Expecting the Playboy's Baby (16 page)

His
biggest weakness was the woman travelling in front.

Jennifer had taken him by surprise. He’d never fuck up again. There was no way he’d cause her pain. He’d done his fair share of it in the short time they’d known each other.

He left them at their apartment as he drove back to his home.

Patrick called her parents to let them know she’d returned and to advise them to give her space.

The days that followed were crucial. He noticed she never asked to go to his home. Patrick gave Jennifer as much space as possible for her to grow accustomed to his presence. Sometimes the press took pictures of them together, and they asked about their future plans.

She didn’t withdraw from him. They were working through their problems, and for once he felt like they were becoming a real couple.

While Jennifer helped Linda with her novel he went and purchased a dog from the pound. Actually, he purchased two dogs from the pound. They were mongrels, but he fell in love with them from the first time he looked at them. He went through his home changing artwork and adapting his living space.

Every night he looked in at the nursery. One day he hoped to fill it with their children. He could only hope.

Chapter Thirteen

Several weeks later

Jennifer stared at Patrick across the dining room table. They were having dinner with her parents. The conversation was veering more towards business than pleasure. She smiled at him as he pushed more prawns onto her plate. Whenever he was able he found a reason to feed her more food.

Slowly, her curves were coming back, which she was grateful for. She was starting to feel more like herself with every passing day. Her feelings for Patrick were growing. The love she thought had died had in fact still been there. She smiled at him, feeling happier than she’d felt in months.

“Are you all right, dear?” her mother asked.

“I’m great.” She rubbed her face with a napkin and gave a pointed look at him.

“Mrs. Dixon, I’m
afraid
Jennifer and I have a prior appointment. We hate to skip out on dessert. You know how much she loves dessert.”

They said their goodbyes, and then they were in Patrick’s car.

“Do you want me to drop you off at your apartment?” he asked.

“No. I want you to take me home.”

He turned to look at her. She saw the shock on his face. “If you want me to come home with you that is. I understand if you don’t.”

“That’s okay. I really do.” Patrick kissed her hand as he moved through the traffic. The touch of his lips against her knuckles had her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. “I love you,” he said.

She still hadn’t said the words to him. Jennifer was waiting for the right moment to tell him how she felt.

He pulled up outside of his house. She heard barking coming from indoors.

“Did you get a dog?” she asked.

“I got two.” Patrick opened the front door, and two small mixed breed dogs came yapping out. Jennifer fell in love with them.

“I never knew you were a dog person.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t until I saw these two guys. I fell for them hard the moment I saw them. Look at them. How could you pass them up?” he asked.

She laughed and bent down to rub their heads. “You’re just a big softy.”

“You’ve got that right,” Patrick said.

They walked inside with the two dogs yapping at the feet.”

“What are their names?”

“Bill and Bob.
Bob has two spots on his ear, and Bill has none.”

She picked one up in her arms. “They’re so cute.”

Patrick stroked the other dog staring at her. Jennifer felt the change in the room as he stared at her.

“
Are you wanting
to see the room?” he asked.

Jennifer nodded. She needed to see the nursery in order to make that final leap. There was no more pain. There was sadness and a sense of loss, but other than that she was getting better with coping every day that passed.

He led the way upstairs. She remembered many happier times in her life. A couple of the happier times included him.

Patrick stood outside of the bedroom door. She held onto the dog in her arms like a lifeline.

“You don’t need to do this now,” he said.

“I need to do this, Patrick. This is the last part. If I can’t face this then I can’t move on.” He nodded his head.

The door opened, and she closed her eyes. Her heart raced inside her chest. She didn’t know what to find when she opened her eyes.

Jennifer opened her eyes and gasped.

“I found a couple of your sketches of where you wanted stuff to go. I thought you did a really good job in the design of the room, Jennifer.”

She stepped across the threshold and glanced around. There were silver blinds over the window to keep the light out. The yellow walls had lost their new paint scent. She noticed he’d put a few stencils of bees and cartoons along the walls, so it no longer looked blank. There was a changing area that remained bare. She touched the surface with her fingers. Tears filled her eyes, but they were not tears of pain. They were tears of joy. The room looked exactly how she imagined it would.

“I can’t believe you did this. It looks so amazing.” Jennifer was astonished at the beauty before her.

