8. Gideon
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Gideon
Ellie didn’t stop crying until we got back to her apartment. Ignoring the strange looks in the doctor’s office and on the bus, I navigated as best I could and hustled her into her living room.
There was no point in asking why she was crying.
It was written all over her face. She was scared and overwhelmed, and the news that we were having a girl broke her.
Or maybe just having me back in her life broke her.
I carefully settled her in her bed, tucked the blankets around her, and went in search of something warm and comforting to give her.
There was nothing, so I ended up back across the hall.
“You already made her cry?” Mrs. Lowe demanded. “You were supposed to sweep her off her feet. Are you stupid or something?”
“It’s not me. We just went to the doctor, and we found out that we’re having a girl, and she hasn’t stopped crying. Do you have any hot tea or something? That’s supposed to be good, right?”
She slammed the door shut, and my heart dropped. I lifted my hand to knock again, but she returned with a softer face and a box of tea in her hand. “Hormones are a bitch. Don’t breathe around her, and try not to look at her the wrong way. Don’t mess this up, Filthy Rich.”
Don’t breathe around her or look at her the wrong way? What was I even supposed to do with that?
A few minutes later, I tiptoed back into her room with a warm cup of tea, but she wasn’t there. It didn’t take me long to find her sitting naked in the bathtub. She hadn’t even turned on the water.
“Here, sweetheart. Drink this,” I murmured as I handed it to her. She took it almost automatically. “I’m going to turn the water on, okay? It might be a little cold until it warms up.”
“Okay.”
She’d stopped crying, but she didn’t sound at all like herself. I hated how long the water took to heat up, but once it did, I quickly plugged the drain to fill the tub so she would stop shivering.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. So sorry that you’ve been doing this all on your own. I’m so sorry that I didn’t see you when you needed it, but I am here now, and I swear, you’ll never feel alone again. If you want to tell me what you’re thinking, I’m here to listen.”
There was a moment of silence, and then she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “We’re having a girl.”
“We are. She’s going to be beautiful just like her mother.”
“Beautiful,” she whispered. “And one day, the world is going to break her heart, and what if I’m not there?”
Shit. I’d forgotten that her mother died young. So young that Ellie barely remembered her. She’d been raised by her grandmother.
“What makes you think you won’t be there?” I said as I gripped her chin. “When the world breaks her heart, you’ll be there to hold her, and I’ll be there to burn the world down so she can play in the ashes.”
Frowning, she blinked. “Jesus, Gideon, that was a little dark.”
“I was going for poetic, but apparently, I’m not going to be a very poetic father. The point is that she is never going to be alone. I’m not letting you go now. I’m not letting you go ever. This child is going to have nothing but love in her life.”
Sniffing, she smiled. “I believe you.” Then, as if she remembered that she was naked, she suddenly wrapped her arms around herself and widened her eyes. “Um, Gideon?”
“Yeah, I’m going. Don’t worry. Do you have to work a shift later today?”
“No. I have the next two days off.”
“Excellent. I’m going to walk around town. Give you some space. Grab some groceries. Is that all right? Or would you rather I stay? We could watch a movie.”
“It’s not a smart TV, and I don’t have a DVD player,” she murmured. “Maybe some soup? And some crackers?”
“Sounds like an excellent lunch. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.
Call me if you need anything, all right?
Or if you need me to come back sooner. I know that you’re feeling a lot right now, Ellie, but you don’t have to feel it alone.
That might seem like a load of crap coming from me, but I don’t mean it, and I’m not just saying it because you’re pregnant.
I’m saying it because I realize how much I’ve neglected you, and it’s never going to happen again. ”
I could tell from her face that she didn’t believe me, but that was all right. I intended to prove it.
Outside, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I stared at my mother’s name on the screen.
For the last eight weeks, I’d ignored most of her calls. Skipped meetings. Gave few fucks while the empire I’d been bred to protect wobbled on its foundations, while I hunted for the one person who made it feel like more than a cage.
But she was going to be a grandmother, and maybe it would help soften her toward my wife.
“Where are you?” Victoria demanded, not even bothering with a greeting. “You’ve missed two board meetings. Two, Gideon. Do you have any idea what this looks like?”
“I imagine it looks like I’m not there.”
“How can you joke at a time like this? Tonight, we’re going to have a long talk…”
“I’m not coming home.” The words came out before I could second-guess them. “Not tonight. Not this week. Maybe not for months.”
There was a stunned beat of silence.
“You are not a child,” she said slowly. “You don’t get to throw tantrums. You have responsibilities. To the company. To your family. To me. Ellie made her choices very clear, and it’s time to let her go. I have the divorce papers already drawn up…”
“Ellie is pregnant,” I snarled. “And even if she weren’t, it doesn’t fucking matter. She is my wife, and I’m not giving her up without a fight.”
I didn’t even think my mother was capable of silence, yet that’s exactly what I got on the other end.
