13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Roman
I’d decided I’d messed things up enough on my own over the last forty-eight hours. It was time to bring in more people to be on my side. My brothers weren’t experts on women, pregnancy, or babies, but they could be a sounding board for my choices, so I didn’t barrel into Shira’s house and make her cry again.
I sent the ultrasound to our group chat with the caption: “Mine.”
It took less than thirty seconds to get a response.
Ben: WTF?
Adrian: Not funny.
Nate didn’t bother texting. Perks of living in the condo next to mine, my older brother let himself in and stalked up to me, bending down so we were almost nose to nose.
“Are you fucking with us?” he growled.
I shook my head. “Nope.” Then I handed him the ultrasound picture so he could look at it up close.
Ben: You’re going to drop a bomb like that and leave us hanging?
Me: Nate stormed in, sorry. And I’m not trying to be funny, Ade. This is real.
Nate sat next to me on my sofa, his elbows on his knees as he tapped on his phone.
Nate: He’s not fucking with us. Looked him square in the eye.
My and Nate’s phones both went off simultaneously with a video chat request, and he moved closer to me so we could share my screen.
Ben was grinning, and Adrian seemed perplexed. They spoke at once, asking two starkly different questions.
“Who’s the mama?” Ben asked, seemingly excited by this news.
“Are you sure it's yours?” Adrian, the most pessimistic of our quad, asked.
Nate poked at the numbers at the top of the printout. “This says eleven weeks, two days—and that was three days ago. This woman is almost twelve weeks. How many weeks are a pregnancy?”
“I don’t know.” Ben started counting on his hands. “There are fifty-two weeks in a year, but ladies aren’t pregnant that long. It’s nine months, right? Four weeks in a month…what’s nine times four?”
“Thirty-six,” Nate supplied. “She’s already a quarter of the way pregnant?”
“Not how it works,” Adrian sighed. “A quick web search says a typical pregnancy is forty weeks. The first trimester is thirteen weeks.”
Ben scratched his head, frowning. “It’s not divided in quarters? That’d make a lot more sense.”
“It’s trimesters,” I replied. “She’s almost through her first trimester.”
“You didn’t say whether you’re sure it’s yours,” Adrian reminded me.
“It is.” Like I told Shira, I’d seen the faulty condom. She could have been with someone else before or after me, but I truly didn’t believe that. “I’m taking a paternity test to alleviate any doubt, but I know it’s mine.”
Ben clucked his tongue. “I thought you always wrapped it. I’m aghast at your recklessness.”
He sounded more amused than anything. It took a lot to shock my twin. I’d thought my impending fatherhood might’ve done it, but it seemed he was rolling with it.
“Broken condom,” I replied.
Nate studied my profile. “You don’t seem upset.”
“I’ve had two days to process it.” I lifted a shoulder. “It still doesn’t feel real, but no, I’m not upset about becoming a father. I think I’m capable and have the resources I need to give my kid a good life.”
Adrian leaned in toward the camera. “I wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone. Who’s the baby’s mother?”
Nate brought the ultrasound up to his face. “It says it right here. Goldman comma Shira. Wait…what?”
Ben’s eyes bugged. “Shira? Shira Shira? Like, the woman you trounced all over?”
“I didn’t trounce all over her,” I protested. “But that’s the one. Do you know any others?”
“I mean, I don’t know her .” Ben puffed up his cheeks and blew out a heavy breath. “How the hell did that happen? Don’t you hate each other?”
“Wait. Slow down. Shira Goldman is carrying your baby?” Adrian pressed. “What the fuck, Roman?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to explain room ten, but I stopped myself. I couldn’t really articulate why since my brothers and I were open books. We were so close in age, we were stairsteps—with Ben and I sharing a step. At only a grade apart, we’d shared friend groups, played the same sports, and had taken care of each other at home when our mother had been disinterested in parenting and our father had been wrapped up in work.
