“Mothers?”
Frowning at me in confusion he said, “Yes, Miss Banks. You’re pregnant, about three and a half months based on the tests. Didn’t you know?”
Luke
Derrik’s words went around and around in my head throughout the flight. She was pregnant? Why hadn’t she told me? Well, I knew why she hadn’t told me - because I’d been in a coma, but why hadn’t she told my parents? Did she even know?
Isla had been my life from the first day I met her when we were kids. Then, I’d messed up in high school and when I was given a second chance to be with her, I’d sworn that it wouldn’t be a chance - it would be set in stone. I’d fucked that up completely, though. I loved her so much it scared me, and now I had to get to her. I had to say sorry and prove to her that it wasn’t what she thought and that she was it for me.
I knew I’d fucked up, but I hadn’t cheated on her with Kendal. Her father was a very wealthy man with hotels and business property all over the world. Montgomerys was doing well, but in order to cement our status and get more important contracts, we needed to be seen as powerful, and me dating the daughter of Tim Raygan would give us that reputation.
I hadn’t touched her or kissed her and Kendal had known the deal when we first discussed it, as it suited her as well. What had changed? I don’t know, but what she’d done to Isla fucked me off. I’d called Kendal before I left Piersville and told her to stay the fuck away from me and Isla and laid it all out and that she was never to contact me, my family, my friends, or Isla again. If she had any problems understanding this, I’d happily set her straight.
As it was, I doubted I’d hear from her again after I told her that I’d share the shit that I had on her, that dear old daddy didn’t know about. I know for a fact that her dad would disinherit her in a second and she’d no longer have her beloved trust fund.
It hit me all over again that I was going to be a dad; I knew Isla, and I had no doubts that that baby was mine. I wanted to call my parents and share the news with them, but I didn’t want to do it without seeing Isla first. The fact that the girl I’d been in love with since I was a kid was carrying my baby…reaching into the bag that I’d had Adam bring from my house, I pulled out the box with the ring in it that I’d bought for her two weeks after Isla moved back to Piersville. When I saw her again I just knew, but I’d been set on helping the business, too, and I’d fucked up; now, though, she was mine and I’d make sure that she knew just how much I loved her.
When I was sixteen, I’d bought Isla a necklace for her birthday that had angel wings on it because that was my nickname for her. I remember her wearing it every day until the night of the prom in twelfth grade when I had completely fucked up and she’d thrown it at me before she ran away. Even thinking about that night made the nausea come back and my leg decided to amp up the throbbing at the same time. I picked up the painkillers the Doctor had given me and popped a couple. I needed that necklace if I was going to convince her how much I loved her. It had been sitting in the safe in my study since I moved into that house. I hadn’t even been home before I got on the plane, and now, I needed someone to go and get the necklace so that I could get Dad to courier it to me. Picking up my phone before the painkillers kicked in, I rang him and outlined what I needed, as well as giving him the code for the safe. That detail sorted out, I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes hoping the painkillers would work well enough to let me get some sleep. It was a long flight and all I wanted was to be next to Isla and my baby; sleeping would make it go faster and that’s what I was going to do.
Isla
I watched as Jennifer wheeled in a machine with a screen on it and looked back up at the doctor. “We’re going to do a scan to check the gestation of the fetus and also to check that everything is fine, too. Jennifer’s going to help you raise your top and lower your bottoms slightly, and then I’ll spread some gel on your stomach and we’ll use this,” he held up a bizarre looking thing, “to do the scan. Any questions?”
Questions?
He’d only just dropped the bomb on me that I was pregnant and he wanted to know if I had questions? I couldn’t even remember my date of birth right now, though, so I shook my head and put my head down as my gown was raised slightly and my panties were tugged down a little bit. I really needed to get my own pajamas, I hated hospital gowns.
I was shocked out of my thoughts by something ice cold being squirted onto my stomach and looked down at where the doctor was pressing gently with the weird probe thing. Now that I thought about it, I had a pooch that I hadn’t had before; oh God, that was where my baby was.
