Chapter 14
“Okay Mom, is Selena being rude or is she just being truthful, and it hurts your feelings?”
Zahara could hear the sound of people and the rattling of plates and cups in the background through the phone. She assumed that her mother and Selena had met up to have the long-awaited talk that they needed to have between them, and she was glad. She loved her mother, but how she treated Selena, her firstborn, was not right, and she had a lot of making up to do. Her mother had been young, spoilt, and selfish when she married her first husband. And when she had divorced him and met Troy, Zahara’s father, she had grown and changed into the woman and great mother she was today.
Her mother did not answer, and Zahara knew from her mother’s silence that she felt Zahara was right.
“Just listen to her, Mom. She is also not the same person she was when she was a girl, and now you can mend fences because I need you both, and I don’t want there to always be tension between us. Plus, you will miss out on the amazing grandbaby you have now met.”
She heard her mom sigh. “You are right, I did her wrong, Zahara, as did her father. We were both bad parents. I tried changing that with you and Ari and Trent.”
“You did a good job with us, Mom.”
“Thank you.” She could hear the smile in her mother’s voice. “I don’t know if she will forgive me,” her mother Lily said sadly.
“Selena is a mom now herself, and from what I have learned and seen myself, she has a great capacity for forgiveness. Just show her that you are sorry and are trying to make amends.”
“Thanks Zahara. I’ve got to go, she is coming back from the bathroom with baby Christian. He is so adorable. Love you.” Her mother hung up.
Zahara sighed and placed her phone on her worktable. She was feeling tired, achy, and just wanted to go upstairs and lie down and rest. Her day had been busy with classes, and she was getting back into the swing of things after being married for a week. She sighed and made her way past her desk and over to Carter’s. She needed to jot down her notes and had run out of paper with all her scribblings.
Carter was out of the house today and over at his new hotel site. Things were still strained between them since saying their vows, or rather, she was still upset with him about having had to marry him this way. And the kiss at the wedding kept coming up in her mind. If she was to judge things based on that kiss, then what he had shown her was that he really did care for her, and she was afraid to hope that was truly what it meant because she didn’t want to get her hopes up with him.
She had thought everything was going well between them until he blackmailed her into getting married before she was ready to.
She felt a movement in her belly and reached under her t-shirt to touch her girls.
“Good evening, ladies, are you up now? You have been quiet today.” She smiled as she tried to feel for them. She was now six months along and looked big. She sometimes found it hard to catch her breath, but she was so happy and excited to see them growing and feel them moving inside of her. She was in awe of them and couldn’t wait to meet her little persons. She could tell that Carter was worrying a bit. The way he was always hovering around her and watching her like hawk was sometimes frustrating, and she was glad that he got called away today so that she could take a small breather from his brooding.
She grinned. “Daddy’s brooding is not only because of his concern for you. Mom is also being a pain in his ass and not falling all over him. Even though he tries to boss her into giving in and then tries to spoil her by making sure she wants for nothing, except for his damn love.”
“Here is Mom’s life lesson before you both are born. Make sure to make a man work for it before giving in because you are worth it. Don’t settle.” She smiled when she felt a kick in agreement.
She reached Carter’s desk and walked around it. Opening the top drawer and not finding what she was looking for, she moved to the next drawer, still not seeing anything. She groaned because she knew that she was going to have to bend down to reach the other drawers, and with her belly, it sometimes got in her way, or she lost her breath.
She paused and then lowered herself to her knees on the carpet, then opened the bottom drawer. She tilted her head to the side, frowning at what she saw right on top of a stack of paper pads. It seemed to be a legal document. She pulled it out and began scanning it. With each section she read, her hands began to shake more and tears began to fall down her face.
She let out a loud scream when she heard, “What are you doing on your knees Zahara? The only time you should be this way is when you are pleasing me with my cock in your mouth,” she heard Carter say sardonically.
She looked up to see him looming at the side of his desk, and she scowled at his chipper mood.
“Here, let me help you get up,” he said as she struggled to move off the floor while holding the document.
She felt strong hands reach under her arm pits and pull her up, not even breaking a sweat. He always treated her like she was light as a feather, even though she knew she was quite heavy now.
“What is this?” She waved the document in her hand.
He took it from her, glancing at it before handing it back, his arms crossing over his chest and a shuttered expression now gracing his features.
“What does it look like Zahara?”
She stared down at the document, a warm feeling beginning to spread through her at the realization of what this paperwork meant.
“It’s a prenup.”
“Yes,” he said solemnly.
“It’s a prenup for me,” she prodded.
“Yes.”
She threw herself into his arms, and he wrapped them around her, being careful not to crush her belly against his lower stomach. Happiness was pouring through her. “You love me!” she shouted, tears cascading down her cheeks.
“Zahara,” he said huskily before going silent.
She pulled away, staring up at his face. And finally she saw it in his eyes. He was now exposing himself to her completely. She saw the depth of his love and fear and reached up to cup his face.
“You didn’t give me the prenup. I want to hear you say why,” she said softly, her heart beating fast.
“Because I trust you and have no intentions of ever letting you go. You are my world, and I—” He paused.
“Say it. You owe me the words, Carter. I promise your love will always be safe with me.”
“I know, it’s not that. I just don’t want to ever lose you. I need to keep you and our children safe. I don’t know what I would do if any harm ever came to you or if you left me like my mom did my dad.”
“We are not your parents, Carter. And I was lucky to have two loving parents that set the example of what love is. They taught me to never settle for anything less, unless blackmailed...” She narrowed her eyes at him.
He shrugged. “A man has to do what a man has to do to get a headstrong woman to marry him. What if something happened before you finally agreed to marry me?”
“You can’t live in fear of what-ifs, baby. I know that what happened with Delilah scared you and scarred you, but a love like ours doesn’t come around every day, and we have to live and love to the fullest.”
“I know that in my head, but—”
“You will have to move on. You have more than just me now to live for. And I want you to know that I wouldn’t want you to live alone. I’d want you to find someone else to love. Just like you would if something, ahh...” She stopped speaking because of the expression on his face.
“Never mind.” She laughed as Carter gave her a fierce scowl.
His expression softened. She could see a lightness in his eyes that traced over her features like a caress, and she stilled. “I love you,” he said quietly.
She gave a sigh and then thumbed him hard on the chest, causing him to let out a surprised cough. “Finally,” she groused, but then she grinned and pulled his head down, raining kisses all over his face. He stood still, seeming to bask in the feel of her touch and her love.
He pulled her into a hug, his head resting on top of her head.
“Please don’t ever leave me,” he said emotionally.
She felt sad. From the moment she met him, she had known that he carried a lot of pain inside, despite the fact that he seemed aloof and cold to others. She loved everything about the man and planned on making him happy for the rest of their lives, God willing, and to lighten his fear of loss with time.
“I can’t promise that baby, but know this, if anyone can defy physics, it would be me, and I will stay by your side and haunt you as a ghost.”
He stiffened and then pulled back with an expression of disbelief, his lips quirking up for a minute. He looked at her as if she had two heads, then shook his head as if saying he was not surprised by what she had just said.
“Yes, that’s right, I will haunt you every day and night. Or how about I get a degree in genetics and biotechnology after this one and clone myself? No. Female android of me? No.”
“Shut up and just say I love you too,” he said with laughter in his voice.
“I love you too,” she whispered. He pulled her close and kissed her like a flower needing sunlight.