CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
Julian nodded. “And none of you were raised in this world, so it didn’t shape how you view things like this.”
But Julian had been, so it was likely that he would put more weight on how a person looked. He’d want a woman who looked stunning on his arm. Someone who looked like Emilia. Or Ava, who had both looks and smarts.
“Regardless of what Emilia said, I want to apologize for my part in how things went last night,” Julian said. “I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“You didn’t need to babysit me,” Kiara told him. She didn’t want him to feel like she was a burden, even though she undoubtedly was.
“It wasn’t about babysitting you.” He shifted forward to rest his arms on the table. “I should have done a better job of making sure you were surrounded by good people. So, people like Emilia wouldn’t have had the opportunity to talk to you alone.”
“I survived,” Kiara said. “And it’s unlikely I’ll see her again.”
Julian nodded. “You won’t.”
Kiara had figured it would be the only event she’d be invited to, but it kind of hurt for Julian to agree so easily.
It shouldn’t have hurt because she really didn’t want to attend another one anyway.
However, she hadn’t guarded her emotions or her heart as well as she should have, so it did bring an ache to her heart.
“Would it be okay if we talked about the baby for a minute?” Kiara asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from a memory she’d rather not dwell on.
“Sure,” Julian said, seeming to be relieved to move on as well. “What’s on your mind?”
“Well, first, his name,” she said. “Do you have any ideas? Any names you’d like to be considered?”
He thought for a minute and then said, “Honestly, I don’t have any strong preferences. If you want to come up with suggestions, we can discuss them.”
His response wasn’t too surprising, but she had hoped that he’d want to give more input into naming their son.
“Okay. I’ll see what I can come up with.
” She hesitated, a bit reluctant to broach the next subject, but she knew she needed to.
Now that she was in her final trimester, she found herself wanting to nail down as many of the details as she could.
“Second, I was wondering if you planned to be in the delivery room when I’m in labor. ”
Kiara could see right away what his answer was going to be. She had hoped that he’d want to be present for the birth of their son, but it wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t feel the same way.
“I’m not sure how I’d do in the delivery room,” Julian said with a grimace. “I think maybe you’d be better off with Angie. I wouldn’t be of much help.”
“That’s fine,” Kiara told him, though from the ache in her chest, it was anything but. She felt like she was walking through a minefield of hurt. Every subject she brought up inflicted pain upon herself. “I just wanted to make sure you knew you were welcome to be there if you wanted.”
Kiara’s biggest fear was that Julian wouldn’t interact with their son the way she wanted him to. Perhaps he still had some doubts about the baby being his. Or maybe he had never planned to be a hands-on father.
“Is everything going okay with the baby?” he asked.
“Yep. The doctor said he’s growing as he should, and the ultrasound didn’t show anything of concern.”
“That’s good,” he said. “And everything is ready at the house?”
She nodded. “I’ve been buying clothes for him, and so have Elizabeth, Annie, and Angie. Annie has also made several things for him. She’s so talented. I think he’s going to be one well-dressed baby boy.”
Julian smiled at that. “I’m sure he’ll be one of the most photographed babies, too.”
Kiara had thought about doing a maternity shoot because she’d seen so many of them on social media. However, those had all involved the father, and she was pretty sure that Julian wouldn’t want to participate in something like that.
She had been taking pictures and videos of herself each week, just to have. This might be the only pregnancy she ever experienced, and she wanted a record of it.
“Since you don’t plan to stay for sightseeing, are you going back this afternoon with Cole and Annie?”
“I wasn’t sure when they were going back,” she said. “But I figured I’d either go with them or just book a ticket.”
“No need to fly commercial if you want to leave this afternoon.”
“Do you know what time they’re leaving?” Kiara asked.
“I don’t know their actual departure time. Let me see what Annie says.” He pulled out his phone and sent off a quick message. “Last night she said they were flying out in the afternoon, but I don’t know if it was early or late afternoon.”
Kiara felt a sudden longing to go home. She looked out of the window at the view. She’d always been a small-town or country girl. The big city didn’t appeal to her, and after the experiences she’d had there in the past twenty-four hours, she was ready to leave it behind.
“Annie said the plane is scheduled to depart at one, so they plan to leave here at noon.”
“And they’re okay if I go with them?”
“Definitely,” Julian said with a nod as he tapped out a response. “Just make sure you and Lucy are ready to go by noon.”
“We will be.”
“I’ll probably be back at the estate next weekend or the week after, depending on how the meetings go this week.”
“Are you going back to Singapore soon?”
“I’m not sure yet. Since Sean and Ava came here for the meetings, I don’t need to travel to them. Which is probably just as well because Duncan has some other trips scheduled for me.”
Kiara wondered if he’d always traveled that much. It seemed like he was on the go an awful lot. It had made sharing a house with him pretty easy, since their time together had been fairly limited so far, and it sounded like maybe it was going to continue that way.
“I’m going to be leaving the hotel today too,” Julian said. “I’ll be going to my apartment now that the event here is over.”
Kiara wondered what his apartment was like, but he hadn’t offered to show it to her. And she wasn’t about to ask to see it.
Unfortunately, it was becoming very clear to her that even though she knew there was an end date to her marriage to Julian, she still wanted to know more about him.
