“Would you really, Cat?”
“I don’t know, it depends. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to do until you’re actually put in the situation. I’m speaking from our relationship experience so far and my parents’. Would you forgive me if we were married and I cheated on you, Nick?”
I answer her honestly. I don’t need time to think about my answer. “No, I wouldn’t. I would strip you down to the bone. Leave you with nothing. If I could I would strip my name from you.”
Her gaze goes up to mine and she blinks twice. “I would gladly get rid of it. You would be that harsh and cruel to me?”
“Yes. I’m giving you my name and everything that comes with it including my heart. I would rather you leave me than do that to me.”
“What would make me want to marry you if you ever did want to after this revelation?”
“Do you think you would cheat on me if I married you?” I counter, running a finger along her wrist over a vain across her delicate skin.
“No, I would be too afraid to think about it. This conversation would keep flashing in my mind along with the way your finger is moving over my wrist.”
I chuckle, lifting her wrist to my mouth and placing an open-mouth kiss over the same spot my finger left. “Then you have nothing to worry about. This is why if we were to get married I would advise you to sign a prenup for your own good.”
“Oh my, you can be a cruel man, can’t you?” She sighs, watching me closely holding her hand in mine.
“I try not to be. I’m being as honest as I can so you know exactly what you’re getting before you make a binding commitment. Till death do us part. I take that seriously.”
“What about in good times and bad times. You’re going to get rid of me if I don’t live up to what you expect?”
“No, I wouldn’t, I know no one is perfect. We’re going to have plenty of good times. The only truly bad time you will ever know is if I find out you cheated on me. That is when the prenup will work for you. There is no reason you should be afraid of marrying me if you plan to keep your legs closed to another man. It’s the only thing I ask that you not do, sleep with someone else, it’s that simple.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t ever plan on cheating.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“My man is fucked up.” I laugh at the way she says it and the expression on her face.
“No, I’m real. When things are good you don’t think about bad times. When they go bad you don’t remember any of the good times. You want to hurt the other person as much as you’ve been hurt, other people might see it as cruel but if you’re not the one hurt, then you don’t know what it feels like.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I think you should come with me, my mother would like to see you.”
She shakes her head vigorously, no. “I told her how I felt about you when you first came back.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I love you and if I love you my mother will too. She’s going to want to see you. She wanted to meet you at the Christmas charity ball but she had the flu, she didn’t want to make anyone sick.”
“I’ll see her after you break the news.”
I lift her chin up and give her another kiss between each sentence. “I have to go. I love you.”
“I know. Do you know how much I care about you?”
“I know when you’re ready you’ll tell me. That’s good enough for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I give her one last lingering kiss before I begrudgingly leave the warmth and softness of her arms for what I know is going to be a long day.
Nick
I send Cat a quick text before I leave the office to meet my parents.
Nick: I can’t wait to see you. Sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to speak to you today, love you.
Cat: Aww :-) It’s okay. I was keeping myself busy putting the rest of my things away. I’m going out to eat with Ava, Chloe, and Isabelle. I might tell them.
Nick: Do whatever feels right to you. If you’re okay with letting them know about the baby and us, then I’m okay with it.
Cat: Sure you are, until you decide to strip me bare to the bone:-/
Nick: :-)) I LOVE YOU!
Cat: :-)) See you later.
The faster I get this over with the faster I can get home to Cat.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked both of you to meet me here. I have important news to share with you and I would rather do it once so I don’t have to repeat myself.”
“Well, what is it, son? Spit it out, don’t be so damn cryptic.”
“Be patient, your son obviously has something important to tell us, why else would he want both of us in the same room together?” My mother looks at my father from across the room pointedly. “I know how much you must have hated leaving the office early, but what’s the rush, you’re already here.”
My father pours himself a drink from the table and sits on the opposite end of the couch from my mother. He unbuttons his jacket and takes a drink of brandy from his glass.
“I have a date. She’s young and impatient.” He looks at my mother when he says the word young and rolls his eyes up and down her body, leering at her.
Oh God, I have to hurry this along. He’ll probably try to proposition her to sleep with him before he leaves for his date. I sigh. That’s my dad. No shame in his game.
My mother crosses her legs at the ankles and looks at me with a dry expression. “Aren’t they all young and impatient to get their hands on an old man’s money? I see nothing’s changed.”
I run my hand across my forehead and shake my head at my mother. These two will never change. They like to push each other’s buttons. I used to be bothered by it when I was younger. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve concluded it’s something they enjoy. It helps them relate to each other somehow.
David Alexander is distinguished with a little gray at his temples and he looks stronger and built at fifty-seven than most men in their twenties. My mother is anything but old, she doesn’t look her age and is still very beautiful but can be a free spirit at times. She and I traveled all over the world when I was a child until my father put a stop to it and told her she better put my ass in a real school, I had plenty of time for the school of life.
He’s watching my mother over the rim of his glass. He leans back in the couch with a smirk, both arms on the back of the couch, swirling the brandy around his glass as if he still owns the place.
