Chapter 9
Cat
When she comes back, she’s smiling. “You must have patched things up because I didn’t hear screaming or things breaking.”
“We made up, sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“I apologized and he didn’t, which I knew he wouldn’t.”
“He’s been really great since the day he took me home from the hospital.”
“I have no doubt in my mind about that. He loves you. He’s not going to let anyone, not even your family, get between you and him.”
I sigh. “My family. It’s been a roller coaster of a time. I don’t want to hurt them, and I want to be happy. Nick makes me happy, and I’m tired of fighting it.”
“When are you going to tell them?”
“I don’t know. I get heart palpitations if I think about it too much. I do know I’m going to tell Chris first. He’s the only one I’ve spoken to since the holidays.”
“How do you think he’s going to take it?”
“About as well as you.”
“I didn’t take it so well, did I?”
“Understatement. It’s fine, I understand. My biggest worry is Kate.”
Ava makes a pained face. “I don’t really like your sister, but I have to say I feel for her. This is going to be a hard pill to swallow.”
“It sure is.”
Nick comes out with a box of my things. I push all thought of my family, especially Kate, out of my mind for now.
We spend the rest of the evening at Ava’s, packing up my stuff.
I had a good time. Nick was still a bit grumpy about what Ava said, but toward the end of the evening it was forgotten.
Ava cooked, and she’s an amazing chef. Most people wouldn’t believe she could throw down in the kitchen, but as I said to Chris, she will surprise you. She’s not only about looks and labels.
At the end of the night, I look around the room that I called mine for almost four months and feel a little sad.
Many life-changing moments happened to me in the short time I called this place home.
It gave me shelter from the cold when I had nowhere to go, a place to cry and drown my regrets in a pillow full of tears.
It made the bonds of friendship between two old friends stronger than ever, with love and support and understanding.
It also brought Nick and I back together the night of my birthday, and we created a life.
I put my hand on my stomach and close the door behind me, walking out to the next chapter of my life.
Nick is waiting for me by the door, talking to Ava. They look like two beautiful dark-haired bookends. They don’t know how good-looking they are, especially side by side. I put my hand on his arm. “I’m ready to go home.” He smiles down at me when I say home, and Ava gives me another hug.
“I’m going to miss you. We were supposed to hit up all the clubs this summer, drink, and flirt with cute guys in our five-inch stilettos. I guess I’ll have to settle for Chloe. Actually, you can still come, I think you’ll be a hot pregnant chick.”
I laugh and shake my head. “No.”
Nick puts his arm around my shoulder. “No one wants to hit up a pregnant chick, Ava.”
We both give him a look that screams, “What!”
“You need to check him,” Ava says to me.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Nick?” He gives me his charming don’t-be-mad- at-me smile—the one I’m a sucker for, especially when his eyes light up.
“All I’m saying is, most dudes don’t want to have sex with a pregnant woman.
That’s why guys go to the club to hook up.
Once you start showing…” He shakes his head at me.
“But I’m going to want you, and that’s all that should matter.
I’m more than willing to entertain you. I’ll guarantee you won’t be bored or have any need for the club when I’m through with you and your fabulous body. ”
He bends down and wraps both his arms around me and runs his tongue along the outline of my ears. I giggle, turning my face toward him and brush my lips across his.
In a disgusted voice Ava says, “Please control yourselves.”
I tug on his arm to stop. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve overstayed our welcome. Bye, Ava.”
“Please try to get her home safely before you start fornicating. I’m not bailing you out.”
Nick winks at her with a smile. “Keep your phone on.” She shakes her head at him and closes the door.
Nick
She’s sleeping peacefully on her side, curled up under the blanket. I wish I didn’t have to go to work today. I’d like nothing more than to get back in bed with her. “Hey, babe, I’m leaving.”
“Oh my God, I’m late! What time is it?” Her head pops up off the pillow, and she looks flustered and cute as always, brushing her hair out of her face wildly.
“You’re not late, it’s Saturday.” I smile.
She lies back on her side, closing her eyes. “Why didn’t you say that? Stop turning my damn alarm off in the morning.”
“You keep slamming it off every ten minutes. It’s annoying.”
“I’m not like you. I can’t spring out of bed like I stepped out of the shower fresh and ready to take on the world.”
“Understood, but you set the alarm for two different times: an hour before you need to get up, and between that hour you hit snooze every ten minutes. It annoys the shit out of me.”
“I’m going to start sleeping in the other room,” she grumbles.
“No, you’re not,” I say, rubbing her back and kissing her shoulder.
“Why are you leaving so early?”
“I have a lot to do. I’m leaving work early to meet my father at my mother’s house this evening, and I have clients I need to meet with.”
“Why are you meeting your father at your mother’s?” She rolls on her back, her head on the pillow.
“I’m going to tell them about you and the baby.”
“Was that today?”
I nod my head yes.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait?”
“Till when?”
“Hmm, when the baby’s born.”
