by Linda Verji
“Can I talk now?” he cut her off.
Her bottom lip trembling, she nodded.
“What exactly do you take me for?” he glared at her.
Huh? She stared at him nervously.
“You think I’d make you get rid of our baby?”
For a moment, April didn’t understand what he was asking. When it finally sunk in, she hesitantly asked, “You won’t try and make me get rid of it?”
“Of course not. Do you really think I’m the kind of bastard who would-” He threw back his head and chuckled but there was no amusement to that laugh. “This is unbelievable.”
“Then what do you want?” She was genuinely confused by his reaction. “To co-parent?”
“To co-parent?” Frustration flashed through his eyes and his jaw ticked angrily. “Are you kidding me?”
Then what did he want?
Roman sucked in a deep breath as if to calm himself. When he spoke, his voice was noticeably lower. “April, I know we’ve been through a lot, but I thought we were done with that. I thought you knew that I loved you.”
He’d told her more than enough times that he loved her, but part of her still refused to believe it. Why would a successful, handsome, good man like him love her? She didn’t have any money to her name and her education was - to put it kindly – lacking. Maybe she was pretty, but she’d seen him with women who were more beautiful than her, more intelligent, better with money. She was just the woman who’d stalked him – and who he’d ignored - for close to three years. Why would he love her?
When she didn’t answer his question, Roman asked, “Do you really think that little of me?”
The painful hurt in his eyes and voice speared through her, touched her. Without conscious thought, she moved forward and reached forward to cup his cheek. He caught her hand before it reached his face.
His grip firm around her wrist, he stared at her. “Don’t you trust me at all?”
There was so much disappointment and sadness in that question and in his gaze that April had to lower her gaze. The tears that she’d been holding at bay chose that moment to break free. One slid down her cheek. Roman’s eyes were like lasers, fixed on her bent head, reproaching her.
Without looking up, she stammered, “I’m… I’m sorry.”
When Roman didn’t say anything, she snatched a glance up at him. She repeated, “I’m sorry.”
His eyes seemed to burn as they held hers; and for a moment she was sure that she’d gone too far, pushed him into finally breaking up with her. But then, with a heavy sigh, he pulled her into his lap. He pushed one hand into her hair and tilted her head so he could kiss her.
The kiss was filled with so much regret and sadness, that her tears spilled unchecked. Roman pulled back so he could wipe those tears with his palm. His gaze soft and tender, he said, “Stop doubting me so much.”
Hesitantly, she asked, “So you’re not mad that I’m pregnant?”
“Why would I be mad?” He canted his head as he studied her. “The woman I love is having my baby.”
April dragged in a huge breath. “So you want it?”
“Of course, I want it.”
She couldn’t quite believe it yet, so she asked, “And you’re happy?”
“Of course, I’m-” He gave a frustrated sigh. “Stop asking me questions like that or I’ll get mad again.”
April’s finger flew to her mouth as she nervously apologized, “I’m sorry.”
“And stop apologizing.” He pulled her finger from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. After another gentle kiss he said, “Yes, I’m happy.” His lips crooked, widened until his smile was all she could see. “We’re having a baby, April.”
She couldn’t help smiling in response. “I know.”
Roman’s gaze lowered to her still-flat tummy, and he cupped his hand over it. His voice was filled with awe as he repeated, “We’re having a baby.”
His genuine happiness was enough to ease the last vestiges of April’s nervousness. He really loved her, and he really wanted a baby with her. Thrill like she’d never felt before soared within her. It ballooned and consumed her until it felt like all her emotions were bubbling out of her. Driven by those emotions, she interlocked her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear. “I love you.”
He stiffened against her, and his shocked eyes flew to her face. “Say that again?”
She smiled. “I love you.”
Roman stared at her like he couldn’t quite believe her before his lips twisted in a smile. “Damn, you made me work hard for that.”
April couldn’t help but erupt in unrestrained laughter. Roman swallowed that laugh with a kiss that was hot enough to start a wildfire all on its own. Before, she knew it, he was standing up with her in his arms.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he carried her to the bedroom.
His grin widened. “To celebrate.”
EPILOGUE
Six and a half months later…
Roman was deep asleep when he was pulled out of his dreams by someone calling his name.
“Roman. Roman.” She shook his shoulder. “Honey, wake up.”
Groaning, he turned to the face the other side of the room.
“Roman, wake up.” April shook his shoulder more vigorously. “My water just broke.”
Her announcement was like bucket of cold water. Roman flipped and rocketed to sitting position as his panicked gaze sought out his fiancée. He found her seated on the bed beside him, already dressed in a green wrap dress and looking quite calm. Too calm. That wasn’t the face of a woman in labor – not that he knew how they looked.
He swallowed. “Did you just say your water broke?”
“Yes.” She pointed to her side of the bed where a pool of liquid stained the green sheets. “I think Ivy-Marie’s on her way.”