“Nick, you’ve been dodging my calls for weeks. It’s nice to know you’re alive and well. I thought I was going to have to send out a search and rescue party for you.”
“Mom, I have not been dodging you. I have returned all your calls.” And I have. I’ve been busier than usual with Cat moving in.
She shakes her head at me and smiles. “Yes, through your secretary. I like talking to Karen but I would rather my only child return my calls so I can hear his beautiful voice, then I can tell if he’s really doing as good as he says he is.”
This is the smile she gave me when I was little, telling me she’s being patient but whatever I did was not acceptable.
In his deep authoritative voice my father says, “Allison, let the boy get on with what he has to say.” He taps his watch indicating he has to go.
“Yes, be quick about it, dear, your father’s nineteen-year-old is waiting.”
I run my hand through my hair and sit up. I’m going to get this over with before the arguing starts.
My mother rolls her eyes and cuts my father a look. “You should have gotten her a nanny to keep her company.”
“Allison, jealousy doesn’t become you. I have it on good authority it turns you into a dried-up old abstinent sea hag who can’t enjoy the baser instincts and needs in life.”
Shit. She’s going to rip him a new one then all hell is going to break loose in here. “I’m having a baby with Catherine Reed and w
e’re living together.”
I knew that would shut them up. My father’s hand freezes in midair with his drink. My mother looks stunned and confused.
“What did you say?” she asks me.
I repeat it slower and louder in case my father didn’t hear me either. “Cat is four months pregnant, no tests needed, this baby is absolutely one hundred percent, without a doubt mine.”
“What you got, Olympic size gold medalist swimmers?” My father’s drink almost spills over the glass when he points a finger at me. “They must have trained in the back stroke and deep breast strokes, them little suckers are fast aren’t they. You might want to make sure your fly’s closed or one of them slippery little suckers might decide to fly through here.”
I sit back, not amused. “Funny, you and Ava should consider a comedy act.”
“David, please, do you have to be so crude? Try to be a little more tactful.”
“Allison, he got two sisters pregnant practically at the same time. There’s nothing tactful about this. Their family is going to have a weenie roast with you. Family dinners are going to be a bitch. You’re going to be the damn main course.”
“Nick—” my mother leans forward with her hands together. I can see the worry lines creasing her forehead.
“Mom, I’m fine.”
“You recently lost a child with her sister.”
“I know, I was there with her. Like I said, I’m fine.” I haven’t thought much about it since the last time I saw Kate and I would rather not. What good is it going to do? It won’t bring him back. Everyone has their own way of grieving and this is mine.
“He said he was fine, Allison.”
“Saying it and being it are two different things, David.”
“He’s a grown-ass man. He doesn’t need his mama coddling him.”
My mother doesn’t pay him any attention. “We’ll talk later. How’s Cat doing? Is she fine also, like you?” she asks with one eyebrow slightly raised.
“As far as I know, she is. We’re good.” Until her family gets involved.
“When are you going to bring her over here?”
“Yes, when are we going to see your new baby mama?” my father says, taking a drink from his glass.
“My baby mama?” I sit forward on the couch with my arms on my knees and look up at him.
“That’s what she is, isn’t it? You’re not married and you’re shacking up together.”
“We’re not shacking up. She’s not my baby mama. She’s my girlfriend and we’re living together.” He’s been dating too many women less than half his age. Baby mama.
“David.” My mother gives him a warning look. She knows any minute now I’m going to leave.
“I haven’t seen her since before she was legal. I remember she was a pretty little thing, did she grow up to look like what I expect? I have an eye for fine things.”
“David, you need to stop talking now. Aren’t you late for your date? You should go before she toddles out into traffic, don’t forget you haven’t hired her a nanny yet. Better yet, you should get her a nanny cam.”
“Honey, if there’s a camera involved it will be strictly for viewing pleasure of the adult variety.”
Too much information. I don’t need to know about his after-hours activity. I look at my mother and father and stand. “I’m going home. I’ve said what I came to say and I’ve heard way more than I want to.” They both stand up with me.
“Are you happy now, David, you ran him off?”
“I’m leaving too, right after I finish my drink.”
“No, put the drink down.” My mother grabs the drink and puts it down for him. “You’re leaving now.”
My father gives her a lopsided smile. “You were always my favorite wife.” He walks over and kisses her on the cheek. “Can’t blame a man for trying. Maybe next time.”
“I don’t think so. Once a leech always a leech.”
“You might be right but maybe I can change for you, we’re about to be grandparents.”
“Goodbye, David.”
“We’ll talk.” He winks at my mother. “Nick, I’ll walk out with you.”
My mother tells me to make sure I bring Cat to see her. She needs to see the mother of her grandchild as soon as possible. I tell her it’s not as though she’s never met her before. She says sure as a child, not as a woman, the woman my son is head over heels in love with. She must be special. I assure her she is, she’s special to me.
My father asks me if Cat has any more sisters of childbearing years that could possibly get knocked up because I need to stay far away from them if she does.
