Enraptured (5 page)

We barely made it out of our suite the rest of the weekend. Drew seemed determined to make up for lost time now that I had let that final barrier between us fall. I was effectively branded by the time the sun rose early that Monday morning we were due to return home. I woke to find him spooning me from behind, his arm tight around my waist, his lips against the back of my neck.

There was a smile in his gravelly voice as he asked, “Ready to head home, Mrs. Fullerton?”

I thought about Jonathan, who waited for us in Los Angeles. I nodded with a contented grin. He pulled me onto my back for a good morning kiss. With my stomach issues, we couldn’t get too amorous too quickly. Instead he planted several chaste kisses on my lips before cuddling me close.

“We’re going to have a busy few weeks once we get back,” he advised as he twirled his finger along my bare back. “I have two weeks’ worth of work at the office, and you have two weeks’ of work with Jonathan.”

“I’m ready,” I said with a smile. “I’ve missed him.”

“You’ll get to see a lot more of him in the near future,” Drew assured. “I’m petitioning the judge for primary custody.”

“So soon?”

“Long overdue,” he corrected. “It just doesn’t make sense for him to stay two weeks wi
th Elise when you live in the house now. He needs to be with us to continue his education and his progress. Elise can take him on the weekends until I can figure out a way to get her out of his life completely.”

“She’s his mother, Drew,” I corrected gently.

“You’re his mother,” he shot back. “In every way that counts. When you left and she got full custody, everything went to hell. She let that punk kid Deneke get Jonathan hooked on drugs, for chrissakes. He could have died, Rachel.”

I thought back to that day when I found Max in the pool, a sad accident that followed Justin and Jonathan getting high at Alex’s ranch. I shivered in spite of myself.

“You came back and righted everything that went wrong. The courts will see that.”

“I’m not going to willingly take a child away from his mother, Drew. We need to find a way to co-parent.”

“You need to stop romanticizing her, Rachel. She’s not a good person. She’s a user. An opportunist.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because of the affair?”

He let me go briefly to grab his phone. He opened up his email and showed me some text from his lawyer, stating that he had filed to stop alimony now that Drew had remarried and that Elise had moved in with Derek. That effort was met with Elise filing a motion of her own, stating that she had terminated her relationship with Derek and could not afford to have her payments reduced at this time.

I felt sick as I read the email.

“Even her hot new boy toy doesn’t matter to her as much as her money,” he sneered. “The only reason she wants Jonathan is for child support payments. It’s not to be a parent, I promise you.”

“I think you’re wrong, Drew.”

“We’ll soon see,” he said as he put the phone back on the night stand. “As soon as we get back, I’m going to offer her more money in alimony payments if she agrees to let Jonathan stay with us during the week and reduce her visitations down to the weekend.”

“
You’re going to blackmail her for her own son?”

“If I thought I could get away with it, I’d give her a cool billion and send her on her way. But she has too much invested to stay in the fight. She wants to punish me with Jonathan, especially now that I’ve
married you. If you thought she hated you before, just wait. She’s going to do whatever she can to keep the thorn in our sides.”

I thought about her open, unapologetic hostility towards me. As much as I truly wanted to believe that she cared for Jonathan deep, deep down, I feared
Drew might actually be right, especially if she sent Derek packing. Last time I saw them together, at the New Year’s Eve party no less, they acted like two people madly in love, not on the verge of a breakup.

But maybe that had been an act, like so much of what went on in Drew’s world.

“
Phony as a three-dollar bill, that one
,” Sloane De Havilland had said. And I supposed she would know.

He gathered me back into his arms. “Besides, Jonathan will want to be with us now anyway. He’s over the moon about the new baby. He texts me at least three times a day with suggestions for names.”

I had to laugh. “Me, too.”

He cuddled me closer. “This is how it was meant to be,” he murmured.

I nodded and allowed him to hold me close, but inwardly I was conflicted about returning to Los Angeles. I wasn’t sure how big of a presence, if at all, Alex was going to pose in our lives when we returned. I still felt like I had cheated on him by giving myself to Drew.

But Drew was my husband, and
frankly he wouldn’t have been had Alex bothered to return even one of my phone calls in the weeks leading up to our impromptu New Year’s Eve wedding.

No, Alex himself had said
it was over and then disappeared halfway across the globe, leaving me no choice but to protect my child.

My children.

This was the path I had chosen. There was no turning back now. Real life was knocking. It was time to open the door and let it in.

It was sunset by the time Harrison pulled the car into the gated driveway of my new home in Los Angeles. Jonathan was out the front door like a shot, flinging himself into my arms right as I stepped out of the car.

“Did you have a good time?” he asked as he stared up at me with a new level of adoration. I wasn’t just his teacher anymore, or his friend. I was his stepmom, and he looked positively overjoyed about it.

“I did,” I answered.
“Missed you every second, though.”

“Me, too,” he confided happily as he cuddled into my arm. “Come on. I have a big surprise to show you.”

He dragged us both by the hands as he pulled us up the stairs. We came to a stop at the guest bedroom next to Jonathan’s. There was a huge yellow bow on the door, with a wide ribbon. He beamed as he threw open the door.

Our eldest child had spent his spare time decorating a full nursery for his
future brother or sister in a muted buttercup yellow, with tiny blue and pink teddy bears cheerfully populating the wallpaper that covered most of the room. In matching wicker rocking chairs sat enormous plush teddy bears in matching pink and blue.

A round canopy crib in pristine white sat in front of the window overlooking the back yard, with yellow and white bedding to match the décor. There was a matching chest, changing table and even an old wooden toy chest, along with a wall to wall bookshelf filled already with dozens upon dozens of books.

