The Game of Love: (BWWM Romance) (10 page)

Arielle nodded, understanding.

Dr. Anim reentered the room with a folder in her hands. “Arielle, what are you doing back here so soon?” she asked. “Are you in any pain?”

Arielle looked at
Sommer and then pointed to her stomach. “One of these little guys is breech. The boy. Stubborn already, just like his uncle.”

Sommer’s
thoughts ran to Austin once more.

“But no, Stella,” Arielle answered. “I thought I’d left my jacket in here and bumped into
Sommer. We were just catching up.”

She pushed herself up to stand and Stella came around to help her. “Not too long now, thank goodness,” she said, sighing heavily once she was on her feet. “I’ll go ahead
and leave you two. I’m sure my husband’s wondering where I ran off to, unless he’s found the cafeteria. In that case, I could be back here in labor and he would have to make sure he finished his burger before he came over.”

She gave Stella a hug. “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice. You’d think I’d know the difference between Braxton Hicks and true labor by my fourth child.”

When she finally left, Stella reclaimed her seat.

“Here’s your paperwork,
Sommer. You can leave the forms with Toya and she’ll set up your next appointment.” Her eyebrows then came together. “How are you doing, by the way?”

Sommer
knew that she was referring to her mother’s situation. “I’m fine,” she reassured. “Me and Mom will be thankful for this bit of happy news. Is the baby okay?”

Stella smiled. “For the millionth time, the baby is fine. Will the father be coming the next time we meet?”

“I’ll see if he can get away.” Her heart fluttered. “I’m really more concerned about him being there when we find out the baby’s gender. Which, by the way, will be?”

“Around twenty weeks. Now go before you ask me to do the ultrasound again to make sure there’s a baby in there.”

Not a bad idea,
Sommer thought.

With a warm hug, she left the office and dropped her paperwork off at the desk. Then, she ran across the medical center to the wing where her mother was being treated, hoping that her absence hadn’t aroused any suspicion. Caroline was already waiting for her by the time she arrived, exhaustion lines worn into her forehead.

“You’re done, already?” Sommer asked.

“I’m done, baby. Only two more rounds to go. Where did you run off to?”

Sommer searched her mind for another lie. “I ran into Arielle Riley.”

“Emma told me that Arielle should be having those babies any day now. She’s so excited, you’d never guess that she has two grandkids already.” Caroline nudged
Sommer in the side. “Be nice to have a grandbaby.”

Sommer
shot her mother a teasing look, and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as they walked to the car.

That night,
Sommer was violently tossed back into reality. She kneaded the space between her mother’s shoulder blades while the older woman retched over the toilet, and it left her feeling nearly physically impaired watching her mother wither away into a frail and weak vestige of herself.

She’d been spared the first time around. She’d been so young that the last thing her mother had wanted was for her to get a glimpse of the agony the illness had truly
caused. Back then, Caroline had also been able to rely upon Sommer’s father, however the man’s attempts to pick up the slack and take care of the household had lost all value the minute he’d walked out the door with another woman. Now, it was just the two of them, and Sommer knew that as she grew rounder, it would be even more difficult to be what her mother needed.

Sighing, Caroline flushed the toilet and retreated to the floor.

“I raised a good daughter,” she said, leaning her back against the bathtub.

“That’s what good mothers do,”
Sommer affirmed, retrieving a wash cloth from the linen closet in the hallway.

“As a good daughter then, you’ll understand.”

“Understand what?” Sommer held the cloth underneath the faucet, dampened it, and handed it to her mother. Caroline dabbed the cool cloth over her forehead.

“That I’m moving in with Reese and Marcie.”

Surprised, Sommer turned off the faucet. “What are you talking about, Mom?”

“You’re pregnant,
Sommer.”

Sommer
nearly passed out where she stood. “How did you know?”

“Mothers know.”

“So, you’re leaving because I’m pregnant?”

“I’m leaving because you and the baby will need the space.”

Sommer gestured around the house. “Mom, this is more than enough space for me, you, and a baby.”

As her strength slowly returned, Caroline pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the tub and touched the cloth to her cheeks. “Then, move in with the father.”

Sommer didn’t respond.

“I know you know who he is.”

“I do.”

“Is it Austin?”

Shock rattled Sommer’s body once more and her eyes widened at her mother.

“Don’t look at me all surprised like that,” Caroline warned. “You spent every waking moment with that boy when he was here and you two were still l
ooking at each other all googly eyed like you did when you were in high school.”

As surprised as she was,
Sommer found herself laughing. “You witch of a woman. The things that you know.”

Caroline smiled. “Does Austin know?”

Sommer’s eyes went to something in the room other than her mother’s face. “No.”

“When are you going to tell him?”

When she didn’t answer, it was Caroline’s turned to be surprised. “You don’t think I’m going to stand around and let you not tell that boy about his child, do you?”

“No,”
Sommer answered. That, her mother would definitely not do. “But if it’s okay, I’d like to tell him on my own time.”

“Which is?”

“The end of the first trimester.”

Caroline opened her mouth to protest, but then realization sunk in. “You think you’re going to lose that baby?”

“I might.”

“Any reason you think that might happen?”

Sommer shrugged. “Because it happens. I wouldn’t want to get Austin all upset over a baby that might not even grow to term.”

Caroline tossed the damp cloth back over to her daughter and pushed herself up into a standing position. Standing in front of her was a twenty-eight year old woman who wasn’t sure if she was going to tell the father of her child, a man she obviously loved more than life itself, about their baby. And while she’d understood
Sommer’s reservations about miscarrying, it concerned her that her child was still living her life too reservedly.