Hearing the doctor clicking away beside me, I started to panic that something would be wrong with him or her. I hadn’t known and I’d probably eaten or drank something that I wasn’t meant to; would it have harmed the baby? I hadn’t taken that acid stuff that they tell you to take when you were pregnant either. What if I’d hurt it when I fainted?
“Calm, Isla,” Jennifer said beside me and squeezed my hand that I now realized was shaking.
“Okay, Isla, here we go,” the doctor said as he turned the screen towards me. “I’d like to introduce you to your baby. Here’s the baby’s head, here’s an arm…oh, he or she is waving at you. The flickering thing there is the heart and it’s beating perfectly and then we have…”
The doctor stopped talking and frowned as he clicked around the screen and moved the probe to a different part of my stomach. The longer he stayed quiet the more I panicked I got and looked at Jennifer for reassurance, but when I saw her squinting at the screen, I couldn’t help the sob that burst out of me.
“Isla,” the doctor called from beside me as Jennifer gasped and then started stroking my arm and shaking my hand.
“Isla, look at the screen sweetheart. The babies are okay, they just want to meet you, but you have to look first,” Jennifer whispered in my ear.
Opening my eyes and turning to the side, I looked at the screen. From where the Doctor had the probe thing now I could see two of the flickering things he’d said was the heart beat before…was that two heads? Wait, what was I looking at?
“Well, extra congratulations are in order, Miss Banks; you’re having twins. I couldn’t see baby two initially as they were hiding behind their brother or sister, but both twins look healthy and their measurements are perfect for their gestation, which looks to be around fifteen weeks and four days…”
Looking at the screen, I saw two perfectly formed little beings with flutters in the middle of their chests. I was pregnant…I was having twins…
Hearing a noise at the door, we all turned to see Luke standing there staring at the screen and at our babies. Just as I was about to say something to make sure he was real, the room started to get dark; the last thing I saw was Luke limping across the room…
Chapter 3
Luke
G etting off the plane, I cleared the airport and got into the car waiting for me. I was stiff and sore from the flight, but I would deal with that later; I needed to get to Isla.
We got to Gleneagles Hospital in record time and I was directed to Isla’s room by Teo in time to hear the doctor say that Isla was pregnant with twins. I almost collapsed against the wall. Fuck me, we’re having twins! Just as I walked into the room and started to say something, she looked up at me and her eyes fluttered shut and didn’t open again.
“Isla? Isla, can you open your eyes please?” A nurse stood beside her stroking her hair trying to bring her round.
Walking up next to her, I took hold of Isla’s small hand, getting a shock when I felt how cold it was.
“Isla, baby, wake up! What’s wrong with her?”
“Sir, you can’t be in here. If you’ll just…” the nurse started and pointed toward the door.
“Hell no, I’m not leaving!” I said firmly, making eye contact with her to show her how serious I was. “That is my world in that bed.”
“Sir, right now we need to make sure that Miss Banks is okay and th
en we’ll let you know as soon as she wakes up.” She tried again.
“No, I’m not leaving. You can do all of that with me here.”
“I’m Doctor Ng and I’m treating Isla,” the doctor held his hand out. Can I ask you to step outside while we assess her please, sir?”
I was just about to answer when Isla's eyes started to flutter and slowly opened, looked around, and then stopped on me.
Shaking his hand, I replied, “Luke Montgomery, Isla’s boyfriend and the father of her babies.”
I could see that they immediately recognized my last name. I couldn’t wait anymore though and walked around to where the doctor had been standing as he moved to look at some of the monitors attached to her, getting a glare from the doctor and a head shake from the nurse.
“Angel.” I bent over and kissed her forehead, inhaling the smell that was just Isla. God, it felt so good to be close to her again, even the pain in my leg didn’t feel as bad around her.
