Chapter 11 Peace Offering
Eva
I was in no hurry to get home. Ellie texted that Jane had a fever, and she had to run to help her ex get meds before their pharmacy closed. She said she’d come by later and still get me my food, but it wouldn’t be until at least eight.
As I began to pack up, Davey arrived with my hoodie.
He approached my desk. “I come in peace, Eva. Promise.”
I wanted to make a Star Trek reference, but refrained. He’d never get it. I stared, very confused, as he placed a bottle of scotch on the table.
“I went a little better than the Macallan 12 and I washed this. We have a laundry area off the big suite where we host things. I figured you didn’t want to lose it. Oh, and Daphne made it clear you just had a ‘tummy bumble’ and not to worry. So, I apologize for freaking out.”
I took the hoodie, praying it still smelled like Mona’s perfume, and he hadn’t done something stupid like use a laundry sheet. It smelled clean but faintly like her.
“I uh… thank you.” I ignored the scotch. He could leave it, and it would just stay a trophy in the office until I could drink again sometime next year.
“Great. So, let’s just… have a drink and… let bygones be bygones?”
Was he serious right now?
“I don’t have glasses,” I said.
“I do,” Davey said. “I’ll grab them—”
“No, I uh… I cannot drink, Davey,” I said. “Sorry, Mr. Delphine. I… I shouldn’t.”
“You cannot drink? You quit drinking in a month?”
“More like a month and a week, but sure?”
“I saw you drink a glass of wine last week at the reception in the lobby—”
“I pretended to drink it,” I said.
He shook his head. “You think I’m an idiot, don’t you?”
“No one said that.” My voice grew weak.
I trembled, nervous to see what he’d do next.
“Why do you lie and avoid me? I try to make nice with you and you just cast me aside. I have tried to wash vomit off your damn sweatshirt, Eva.”
“That is very kind, but—”
“What did I do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“Then, let’s just have a drink and chat, okay?”
“I cannot.”
“Why? Why the hell are you doing this?”
“Because… I’m pregnant!” My words rang louder than I would have hoped.
He did a double take. “Since when?”
“Since about seven weeks ago, I had a period and then didn’t,” I hoped somehow he’d do the math.
Like a typical man, he couldn’t read the room.
“Well, best of luck to you, then. I’m sorry, Eva, I shouldn’t have forced the issue.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“I mean, what more can I say? I hope you’re very happy with whoever he is.”
“Excuse me?” I scoffed. “You think there’s some other man, so you’re going to get all weird about it?”
“I don’t know how it happened. Could be—”
“Davey, it’s yours.”
“Mine?” He pointed at himself, then burst out laughing. “That’s impossible.”
“Given what happened, it’s well within the realm of possibility.”
“How?” He stumbled, shaking his head. “There’s… no way.”
“I’m telling you it fucking is.”
Davey pulled my door closed.
“No one is here, Davey. No one—”
“This cannot get out!”
I rolled my eyes. “You think this is a threat to you?”
“Well, yes!”
“That’s cute.” I crossed my arms, even more annoyed.
“Can you… can you not?” Davey asked.
“Not what? Like get rid—”
“No, that.” He gestured wildly. “I am never going to be able to have this very serious conversation with you if you push your breasts up like that!”
“These are my breasts, Davey, I’m not doing shit to make you feel better. Nor am I planning on getting rid of it, so just… back the fuck off!”
My voice reverberated.
Davey approached the desk, planted his left pointer finger down, and with a low voice, “I’m not fucking asking for you to do anything.
I am asking you to please stop parading around here in next to nothing looking so good while I’m trying to wrap my head around how I impregnated you in a hotel room on the Mag Mile.
Do you know what this could do to me? To the company? ”
I leaned forward. “With no respect due, Mr. Delphine, you are the heir to billions, a man who no doubt lives like a prince, and with no worries. I am a woman still in the beginnings of a bright career who will be painted a whore for sleeping her way to the top. Trust me, I’m trying to quit but your sister cares too much about me to accept my resignation. ”
“Fuuuuuuck,” he groaned, pacing. “What do we do?”
I shook my head. “If I had an idea, I would have already solved the equation.”
Davey
I reeled.
Pregnant? She was pregnant. And she said it was mine.
Did I trust her? Did I have any reason not to?
Eva was right. The condom broke. She was of child-bearing age, so it made sense.
But she took the pill, right? She didn’t seem like some sort of trap queen who’d tie herself down to keep me around. She was smart—smarter than me.
I grabbed a pen from her desk, needing to occupy my fingers as I thought.
The urge to smoke—something I hadn’t done in a fucking decade—overwhelmed me.
I’d made it through my father’s funeral a year and a half ago without the urge, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I wanted to smoke.
I rolled the pen between my fingers in my left hand.
“Are you left-handed?” Eva asked.
“If I tell you yes, will you think I’m brilliant?”
“No, but it’s something I’m noticing. Nervous?”
I stood again. “How did it happen? You took the pill, right?”
“I did. They are not as effective as we’d hoped. And, for the record, there are two pills. One is better for people who aren’t model skinny, and the other is for mere mortals like me. You got the skinny pill.”
“What?” I furrowed my brow. “I never called you fat.”
“No, my gyno did,” Eva said. “Because I’m too fat.”