“Shit!” He shoved the covers off his legs and stood up. “We need to get to the hospital? Where’s your bag?” His heart was pounding so forcefully he could feel its beat in his throat. He moved towards the closets. “What time is it?” He raced back to her. “Are you in pain?”
“Calm down.” April chuckled. “I just had a contraction a minute ago so I’m good for now.”
“You had a contraction?” A cold chill skated down his spine as he lowered himself until he was at eye-level with her bump. Gingerly touching her swollen stomach, he asked, “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Because I didn’t want to bother you unless I was sure.”
He wanted to berate her for not waking him up, remind her that this was their baby thus not a bother, but he realized that this wasn’t the time.
“Okay. Okay.” He straightened to his full height and began to pace in front of her. Rubbing his suddenly sweaty palms on his shorts, he said, “We’ve practiced for this. First, we have to, we have to-” Jesus, he was completely blank.
“Dress first,” April suggested with a grin.
“Ah, yes. Dress first.” He started towards the closet but then whirled around to ask her. “Are you okay there?”
She laughed. “I’m fine.”
Indeed, she looked fine. Pregnancy agreed with April. Apart from the usual first trimester morning sickness drama and the third trimester exhaustion, Ivy-Marie had been a very good baby. Roman had never seen April glow quite as much as she had in the last few months. He liked to think that that glow wasn’t just because of the baby, but also because she was happy with him.
Even the weight she’d gained because of their baby looked good on her, so much so that he’d threatened to get her pregnant again as soon as she allowed him to make an honest woman of her. In fact, if it was up to him they’d be married by now. But April had refused.
Though she’d accepted his proposal, she didn’t want to walk the aisle while pregnant. Her reasons were purely cosmetic; she’d already planned her wedding to the last dot and the dress she was eyeing wouldn’t work with a bump. His mother had agreed to the postponement, but her reasons were rel
igious (or so she claimed). Apparently, she’d never be able to show her face in church again if her son walked a pregnant girl down the aisle. Either way, Roman was overruled.
“Where are my clothes, where my clothes?” Roman mumbled under his breath as he paced towards their closet.
“I already put out something for you.” April pointed to the clothes hanging on the handle of his side of the closet.
Roman had never dressed up as fast as he did. His fingers trembled as he pulled on his shirt, and his legs felt weak as he drew his pants over them. Most people assumed that he was the organized one in their relationship, the one who was always prepared. But in the last couple of months, he’d discovered that April was quite capable of being structured when it counted.
She’d started preparing for the baby from the moment the doctor had confirmed that she was pregnant. From Lamaze classes to changing their diet so it was more pregnancy friendly, from buying the baby’s clothes to supervising the decoration of the nursery in their new house, she was always the one on top of things. Granted, he’d had to reel her in a couple of times because more often than not their budget was just a suggestion to her, but in general he was quite impressed. And now she was demonstrating that she was still the one in control.
“Your jacket is on inside out,” she pointed out as she watched him dress.
“Oh, oh. Right.” Was it just him or was the room unbearably hot? Strange because the clock said that it was just five a.m.. Once he had his jacket on the right way, he looked around the room. “Okay, next step. I-”
“Get my bags,” she suggested helpfully. “They’re in that corner over there.”
“Yeah. Yeah, your bags.” He rushed to the corner and grabbed the black duffel bag that April had packed up almost a month ago. “Okay, you ready to leave?”
“Yes.” April started to stand up. “Don’t forget to-” She suddenly stopped talking and paused mid-air, with one hand still on the bed. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in an ‘o’ but no sound emerged.
Roman immediately rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”
“Ah. Ah. Ah.” She collapsed back on the bed. Her eyes closed tightly and her hands fisted on the bed. “Ow… ow… ow… Wow!”
Panic tapping a frantic tune on his already frazzled nerves, he crouched next to her. “April, are you okay?”
She didn’t say a word, only hissed in obvious pain. He tried to take her hand but she snatched it away. Roman had never felt so helpless or so frustrated before. As he watched her work through the contraction, he tried to think of something to do to ease her pain yet could think of nothing. He’d always prided himself on being able to fix any complication life threw in his path, always thought that he could protect April too. Yet, in this situation he was useless, he couldn’t protect her from the pain. If this was what labor was about, then Ivy-Marie was destined to be an only child.
Eventually, April opened her eyes. She blew out a huge breath. “Wow, that was a big one.” When her eyes met his, her brow creased into a frown. “What’s wrong? You look white as a sheet.”
Was she seriously asking him what was wrong? Everything was wrong.
He stood up. “We need to get to the hospital.”
“Okay.” She let him help her up, but when he kept his hand on her elbow, she shook him off. “I’m okay. I can walk.”
Anyone watching them as they found their way to the hospital would’ve thought that he was the one who was in labor. While he was panicked and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, April was completely at ease. The only times that ease broke was when she was having her contractions, but after that she acted like it was just a normal day for them. That sanity lasted up until nine a.m.
Then she went crazy.
