33. Tuomo
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Tuomo
T here has been a distinct change in her routine, and I know everything is falling into place. The last few days she has been sleeping in the afternoons and looking tired, even after the extra rest.
On top of that her skin is glowing, and she has a beautiful radiance about her.
The changes that are taking place in her body are small, just beginning, but I know her too well not to notice.
Of course, she is going through a lot and the stress of me not being at her side could make her tired too. But I’m certain there is more to it than that. This is more than stress.
She has hardly left the house over the past week - the last two days especially.
Excitement taunts me as I watch her.
I can’t wait for her to realize what’s happening. I’m curious about how she will react. Will she call me straight away?
It’s early in the morning and over the past two days I am spending more and more time near her because it’s going to happen soon, and I want to be there when she finds out she is carrying my baby.
She’s still asleep up in her apartment and I am parked downstairs watching her window. I haven’t been here long because I know her routine. I arrive just a few minutes before she gets up. This morning, she is sleeping later than normal.
The curtains are open as though she knows I’m here and is inviting me to stay.
I see movement in her home. She runs past the window towards the bathroom, clutching her stomach. I wait, a smile spreading wider across my face. The symptoms have become more obvious.
Not even five minutes later she is rushing out of the building, towards the drug store down the road and my heart is thumping with excitement. It’s happening.
I get out of my car, staying on the other side of the street and a way back from her.
Nerissa looks worried. Her face is strained with a deep frown, and she keeps her head down as she walks. Her fists keep clenching and unclenching. I don’t think she is even conscious of it. Her body is giving away her anxiety. She is panicking.
Inside the pharmacy I see her talking to the lady through the window. They chat for a while, Nerissa nodding at whatever she is being told. She pays for her items and then turns towards the swing doors and pushes them open. She glances up and down the street. I’m right here, little bird. I’m with you.
She comes out holding a brown paper bag which she is clutching as though it might kill her. Her fingers grip the paper, almost tearing it.
I want to grab her and hug her and remind her I love her. But I stay back. Hidden.
She hurries back upstairs, and I wait.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
She walks into the living room holding the pregnancy test.
She knows.
She disappears from view for a little while - then, to my surprise, she comes right up to the window, looking up and down the street as though she is searching for something. Or someone. Me.
It takes everything in my power to stop myself from calling her name.
There are tears in her eyes, and it breaks my heart that we couldn’t have found out together. It doesn’t matter though because soon we will be together, and nothing will ever pull us apart again.
Right now - I have to speak to my father. It’s time to tell him that Nerissa is pregnant with my child, and he can no longer deny the fact that her and I belong together.
Reluctantly I start the car, needing to leave but not wanting to go.
“I’ll be with you soon, little bird.” I say, looking up at her window and the lost look in her eyes. It tugs at me, making me protective of her, aching to hold her.
But I have things I need to do. I have to make this right with my family. Then when she is ready to tell me about it, I will be ready to ask her to marry me again.
I pull away from her apartment building with a heavy heart, loaded with guilt that I am not with her in this moment.
I drive straight to my father’s place. It will not be a calm conversation, because I know he’s still furious and I am sure this news is going to make it worse before he processes the information but no matter what - I will tell him. And then I will marry her regardless of his reaction. With her being the mother of my child, he wouldn’t dare harm her.
The mansion is quiet when I arrive. The loud, obnoxious noises of my brothers trampling through the place are not there. I walk into the front door and take a deep breath, my stomach churning, and knotting. It’s cold and uninviting without my brothers here. At least they add some life to the empty halls.
“Tuomo. What are you doing here?” My father’s voice booms through the house, coming towards me from down the hallway. I hear his footsteps approaching. He must have seen me on the security cameras.
“We need to speak.” I say, pushing my shoulders back and standing taller.
He walks into the foyer, where only a short time ago I knocked him to the floor and showed him he was, in fact, not stronger than me. I wonder how today’s conversation will go.
“Speak.” He says, rough and cold. No greeting. No welcome. No fatherly love. There never has been, so it’s no surprise.
“It’s regarding Nerissa.” I say and his face pulls tight, a sneer on his lips as he flexes his shoulder muscles. There is no point in dancing around the news so, I blurt it out right away.
“She is pregnant.”
He stares at me for a moment, then shakes his head.
“It’s not yours. Trash like that will be sleeping with everyone. What is she asking you for? Money? Is she blackmailing you? It might be easier to just give her what she wants to make this go away.”
I roll my eyes, doing my best to stay calm because in this situation it’s the only way to negotiate peace with him.
“I am one hundred percent certain the baby is mine. I have zero doubt in my mind.”
“For fuck’s sake.” My father mutters. I can feel the disappointment oozing out of him. “So, we have a bastard fucking child carrying our bloodline.” He sighs, running his fingers through his hair.
“Correct. But I will be asking her to marry me. My child won’t be a bastard.”
He nods. “She’s a maid, it’s a bastard.” I want to hit him again, “we will have to fix this, so we don’t look bad.”
“She’s a lawyer, not a maid.” I remind him she is not her mother.
It’s so strange how business like he suddenly becomes. With zero emotion he dishes out commands as though he is managing a meeting between board holders of his company.
“Contact the event organizer. We will have to spin this in the media as though it was planned. The wedding will need to be extravagant.”
But I have no intention of letting him manage anything that is about to happen.
“The wedding is going to be private. An intimate affair without the media.”
“Why do you have to make everything difficult for me, Tuomo?” He snarls. “ Fine . Have your intimate wedding. But then I need an interview and an article with photographs of the two of you together for the press release.”
He is negotiating as though this isn’t about my entire future, and my wife, and my child. But negotiating is good none-the-less. It’s better than flat out refusal to accept what is going to happen. Or worse, the reaction I expected, him having her killed.
“Fine. A press release will be acceptable.”
Again, his cold eyes are piercing into me.
I stare back with as much intensity as he is delivering. This is my life. I will not give him control over it.
He looks away, then turns his back on me and walks off without another word.
I don’t care. I have what I came for. I have my father’s blessing. It would have been a hell of a lot harder without it - but I would have done it either way.
I walk out of the mansion lighter. Things could not be more perfect.
All I need now is for her to call me.
It’s been seven years since I first saw her. I have been patient every single day, waiting for her, orchestrating our future and creating the events to place her in my path. And now I am going to be rewarded.
Since I reunited with her though, things have changed. My feelings have evolved into something new. If I know what love is - it’s because of her.