She wanted to have a place in his life, the way he had a place in hers. The communication they’d had while he was in the treatment center had given her hope that they were moving toward a closer relationship, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
It seemed that no matter how much they shared with each other, there was still a wall between them. Julian was definitely keeping his distance from her in a lot of ways. She’d thought his moving into Angie’s part of the house would bring them together, but that hadn’t really been the result.
In the evenings, which was when they’d spent time together, Julian usually pulled out his laptop and continued to work, after having worked all day. She would end up reading, which wasn’t bad, but it didn’t foster much communication between them.
She wasn’t sure that they would even have a close friendship once everything was done. They would be two acquaintances parenting their child.
It felt like a rejection of who she was, even though he hadn’t really rejected her. It just felt like she wasn’t worthy of having a place in his life.
“I should probably let you and Lucy get your stuff together if you’re going to be able to leave at noon,” Jude said, looking at the expensive watch on his wrist. Kiara noticed that the ring she’d placed on his finger was still there, so that was something.
Kiara glanced at the screen on her phone and saw that it was almost eleven, so they wouldn’t have much time. When Julian got to his feet, she did as well, turning toward the door at the sound of a knock.
“That’ll be Lucy,” Julian said, then went to let her and Anthony in.
“We’re catching a ride back to Serenity with Cole and Annie,” Kiara said to Lucy. “We need to be ready to leave by noon.”
Lucy glanced at her watch, then nodded. “That’s doable for me. Does that work for you?”
“Yes, I’ll be ready to go.”
“We’ll be checking out as well, Anthony,” Julian said. “Let’s meet down in the lobby at noon.”
Kiara sat back down at the table after the men had left. “I’m going to eat a little more.”
“Go for it,” Lucy said as she headed for her room.
After finishing her waffle, she grabbed one more piece of bacon, then got up from the table.
The nice thing about traveling private was that she didn’t have to worry about what she was wearing. Comfort was uppermost in her mind when she chose her clothes in general, but especially when traveling.
Kiara gathered up her things and quickly packed her suitcase. She returned the dress from the night before to the garment bag it had been delivered in.
By the time eleven forty-five rolled around, Kiara was ready to go. She took one last look around the large suite, then headed for the door.
Lucy instructed the person who had come to get their bags where to deliver them, then they walked toward the elevator.
“Have Julian and Anthony gone down already?” Kiara asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lucy said.
Kiara wondered if Julian had said they’d be down there just so he wouldn’t have to say goodbye.
When they reached the hotel lobby, Cole and Annie were already there, sitting together on an elegant loveseat. Dawn, Annie’s bodyguard, was also there, standing close to them.
“You ready to go home, Kiara?” Annie asked as Kiara sank down into an armchair across from her.
“Definitely.”
“Me too,” Annie said. “I don’t think I’ve been missing anything by not attending events like the gala over the years.”
“You won’t be able to avoid them for the rest of your life, love,” Cole said.
“I know, and I’ll be fine with that as long as we can go home right afterwards.”
“I don’t know how Elizabeth does it,” Kiara said. “I found last night to be exhausting. I realize that part of that is pregnancy, but still… I’m ready to go back to the estate.”
“So, are we ready to go?” Cole asked.
“Julian said he was going to meet us here,” Kiara said. “But perhaps something came up.”
“They’re on their way down,” Dawn said as she looked up from her phone.
Kiara tried to ignore the relief that statement brought her. And her heart beat faster when she spotted Julian and Anthony heading toward them. Julian was talking on his phone, but he lowered it as they reached their group.
“Morning, sis,” Julian said. “And Cole.”
“Morning, bro.” Annie got to her feet, then offered her hand to Cole to help him up. “We were just about to head out.”
“Sorry. Got hung up on a call with Duncan.”
Kiara maneuvered her way to her feet with some effort. Sitting in the comfy chair probably hadn’t been her smartest idea.
“The SUVs are here,” Dawn said.
Their group migrated out to the curb, where two SUVs waited. One was for their luggage, while the other was for the passengers. Cole and Annie climbed into the third row, while Lucy went to the front passenger seat.
Dawn rounded the SUV to get into the middle row on the other side. Before climbing into her seat, Kiara turned toward Julian.
“Have a good week,” she said.
“Thanks. You too.”
He stepped closer to Kiara and offered her a hug. Kiara welcomed it, wanting that brief connection with him before they went their separate ways again.
As they moved apart, he bent forward a little and rested his hand lightly on her bump. “You be good for your mama, little guy.” Julian straightened, removing his hand from her stomach. He pulled something from his back pocket and held it out to her. “Here.”
Kiara glanced down to see a folded envelope. She took it from him, but she didn’t have a chance to say anything before Julian stepped back. She turned to the open door and climbed into the SUV.
Julian moved to the door as she settled into her seat. Their gazes met for a moment before he closed the door and stepped back. The SUVs rolled into motion, and the hotel—and Julian—were left behind.
Kiara looked down at the envelope and unfolded it. Her name was scrawled across the front of it in a familiar penmanship.
Why had Julian written her a letter? They’d just had a conversation where it was only the two of them present. Surely, he could have said whatever he needed to then.
Did this mean it was something bad?
With that thought in her mind, Kiara slipped the envelope into her purse. She’d read it later when she didn’t have an audience, just in case it was something that might provoke an emotional response.