It was everything a child might need to grow into this room for many years to come.

I was speechless. I held my hand to my heart as I looked around the magical room fit for a wee prince or princess.

“I know you probably wanted to do it yourself, but I couldn’t wait,” Jonathan grinned.

“It’s perfect,” I said as I drew him close for a hug. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“There’s one other thing,” he said as he pulled me to the crib. There, nestled in the covers, was Monty – Jason’s favorite teddy bear. The familiar teddy bear grinned at me from his new home, where he awaited his brand new child.

“Oh, Jonathan,” I breathed as I choked back a sob.

“I hope you don’t mind that I went through Jason’s things. I just never want the new baby to forget him.”

I sank to my knees on the floor in front of Jonathan and took him into my arms. I wept bittersweet tears as I held him close in a powerful hug.

I felt Drew step behind me and place his hand on my shoulder. “He will never be forgotten,” Drew promised.

I was so overcome with emotion that it took several minutes before I could stand again. Jonathan dragged us over to the bookshelves, where trinkets and photo frames filled the shelves already heavily laden with books. All the frames had been filled of family photos
. There was a silver frame with Jason and I that was taken soon after his birth. There were family photos of Drew and Jonathan, but most of the others were taken in the last year, many of which from when the Gilberts stayed with us on Alex’s ranch. One in particular was of Drew and me dancing by the campfire. I sent a sideways glance to Jonathan. “How did you get this?”

He grinned. “I’m a photo ninja.”

Drew ruffled his hair. “You’re full of surprises, Jonathan. This is the best homecoming we could have ever asked for.”

I smiled how Jonathan responded to the praise. Happiness emanated off of him in waves.

I also recognized some of the toys and knickknacks as the relics we found stored in the garage, including a sheriff’s badge emblazoned with the name Fullerton. My heart softened a little more. Gently I took it from the shelf and walked over to the crib, where I pinned it onto Monty.

Even he was a Fullerton now.

Jonathan smiled as I turned towards him. I reached for another hug and he latched onto me powerfully.

He had even more surprises up his sleeve as he led us back downstairs into the dining room, where a full meal had been prepared.
Jonathan held out a chair for me. I giggled as I sat. “Thank you, sir.”

“I hope
it’s okay,” he said as he took his own seat. “I didn’t know what you could eat now that you’ve been sick so much.”

I laughed. “Me either.” But the grilled chicken was moderately seasoned and the steamed veggies were crisp and bright. I still couldn’t clear a plate, but that left some room for good old Southern banana pudding, which Jonathan had made himself.

Drew was right. This was the best homecoming we could have gotten.

I was
wiped out by nine o’clock, and it was Jonathan who insisted that I head to bed. The boys retired to the media room to watch a movie Jonathan had been dying to see, so I dozed for a few hours before Drew joined me around eleven. I stirred as he placed a tray with water and plain soda crackers on my nightstand. I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes. “That was so thoughtful, Drew. Thank you.”

He offered a friendly smirk. “Why change a winning formula?” he drawled before he peeled off his shirt. He climbed into bed and pulled me close to his powerful, naked body. “My motto in life,” he confided with a cheeky grin.

“Don’t I know it,” I replied ruefully. He bent for a kiss and I yielded to it. I never thought we’d be here again in this bed, much less married and expecting a child in a scant few months. It all felt like a dream as he slipped my nightgown up my body and discarded it into a darkened corner.

His large hand spread across my cool skin. “I love how you feel in my arms and
in my bed,” he murmured with each caress. “It’s where you belong, Rachel.”

Everything inside of me wanted to scream at him, “Why?” If Jonathan h
adn’t been a factor I knew he wouldn’t have even looked twice. Indeed we never even would have met. As much of a romantic hero he was pretending to be, he had to know it, too.

But I said nothing at all as I allowed him to touch me, kiss me… claim me. We christened our marriage bed and he rolled over and fell into a sated, contented sleep.

He was gone before I rose the next morning.

I felt positively green as I lumbered down to the kitchen. “Ma’am,” Cleo greeted with a warm smile as she handed me a cup of decaffeinated tea.

“You know better than that,” I corrected with a wink. “I’m still Rachel. That hasn’t changed.”

She mirrored my smile but I could tell orders from a higher authority than me overrode my friendly offer. I sat at the table and ate the egg whites and plain toast she had prepared for me.
I nibbled cautiously and washed it down with some apple juice. I had already gotten sick when I attempted to brush my teeth, so I ate slowly. Jonathan, who had grown tired of waiting for me in our office, finally came to find me.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he hopped on the chair next to me.

“Some mornings are better than others,” I answered with a smile.

“Was it like this last time?” he probed gently.

I thought back to my first pregnancy. I had been just as sick, only with no one to take care of me. It made those first few months even harder than they had to be. I finally nodded. “Comes with the territory, I guess.”

“We can take the day off if you’d like,” he offered but I shook my head.

“No way. I cannot handle one more day of doing nothing more than turning oxygen into carbon dioxide.”

“You’re doing much more than that,” he corrected. “You’re g
rowing a baby. Which reminds me; I have another surprise.”

He led me to our workspace, where a folder lay on top of my desk. “What’s this?”

“Open it!” he grinned.

I opened the flap and there were all kinds of assignments that he had completed, assignments I had never given him.

“I found it online,” he said. “Eighth grade health. I think I’m ready, don’t you?”

I laughed. “You are more than ready as always, Jonathan.”