“Oh.”
“It won’t happen again. I’m sorry,” I tell her and turn back and fill the dishwasher.
“Please don’t apologize. I’m the one that should be sorry. I am truly sorry I hurt you, I never intended to. Whenever I’m around Harrison, all that anger I had resurfaces and it’s like verbal diarrhea, sometimes I don’t even know what I’m saying. I just spew everything in hopes of hurting him, so that he’ll feel a tenth of the hurt he caused me.”
I turn back to her, she looks so vulnerable. “I get that, I really do. If Hudson did to me what Harrison did to you, I’d be devastated. I’d cut off his balls.” She laughs at my words. “I don’t think Harrison meant to hurt you, he was being selfish and thinking of himself.”
She walks toward me, stopping just in front of me. “I didn’t really hate your mom, I was jealous of her more than anything. She was beautiful and confident, you remind me so much of her. As much as I hate to admit it, her and Harrison really did belong together. Whenever I saw them together, their happiness radiated off them.”
I smile. “Yeah it really did.”
She pulls me into a hug. “Just as you and Hudson do, your happiness is infectious. It’s clear to see how much love you both have for one and another. That baby of yours is going to be spoilt.”
“I know, if it’s a boy, Hudson’s men are going to take him under their wing and if it’s a girl. God help her, they’re going to make sure no one ever goes near her.”
Marline laughs. “Yep, that’s what they do, it’s what they’ve always done.” She releases me and the smile she has falls, “I need to apologize to Harrison.” I’m shocked, that’s something that I never thought would happen. “I really did go too far, what happened between us, is exactly that, between us and it shouldn’t be played out for everyone to see.” She kisses my cheek and leaves the kitchen, my heart goes out to her, it mustn’t be easy apologizing to the man that broke your heart and tore away everything you had worked hard for.
I continue cleaning up, not wanting to be present when Marline apologizes. Hands go around my waist and I instinctively lean back. “Whatever you said to her, worked Princess, for the first time in years they’re actually getting along.”
I smile. “Good, it’s time they put the past behind them.”
“Love you, Princess,” he whispers as he caresses my stomach.
Ten
Hudson
Two weeks later
Today’s the day that I finally get to see my baby. Mia’s sixteen weeks pregnant and her body has subtly changed. There’s a tiny bump, to everyone else it’s not noticeable, but to me, who knows her body intimately, I see it, I feel it, I fucking love it. Her breasts have also grown, as has her appetite.
Martin hasn’t surfaced yet. The fucker has gone to ground and I am certain someone is helping him, I’ve yet to find out who and thankfully Coby’s back in town and I have a meeting with him this evening. The good thing about Martin being in the wind is that fucker hasn’t been able to kill anyone else. Detective Lazarous has informed me that they found two sets of fingerprints in Wally and Molly’s house, neither are in the police database. Thankfully having Lazarous on my payroll means that he’s sent me an image of those fingerprints so that I can check them against my employees. Jagger should be getting those this morning, he and David have been instructed to see who those prints belong too.
Mom and dad both wanted to come today but I didn’t want them to. Call me selfish, I don’t give a shit. Not only do I not want to share this experience with them, I also don’t want Mia to feel excluded, both of her parents are dead, it would be a bigger reminder that they’re not here to share this life changing experience with her. Mom’s pissed but Dad understands, he’s seen Mia while she was grieving and he agrees that it should be the two of us at the scan. Mom hates being told no, so she’s acting like a petulant child, she’s moved out of our house and back home. I’ve got Rory on her making sure that she’s okay.
Aaron is home now, he has to keep going back to the hospital for check-ups. He’s up and about, he’s pushing himself hard so that he’ll recover. He’s got third degree burns on the back of his body, thankfully, those on his leg aren’t as severe as those that are on his back. He’s had three surgeries on his back and his arms, the skin grafts seem to have worked and the skin is a pinkish color which the doctors wanted. He’ll never be the same, that’s for sure but I know Aaron, he’ll come out the other side of this stronger than ever before.
Today, I have a secret plan, one that will come into effect this afternoon. Everyone has been notified except Mia, I have no doubts that this is what I want and I’m certainly not going to stop it just because that asshole’s on the loose. My men have been told that I don’t care what they’re doing, they are to be in attendance. It’s time to relieve the stress and a celebration is the perfect way to achieve that.
“Hudson, are you ready?” Mia shouts and I smile, we’ve over an hour until our appointment but she wants to go now, she’s more excited than I am and she’s already seen the baby. She walks into the kitchen, a pair of denim shorts on, with a white tank top. She looks sexy as fuck, a bright smile on her face. “Earth to Hudson?” She waves her hand in front of my face as she walks up to me. “Are you even listening?”
I grab her hand and pull her toward me. “Yes, I am indeed listening. You look gorgeous.”
She rolls her eyes. “Flattery will get you everywhere. Are you ready?”
I kiss her lips, they’re soft and sticky, she’s put lip gloss on. “Yes, but you need to relax.”
She shakes her head. “You weren’t listening to me yesterday were you?”
I smirk. “I was.” I wasn’t.
Her eyes narrow. “Then where are we going?”
“You’re getting a scan.” Too easy, I may not have been listening, but I do know what we’re doing and where we’re going.
“And what will we find out?”
I frown, find out? “We’re going to see the baby.”