Chapter 9
Eight Weeks Later
“Here, Pooch Belly.” Genesis slid an open container of food across the kitchen island toward me as I worked on Christian’s calendar for the month.
“What is this?”
She rolled her eyes at me, although I knew she wasn’t really mad at me, more so like, semi-annoyed. “It’s lunch. Which I traipsed all the way to the commercial kitchen to make since you can’t stand the smell of food.”
She was right. I was ten weeks pregnant and morning sickness was kicking my ass on the daily.
Everything stank to me. Everything made me nauseous and most things made me puke.
Genesis was a personal chef and caterer who couldn’t even use her own kitchen when I was at the house, because the smells of her various dishes caused my stomach to react violently.
“Sorry.”
Her eyes softened. “I know it’s not your fault.” She leaned down toward my still flat stomach and spoke. “I know it’s my little niece or nephew in there wreaking havoc. Give your mama a break, Baby Cole.” She glanced over at me. “Is it gonna be a Cole? An Upton-Cole?”
I smirked at her. “Between Christian and my daddy, there are enough Uptons. This baby will be a Cole.” I paused. “Or that could be the pregnancy talking, in which case, this baby will be an Upton-Cole.”
We both laughed.
“Give your mama a break, shorty rough-rough,” she joked.
“Right.” I looked down at my stomach. “Please give your mama a break, shorty rough-rough. She’s gonna try to feed you now. Let’s keep the food inside of us. Let’s not give it to the toilet.”
“Yuck!” Genesis pulled a face. “I remember those days, though. Especially with Christian the third and Killian. I had morning sickness with Giselle, too, but nowhere near as badly as I had it with the twins. I was over the toilet 24/7 with the twins. Anyway, I made salmon for you because you need the omega-3. Spinach for the iron and calcium. Mashed potatoes just because they taste good and coat the stomach.”
“Thank you. Where’s the fork?”
She laughed before sliding me a fork. “I was so greedy with the twins. All I did was eat and sleep. Are you sleeping?”
“I love sleep,” I told her in between small bites. “It’s the only time I’m not nauseous.”
“Is Brix doing his part to spoil you properly?”
I grinned. “He bombards my house with at least six bouquets of pink flowers every week.”
“Six bouquets?”
“Don’t trip. I got him down from about fifty bouquets. I can live with six. Six is good.”
We both laughed.
“And he comes by every day and checks on me. If I’m not feeling good, he walks Mocha. Your brother is definitely my favorite.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “We’re gonna circle back to that in a minute. But first of all, I thought you were fostering this dog for two weeks. It’s been like four months at this point.”
I had to snicker. “You’re right. You’re right.”
“So, she’s your dog now?”
“No. They tell me I’m still fostering her.
The husband and wife that own her are waiting to move.
They keep saying that their current home isn’t a good fit for a small puppy.
I love Mocha, I really do. But I wasn’t expecting to be a dog owner.
At this point, I’m wondering if she’ll be with me when I have the baby. ”
“Are you thinking about giving her back to the agency?”
“Absolutely not. If her original owners don’t come back for her, I’ll see if I can adopt her.” I took more bites of food. “Genesis, this is so good.”
“Slow down. Give it a chance to settle on your stomach.” She took a breath. “Now, back to my brother being your favorite.”
I sighed. “It’s just an expression. Nothing is going on between the two of us.”
“I can’t tell with the way he was kissing on your stomach and stuff.”
“Shut up! He’d just found out that he was gonna be a father. I think it was okay for him to display some emotion.” I was working hard to keep my face blank because just the mention of Brixton’s name made me want to smile and blush.
I was trying to undersell it, but Brixton really was my favorite.
He was my favorite person. His touch was my favorite thing to feel.
His scent was my favorite thing to smell.
It never turned my stomach or made me nauseous.
His voice was my favorite sound. And his visits to my house were my favorite time of the day.
I had it bad for that man, and trying to suppress my feelings took a whole lot of energy.
“Listen, I’m not knocking you. I would love it if you and Brix had romantic feelings for each other.
” She wiggled her eyebrows comically. “We could be related two ways. Plus, I would trust you with my brother’s heart, Ryann.
After Adrianna’s old shady ass hurt him like she did, I’m vetting any woman that tries to get next to him.