This felt different, though. Something I wanted to hold sacred. Probably because we’d made a child out of it. It made what had come before it a hell of a lot more important than any ol’ fuck. If I was honest, even before I knew about the pregnancy, I had kept that night in room ten close to my vest.
“It happened before I came to GoldMed. We didn’t know who the other was, and the condom broke,” I explained. “It’s complicated with how everything went down, but we’re going to make it work.”
“How?” Adrian asked bluntly. “You don’t even like the woman. Didn’t you just recently refer to her as ‘the gold digger’?”
Ben shook his head. “I knew she was cool. I tried to tell Rome, but he was all wrapped up in his mission…”
“Should’ve wrapped up his dick better,” Nate muttered.
Without turning my head, I backhanded him in the gut. “Shut the hell up.”
He rolled away, chuckling. “You gotta laugh, man. This situation is so beyond ridiculous. You sent that woman to the hospital—oh, wait, she passed out because of the pregnancy?”
Remorse struck me hard and fast, leaving me winded. “Yeah.”
Ben tsked. “Wow. You have a lot to make up for, man.”
“He doesn’t have anything to make up for,” Adrian intoned. “He was working with the information he had when he made his decisions. Now he’ll move forward with the current state of things.”
Ben’s eyebrow winged. “Okay, sure, IceMan. Ro, I’m gonna suggest you not take advice from the man who has the emotional capacity of a corpse.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” I dragged my hand along the scruff on my jaw. “I’ve discovered I was wrong about a few things. It makes me wonder what else I could have misjudged.”
“Like what?” Nate had retaken his seat beside me so he could share my screen.
“Like Francesca lying through her teeth about being allowed in the house. She cleaned the place out. It’s like…a tomb in there. Nothing on the walls, barely any furniture.” My fingers curled into my palm as anger rose in my gut. “I can’t figure Shira out. She’s got it all locked down—”
“Like Adrian,” Ben chimed in.
I chuffed. “Sort of, but not really, unless Ade’s hiding a debilitating shyness.”
Adrian rolled his eyes. “I’m the owner of a sex club. There’s no room for shyness. And I’m not hiding a thing. This is who I am.”
“Cool, cool.” Ben made jazz hands. “I, for one, am excited as hell to be an uncle. If I weren’t in New Zealand, I’d be on my way over there to give you the biggest hug you’ve ever been given.”
Adrian grimaced. “Do you actually believe this woman will allow us to be part of the baby’s life?”
“Will she?” Nate asked.
“She will,” I replied. “Shira didn’t have to tell me about the baby. She chose to. I don’t know what coparenting will look like yet, but it’ll happen. Which means you three are going to have to figure out how to be uncles to this kid.”
“I’m in.” Nate clapped me on the shoulder. “Anything you need, Ro.”
Adrian did not look convinced, but he inclined his chin. “Of course.”
Ben fist-pumped. “ Yes . I’m all about it. I cannot wait to confuse the hell out of your baby with my sparkling personality while having its boring dad’s face.”
“It’s a human, not a toy,” Adrian reminded him.
As they bickered back and forth, Nate squeezed my shoulder. “You okay?”
I thought about it for a beat before nodding. “I think I will be.”
As long as I didn’t keep making Shira cry.
The next morning, I woke up to a picture of cat shit.
Shira: Mary doesn’t like the robot.
Shira: She let this be known by going to the bathroom right next to it.
Shira: I’m going to go back to the regular litter box.
Me: Don’t do anything. I’ll be right there.
Lucky for me, Shira’s place wasn’t far. Even luckier, it was Saturday, so I didn’t have to go into the office. Though, I probably would. Work didn’t stop just because it was the weekend.
