reached the top of the wave and slid down the backside of it in orgasm.
Seeing her fulfilled, her hands and arms pressed tightly around his back, her body arching and supplicating itself to him, sent him like a rocket into orbit, until he fell apart in uncontrollable spasms that rippled through them both as he collapsed within her, his body melting into hers.
“I don’t think I will ever get enough of you, Adelia. I don’t know what it is, but you are definitely the one woman I was born to love.”
“Well, I hope so, since we’re married and it’s possible that I’m carrying our child.” Adelia banished her fears about Miles lying to her about his relationship with her father. She told herself that there had to be a plausible explanation. The man she loved could not be a murderer.
“Oh, by the way, speaking of gifts…” He pulled out of her, rolled off the bed, and walked to the table covered in bags. He pulled a small box out of a bag and placed it on her stomach. “I hope you like it.” He watched as she tore away the paper to reveal a velvet jewel case.
Adelia opened it and gasped. A bracelet of four rows of large black, blue, gray, and white South Sea pearls, held together by tiny rings of diamonds, lay against the black velvet. “Miles, this is the most beautiful bracelet I have ever seen.” She held it up for him to do the honors. “You really shouldn’t shower me with gifts. It’s too much. Not everything has to be so over the top.” She shook the bracelet, allowing the pearls attached to golden chains to dangle and sway as they admired the gift. “I’m afraid to even look in all those other bags.”
Miles laughed. “Don’t worry. You’re looking at the only big gift. The rest are little gifts, and some of that shopping is for me. Relax and enjoy, Princess. Nothing you say is going to dissuade me from laying jewels at your feet. Consider this the first baby gift.”
Karolin and Todd were on deck, enjoying champagne and hors d’oeuvres, when Adelia and Miles emerged from the electric sliding doors to join them. Adelia wore a sheer, ankle-length, yellow chiffon dress with a matching chiffon coat. Her hair was tightly bound in a French braid. Her wrist was adorned with the new pearl-and-diamond bracelet, and on her feet was another gift from Miles—jeweled, bright-green Canfora Capri sandals, which were famous for being a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Miles clung tightly to Adelia’s hand as they exited the ship’s interior. “I hope everyone had a pleasant siesta?”
Todd smiled enthusiastically as he hugged Karolin to him. “What could be bad about being on a yacht anchored off the romantic Isle of Capri with the most desirable woman in the world and with good friends to boot? You’re looking at a very happy man!”
Karolin blushed and ran her hand through her short, wavy, blond hair. “Todd, please don’t become rhapsodic and sentimental. Whatever you do, don’t extol my virtues to my brother; I enjoy being the naughty little sister. Remember?” She kissed Todd’s smiling mouth. “I also love being the inamorata, the object of your desire. Being conquered is so sexy, don’t you think?”
“So you want to be conquered, do you?” Todd, imitating a vampire, growled as he buried his lips in Karolin’s neck, causing her to giggle. “I think you just want to be ravaged.”
“You’re such a tease, sister dear!” Miles shook his head in forbearance.
Karolin took a sip of champagne, ignoring Miles. “Nice bracelet, Adelia. So that’s where my brother disappeared to at the piazzetta. And I thought he only bought you sandals. Foolish me!”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I told him he shouldn’t buy me jewelry, but I don’t seem to be getting through to him. Maybe you can convince him not to shower me in dazzling jewels.”
“Don’t count on me to dissuade any man from showing his undying devotion through limitless generosity. That may be your thing, Adelia, but it most certainly is not mine.”
“Touché, sister!” Miles kissed the tip of Adelia’s nose. “You’ll get no support from that quarter. My sister derives satisfaction from shiny gifts…but to be fair, she also enjoys bestowing them.”
Gail exited the sliding doors with two champagne flutes. She retrieved the champagne from the ice bucket and began to pour a glass for each of them.
“Gail, no champagne for Mrs. Bremen. Please bring her cranberry juice and Pellegrino.”
“Miles, please—one glass of champagne to celebrate is not going to cause me any harm.”
“Really, Miles, stop being such an overbearing ogre,” Karolin interjected. “Adelia can drink whatever she likes. She’s a grown woman; quit treating her like a child.”
“Karolin, please stay out of this. This is between me and my wife.”
Adelia could feel the shift in the air as the two siblings glared at each other. She would not have this escalate into one of their typical battles. “Tell her, Miles.”
“Tell me what, brother dear?” Karolin’s eyes flashed as she baited him.
“We think Adelia’s pregnant!” His eyes matched Karolin’s in intensity as a self-satisfied smirk settled on his face.
Karolin blanched, dumbstruck. “I…I…That’s wonderful! But, how do you know?”
“I haven’t seen a doctor yet, but I’ve been suffering bouts of nausea.” Adelia grabbed Miles’s hand and smiled lovingly at him. “Miles figured it out—morning sickness.”
Todd jumped up and gave Miles an enthusiastic handshake; the two men hugged. “Miles, Adelia, this is amazing. Congratulations to you both.” He bent to kiss Adelia on the cheek. Turning to Karolin, he said exuberantly, “Karo, you’re going to be an aunt. Aren’t you excited? You’ll learn all the secrets of motherhood. By the time you have children you’ll be an expert.”
Tears began to pour from Karolin’s eyes; she tried ineffectually to wipe them away.
“Hey, why all the tears? Don’t you like children?” Todd put his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest.
“I…I always have wanted…I mean loved babies. It’s just that I don’t think they’re in my future.” Karolin’s voice broke with emotion.
Todd and Adelia stared with incomprehension at Karolin; while Miles looked on with impassive interest inwardly bracing for a possible storm.
“Honey, of course you’ll have children.” Todd’s comforting words broke the silence that had ensued.