I was so busy with my thoughts that I never saw the hand coming up towards my face until it slapped me harder than I thought her little hand could.
“You bastard, you knocked me up,” she hissed. “Twice! And you are not my boyfriend, asshole.”
Well shit, this wasn’t going to be as easy as I was hoping.
Isla
I couldn’t believe that the cheating bastard was here. The last that I’d heard from Maya was that he was being kept in hospital for another week, at least to make sure that everything was healing properly and to make sure that his physical therapy went smoothly. So why was he here?
Underneath the anger and devastation that I felt seeing him again and being reminded that I’d loved him so much but he’d betrayed me yet again, I couldn’t help worrying about him. I’d refused to look at him or talk to him for the last two hours, but sneaking a look at him out of the corner of my eye I saw how pale he looked. He kept taking his weight off of his leg and standing on the other one.
He’d been pacing for the last thirty minutes and only stopped periodically to look down at the sonogram pictures in his hand. He had patches on his head where his hair was slightly shorter and you could see red scars through the stubble. It had grown longer than he normally kept it so it wasn’t as noticeable unless you looked carefully.
Twins…I couldn’t believe that I was having twins. This was the sort of thing that happened in movies or books, not to me - plain, old Isla Banks. I’d never understood why Luke had been with me when I moved to Piersville and I’d fought it, but he’d been adamant and relentless. Then seeing the photos of him with Kendal, it all made sense; I’d been a filler. Something to pass the time. My stepmother Jodie and stepsister Calista had always made sure that I knew that I was nothing and that I was an “ugly duckling” whilst Calista had always been the glowing swan. She was my total opposite. This was why Luke being so adamant hadn’t made any sense. Oh my God, what would they say when they found out that I was pregnant with Luke’s babies?
“I don’t like the expression on your face right now,” he muttered from right beside me. I hadn’t even heard him walk up beside me I’d been thinking so hard.
He folded his tall body into the comfortable looking chair beside me. The hospital that I was in, Gleneagles, was beautiful inside; we most definitely wouldn’t get this back at home. The room that I was in was like a hotel room with a wall length window looking out over Napier Road. It wasn’t much of a view out of the window, but I’d been in this area a couple of days before for an event at the Filipino Embassy. I was also a regular visitor to the Singaporean Botanic Gardens, which were so close by that you could just see the green of them; in short, it was luxury.
Focusing back in on Luke, I finally broke my silence and asked the one question that had been eating away at me.
“Why are you here?”
“Because you’re here.” He said it like it was such an obvious reply, but none of this made sense to me.
“Isn’t your girlfriend upset that you’ve travelled all of this way for another woman? I mean, I don’t know her, but she seems like the type of person who wouldn't put up with that.” Then it hit me. “If it’s about the babies, then don’t worry. I won’t tell her; in fact, I won’t tell anyone, so you don’t have to worry.” Even saying it tore something else inside me; why couldn’t this man just stop hurting me?
Luke quickly got out of his chair, wincing slightly at the sudden movement, and loomed over me. “Get this straight, Angel, I’m not with that bitch. I never was! She knew it and I knew it, it was for business purposes only.”
“Oh my God, you can’t stop, can you?” I hated that I was starting to cry. He’d basically just admitted that he’d ruined me for the sake of the business; I’d meant that little to him. “Get out! I can’t take anymore.” I was sobbing now and trying to hide my face, I was done!
“Isla,” he growled picking me up and sitting down on the bed with me on his lap. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but it’s not the truth,” he said stroking my hair and my back and rocking me slightly. “Kendal was…a couple of months before you arrived in Piersville, I was looking at ways to increase the profile of the company. We were doing well and had a lot of high profile contracts, but I wanted us to be more high profile than we were. I met Kendal and her father during a cocktail party in Houston and had remembered all of the newspaper articles on him that featured her beside him. My grand plan had been if I was seen with her and people believed that we were in a relationship, there would be more press coverage of Montgomery’s.”