I drove as fast as I dared to Shira’s neighborhood. She said she wouldn’t touch the litter, but a knot of panic had lodged in my gut. She struck me as a person who didn’t like to bother anyone, so I was relieved and happy she’d texted me this morning, even if it meant seeing a picture of shit before I’d cleared the sleep from my eyes. But she probably didn’t like having to wait for me to show up to fix the problem I’d created. All I could do was drive faster and hope she had patience.
I parked and ran up to her porch, my phone dinging just as I rang her bell. Another picture came in. This time, it was from Ben.
A laugh burst out of me as my brother wearing a shirt that said, “Best Uncle Ever,” filled the screen. I wasn’t even surprised by how quickly he’d done this. It was very fucking Ben.
Shira opened the door as I was tapping out a reply. “What’s so funny?”
I looked up, grinning. Her hair was down, flowing over her shoulders in raven waves, so dark it was almost blue, and her eerie eyes were lively and curious. “Hey, Goldie. My brother just sent me something incredible.”
She covered it quickly, but I took note of her flinch at me calling her Goldie. I hadn’t even meant to say it; it had just slipped out. I wasn’t going to point it out and make her uncomfortable, though. Instead, I showed her my phone.
Her eyes lit and danced over the picture. Then a miracle happened: a slow, easy smile curved her lips as she lifted her head and met my gaze.
“I guess you told at least one of your brothers.”
“I told all of them.” I held my thumb and index finger a half inch apart. “Ben’s a little excited. If you give him an in, he’ll be all over this pregnancy. It’s a good thing he’s in New Zealand training.”
She blinked a few times before stepping back to let me in. “You told them…it’s me?”
“They know.”
“And they’re still excited?”
“Ben is. Nate and Adrian will take longer. Not because of you, though I can’t say they weren’t surprised. Adrian is fairly unexcitable in general, and Nate is more of a skeptic. Ben’s our resident golden retriever. It doesn’t take much to work him up.”
“Did you tell them you signed up to clean a cat bathroom?”
I huffed a laugh. “Failed to mention it.”
I found it cute that she called the litter box a bathroom and refused to say shit or poop. I didn’t even know why, but it was charming and sweet.
“Mary’s been talking to me all morning about the robot. I caught her staring it down a little bit ago. She really hates it.”
I glanced around but didn’t see her. “Where is she?”
“After her terrible morning, she’s napping in a strip of sun on my bed.”
“I guess shitting on the ground takes a lot out of a girl.”
Shira smirked and quietly murmured, “That’s something I wouldn’t know.”
I chuckled. “Thank Christ for that.” At the utility room door, I stopped in front of her, blocking her way. “You’re not going in there. I’ll clean it all up and get rid of the robot. Go relax.”
Her lips curved gently. “I’m not going to argue with you.”
Once she was far away, I tackled the mess Mary had left for me. Her displeasure was obvious, not just in the putrid pile but the litter scattered everywhere. I had a feeling she’d known I’d be the one cleaning it up, not her beloved Shira. I got through it, reminding myself this was for the good of the baby. I couldn’t even fathom Shira doing this. I’d make sure, even after the baby came, someone else would do this for her. Never her again.
After washing my hands, I sought out Shira. I found her in the kitchen, sitting on the counter, nibbling on a cracker.
“Back to normal. Your cat hates me, by the way.”
“It’s not hate, Roman. She has to express her unhappiness somehow since she can’t speak.”
“Agree to disagree.” Leaning a hip against the counter, we fell into silence as she munched on her cracker. Slow, delicate bites followed by careful chewing. She’d be eating that cracker all day at the rate she was going. “How did you get up there?”
One brow quirked. “I’m more spry than I look.”
“How will you get down?”
“I was thinking I’d fly.” Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink. “But most likely, I’ll end up hopping down.”
I eyed the distance from her swinging feet to the tile floor and instantly took a disliking to it. Jumping that far didn’t seem like a good idea on a normal basis—even worse when nauseous and pregnant.
I also didn’t think she’d take kindly to me saying that, so I let it go.
For now.
“I need a key to your house.”