Karolin struggled to contain her tears, desperately wiping at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Here I am stealing the limelight when this is really about Adelia and Miles. It’s just that I’m so excited…and happy. Of course, these are tears of joy. It’s time that the Bremen family gained some new blood. It’s been just Miles and me for too long.” Karolin, finally gained control of her emotions and lifted her champagne flute. “I propose a toast to my brother and his beautiful bride.” She looked meaningfully into Miles’s eyes as she spoke. “To our new baby. Grow strong, little one.”
Miles turned to his wife toasting her, and ignored Karolin’s pointed gaze. Adelia beamed at her sister-in-law, happy to see that Karolin’s surprising outburst was not displeasure but simply shock; and Todd embraced Karolin happy to see her smiling once more.
The discomfort that had prevailed moments before had dispelled. Now, the only sword of Damocles shadowing Miles’s and Adelia’s life together was Miles’s relationship with her father and what his omission of truth meant for their future. She longed to confront Miles and put this behind them, especially with a child on the way. However, she had promised David that she would uphold the secret of their investigation, and she could not betray his trust.
As the days passed on the yacht in what should have been paradisiacal rapture, Adelia found herself besieged by worry. Every day she contemplated the entanglements that had become her life: losing her parents in what appeared to be a suspicious accident, secretly hiring Detective Weiss to investigate the accident privately, meteorically meeting and marrying Miles, and now the emotional and physical roller coaster of pregnancy. It all left her a sleepless jumble of nerves, unable to enjoy her dream-come-true honeymoon. She wanted to go home, and even if she had promised Miles that she wouldn’t ride during the pregnancy, she still needed the comfort and proximity of horses. She sensed that she was suffering from too many changes occurring in too short a time.
She lay in the yellow, terry-cushioned playpen on the second-story aft deck, sunning and reading a book about the coast of Italy, sipping Coca-Cola, and nibbling chipped ice. The yacht lay at anchor off Ponza, the main island in the Pontine archipelago, in a pristine turquoise lagoon. She read that the lizard-shaped island had once been the playground of Roman emperors and was known for its ancient ruins and crystal-blue grottos. Adelia stared at the white cliffs and dark, craggy rocks that seemed to burst from the sea like jagged-headed sea monsters.
Miles, Karolin, and Todd had paddled to shore on boards to snorkel and explore the deserted rocky beach, which was accessible only from the sea. Ponza was a water-sport heaven. The placid, sparkling sea was perfect for snorkeling, water-skiing, fishing, and, of course, boating. Tired and queasy, Adelia had begged off and remained on board, hoping to catch some rays and a nap. She felt listless but glad for the solitude and the opportunity to contemplate her new future.
She picked up her cell phone and made the call that she had been dreading.
“Lucas, its Adelia. I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner, but the time difference makes it so difficult.”
“How are you, Delie? Is your young man making you happy?”
“Oh, yes. Miles is wonderful. We’re very much in love. I called you, though, to share some really good news.”
“What’s up, baby?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant. Lucas, I wanted you to be the first to know.”
Lucas’s silence forced Adelia to look at her cell phone, thinking it might have dropped the call. “Lucas, are you there?”
Lucas cleared his throat. “I’m here, Delie. I just need a moment to digest this news. Are you ready, honey? Having a baby is a really big step.”
Lucas’s concern gave voice to the fears that had begun to consume her since the reality of the pregnancy had come to light. “I don’t know…I…of course, I want the baby…It just took me by surprise. Miles is thrilled, as is Karolin. It’s hard for me to complain about the most important thing that has ever happened to me. I guess I’m just sad that Lars and Faye—” A sob strangled her words, and like a burst dam, her tears flowed uninhibited. She fought to stem the tide of emotion that overwhelmed her.
“It’s OK, honey. You go right ahead and cry. It’ll do you good. If I recall correctly, your mother did a lot of crying when she was pregnant.”
“Oh, Lucas, did she? I’ve turned into a basket of emotions. The horses…our dream of competing on the US team…all of it gone. What have I done?”
Lucas chuckled as he recollected. “Faye had the sam
e reaction to her pregnancy with you. She thought it was the end of her photography career and her dream of wild adventures in the far corners of the earth. Instead, she found her true calling. Being mother to you was her greatest accomplishment, and if she were here right now, she would tell you just that. Beyond you, she managed to build a successful and fulfilling second career, and so will you. Dry your eyes, Delie, and look beyond today. I think you will find the future looks a lot brighter than you think. There’s no reason why you can’t go back to competition after the pregnancy.”
“Thank you, Lucas. Only you could make me feel better. We share the past, the thing that makes us who we are. I’m so grateful for your support.”
“By the way, what’s that detective guy doing? He’s been spending quite a bit of time in Lars’s and Faye’s offices.”
“Oh, Detective Weiss. I forgot about him. He asked if he could take a look at Lars’s and Faye’s computers. He said he had a few unanswered questions. I’ll give him a call and find out if he’s finished. He didn’t bother you, did he, Lucas?”
“Nah, I just don’t like strangers snooping around the place.”
“Detective Weiss was very kind to me, Lucas. I wouldn’t want to offend him in any way.”
“No worries. You just take good care of yourself and that baby. Send my regards to Miles and Karolin.”
Adelia hung up and looked at her watch. She’d missed her window of time to call David. Lunch was called for one, and Miles, Karolin, and Todd were due back shortly. She felt a pang of guilt that she had lied to Lucas about David, but David had insisted that it was best that no one know. God, she was tired. Maybe if she closed her eyes for a minute, she would feel better.
Miles, Karolin, and Todd returned to Green Way to shower before lunch. Miles exited the electric doors to the outdoor dining table, which was set informally for lunch. “Gail, where’s Mrs. Bremen?”