The Princess and the Prospect

by Christine Michelle

  “Why were you thinking of fruit in the middle of our conversation about me moving in?”

  I shrugged my shoulders playing it off. “I don’t know. I’m pregnant. My weird hormone stuff is always messing with my train of thought.”

  “That’s a real thing?”

  “Sure it is,” I told him as I turned my back to make sure he couldn’t see the grin on my face.

  “I can see your reflection in the window,” he pointed out as his cell phone dinged. Well, shoot. I guess I was busted. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Pregnancy was making me feel and act weird. Just yesterday I ate a peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwich and washed it down with a strange apple juice and milk concoction. I’m surprised I didn’t throw up. Old me would have tossed her cookies at just the thought. Pregnant me wolfed it down and wished for more. I didn’t want to tell him that thought. I was embarrassed for myself.

  I glanced over my shoulder when he grew quiet and didn’t say anything more. He was staring at the text he’d received on his phone and whatever he was reading had his brows furrowed, and he looked sort of angry. “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sorry,” he told me as he tucked his phone back into his pocket. “That was Deck. I have to run to the clubhouse real quick. I’ll be back in about an hour or so though, okay?”

  “Sure,” I told him and he was off and running out the door.

  An hour and a half after he stormed out of the house, I heard the tell-tale sound of a car pulling up. I wasn’t sure who it was because I didn’t recognize the vehicle. Then I watched as Joker peeled himself out of the green Buick Skylark that looked as though it had seen better day, and moved the seat forward so he could pull something from the back seat. I turned away then, wondering what the hell he was up to. I knew for a fact that wasn’t his car. He only had the motorcycle and the truck that I left parked under the carport. The way he bent into the backseat gave me flashbacks of him doing just that in my dreams to pluck our baby out of its car seat. A hot flash of anger and sadness whipped through my body at the thought that maybe he was bringing someone else’s child here.

  What if he already had a kid I didn’t know about? Oh God! Panic took hold as I let my imagination spin out freely from one crazy scenario to another. Please, don’t let him have another kid. That would mean he hadn’t really been taking care of it, or at the very least that he was lying to me about a whole other part of his life this whole time. ‘Please be baby brain anxiety. Please, be baby brain anxiety.’ I chanted those words to myself on repeat until I heard him struggling with something on the front stoop.

  The front door opened, but I was too afraid of what I’d find there to turn and look. Instead, I made myself busy in the kitchen cleaning the dirty dishes from my earlier mess. “Anna?” Joker called out forcing my attention to turn to him. When I did, the sight that greeted wasn’t at all what I expected.

  “What is all this?” I asked. He was standing in the doorway holding a hoard of balloons and what looked suspiciously like a personal sized ice cream cake. He answered only with a grin as he moved further into the house and kicked back with a foot to shut the door. He was by my side and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

  “Happy birthday,” he whispered into my ear before handing me the balloons and setting the cake down on the kitchen counter. My eyes immediately welled up. I thought everyone had forgotten, and here one of the people I didn’t think knew my birthday was doing all of this.

  “How did you know?”

  “A little birdie told me,” he responded.

  “But everyone forgot this year,” I managed to get out past the emotion that was clogging my throat.

  He turned back to me just in time to see the first tear fall. Something passed over his face when he saw that, but I was too emotional to be able to decipher his expressions. “They didn’t forget, beautiful. I asked them to come over tomorrow for a cookout and to celebrate. We really do have some club business going on right now that we need to see to. I can’t even stay that long, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t think you were forgotten.”

  “That was sweet of you.”

  His grin turned devilish then. “On a scale of one to ten, exactly how sweet was it?”

  “It’s going back down to a zero quickly,” I informed him as I turned to look at the cake. It was just a small one, but it was one of my favorites. Ice cream cake with that yummy cookie crumble stuff in the middle. They never did use enough of the cookie crumble stuff for my liking, but whatever. Pregnant beggars couldn’t be choosers and all that.

  “I hope that’s okay. I remember you telling me your brother had gone to your school and sneaked you a small one during lunch one year.”