Her mouth fell open. “Um…why?”
“So I can let myself in to clean the litter in the morning. Stopping in on my way to the office will be easiest, and I’d rather not wake you.”
“Hmmm.” Her teeth dug into her bottom lip as she thought it through. “Since I no longer have a job, sleeping in would be nice.”
“Shira—”
She waved her half-eaten cracker. “No, it’s done. I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll give you a key, but if it’s too big of a burden, let me know and I’ll figure something else out.”
“It won’t be a burden. If there happens to be a day I can’t make it, I’ll make alternative arrangements. This isn’t something you need to worry about anymore.”
“Thank you. And I’m sorry I woke you up this morning.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have work to do.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Are you aware of the resignations that came in after you left?”
“I—” Her hand dropped to her lap. “Yes. It was Terry’s time. After everything she’d done, she needs rest. The others, though…I told them they didn’t have to do that. I told them to stay. They did what they thought was right.”
“It’s put me in quite a spot.”
Her eyes flicked to me then away. She looked like she was going to say something but clamped her mouth shut.
“Shira, you obviously have an opinion. Just say it.”
She sucked in a breath. “I would say you put yourself in this spot, Roman.”
I let that settle for a moment before nodding. “Fair enough. But tell me one thing, do you believe you were the best person for the position you held?”
Her answer came without hesitation. “No.”
“No?”
“No. I was there because Frank wanted me to be, but I was drowning. I wish you and I could have worked together to find a solution that helped GoldMed. That’s what I’d been hoping for when you came aboard.”
“You could have said that to me.”
She tilted her head, her eyes finding mine. The sun streaming through a nearby window dappled them in amber and gray, like a clear lake on a warm afternoon.
“Would you have listened?”
It was me who looked away this time. Heaving a sigh, I shoved my fingers through my hair. “I honestly don’t know.”
“It’s done now. I hope you’ll be able to save GoldMed or, at the very least, take care of the employees left. I can’t give it any more of me. I have to focus on staying healthy for Beanie.”
“You can rest easy. Take care of yourself and Beanie, knowing I’m doing my damnedest, Shira. If it can be saved, I will.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
It was astounding to hear her thank me after everything. Now that I was beginning to see the truth of who she was, my treatment of her shamed me. There was no rewriting history, though. I could only push forward with my friendship campaign and hope one day the animosity I’d created between us could be left in the rearview.
“Yes, well…” I straightened, brushing my hands off on my pants. “I should leave you to your weekend.”
“Oh, all right.” Before I could stop her, she leaped down from the counter. Her landing was featherlight, but my heart dropped straight to my feet like it weighed a thousand pounds. “I’ll get your spare key.”
She moved around the kitchen with grace while I stood there like a buffoon with my mouth hanging open. When she came to me, a key in her upturned palm, I hadn’t yet gotten control of my jaw.
“Here you go.” Her head tipped back as she offered me the key.
I looked down at her, suddenly viscerally aware of her delicate stature. This small woman was carrying my child in a rough, vicious world. How was that safe? How was I supposed to function when she was hopping off counters and walking down sidewalks where anyone could jostle her or…Christ, much worse things.
“No more climbing on counters,” I groused, unable to keep the anger out of my tone. I wasn’t angry at Shira. It was the loss of control.
She, however, didn’t know that, and her flinch told me so. “Oh, okay,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Shira,” I growled. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I just want you to be safe.”
“Okay. I won’t do it again.” Chewing on her bottom lip, she shoved the key toward me. “Your key.”
I slid it out of her hand, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. Snapping at this woman wasn’t going to earn me her friendship or trust. I couldn’t treat her like one of my rugby teammates or brothers.
“I’ll be back in the morning, but text or call if you need anything else before then, all right?”
All I got was a nod.
With a brief goodbye, I got out of there as quickly as I could so I didn’t do any more damage to the minuscule progress I’d made.