Granting Wishes (15 page)

“Mmm, so good.”

The rest of the meal was casual conversation when they spoke at all. There wasn’t tension, but there was an underlying tone that hung over them like a raincloud. After clearing their plates and tag teaming the dishes, he refilled his coffee and raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t like my coffee or not in the mood for it? You only drank your juice.”

Lilah’s smile disappeared and she began fidgeting. Shoot! Why didn’t she think of that while they were eating? She should have known he would notice that his coffee addicted girlfriend wasn’t drinking her steaming cup of java. She couldn’t just flat out lie and say she wasn’t in the mood for it, because she was. It had smelled so good she’d been hard pressed not to chug it. It was time to tell him. This wasn’t going how she had planned. Now she felt tongue
twisted and awkward. So she did what came naturally, to hell with trying to sugar coat it.

“I wanted to, but I can’t.”

Jake looked confused and sat down his cup. “Why? Is something wrong?”

Oh shit. He was clueless. Lilah dropped the towel on the counter that she’d been using to dry the dishes. “I’m pregnant. I can’t have caffeine. You don’t have decaf. There. I said it. I’m knocked up. One time was all it took for you
to turn me into a hormonal, no coffee drinking crybaby.”

Jake looked like he’d been hit by a truck. He went from confusion, to surprise, and his mouth was moving but a single word hadn’t come out yet. If it wasn’t such a serious subject she would have laughed at him. He braced his hands on the counter on either side of her, effectively trapping her as he towered over her.

“We’re having a baby.” It wasn’t a question; he said it as a statement. She wasn’t sure, but it almost sounded like he said it with awe. She nodded her head yes, not trusting her voice since she was near tears again.
Stupid hormones
.

He broke out into a slow, sexy grin, laughed, then lifted her up in his arms and twirled her around the kitchen. “I’ll be damned. We’re having a baby!”

Lilah squealed when he spun her, starting to laugh and feeling like the world just lifted off her shoulders. When he sat her down on her feet again, he kissed her so good her toes curled and she was considering crawling back up his lean body again.

“Wait, that’s why you were crying?”

She nodded her head and looked up into his gorgeous green eyes. “When I woke up, your hand was on my tummy. My hormones are outta whack so I got teary eyed. All I do now is cry. It’s so stupid!”

He laughed and kissed her forehead. “It’s not stupid, darlin’. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. One thing though, I still don’t get why you were crying.”

She smacked his chest, “Because I was afraid to tell you, ya big oaf. I’ve known for weeks but I couldn’t decide how to tell you since I wasn’t sure how you’d react. So when your big o’ hand rubbed my belly it just hit me how much I want to us to be a family.”

Jake went to his knees in front of her and held her sides, “All of us. Me, you, Roxy
, and our baby.” He kissed her belly and rested his head against her. When he looked back up at her she saw tears in his eyes. That was when she knew for sure that everything was going to be okay.

Being a parent was no joke. After the last couple of weeks, Dom had an all new respect for parenting. Tonight, Peyton was staying the night with Jade at her parents’ house and Dom had plans to spend time with Chelsea. After dropping his son off, Dom had a few stops to make before going to her house. He was going to spoil his girl tonight. The last few weeks had been a transition for all of them. While he was at school, his mom took care of Peyton. Once his last class of the day was over, he took time getting to know his son. Something he cherished now was tucking him in at night and reading him a story. Afterwards, Dom had to study and do his homework before falling into bed exhausted, only to sleep a few hours and start all over again. But doing all that had cut his available time to spend with Chelsea. Not that she complained. She handled it well so far. Better than Dom had. There were times that he and Peyton had what his mom called growing pains, but it was all in adjusting to each other. Peyton had never had a father in his young three years, and Dom had never been a father. It was a learning process and he understood it was even more of a shock to Peyton since he was used to his mother taking care of him. That’s why he made sure to allow for them to have time together as well.

Dom pulled into the flower shop and picked up the bouquet he’d ordered. It flourished
with sunny yellow solidago, two toned Circus roses, blush pink Alstroemeria, and golden sunflowers arranged in crystal vase. He had to admit, he hadn’t given the florist much to work with other than telling her he wanted it bright and summery without having any traditional red roses. It reminded him of Chelsea, full of life and sunshine.