But I trust you. Y’all would be so good together. And this baby is about to be gorgeous!”
“Just like his or her cousins. Because I have the cutest niece and nephews.”
She eyed me. “So you sure you don’t feel anything for my brother?”
“Leave me alone, Gensie.”
Of course, I overate the food Genesis made for me. By the time Brixton made it to my house, I was down for the count on my sofa. Since I was down most nights when he arrived, I had given him a key and the code to the alarm system.
Mocha greeted him with a bark and a dance around his feet. I greeted him with a grunt. “Hey.”
He scooped Mocha into his arms, which was all she wanted. She, like me, had discovered that his arms were a wonderful place to be. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing really. My stomach is just full of salmon and mashed potatoes.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, Gensie told me that she fed you. And that she told you to slow down, but you wouldn’t.”
“Eww, she’s a snitch.”
“She was worried. Is the food staying down?”
“So far.”
“You think you’ll be cool while I take Mocha for a walk?”
“I wanna walk some of this food off.” I rolled over on my side and sat up. “Let’s do it.”
Brixton and I walked Mocha while his security trailed us in his SUV. Once she exercised her legs by running around and did her business, the three of us headed back to the house.
I basically tumbled back onto my sofa. “Ugh. They say when you get into the second semester your energy picks up. I can’t wait for that, because this I’m always tired era is for the birds.”
He sat next to me, taking a foot into his hands and removing my shoes one by one. “Give yourself some grace, lil mama. You’re growing an entire human. It’s not supposed to feel like business as usual, even if the baby is only the size of a prune.”
I cracked up. “I love how you’re keeping up with this week by week. Last week, the baby was the size of a sunflower seed or something.”
He grinned at my teasing and put both of my shoes down beside him, then picked up my left foot and began the daily foot massage he gave me.
I tried not to melt or cum while he methodically massaged every inch of my foot.
He was leisurely with it, like he was never in a rush.
With the season being over, he didn’t really have many obligations.
He seemed to spend his extra time catering to me and I didn’t complain.
“You brought your bag?” I questioned.
He’d started bringing a bag of extra clothes with him to my house, so if he needed to shower or change, he could do so.
Then, he lay next to me in my bed holding me all night.
That was literally my favorite part of the day, even though it was dangerous.
The feelings I was catching for him, that I was trying to beat back, were being amplified by cuddling up next to him in the bed every night.
And the fact that I was horny as hell for him was even more tragic.
“Yeah, I’ll get it in a minute.”
The minute turned into an hour after the two of us dozed off watching television. I awoke to the vibrating of my phone in the pocket of my pants. I quickly fished it out. My father was requesting a video chat, so I accepted it.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said as his face appeared on my screen.
“Hey, Rowdy girl. Did I wake you up?”
I stretched, then gave a yawn. “Brix and I must’ve fallen asleep while we were catching up on our show.”
“He’s there with you?”
“Yep. He comes by every day. Some days, he brings me food. Some days, he walks Mocha for me. He checks on me and takes care of me.”
“Takes care of you, how? That’s a grown man, Ryann.
Usually, when grown men are taking care of a woman, there’s something else at play.
I think you need to watch yourself. Put some boundaries up, especially around your heart.
I don’t want to see you come out of this situation with a broken heart.
Pregnant women are vulnerable to their emotions.
Don’t let your emotions guide you. Brixton is essentially doing you a favor. I don’t want you to forget that.”
“Brix isn’t doing me a favor. This agreement is mutually beneficial. He wants fatherhood just like I want motherhood.”
He didn’t respond for a few seconds, but the expression on his face was one of concern.
“Why are you looking like that, Daddy?”
He sighed. “Ryann, I realize that you were in an… impossible situation. I mean, to find out that your fertility is compromised while you’re not even in a relationship or entertaining prospectives had to be hard.
But are you sure you made the right decision?
Not that Brixton isn’t a good guy, I like him.
I’ve always liked him. When he was rooming with Chris at college I liked him. But—”
I could feel my temper rising. I’d always had a bit of a temper, so I couldn’t really blame it on the pregnancy, but the rate that my anger went from zero to one hundred was definitely the pregnancy.
At the moment, I felt the strong urge to slap my father.
I was glad he wasn’t standing in front of me.