  “He did.” My words came out on a whisper as I was engulfed by memories of Toby doing just that. He had made my day and all of my friends had been incredibly envious. I ended up making new friends after that too. At least, I thought I had. It turned out they all just wanted me to hook them up with my brother or with one of the other guys from the club. As if any of the Aces High guys would touch their underage tails. I was so lost in the memories that I didn’t even realize Joker had gotten closer to me. His arms wrapped around my body and then he pulled me into a warm hug while pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

  “I didn’t mean to bring up memories that would hurt you,” he apologized.

  “You didn’t. I love the memory of him doing that for me. I just miss Toby so much. Hanging around with Gretchen once in a while has sort of eased that ache in a weird way, but it’s not the same as having my big brother surprise me on my birthday. He used to do it every year while he let everyone else pretend they forgot.” It was then that I glanced up into his eyes and realized what he had truly done. “Who told you?”

  “Deck,” he admitted. “I’m glad he did. I’m obviously not trying to move into big brother territory here, especially since you’re already carrying my child, but I figured someone should step into Toby’s shoes for the day and make your birthday just as special as he would have done.”

  I threw my arms around his waist and held on to the man so tightly it had to be uncomfortable for him. He never complained though. “Thank you, and thank Deck for me too.”

  “You can thank Deck tomorrow, beautiful.” He leaned in and gave me one more kiss on the top of my head while sliding his hands from where they had rested on my back down lower on my hips and around to my belly. He glanced down between us at my growing belly as he cradled it while his fingers slid back and forth in what appeared to be reverence. How many times had I dreamed of the man doing just that? Too many to count and now it was happening. The moment nearly brought me to my knees, and just as quickly as it happened he was pulling away and backing up a step causing my own hands to fall from his hips to my sides. I glanced up to see moisture evident in his eyes before he turned his back to me and grabbed the cake from the counter.

  “You best grab a slice of this and put the rest in the freezer before it melts any further. That car was an oven when I got in it.”

  “Whose car is that anyway? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Just someone at the clubhouse. I realized a little too late that I wouldn’t be able to travel too fast with a cake and balloons while on my bike.”

  “I would have loved to see that sight while driving down the road though,” I teased.

  “You and pretty much every asshole at the club. None of them would let me take their car. Not that many had cars at the clubhouse though.” He pointed over his shoulder to the car outside. “Some hanger on with one of the brothers leant it to me so I need to go get it back and then tend to club business. Don’t forget, we’re partying tomorrow.”

  “Do I need to go get anything? I haven’t exactly shopped for foods for a cookout.”

  “No, but if you don’t have anything to do between now and then, I’d like to come back and grab my truck for a bit. I’ll bring the stuff tomorrow, and it’ll give me a way to get my things back here too, if you�
��re still serious about that?”

  “Of course I’m serious about that.”

  “Good then I’ll see you later.”

  He didn’t see me later.

  I awoke wondering what today would actually bring. Joker had never returned last night. He had mentioned club business that needed to be handled, but I thought he’d be bringing his things back and staying at the house last night. I had apparently thought wrong though. He never came back, and never bothered to call or text either. All that hopefulness I’d felt the night before drained out of me again in the light of day that was streaming through my window. I honestly hoped he hadn’t actually invited my family to come here today, and that he had only been running his mouth or trying to hurt me somehow. I didn’t think I could face them. I felt like complete crap, and hadn’t slept very well.

  “You’re not doing this to yourself again!” I scolded myself out loud and then stood, going to my closet to get some clothes for the day. As soon as I was done my shower I would call Gretchen and see if she wanted to hang out with me for the day.

  Before I jumped in the shower, I went to the kitchen to grab a drink, and I saw a bunch of bags sitting on the counter along with a note.

  Beautiful,

  I had to drop these off and run. Cold stuff is already in the fridge. I’ll be back in a bit to help get things ready. Everyone should be showing up around noon. If you could make the potato salad, that would be great. If not, I got a bunch of chips – fuck everyone who wanted potato salad anyway!