Sommer
had always been afraid of making decisions, even the ones that were obviously good for her, because of the consequences that might ensue. Half the time, however, the consequences were what Sommer had made up in her head. It was that fear that kept her daughter at the bakery where she obviously wasn’t her happiest, but unfortunately, Sommer had inherited her bullheadedness, so telling her that would change nothing.

“You don’t think he’d be happy?” Caroline asked.

“He’s a bachelor, Mom. I’m sure the last thing he wants is a baby.”

Although Caroline didn’t agree, she didn’t comment. Instead, she planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead, touched her shoulder, and then made her way back to her bedroom. She’d give
Sommer until the end of her first trimester as promised, but if she still didn’t tell Austin by then, she would take matters into her own hands.

*****

As much as Austin loved hanging out with Trent and Cason, this party was proving itself to be too much for him to handle.

It was Trent and Alexandrina’s daughter Chloe’s first birthday, and they’d celebrated by throwing a pool party at Trent’s house in his sprawling backyard.
However, the spirited family atmosphere only left Austin feeling even more depressed. Two months had passed and he still thought about Sommer daily without any end in sight. He had tried calling her many times. He didn’t understand why his calls went unanswered. But he heartbreakingly assumed, as she’d said the last time he saw her, that their summer together was just a fling in her eyes.

“You’re scaring my daughter,” Trent told him as he walked over with a beer in his hand. “I swear, every time she looks over here and sees how depressed you look, she bursts into tears.”

Austin popped the top on his beer and took a swig. When the light citrus taste hit his palate, he glanced at the label. “I didn’t know you were into fancy beers, Trent.”

Trent lifted the bottle to his lips. “This beer isn’t that fancy, Austin. You just need to expand your horizons.”

Austin laughed. “I do. At times. It’s just that I had this beer for the first time this past summer.”

“With
Sommer?”

“Yeah.”

Trent took another swig. “Your summer with Sommer. Is that why you’re over here looking so depressed?”

Austin motioned to the guests. “Can you blame me? You have Cason over there hugged up on Amelia, and then there’s your little family. Even Tank brought a woman
. Do you know what the odds are of a woman saying yes to that face?”

Tank heard the jab, looked up, and pointed accusatorily at Austin
, who tipped his beer in response.

“Austin, you have your pick of the women in Texas,” Trent reminded. “You just don’t want them.”

Austin rubbed away some of the condensation on the bottle. “Not yet. Maybe soon. I’m still licking my wounds.”

Trent looked over to his wife and daughter. “It’ll take some time. I get where you’re coming from because I can’t imagine what my life would be like without Drina and Chloe, but it’s like this song Drina sings to Chloe at night.
Que sera, sera.
”

“What will be, will be,” Austin translated. “I know it.”

“So then you know that there’ll be other Sommers. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet a Spring or an Autumn.”

Austin laughed and downed more of his beer.

Suddenly, the lively chatter ceased and even the sound of children’s laughter died as the kids tuned-in that something was bothering the adults. When Austin looked up, Jessica was standing at the bi-fold patio doors with an arm wrapped around Alexandrina.

“Dree, what is this?” Trent asked his wife. “Why’s she here?”

“She’s my family, Trenton,” Alexandrina argued. “She wanted to be here for Chloe’s first birthday. I couldn’t just say no.”

Trent shot an apologetic look towards Austin. “This is still my house. I can ask her to leave.”

“It’s fine,” Austin reassured. “Doesn’t bother me.”

Naturally, he scanned Jessica from head to toe and unfortunately, she still looked as good as the last time he saw her. She was wearing an olive green dress, strappy heels, and her long hair was piled on top of her head in an elegant bun. As his eyes traveled to her middle, he realized that her pregnancy must have been a rumor because her hips were just as slim as he’d remembered them. They were almost too slim, at least compared to
Sommer’s curvy, feminine figure.

When their eyes collided, she smiled and waved as though they’d been old friends. Then, she gave her cousin a kiss on the cheek, brushed a wave towards Trent, and made her way over to where he was sitting.

“Austin,
bonjour,
” she greeted. “You look good.”

“So do you, Jessica.” He decided to be cordial. “Just getting back from France?”

“And Spain. And Italy. You know me. Busy, busy, busy.”

She took a seat in the space Trent had vacated and Austin wondered who’d invited her to join him.

“So, what have you been up to? Preparing for the new season?”

“Yep,” he
barely answered with another taste of his beer.

“Austin,” she whined. “Don’t be this way. I want us to be able to talk. Be friends.”

Taken aback, Austin started to argue that it was hard to be friends with an ex-girlfriend that had absconded with another man and subsequently fell off the face of the earth, but he decided not to rehash old wounds at a one-year-old’s birthday party.

“Well, if you won’t talk to me, I will talk to you,” she resigned, placing her purse next to her feet. “Walter
Remos and I have split up.”

The sound of Austin’s phone chiming from his pocket came through almost like the heavenly bells
. He set down his beer and retreated to a quiet corner inside the house without offering an apology about his sudden departure.

“Hey honey,” Emma greeted on the line. “How are you?”

“I’m doing okay, Ma.” He walked up the stairs to Trent’s study. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

When he heard the baby’s cry in the background, he realized why she was calling.

“Nothing’s wrong, my love. Arielle had her babies. The boy was four pounds flat and the girl was four pounds, two ounces. They’re beautiful, tiny little things.”