“We found out at the doctor’s today that it’s a girl,” I said with a smile. Saying it aloud, like that, made something inside me flare with fierce, protective joy. “They are my family, and I plan to do whatever I need to do to make my wife feel comfortable in my life again.”
My mother inhaled sharply. “You cannot be serious. Do you know what this will look like? Her running off like that, hiding from you? I bet she ran because it’s not even your child!”
“That is the last time you will insinuate that. This is your grandchild, Mother. The only part of your family that doesn’t realize how cold your blood runs.”
On the other end of the line, there was a brittle pause.
“You sound ridiculous,” she snapped. “Romantic. Naive. You are not some lovesick teenager, Gideon. You are a Montgomery. You have a duty…”
“My duty,” I said, each word deliberate, “is to my wife and our child, and since I can’t make that clear with my words, perhaps I’ll make it clear with my actions. Keep trying to pull us apart, and you will very quickly see just how much I’ve learned from you. Do you understand?”
Silence.
“Do you understand?”
“How dare you speak to me like this?” she whispered. “After everything I’ve done for you. I carried you, I raised you!”
“And I’m grateful,” I said. It cost me something to admit it, but it was true. “You gave me life and a company and a name. But you do not get to decide that the price for all of that is my happiness.”
Her inhale was sharp enough to be heard across an ocean, and then there was nothing. She’d actually hung up on me.
I looked down at the phone for a long moment, then slid it back into my pocket. My pulse thudded hard in my throat, but for the first time in a long time, I didn’t worry about the consequences. It was what I should have done a long time ago.
I turned back toward the main street and headed for the ice cream shop.
My wife’s boss stood at the counter, finishing ringing up an older teenage couple who looked like they were probably playing hooky from school. When his gaze met mine, the smile disappeared, and I waited for the young couple to leave.
“I wanted to apologize,” I said. “For yesterday. For storming in here like a lunatic and interrogating you.”
Danny raised a brow. “You mean when you demanded to know if I was sleeping with your wife?”
Heat crawled up my neck. It wasn’t my finest moment. “Yes. That.”
He studied me for a moment, then jerked his chin at the counter. “Want something?”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Ice cream,” he said, as if it were obvious. “You know, the thing we sell here. Unless billionaires are allergic.”
“I’m not allergic,” I said dryly.
“Good. Ice cream is the kind of joy even a billionaire should be able to enjoy.” He grabbed a scoop. “What’s your poison?”
I glanced at the board, at the flavor that immediately jumped out at me.
“Brownie batter,” I said.
He snorted. “Of course.”
“What?”
“Ellie eats it out of the tub when she’s thinking too hard. Does she get it from you, or did you get it from her?”
Slowly, I grinned. Ellie was addicted to brownie batter ice cream. I had no idea. “This would be one of the few things she picked up from me.”
“I’m Danny, by the way,” he said as he handed me a cup. “Owner, childhood friend, strictly platonic, in case your brain is still stuck in jealous-husband mode.”
“Noted,” I said. I took a bite of the ice cream. It was too sweet and perfect.
“You really care about her?” he asked suddenly.
I looked up. “Yes.”
He stared me down like he was trying to decide whether to believe me.
“She showed up here shaking like a leaf, pretending she was fine. She took the job for cash because she didn’t want to touch the cards you gave her.
At first, I thought you were a wife-beater, but whenever I brought up divorce, she waved her hands, and I figured it was something more complex.
She wouldn’t stay with you if you’d ever laid a hand on her. ”
“No, she would not.”
“Exactly,” he said. “But emotional pain is no less traumatic, and you’ve caused enough that she ran and couldn’t return.
Now she’s going to have a child, and here you are.
I can’t decide if you’re the best bet or not.
Here, we don’t have billions, but we’d take care of her.
We are taking care of her, and we’ll take care of that child too.
She will always have a home here, and I can make your welcome very cold. You get my drift?”
It was a ridiculous threat, but I saw the seriousness of it, and I appreciated it.
“I never meant to hurt her, and I’ve learned my lesson. Also, it’s possible we’re not leaving here, so if I have to prove my loyalty to the whole town, so be it.”
He seemed thrown by that answer. “Huh.”
“I also wanted to ask you something,” I added. “What’s the nicest place in town to take her on a date?”
His brows shot up. “A date.”
“Yes.”
“You planning to bribe the chef to close the place for the night? Roll out a red carpet down main street?”
“I thought I’d start with a reservation,” I said dryly.
He laughed, a quick bark. “You’re going to be fun.
” He rattled off the name of a restaurant a few blocks away, then grabbed a business card from under the counter and scribbled the phone number on it.
“Call this. Tell them Danny sent you. Won’t help much, but it might keep them from hanging up when you ask for a table on short notice. ”
“Are they hard to get into?” I asked.
He snorted. “They don’t take reservations. It’s first-come, first-served. Nobody’s impressed by your last name here, Montgomery.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have other qualities.”