  Yours,

  Evan

  My hand was shaking as I placed the note back down on the table. My finger traced over the word “Beautiful” and then over the word “Yours”. I wondered if he knew what he did to my battered heart with simple words like that? Probably not. I moved quickly from that point, because it was already getting close to 10 o’clock and that didn’t leave me a lot of time to worry about throwing together potato salad, especially since I still had to cook the damn potatoes.

  It was going on 11 in the morning when I finally had showered, gotten dressed, and had just finished up the potato salad as well as setting out the paper plates, napkins, and other things that Joker had purchased and left in bags on the counters. I had chips ready to pour into bowls, and even took a minute to eat some toast and drink a little juice in order to help settle my nervous stomach a bit. The last didn’t really help. I kept feeling little flutters, almost like bubbles in my tummy. It was weird to experience because I wasn’t usually a nervous person, recent panicky episodes aside.

  I had just finished cleaning up my mess and tucking all the non-essential things away when there was a knock on the door. It was only quarter after 11, but I figured maybe Ever or my momma had come by a little early to help out. I still hadn’t heard from Joker – other than the note on the counter – which was weird since he had put all of this together. I hoped everyone who showed up really liked potato salad and chips, because it was just about all I’d managed to put together. Those worries slipped away when I opened the door to see who was standing there. More importantly, I saw the same green Skylark parked on the road that had been there the day before too, when Joker had driven it to bring me cake and balloons. My heart dipped and sank down into my stomach to rest with the nervous bubble-flutters that didn’t seem to want to ease up.

  I supposed this, at least, answered the question about where Joker had been all night. Though, I wasn’t sure why his woman was showing up here at the house I lived in, especially when he wasn’t here. I had a fleeting moment of panic thinking she had come to do me harm, but then I straightened my back, making sure my spine was taut as steel before I spoke to the blond woman who had helped ruin my wedding night memories forever. “Can I help you?”

  “Hey,” the woman breathed out, trying to sound sexy or sultry for some reason. “Is Joker here? He forgot this…” she didn’t finish her statement, instead opting to point to a pair of boxer shorts that were hanging out of her purse in plain view.

  “You know what?” I asked in my saccharine sweet southern drawl. “He stepped out a minute, but everyone should be here soon. Come on in, sweetheart. Make yourself at home.”

  I stepped out of the way and even hooked my hand around her arm when her eyes flared in shock. She had been about to turn and bolt, but I wasn’t having that. She came here with an agenda, and I was going to make sure she got exactly the level of drama she’d been craving.

  “No, really. I insist. To be sure, he’s missing those,” I told her as I closed the door and had her take a seat in the kitchen. “I’ll be right with you,” I called out to her before I marched my ass to the place I’d set up the printer for my school work and I printed two pictures off of my phone. Then I smiled at the woman as I moved to the bedroom and went to dig around in my closet. I found the wedding photo frame I’d purchased two years ago. I’d found it in an antique shop and knew that I had to have it for when I got married one day. It was gorgeous and held a spot for two 5x7 photos with an engraved heart in the middle that stated, “Marriage is Sacred, Love Always”. I opened it up and hurriedly placed the photos in it, then replaced the backing and took it out to the living room where I set it in pride of place on the middle of the kitchen island right next to the stupid potato salad I’d made for Joker the Jerk.

  The girl couldn’t see what the frame contained from her seat at the kitchen table, but I noticed her squirming around nervously anyway before I turned a fake smile her way. “I really think I should…” the girl started to say, but was cut off by boisterous laughter as my whole family and Joker piled through the doorway.

  “Nonsense,” I told her. “Everyone is here now,” I threw my arm out toward the people who had all moved into my living room, unaware of what they had just walked in to. Then it happened.

  “Oh shit!” I heard murmured.

  “Oh shitake mushrooms, indeed!” I sang out sweetly. I had never been one to cuss, and even as spitting mad as I was now, I wouldn’t stoop to using that kind of language. I had only done so once before and I’d had instant regrets after the words left my lips. Everyone came to a stop. Some of them appeared puzzled by what was going on. I moved aside so they’d be able to see the photo frame on the counter.