“If you touch me, I’ll kill you,” April threatened as they paced the length of her room. Judging by the crazy light in her eyes, Roman was sure that she wasn’t kidding. She pressed her hand to her back as she pushed out a loud breath. “Waaah! Roman! If your baby kills me, I’m going to kill you.”
That didn’t even make sense. If Roman wasn’t so scared, he would’ve laughed.
The less the time between her contractions, the crazier she got. She wouldn’t let him call anyone, she wouldn’t let him leave, she didn’t want him to talk. Hell, he was surprised that he was even allowed to breathe. When the doctors finally came to take her to the delivery room, she absolutely refused to let Roman come with them. Apparently, she wanted him to remember her lady parts as they used to be.
Yeah, the lady was crazy.
Roman was left with no option but to sit in the waiting room with the other dads. Though he was worried out of his mind, he managed to call Greyson and let him know that April was in labor. Turns out, Greyson was like a human Twitter. Within thirty minutes, Roman and April’s family members began trouping into the hospital. First it was Greyson and Snow, who was herself sporting a baby bump, then came Antonio, who looked like someone had dragged him from an overnight party. Vina swept in in a whirl of panicked questions. “Is she okay?” “Why aren’t you in there with her?”
Roman barely had time to answer Vina’s questions before April’s mother, Manuela, came rushing into the maternity ward with his own mother hot on her heels. They were making such a fuss, that the nurses threatened to eject them from the waiting room. Manuela tried to get into the delivery room but the nurses refused; April had left explicit instructions that she was doing this on her own.
When asked later how long April was in the delivery room, Roman couldn’t quite remember. What he could clearly remember was that it was longer than he’d ever waited for anything, that each minute seemed to drag on until it felt like an hour, that each minute he waited brought with it intense worry and anxiety. He wanted to storm in and check on her, make sure that she was alright.
What if something happened to her while she was giving birth? He’d obsessively researched about pregnancy and labor, and read many horror stories of the things that could happen in there. What if he lost April and Ivy-Marie? How was he supposed to live without them? These questions and more raced through his thoughts as he nervously waited. But his worry turned out to be for nothing.
Ivy-Marie Teller was born at twelve thirteen on April the twelfth.
“She’s beautiful,” April commented as she cradled their baby to her breast. Though her eyes were shadowed with exhaustion, a bright smile played on her face as she stared at their baby.
“She is, isn’t she?” Roman, who was seated next to April’s bed, brushed the back of his hand across his daughter’s cheek. He leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. “Just like her mommy.”
April lifted her gaze from their daughter to Roman’s face. Their eyes met, held. Love shone in the brown depths of her – not just love for their daughter but also love enough for him. And it speared straight into Roman’s heart. It was all so much more than he’d expected when he’d first met April.
To think that he’d been so blind that he’d almost missed this. He’d wasted three years searching for his perfect match when she was right in front of him, loving him. Thank God she’d never given up on him, otherwise he’d still be searching. He planned to spend every day of the rest of his life showing her how much he appreciated her for waiting for him.
He leaned toward her, just as she leaned toward him.
Their lips met, sealing their forever love with a tender kiss.
│ THE END │
Thank you for reading ‘The Games We Play’. I hope you enjoyed reading Roman and April’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you thought by leaving a review at your favorite store/site (just click on your preferred link below). Again - Thank you.
Amazon.com │ Amazon UK │ Amazon Canada │ Goodreads
What’s Next?
It isn’t over yet. Vina still needs her happy-ending. I’m currently working on her story (The Love Contract) and preparing for its release in June. Vina’s story is a little different from
my usual stuff in that the heroine isn’t black or mixed, but she still deserves a book, right? I promise it will be a romance worth reading. The Love Contract should be out in late June and will of course include updates on the other couples’ stories. If you’d like to be the first to get it when it drops then consider pre-ordering the book.
Now that Alvina ‘Vina’ Song has hit the dreaded 30s, her family are desperate to get her married. She, however, is in no hurry to walk down the aisle. It’ll take a crazy scheme to get her family off her back and Vina has the perfect one in mind; Orion Lee.
Too busy with his new business, Orion doesn’t have time for a girlfriend or a wife. But his crazy mother has a bee in her bonnet – something about shamans, zodiac signs and death. Vina’s convenient proposal seems like the perfect solution to his dilemma.
Fake relationship. Check.
No strings attached. Check.
No messy feelings. Check.
Now if only his new ‘girlfriend’ would stop making him weak with her soulful eyes and sexy smiles. The more he gets to know Vina the more tempted he is to push the boundaries of their agreement to accommodate his growing desire. It’s starting to look like their pretend romance might just turn out to be the real thing
To pre-order just click on your preferred store.
Amazon.com │ Amazon UK │ Amazon Canada
If you’d prefer to wait, then be sure to join my Book Club so you can be the first to know when The Love Contract finally drops, and get further updates about other releases, free stories, discounts, giveaways and many more goodies.
