“Fuck. Yes, Lucy, I am so damn happy.” And then, shocking her even more, which she didn’t think was possible, he got down on his haunches and pushed up her shirt. He placed a hand on her belly and glanced up at her. “How far along are you?”
She shook her head. “Maybe a month or so.” She was going to cry, she was so happy. “You’re really happy about all of this? I worried you’d be upset.”
He stood and embraced her. “Baby, I am so fucking happy you’re carrying my baby.” He pulled her in tightly and rubbed her back. “It’s you and me, and I can’t wait for us to be parents, for us to have a family.” He pulled back and kissed her soundly. “And our baby is going to know it’s loved. He or she will know that he has parents who care about him, who will let him lead his life. I’m not going to let him feel like status and money are everything.” He smiled and she knew he was talking about himself, how he’d been brought up.
“I love you,” she said and rose up on her toes to kiss him.
“I love you too.”
For only being married to Ian for a few months, and having not even wanted to stay married, she felt like this was perfection.
17
“A baby?” Ian’s mother said for the second time.
Ian had decided to pay his family a visit, seeing as they were taking the extra time with his wife. “That’s what I said.”
He couldn’t be happier or more thrilled. His woman was going to be having his baby. They’d made something sweet, precious, and he for one couldn’t wait for every single step. He’d already stopped off at a bookstore and purchased as many books as he could find on pregnancy, naming kids, the birthing process, what to expect. Before he left this morning he’d booked an appointment with his doctor.
Lucy would only receive the very best care. She had their child, their future inside her. Not only did she now carry his baby, but she was also the only woman that he’d ever loved and there was no way he was going to lose that feeling.
He loved her way too fucking much, and wouldn’t survive anything happening to her.
“A baby?” This came from his father.
He sighed and glanced down at his watch. He didn’t want to be here for all that long. In fact, he’d been spending more and more time with Lucy and delegating work to his managers at the company.
It was what he paid them for in the first place. For so long he’d been the one putting in all the hours, making sure that his company was above reproach. Now he intended to spend time with his woman, enjoy his family, and bask in the fruits of his success.
What had started out as a mere revenge ploy had changed course and now he only wanted to enjoy his life.
“Am I speaking English or do you just not understand what I’m saying?”
His mother got up and moved toward the window, laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding me right now.”
He waited as she continued to laugh.
Glancing at his father, Ian saw that he’d bowed his head.
The tension in the room began to build and he had this horrible feeling that something was about to happen he wasn’t going to like.
“So you’ve knocked up that stupid gold-digging whore! You’ve purposefully ruined our entire name by dragging it through the mud. We’ve had to deal with all the mockery, the laughter, and this is just going to be the icing on the cake.”
“Don’t talk about Lucy like that,” he said. He clenched his hand into a fist, gritting his teeth, angry that they would talk about her as if she didn’t matter.
Lucy mattered.
“Son, you’ve got to do something about that,” his father said.
“What the hell are you trying to say?” He glared at his father, knowing what was coming next.
“The baby has to go.”
Pure white anger built inside of him. “I know you didn’t fucking just say that to me. That’s not going to happen.” He’d only known for a matter of days, but already he loved his baby.
“Ugh! I always knew you were useless but I didn’t realize you were so fucking stupid.” His mother grabbed a lamp and threw it across the room, her dramatics not that uncommon.
Getting to his feet, he stared at his parents. “You were all full of shit. You didn’t accept Lucy at all.”
“We thought you’d tire of her. Did you think we didn’t know what you were trying to do?” His father stood, moving toward the bar where the whiskey was held. “We figured if we played along you’d get bored and move on.”
“I love Lucy,” he said between clenched teeth.
Staring at his parents, he realized that once again he’d been the fool. He’d believed that his parents had actually come around. That they would consider being there as parents rather than these two spiteful … bastards.