“I followed your instructions. The real beauty came from you. I’m sorry for not being there that night, Jennifer. If I could take it back I would.”

She put the dog down on the floor.

“I don’t care about that anymore.” She pressed her fingers to his lips. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Jennifer repeated the words over and over until they were the only words that could be heard.

His hand wrapped around her and pulled her in close. “Do you really?” he asked.

She gazed up into his eyes. There were tears in his green depths.

“Yes, with my whole heart. I should never have run away from you.”

Jennifer accepted that they’d made mistakes. Trying to hide from her issues was useless. The months at the beach house hadn’t solved anything. All the beach house had done was
make
her miserable.

He looked down at her. “I never thought I’d hear those words from your lips.”

“I needed to wake up to what was around me. Can you forgive?”

“There is nothing to forgive.”

Patrick licked his lips, and she could tell he was nervous.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“I’m about to do something, and I don’t want you to freak out. This is what I should have done that night in the library.” Patrick went down on one knee before her.

“You don’t need to do this.”

“I don’t care what I don’t need to do. This is what I
want
to do. Jennifer Dixon, I’m a fuck-up. I swear too much, and I like beer. Sometimes I get moody, and I can be a plain pain in the ass.”

If this was a wedding proposal he needed a lot of work.

“I’m all of those things, but I’m the man who is in love with you. If you asked me to follow you wherever you may go then I’d follow, no questions asked.” He licked his lips. “The biggest mistake of my life was walking out of that door angry at you. I wasn’t angry at you. I was angry at myself. All my life I’ve had everything easy. I never expected to be completely taken over by you.”

She watched as he rummaged through his pockets. He pulled out a ring, took a deep breath, and presented it to her.

“Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

Jennifer stared at the ring. “I didn’t ask you to propose, Patrick.”

“You don’t have to take the ring. This is what I want. I want to be married to you and have children with you. There is nothing more I want from my life than to see your face first thing in the morning. I love you, Jennifer Dixon. Nothing is ever going to change that.”

She didn’t know what to say.

In her mind images flashed of them together. The night they first met in the library. The moment they had in the gazebo. When she’d seen him in her parents’ sitting room and fainted. The vacation they’d had together in
Italy
, and finally she rested on the memory of his arms around her. The way he looked in the coffee shop. At the time, when she’d seen him sat in the shop where she worked she’d thought she walked into a nightmare. Looking back, she saw she’d finally been sent a gift. His presence had woken her up in more ways than she could have ever imagined.

Without him she’d still be serving tables and living an endless life filled with a bottomless pit of pain. Patrick had given her back her life.

She slid the engagement ring onto her finger. The ring fit perfectly.

“I can’t wait to be your wife.”

“I love you,” he said. “Does that mean yes?”

Jennifer laughed at him. “Yes. Yes. Yes. How many times do you want me to tell you?”

“For the rest of my life, I love you so much, Jennifer. I promise I’ll never fuck up. You’ll be the happiest woman in the world. I won’t let you down.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

His lips slammed down on hers, and her heart soared.

Epilogue

Jennifer stroked Bill’s head as she watched Patrick put more ribs on the barbeque. The scent was to die for, and she was feeding for two. She rubbed her stomach and stared at the man who’d put her in her condition.

“Stop glaring at me, baby. You were the one who attacked me and got you knocked up.” Patrick turned to smile at her. He had a knack for reading her mind.

“I’m pregnant, and it’s your fault.”

“You took advantage of a sleeping man.” He walked up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and dropped a kiss on her lips. “How was I to refuse a woman what she wanted?”

“Say no.”

“When it comes to you that word doesn’t exist to me.” He cupped her cheek and deepened the kiss. Patrick’s wedding band glinted in the sunlight. Their families were coming to dinner along with Linda’s family. Linda’s book had taken off, and she was now a successful author.

Jennifer was proud of her friend. Linda had found happiness as a writer while she’d found happiness with Patrick.

The doctor had told them the pregnancy was going well. He was keeping an eye on her in case something went wrong. Patrick was always with her. He refused to leave her side for any reason other than a football game. If it was down to a football game she lay on the sofa with her head in his lap reading a book.

They were happy. They were happier than she ever thought possible.

“I love you, Jennifer Thompson,” he said.

“You’re never going to get tired of saying that, are you?” She loved hearing him say her name.