Lost and Found (29 page)

"Right now? But I'm not done reading them all, O!"

"Good! We can read them together, when you get here.
And YES, right now!"

"Geez! Yes ma'am! You sound like a crazy woman right now. I'll get what you need and will be on my way in 10
minutes. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes! Thanks, Claud! I love you so much!"

"Yeah, yeah, love you too. You better get in a better mood!
I’ll be there shortly!" She made a kiss noise through the phone.

I decide to jump into the shower and the hot water helped calm me some after my argument with Cash and Claudia
confessing to reading the cards. I can't believe she did that!
Well, yes I can! Typical Claudia behavior, always doing what she
wants.

She always said I should have married her instead of her
brother, because she'd share her clothes and money with me
and knew I'd do the same, where Derek always considered
the money his, while he gave me a weekly allowance.

Who am I kidding! He really could have treated me better.
I guess he didn't know how to though. One day I'll have to
apologize to Cash about slapping him. Or maybe not!

********************

After I blow dry my hair and get dressed, I head downstairs
to see if Carmen had made it here yet, so that I could tell her
Claudia would be here for dinner. I reach downstairs and there she is just cooking away.

"Hey, Carmen. Did you have a good weekend?" She grins at
me.

"Yes I did, but I think you probably had a better one." She
winks at me and pulls a stool up to the bar. "So, how
WAS your weekend? Did you leave at all?" She chuckles
when I blush.

"When I was leaving, I came down with that vicious
stomach flu that the kids had. I couldn't even stand up and
Cash had to carry me to the bathroom and carry me
upstairs."

"Oh, I'm so sorry I was giving you such a hard time. How are you feeling now? Did you have it as long as the kids
did?"
I never thought about that. Both kids were sick for two days
and I was sick for less than 24 hours. When I answer her,
it's totally going to give us away.

"Well, no. I was feeling better by noon the next day. Hey,
my friend Claudia is on her way here and will be staying for dinner." Changing the subject, check!

"Yes, I know. Mr. Kingston told me before he went out. He seemed mad. You wouldn't happen to know anything about
that, would you?"

Oh, she is wise. Very wise, because I can tell that she
knows what we've been doing this weekend and this has me
blushing again.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Maybe by staring her down she will
get off this path. Oh, who am I kidding? I couldn't lie to
save my life. She is grinning back at me.

"Hmmm. Wrong side of the bed, you say. Would that be
your bed or his?"

I get a panicked look on my face, because I don't want her
thinking I'm the kind of woman that would just sleep with
the boss.

"Don't worry, Sweetie. No judgments here, and after what
the both of you have gone through, I couldn't be happier."
She comes around and gives me one of her big motherly
hugs.

"How did you know? Well, besides the obvious of me
staying the whole weekend. But I was really sick, throwing
up with fever and not to mention he took care of me the
whole night, which impressed me."

"Of course he did. He is a great man. With a nasty temper, from what I heard coming from upstairs. You really let him
have it! Good for you. Don't let him bully you." Oh, lord.
Did she hear what the conversation was about? Oh, I hope
not!

"You didn't happen to hear what we were arguing about, did
you?" Oh, please say no, please say no.

"No, I didn't hear what you were two were arguing about.
Lucas and I walked in and heard yelling and then slamming
doors. A few minutes later, Mr. Kingston came down
looking like the hounds of hell were after him and told me
about your friend coming for dinner. I hope she likes pot
roast, because that's what's for dinner."

"Oh, she'll be fine with whatever you cook, don't worry.
Since I'm not there to cook for her, I'm sure all that she's
had has been take out, so she'll enjoy it."

Cologne. I immediately knew that he was back by his
scent, so I turn around and look at him. He motions for me
to follow him, so I nod. I turn to look at Carmen, hoping
inwardly that she'll wish me luck. She could tell that I was
nervous and just grabs my hand to reassure me. I turn back
around to follow him, but he's already gone. Guess it's time to face the dragon.

I walk up to the third floor and walk into his bedroom, and
he's sitting on the bed going through bags of whatever he
bought. He looks up and motions for me to sit down on the
other side of the bags. I go sit down and suddenly feel like
I'm going to get scolded like a child.

"Okay, Olivia. I bought a lot of stuff for us to use for birth
control. That is if you're still willing to continue on my
terms." I guess he's still mad, because he's back to calling
me Olivia.

"On your terms? Are you for real right now?"

"I'm serious. But first, I would like for you to go take
this."
He's holding a pregnancy test. Have I walked into the
twilight zone? I can tell that he's still pissed, because he's
barely looking at me. I walk up to him and sit on his lap
and he leans his head on my shoulder and I can feel him
shaking with rage? Anger? I don't know what, but he's not
being himself.