I smile and pat the side of her leg. “No.” She pouts like a child, and it makes me smile wider. She doesn’t want me to tell my parents, because we agreed we would tell Chris after.
“What do you think they’re going to say?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. What they think doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect the decisions we make or what I want.”
“You don’t think they’re going to be upset you’re having a baby so soon with me after what happened with Kate?”
“Honestly, the only thing my mother will truly be upset about is if I get married without telling her.”
“And your father, what would make him upset most?”
“If I even entertained the idea of not having an ironclad prenup, my dad would put my balls on the chopping block.” I play with her fingers in her lap. She smiles at me, and I smile back.
“Who is this lucky lady you’re going to get married to one day?”
“I never said I was going to get married.”
“Well, if you were ever to consider getting married, what would she look like?”
“Aha, well, let’s see. If I marry, the woman I choose will be smart, about this tall”—I hold up my hands to about her height—“with eyes I can stare at for hours, that’s a must.”
“Why’s that?”
“I’m going to work long hard hours to keep her satisfied, so I need to have some motivation to keep her barefoot and pregnant with the ten kids she’s going to have for me.
She won’t have time for a job. Her job is going to be inside the home taking care of my kids.
” I watch with amusement as her eyes widen.
“You pig, here I thought you were a man of the world and you believed in equality for women in the workplace and at home.”
I hold two fingers up and sincerely say, “On my honor as a Scout, I absolutely believe in equality for women at work and in the home, as well as in the bedroom.”
“You were never in the Scouts.” She squints her eyes at me.
“I know, this is why you can’t hold me to what I say.” She slaps me on the arm and I grab her hand, pulling her to me for a kiss.
“You’re lucky I know you’re joking, or I’d knock your block off for being a male chauvinist.”
“Baby, I can’t help it, you bring it out in me. That sweet little ass of yours makes me want to keep you tied up in my bed forever. Plus our kids are going to be the cutest little bastards alive.” I kiss her again on the lips.
“Would you forgive me if I cheated on you, Nick?”
“Where did that come from?” I look at her and raise a curious eyebrow. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“No, I was only wondering.”
She leans back and I study her. “Would you forgive me?” I ask her.
“Maybe.”
“Would you really, Cat?”
“I don’t know, it depends. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to do until you’re actually put in the situation. I’m speaking from our relationship experience so far—and my parents’. Would you forgive me if we were married and I cheated on you, Nick?”
I answer her honestly. I don’t need time to think about my answer. “No, I wouldn’t. I would strip you down to the bone and leave you with nothing. If I could, I would strip my name from you.”
Her gaze goes up to mine and she blinks twice. “I would gladly get rid of it. You would be that harsh and cruel to me?”
“Yes. I’m giving you my name and everything that comes with it, including my heart. I would rather you leave me than do that to me.”
“What would make me want to marry you—if you ever did want to—after this revelation?”
“Do you think you would cheat on me if I married you?” I counter, running a finger along her wrist over a vein across her delicate skin.
“No, I would be too afraid to think about it. This conversation would keep flashing in my mind along with the way your finger is moving over my wrist.”
I chuckle, lifting her wrist to my mouth and placing an open-mouth kiss over the same spot my finger left. “Then you have nothing to worry about. This is why if we were to get married, I would advise you to sign a prenup for your own good.”
“Oh my, you can be a cruel man, can’t you?” She sighs, watching me closely holding her hand in mine.
“I try not to be. I’m being as honest as I can, so you know exactly what you’re getting before you make a binding commitment. Till death do us part. I take that seriously.”
“What about in good times and bad times? You’re going to get rid of me if I don’t live up to what you expect?”
“No, I wouldn’t, I know no one is perfect.
We’re going to have plenty of good times.
The only truly bad time you will ever know is if I find out you cheated on me.
That is when the prenup will work for you.
There is no reason you should be afraid of marrying me if you plan to keep your legs closed to another man.
It’s the only thing I ask that you not do, sleep with someone else—it’s that simple. ”
“It’s a good thing I don’t ever plan on cheating.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“My man is fucked up.” I laugh at the way she says it, and the expression on her face.
“No, I’m real. When things are good, you don’t think about bad times.
When they go bad, you don’t remember any of the good times.
You want to hurt the other person as much as you’ve been hurt.
Other people might see it as cruel, but if you’re not the one hurt, then you don’t know what it feels like. ”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I think you should come with me. My mother would like to see you.” She shakes her head back and forth vigorously. “I told her how I felt about you when you first came back.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I love you, and if I love you my mother will too. She’s going to want to see you. She wanted to meet you at the Christmas charity ball, but she had the flu and she didn’t want to make anyone sick.”
“I’ll see her after you break the news and we see how mad she is.”
I lift her chin up and give her another kiss between each sentence. “I have to go. I love you.”
“I know. Do you know how much I care about you?”
“I know when you’re ready, you’ll tell me. That’s good enough for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I give her one last lingering kiss before I begrudgingly leave the warmth and softness of her arms for what I know is going to be a long day.