Still rubbing my rigid back, he continued on. “I met her at a restaurant the following night and pitched my suggestion to her. She had a reputation as a wild child, getting drunk every night and getting photographed in embarrassing situations. Her father had been putting pressure on her to calm down or he’d pull her funding because it was having a negative impact on his business dealings. The agreement was that she would help me and I would help her keep her trust fund.” He stopped talking for a minute and then put his fingers under my chin and tilted my face up to look at him. “I swear, nothing ever happened between us. Nothing,” he stressed firmly, never losing eye contact with me.
I was struggling to process what he’d told me. I understood his plan and what he’d been trying to achieve, but again what it seemed he was saying was that I meant that little to him that he would continue with the charade even after we’d got together.
He’d promised me that he wouldn’t ever hurt me again, he’d also lied to me when he went to meet her to attend functions.
“You promised,” I whispered.
“Baby, that was the last event that I met her for. I told her that the deal was off and that I wouldn’t be meeting her for any more public appearances. She wasn't happy, but I made it clear I was done.”
The image of a photograph of that last event came into my head and I almost fell trying to get off his lap as quickly as I could, trying not to pull the IV out of the back of my hand at the same time.
“The last function? The one at the Bombere Release? Is that the one you’re talking about?” I couldn’t move far from the bed, but I put as much distance between us as the damn tube attached to the needle in the back of my hand would let me. “The one where you’re kissing? Is that it?”
“No!” The vehemence in his voice shocked the hell out of me. “I wasn’t kissing her. She went to kiss me, and the photograph was taken just as I realized how close she was to me and pulled back. I swear to God.” He closed his eyes and looked up at the ceiling and I took in how tired he looked. Letting out his breath, he lowered his head back down and opened his eyes. “Isla, I swear to God that I didn’t touch her, nor would I ever have. I love you.”
He looked so vulnerable and exhausted at that moment that I couldn’t help backing down from the fight, for now. That is if he was even sticking around.
“You need to sleep, Luke. And have you seen a doctor to make sure that you’re okay and haven’t over done it?
” I changed the subject, needing time to think over what he was saying. Kendal had described everything in such graphic detail that I wasn’t sure who was telling the truth, and, well, photographs don't lie. On that thought, I remembered the photographs that that psychotic bitch and her friends had made and showed us in Piersville; okay, so sometimes photographs lied. These were official press photographs of events, though, so they couldn’t lie. I also knew that I couldn’t fully trust him. Twice I’d given him a chance and twice he’d broken my heart, and I wasn’t sure if I could ever open myself to him again.
“Being with you is what I need,” he grumbled, as he rubbed his temples. Taking in how his mouth was pinched, I knew he was in more pain than he’d admit to. “Either you go to your hotel or I call a doctor in Luke, the choice is yours!”
Locked in a standoff and a test of wills as we glared at each other, neither of us realized that we had company until the nurse Jennifer cleared her throat.
“Well, Miss. Banks, Dr. Ng has agreed that you can be released under the care of your private physician. He’s organized for you to be visited at your hotel twice a day to monitor your ketone levels and assess the nausea. The IV will stay in for a further twenty-four hours and a nurse will come to check on it in between visits from the physician. Here are your discharge notes and some anti-nausea pills that we suggest you take regularly to make sure that we keep on top of the vomiting,” she reeled off more instructions as she handed a bag with my medications and pre-natal vitamins in it to Luke and then placed a folder onto the bed. “Give that to the physician; it’s your notes.”
“But you said I had to stay in for a couple of days?” I was confused why they were suddenly letting me go. “Is it safe for the babies?”
“Mr. Montgomery has arranged for the best care for you, Isla,” Jennifer smiled warmly at me. Obviously, Luke had worked his magic on yet another female.
I had absolutely nothing to say right now so I just turned to look at Luke. He was looking irritatingly pleased with himself as he stiffly started getting our stuff together.
Providence Series Books 1-4 Page 29