  “Look, Joker,” I called out. I turned to the girl sitting, ringing her hands at the kitchen table. “Sorry, how rude of me. I didn’t get your name, sweetheart.”

  She looked too stunned to speak, so I waved away the thought. “Never mind,” I chirped out in a faux happy voice. “She was here to return your,” I glanced back at the woman. “What was it again?” I leaned down and snagged the boxers from her purse, and dangled the waistband from my finger. “Apparently, you left these with her last night.”

  Every eye in the room except Merc’s and Lily’s turned accusing looks his way.

  “That’s a fuckin’ lie!” He yelled the words out, thankfully directing his anger toward his whore and not me. I dropped the offensive underwear. “I don’t even fuckin’ know you!” Joker spat the words in the girl’s direction and I watched as she flinched.

  “Now, that’s a mother truckin’ lie if I ever heard one,” I stated coolly, forcing his eyes to come back to meet mine. I slid over another step so the wedding photos were in plain sight for him too. “You know her very intimately. You know her so intimately that you consummated our marriage with her on our wedding night. Shoot, you drove her piece of crap car to this house just yesterday to deliver me an ice cream cake and balloons.” I felt sick to my stomach at the thought that hers had been the car that he had procured for that task when he mentioned he had gotten it from a hanger on. To think I was going to let him back into my life. I pointed to the wedding photos and left the room.

  When I got to the bedroom, I was shaking so hard I had to sit down. The tears fell right around the time the shouting started in the other room. My mom rushed in and shut and locked the bedroom door behind her.

  “Oh sweetie, why didn’t you just come home? If I had know
n…”

  “No. I have enough money saved for a small apartment now. I’m not coming home, but I can’t stay here either. Not now.”

  “If it helps, the girl lied. He was with Merc and Tiger Lily all night. First helping with club business and then he crashed there so he could pack all of his stuff and bring it home today.”

  I shook my head. “He still borrowed her car yesterday and brought me gifts in it. Hers, of all the cars in the world? That was insulting.”

  “I was there when he needed to borrow a car yesterday, honey. I didn’t have mine with me or I would have handed him the keys. One of the other men put those keys in his hands. I don’t think he knew who the car belonged to.”

  I swallowed thickly. “That girl is just a symptom of the disease, Momma. We aren’t good for one another and I don’t think I’m strong enough to be like Tiger Lily and forgive. Our wedding night will always be tainted – even more than the crappy event itself. I felt more like I was being sold off than entering into wedded bliss. I should have just turned and run then. I just kept thinking that he agreed to do it, and maybe it meant there was something there.”

  “Anna,” my mom whispered as she pulled me into her arms.

  “I thought I was moving past the hurt and then she showed up today and threw it all back in my face.”

  “Oh, baby girl.”

  Chapter 11

  When I pulled up to the house, there were several cars and bikes lining the street, leaving the driveway open for me to pull the truck in. They were all waiting out there for me too, as if afraid to enter the house and ruin the surprise for Anna.

  “I told you guys that she already knows you’re all coming over,” I joked with them.

  “You organized this for our baby,” Lucy told me. “We didn’t want to go in without you. I took hold of the duffle that had been tossed into the back of the truck this morning. It was good to finally be coming home, especially since I felt things finally moving in the right direction with Anna. Talking to her yesterday had been very reminiscent of the times we’d spent together before our happy little couple-bubble blew up and I found out she was the VP’s daughter. She was his youngest, under-age daughter to be exact. Granted, by law, she wasn’t underage, but in the club’s eyes I could have lost my ability to become a full-fledged member by being with her. If she hadn’t lied about a couple things, at the time, I would have said she was worth losing the club over. I couldn’t contain the smile that spread across my face as I moved closer to these people. Since I was discharged from the Army they had become my family. Knowing that they were going to more of a family as Anna and I grew closer again was only a bonus.