"Cash, what is going on? You still seem mad and furious.
Come on, talk to me." When he looks up at me he has
tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to lose you. I feel like you're trapping me, like
Vanessa did to get pregnant. I can't go through that again.
I'm sorry for what all I said and especially after what we
did, but I'm just scared that
we screwed up. We did this all wrong. I should have wined
and dined you first. Dated you and now I'm scared to
death that you're pregnant."

I immediately hug him as tight as I can and he hugs me
back and exhales, like he had been holding his breath. I
understand where he's coming from of course, but he acts
like I'm trapping him. The only reason I freaked out was
because I wasn't thinking about anything but making love
to him. I still stand by what I said, but there's a bigger
chance that there's nothing to worry about.

"Cash, honey, I'm not trying to trap you and I'm not going anywhere. I really doubt that I'm pregnant. Yes,
there's a possibility, I'm not going to deny that, but it's not
worth worrying about." He looked at me shocked that I
would even think that. "I understand why you're freaking
out, but can I ask you a few questions?" He nods his head.
"When Vanessa was pregnant with Gideon, did she have
any problems in her pregnancy?"

"Not really, she had a lot of morning sickness at the
beginning and was tired all of the time, but no, the Dr. said
it was a normal pregnancy. She was in labor for about 24
hours and it was such a beautiful moment. I can't even
describe it. I know where you're going here, Liv. With
Eden, it was the same way, except she had her a few weeks early and right after she delivered her, she died! She didn't
even get a chance to see what she looked like!"

I start rubbing the back of his neck, while he composed himself. I know what it feels like to bring up the past and
it's not a place you want to go, if you're mainly thinking
about the bad memories.

"Cash? How did Vanessa die? I hate asking you that, but
what happened?"

"She hemorrhaged and they couldn't stop the bleeding after
she delivered. It only took a few minutes. They rushed Eden to the NICU and started working on
Vanessa, because she passed out and three minutes later, she
was gone! I can't go through that again, Liv."

"I know, Baby. And I promise you won't have to, okay? I
don't make promises lightly anymore and I haven't made a
promise since Jenna, so please trust me okay?" I look over at the pregnancy test. "And I'm not taking that! It's too
soon for one and I start my period in a couple of weeks, so
please don't worry about this alright?"

I lean down and kiss him lightly and hug him. He pulls me
into his arms and pulls me back to where we are laying side
by side on the bed. He pushes my hair away from my face and kisses me deeper and longer.

"How do you do it, Liv?" He starts kissing me on my neck,
causing me to shiver.

"Do what exactly?" If he doesn't stop, we are going to be
naked in a minute or two.

"You always seem to know just what to say to calm me
down. I'm sorry, Liv. I might have overreacted. A few
times! You sure don't put up with anything, do ya?" He
was chuckling now. If only he knew how long I kept quiet
about any of my opinions.

"I'm learning to stick up for myself. Overreacted? Oh, not
you." Now I'm laughing and kissing him again. I hear the
doorbell ring and know that Claudia has finally arrived.

"Uh oh. Saved by the bell, huh? I guess Claudia is here? I was on my way to getting you naked and trying out all of what I bought at the store." Oh God! If it wasn't Claudia at
the door, I would have definitely taken him up on his offer.

"Yes, that would be Claudia. As much as I would love to
stay here and let you do what you want to my body..." The idea has me purring like a kitten and I lean up and kiss him
on his jaw. "I have really missed Claudia."

"Aw, don't tease me like that! I guess its girl time before
the kids show up then, so I'm going to go to my study and
get some work done before they get here. I know you're
going to fill Claudia in on what we've been up to, but before
she plans my murder, please tell her that you are
completely capable of taking care of yourself. I'm just as
scared of her as I am Carmen!" He has a terrified look on
his face, which has me cracking up.

"I'm not kidding, Liv! She's a real ball buster! Hey, why
don't you girls go hang out on the top floor? It'll give you
more privacy. Go grab some snacks from Carmen and take
the elevator up." He leans down and kisses me and gives
me a hug. "Go catch up, before I get you naked, woman!"
He pats me on the butt and winks at me and walks me downstairs to greet Claudia.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"You're kidding me right? Wow! Can I move in and just
take this floor?" This is Claudia’s reaction to the top suite!

"I know!! It's huge huh? Let's talk to Cash about that
because I really love that idea!!! The gym is below us. The
whole floor!"

"Seriously? You'd never have to leave the house! Is there
a gift shop too? Haha..." She's looking around the whole
place and keeps dropping her jaw at everything she sees.
She comes back to the tub that's in the middle of the room
and just stares at it.

"That's not a swimming pool is it? It's a bathtub!
Wowzer! Ya know... Why don't we spend a weekend here
sometime soon? Would Cash let us? Or are your weekends
for only him now?" She bats her eyes at me.

"Oh shut it Claud... Give me that bag by the way... I want
to check out the cards." She tosses me the bag and I go sit
down on the massive extra king sized bed.