“Is she the woman to make you stay home at night?”
“She’s the only woman.”
“Then when are you going to marry her?”
“Marry her?”
“Why not? As long as you have a signed prenup in your hand on the wedding day and a hard-on standing up with you at the altar you’re good to go.”
“Is that all you require for marriage?”
“Yes, one without the other is no good, the marriage is going to be over before it starts.”
“How has that deductive logical way of thinking worked out for you?”
“Still a work in progress, maybe next time I’ll finally get it right. You never know, your mother could be lucky number four.”
“I think we could all agree once was enough. Let’s not get back on that ride. From what I remember it left a casualty in its wake.”
“What casualty, you turned out fine.”
“I’ve never been able to sustain a functional relationship with a woman. I’m living with my pregnant girlfriend exactly four months to the day her sister miscarried my son. If you call that fine, then I’m fine, I’m the guy you’d proudly bring home to meet the parents.”
“Well, who doesn’t have their faults? Fuck it, you’re an Alexander. They can deal with it or get the fuck out of the way.”
Ahh, the unofficial Alexander family motto.
Cat
“Cat, I love your bracelet, it’s fabulous,” Isabelle says to me.
“Thanks.”
“This must have set you back. It’s blinding me, my goodness how many diamonds are in this thing?” Chloe pulls my hand over the table and holds it up toward the light. “Ooh, aah, look at it sparkle. All this ice is what you would make a year on your teacher’s salary. Are you tricking?”
“No!” I snatch my hand back and push my empty Caesar chicken salad plate away from me.
Isabelle takes my hand and looks at my bracelet. With awe in her voice she says, “This is way beyond fabulous, it’s sinful. I need my glasses, the diamonds are blinding me.”
“You have a sugar daddy and you’re not telling us? Does he have a brother or a friend?” Chloe asks.
“Yeah, I’m considering leaving my husband for one of those.”
“Isabelle, please, you’re not leaving Kevin for anyone,” I say to her.
“You never know. I love my husband and child but there are days they try my patience.”
“You’re not leaving Kevin for all the diamonds in the world,” I tell her.
“You’re right. I love them too much but this bracelet is saying things to me.”
Chloe looks across the table at Ava, her hands folded one over the other on the table, putting her weight on her arms. “Ava, spill it, who’s her sugar daddy? If anyone would know it would be you.”
I look over at Ava and she looks at me with a slow smile. I don’t know what she’s working up in her mind. I better answer Chloe before she does. “It was a birthday slash Christmas present from Nick.”
Chloe and Isabelle’s heads snap up like puppets on a string when I say Nick’s name. They know Matt and I aren’t together anymore but I haven’t told them the rest. I know it’s a lot to tell them on a lunch date but I just want to get it over with and let everyone know. They’re going to freak out.
“Don’t get too excited, guys, and envy her.” Ava sits bac
k in her chair, one hand over her lap, the other tapping her fingers on the table while she talks. Mimicking the local busybody I’m sure everyone has in a small town, she whispers across the table with an undesirable look on her face, “She also got a gift that will last a lifetime, one that will act up on her at the most unexpected times. A little something most of us try to avoid getting when we put it down in the bedroom. Safety first, ladies, safety first.”
Isabelle is wearing a stunned expression, her hand over her mouth. “I am fine with my almost one carat and husband.”
Ava pokes out her lips and nods her head at Chloe to confirm what she’s also thinking. Chloe swallows, opens her eyes wide, and turns to me speaking in a hushed tone. “He gave you a disease!”
“No!” I yell, five octaves too high. I cover my mouth and look around the restaurant apologetically. A couple of people are staring in our direction. I can’t believe Ava is letting them think Nick gave me an STD.
“Ava!” I say, snarling in a hushed tone.”
“I am so glad I let you have him,” Chloe says, sounding relieved.
Ava smiles at me impishly, pleased with herself. “He gave her pregnancy. She’s knocked up.”
“I knew it! This is awesome.” Isabelle screeches, drawing more unwanted attention to our table. “One of you was going to have a baby and I’m happy it’s you first. No offense, ladies.”
“None taken,” Chloe and Ava say.
“We’re glad it’s her not us,” Chloe says.
“It all makes sense, the way you were looking at the food, the seltzer water the entire meal and the biggest tell, the bathroom breaks. I was the same way when I was pregnant with Conner.”
“I noticed it too. I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong. I was beginning to think you had a habit with the white powder. I see it a lot in the store. You’d be surprised who’s sniffing the powder.”
“These days nothing surprises me, Chloe.” I take a drink of my seltzer and smile. “I’ve out-surprised myself so much in the last six months I’m thinking I don’t know myself.”
Isabelle floods me with rapid-fire questions. “How far along are you? When’s the baby due? How excited is your mother? You’re going to have the cutest baby, hopefully with his eyes, oh my God. Where are you going to live? Are you getting married? Are you moving in with him?”
Imperfections Come To Light (The Imperfection Series Book 2) Page 10