She offered to make dinner because she didn’t feel up to going out but Dom offer
ed to pick up some Chinese takeout from her favorite restaurant. He was worried that she hadn’t been feeling up to par lately. He wasn’t sure what was going on because when he asked her, she avoided the questions and told him she was tired, but fine. He knew her well enough to know that was not the case. He was worried that it had something to do with finding out about his son although when he asked, she denied that it was a problem. It could just be the lack of time they’d had together. That was affecting him too. Whatever the case, Dom intended to get to the bottom of it tonight.

The sound his stomach made when he walked into the bakery was a direct response from the smell of fresh baked banana nut bread that washed over him when he opened the door. It smelled like a slice of heaven. He ended up adding to his order o
f chocolate dipped strawberries, buying a half dozen powder sugar dusted cannoli’s with the ends tipped in chocolate, and a half dozen banana nut muffins that were still warm from the oven.

By the time he pulled into her driveway, the smell of Chinese food and baked goods was about to make him crazy. He rarely skipped meals but he’d spent his lunch hour finishing a paper so he wouldn’t have to worry about school this weekend.

Chelsea’s front door was open and her cat, Chewy, was looking out the screen at him when he walked up with his hands full and pushed the doorbell. Chewy meowed a greeting, doing running man on the screen with his paws.

“Come on in,” Chelsea hollered, still nowhere to be seen. Dom let himself in,
set the vase of flowers on the coffee table and headed towards the kitchen where his blond-haired beauty was at the counter squeezing lemons into a glass pitcher.

“Mmm, fresh lemonade and my gorgeous woman. Two of my favorite things,” Dom said, placing his bags on the counter and sliding his arms around her waist from behind. He kissed her throat and nibbled her bare neck, making her laugh.

“Stop that. You’re gonna make me knock this over tickling me like that.” She was smiling but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek, nuzzling her there. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla. If he kissed her glossy lips Dom knew she would taste like strawberries too. It was her favorite lip gloss to wear, and he was pretty damn fond of it too.

“Oh no, we can’t have that. Lemonade is
to drink, not to wear. Although,” he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, making her laugh. She playfully elbowed him.

“What can I do to help?”

“You can get plates down and set the table. I’m almost done here and we can eat. It sure smells good.”

Dom patted her bottom and gathered plates, silverware
, and glasses to set the table with. He was as familiar with her house as she was so it only took a moment to have it done and begin unloading the food he brought.

“Goodness, did you buy out the bakery?” she teased.

He flipped open the box and showed her the white chocolate dipped strawberries, grinning when she gasped in pleasure.

“Yummy, those are m
y favorite!”

“I know. That’s why I got them. Got some warm banana nut muffins too, b
ut we can save those for breakfast if you want.”

A light blush appeared on her cheeks
. “Does that mean you’re planning on staying the night?”

“If you want me too, I’d like to.
”

She lowered her lashes and carried the lemonade to the table and sat down, pouring them both a glass. They quietly filled their plates with fried rice, beef and broccoli
, and cashew chicken. He watched as she nibbled on an egg roll and pushed her food around her plate more than she ate it. Dom was hungry so he quickly devoured his and filled his plate a second time. She had never said anything other than she wasn’t feeling great. Now, he wondered if it was her stomach bothering her since she was barely eating, even though he’d brought her favorite things.

“Does it not taste good to you
? You’re not eating much.”

“It’s good. I’m not that hungry I guess. Sorry,” she put her fork down and sipped her drink.

He eyed her curiously. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed and her eyes had faint circles under them. Dom placed his fork on his plate and pressed his hand on her forehead checking to see if she had fever. She quickly looked up at him and he ran his hand down her cheek tenderly. “You said earlier you weren’t feeling great. You don’t have a fever but you look tired. Have you not been sleeping well?”

“Um, no,
I guess I haven’t.” She absently picked up her fork and began pushing her food around again, only taking a small bite.

Now he was getting worried. “Why aren’t you sleeping
well? Have you been sick? Are you hurting anywhere?”