I did a double take. “She’s either daft or on drugs.”
“Daft? God, you’re a trip,” Eva said.
“Do you ever stop taking the piss?”
“Do you ever stop craving it?” Eva facepalmed. “I am sorry. I do not know where the fuck that came from? It’s like I am short-circuiting.”
“Me, too.” I collapsed into the chair. “Fuck. I need a smoke. Do you feel that way?”
“I have never smoked and definitely cannot right now.”
“Shit, yeah. Pregnant.”
“Look, this wasn’t how I imagined this going, Davey.
I thought you’d be an interesting hookup.
I didn’t believe you when you promised me a good time.
And then… it lived up to expectations. But this—” She pointed between us.
“This doesn’t work, Davey. You don’t end up with me.
You don’t want it and I’m not promising it. ”
“Did you plan on telling me?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I figured I’d wait until I knew more. You don’t get it. I’ve only made it this far once. And then I found out at my second scan the baby was gone. I am fully expecting to find the same, Davey.”
“That’s grim, Eva, I’m sorry.”
She’d been pregnant twice before? The thought blew my mind. I heard my sister’s voice of reason telling me not to badger her, so I didn’t ask.
“I figured I’d make it to thirteen weeks and think about telling you if the pregnancy was viable, okay? But… I want you to know I’m neither getting rid of it nor asking you for anything. The way I see it, I’m raising this child by myself.”
I set my jaw, winding up. “Eva, I am not going to let you do that.”
“So, I should get rid of it?”
“No! Jesus, I’m not asking you to do that. I’d never fucking force you to do anything like that! If you wanted to, I’d support you. It’s your fucking body.”
The surprise on her face suggested mistrust. She thought I was going to tell her she had to end the pregnancy. Instead of anger, I mustered compassion to start showing her I wasn’t the villain she made me out to be.
“What I meant, Eva, was I will help you. There is no world in which I procreate and don’t step up. I couldn’t forgive myself, and I’d hope you wouldn’t forgive me either.”
She cocked her head adorably. “What?”
“I want to provide for you and the baby and support you, obviously.”
“Davey, that doesn’t make sense—”
“It doesn’t make sense for me to not be responsible for the thing I put out in this world.”
“I don’t need your money.”
“Does our child not deserve it, though? I am not saying I am here to control your life.”
“Good, because we are not together. Not in any sense.”
It pained me to admit I still wished to go back and fix whatever I fucked up the month before.
I needed to earn her trust and prove I had her best interest in mind.
There was base attraction for days. I’d still have her if she let me, but it wasn’t just that.
She cast me as the evil asshole who held her future in my hands.
I never saw it that way. No matter how much she annoyed—even tortured—me I wouldn’t give up.
“Maybe we aren’t together, but we can still work together.”
“Here? Fuck my life!”
“Look, it’s not ideal and I’m not saying let’s run out and say what is going on—mainly as you said, for your sake.”
“You’re not willing to take the heat, either.”
“I will be,” I promised, terrified but playing tough. “We need to be a team. You deserve that. So, whatever you need, tell me, Eva.”
“I don’t need your money. Like I said—”
“You will. And the child deserves to be raised in a world where it has the same opportunities that Cal and Daphne’s kid will have. Should it feel less-than. Maybe you don’t see it, but this child is still David and Danna Delphine’s grandchild.”
“I don’t have the slightest clue what that means. Nor do I care, Davey.”
“Okay, but won’t you feel bad—”
“I was raised in buttfuck by a dad who worked at a steel mill and a homemaker.”
“Yes, but you attended Oxford. You are obviously educated. You’re also well-connected with my sister singing your praises. Don’t bury your head in the sand.”
Eva sighed. “If you want to financially support this child, then we need to go to court. If you want to even be on the birth certificate, we need to formalize everything. Because, Davey, I am still an attorney, and I refuse to let you fuck me over.”
“I’m literally telling you I’ll do what you need me to and have no desire to fuck you over. Why do you think I am out to get you?”
“You made it clear you didn’t have to chase women—that your status made you a catch. When I decided to pull back, you got aggressive.”
“I put my foot in my mouth because I liked you,” I said.
“Operative part being liked. Past tense.”
“I never said that,” I said quietly. “Or at least I don’t see it that way. You may think I’m the villain. That’s fine today, but we’re forever tied. Let me do the right thing here. You’ll see you can trust me. And that includes doctor appointments—”
“My best friend is my support person. She’s coming to my first scan.”
“Why can you not—”
“You must earn this, Davey. My trust isn’t given without blood, sweat, and tears. That goes for any person I’ve ever believed in. Forgive me, Davey, but I don’t know you. And to-date, all you’ve done is send me away crying.”
It hit me hard. “You’re right. I am sorry. I’ve not made a good impression. But I do want you to know I’m trying, Eva. That I will keep trying. And I want to be there for your appointments.”
“As if you have time!”
“If Cal can take off for every appointment as the fucking mayor, I will make it work.”
“Why is anger your only response?” Eva asked. “You’re angry even now. Whatever. I will… let you come if you can control this rage.”
“I’m not angry. I’m… determined.”
“Work on that,” Eva said. “Because even if your indignation is righteous, it makes me react in frustration.”
“I’ll work on it,” I sighed. “You sound like my sister.”
“She is a clever woman. She might be onto something.”