16. Someday
Cassius
After finishing my call with Gina, I returned to the kitchen. There was a box on the island with my name on it. Intrigued, I opened it.
There was a small chocolate bundt cake inside.
I stared at it for a moment. Then, something unfurled inside my chest—something that had been shut tight for an eternity.
“Cassius!” Faith called me from the bedroom. Something in her voice made me run.
I found her in the bathroom on the floor, her arms wrapped around herself. Her face was pale, and tears glistened on her cheeks.
“Babe? What’s the matter?”
“I’m bleeding.” She looked up at me, her eyes hollowed out. “Something’s wrong.”
“Okay. It’s okay—let me get you to bed. Unless you need to go to the hospital?”
She shook her head. “I’m okay. But I’m not good with blood.”
“I’ve got you.” I helped get her up and into bed. Faith’s lips were white, and her skin was pale. “I’ll make a quick call, and we’ll get a doctor over here to check you out.”
“I don’t know if you need to do that,” she said.
“I’m absolutely doing that,” I said, my voice firm.
She nodded, then turned away.
And all at once, my world was falling apart.
One of thebenefits of being a billionaire was that I knew people who knew people. I needed a world-class obstetrician. A business associate of mine in Boston had five young kids, so I called him. He called his family doctor, who put me in touch with Dr. Maya Williams, who was the chief obstetrician at Mass General and who happened to summer on Nantucket.
Dr. Williams was at the house in fifteen minutes. She examined Faith, who was still white as a ghost, and took her blood to run labs at the nearby hospital. While I waited, pacing in the kitchen, I found myself clutching the teddy bear I’d bought.
The doctor allowed me back into the room once she’d finished. She left to run the labs, promising to be back shortly. I sat on the edge of Faith’s bed and held her hand. She allowed me to, but she still wouldn’t look at me.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I felt so helpless.
She shook her head yes.
“Are you too upset to talk?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “No, I have something I need to say.”
I waited. She looked so upset, I didn’t know what to do.
“We can get an annulment,” she whispered. “I won’t hold you to helping me with Lucas. If we get an annulment, it’s like none of this ever happened.”
“What?”
She finally looked at me, and what I saw in her eyes broke my heart. She looked haunted. “I’m so sorry, Cassius. I know this is a huge disappointment for you. I’m upset, too. But I know you only married me because of the baby. I understand. So we can get an annulment, like I said.”
“I don’t want that,” I said immediately.
Faith blinked at me. “But…” Her gaze fell on the teddy bear.
“I might have bought this for the baby,” I said, my voice choked with emotion. “But who I really want to have it is you.”
I handed it to her, and she started crying.
“I know I haven’t done things right, Faith. I didn’t give you a ring when I proposed. I made you sign a prenup, and I’m sure it seemed all I cared about was my money. And my heir.” I put my face in my hands. “I rushed things, and I know I’ve been distant. But that’s because I have no idea what I’m doing. You know that, right?”
Faith took a deep, shuddery breath. “No,” she admitted. “I don’t know that. I figured that since you were older than me, and wealthy, with so much more experience—I thought you knew what you were doing. I thought you knew what you wanted.”
“I do know what I want.” I reached for her hand again, gripping it. “I want you. I want us.”
“What if I’m not pregnant?”
“Then we can try again.” I laid down next to her and looked her in the eyes. “And if we can’t get pregnant traditionally, we’ll figure something out. Adoption. Surrogacy. Something.”
She stared at me.
“I’ve been so afraid, for so long, of getting close to anybody,” I continued. “I can’t trust anybody, Faith. But I trust you. I see how you are with your brother. You’re loving, loyal, and protective. You’ve been that way with me since we met. I didn’t want to let my guard down, but it happened anyway. I didn’t have a choice.
“I love you, Faith.”
She blinked at me. And then she promptly burst into tears.
There was a knock on the door, and Dr. Williams came in. “I’m so sorry to interrupt. But I have the test results.”
I held my breath and gripped Faith’s hands.
“Faith, you’re still pregnant. The test came back with a strong positive. Everything looks good,” the doctor said. “Concerning the bleeding, I think it’s unrelated. I think you might have polyps. ‘Polyp’ is sort of a scary word, but they’re normal, and in most cases, they’re nothing to worry about. Follow up with your doctor when you return home, and please keep me posted.”
She smiled at us. “And congratulations, you too.”
We thanked her, and she left.
Then it was just me, Faith, the teddy bear, and… our baby.
I took Faith’s hand and removed my mother’s engagement ring. “This was my mother’s,” I explained, holding it up to the light. “My father gave it to her, and I inherited it. It’s a Blackwood family heirloom. My wife will wear it, and our son will give it to his wife.”
I brushed the hair back from Faith’s face. “I didn’t ever ask you properly, but… Faith, will you marry me? I love you so much. I will try every day to be the man you need, to give us both the family we didn’t have.”
Tears streamed down her face. She wiped them. “Yes—I already married you, but yes, I would marry you again.”
She grinned at me through her tears. “And I didn’t say it, either, but I love you, too…”
She batted her eyelashes at me. “Sir.”