Chelsea wished he would stop questioning her. Her nerves were on edge and she felt like she was on the verge of tears. She should
have known the
doctor to be
in him would go into physician mode and start trying to diagnose her. Now her mind was going ninety miles a minute in an attempt to think of what to say to appease him. The worry in his eyes made her feel guilty for holding back and not telling him what was really on her mind.

“I’m fine, really.” But she wasn’t. She was flat out lying to him. It was wrong, but he had enough on his plate with school and suddenly becoming a father to a boy whose mother was dying of cancer.

Dom had known Chelsea for a good chunk of his life and he knew damn good and well she wasn’t fine. His momma didn’t raise a fool.
When a woman says fine, it’s a sure sign they are anything but.
She looked on the verge of tears and it stung that she wasn’t telling him why. She had never been one to intentionally hurt someone or hold back, so Dom knew something had to be up for her to avoid talking to him.

“Look, if you’re upset because I’ve not been around much these last few weeks, Chels, I’m sorry. I’m doing the best I can.”

Damn it, I can’t lose her, not now.

Her chin tilted up quickly and she met his eyes with her shocked ones. “No, no that’s not it at all. You’ve done nothing wrong, Dom.”

“So, you admit there is something wrong that you’re not telling me?”

Good gravy
, she slipped up and not worded her response right when he’d begun blaming himself. That’s why she had a policy to not lie. It always came back to bite you in the ass. Chelsea frowned, feeling the tears that were already threatening to spill out, build to the brink and cloud her vision. “Let’s not do this right now.” It shocked her how her voice trembled. She hadn’t been able to mask her rampant emotions.

Dom felt the food in his stomach go sour. Her reply sent a sick feeling through his system and set warning bells off in his already confused mind. “Chels,” he pushed his plate aside and took her hand in his. “You have to talk to me. Whatever is going on that has you so upset, I promise we can fix it.”

Chelsea couldn’t meet his eyes for fear of breaking down. What was it about pregnancy that sent your emotions into overdrive? She felt like she was on a rollercoaster ride of jacked up emotions. Not even realizing she was wringing her hands, she looked up, startled when he wrapped his hands around hers. Funny how something as small as that, could begin to settle a person’s nerves. Then again, Dom had always been her rock.

He loved her. She knew that. But did he love her enough?

He was a good man. Of that, she was sure.

This would change things. Again, something she was confident about.

Ever since she knew what love was, Dom had been her heart and soul.

Now he was the father of her child. If she had a
nickel for all the times she had daydreamed about having a family with him she would be rich.

The damper was not the fact that Peyton had just come into his life, but that Jade wa
s the mother of his child. The woman that made her life hell in school. The one that caught Dom’s eye first, and was now dying of cancer and back in his life again. It wasn’t Peyton’s fault. He was a sweet, innocent little boy that was easy to love. He’d already stolen her heart too.

But where did all that leave Chelsea?

Last
. Always one step behind. Still the girl that would take any attention from Dom and cherish it, while Jade had taken it for granted.

Chelsea wondered if she would always feel like nothing more than the fat friend that picked up any crumb of love she could find. Not that Dom had ever made her feel less than perfect. Jade had been the one cruel enough to her to imprint that into her memory. Something she wished could be erased. She was tired of feeling like she wasn’t good
enough or that she would never be Dom’s number one.

“Chels, talk to me. Your silence is killing me.”

When she focused on his eyes, she was stunned when she saw the glimmer of unshed tears. Had she caused that? The last thing she wanted was to hurt him.

Good gravy. I have to tell him.

No matter how scared
she was, or how hard it was going to be. He deserves to know and she would never keep it from him like Jade did. Taking a deep breath, she tried to smile, figuring it probably came out more like a pathetic wince.

“I have something to tell you, Dom. Good thing is, at least you’re sitting down.” Chelsea gave a shaky laugh and squeezed his hand in hers.
Well, here goes nothing.

“It’s like this,” trembling, she stared at his hand. It wasn’t until he put his finger under her chin and raised her face up so her eyes met his that she finished her sentence.

“You’re gonna be a daddy again in about six months or so.”