The Right Kind of Love (20 page)

“Nope,” I said with a pop to my p. “It’s never going to happen.”

“We’ll see.” He started scratching Zeus behind the ears and walked down the hall to his room.

“Okay, who is going to hit the shower first me or you?” I asked.

“I’ll go first.” Bee raced out of the kitchen and headed to my room shutting the door behind her.

I headed back to my room, laughing at Bee’s antics. I figured I might as well get as much ready as I could before I took my turn in the shower.
Once I had everything pulled out for the day—clothes, jewelry, make-up—I picked up my phone to check the time. Bee always took forever in the shower. That’s when I noticed I had two new text messages.

With shaky fingers, I pressed the key to display them.

Wes: I know Bee is with you. She wouldn’t tell me where she was going, but don’t worry. I will find you. I have my ways. You are mine, you bitch. You had better remember that. I’m going to find you and drag you by your hair home where you belong with me.

My stomach heaved and I ran to the hall bathroom and threw up. He wasn’t giving up and that really worried me. I was slung over the toilet violently getting sick when I felt my hair being lifted over my neck and circles being rubbed on my back.

“That’s it. Get it all up, baby. I’m here for you.” I hated that he had to see me at my worst, but it felt so nice knowing that I had someone who cared about me.

I finished the assault on the toilet and sat down on my legs. Damien stepped away for a minute, and then came back with a warm washcloth. He was so good to me. “Thank you, Damien. I appreciate it.”

“Did you hear from Wes again?”

“How did you know?”

“Because you are shaking like a leaf and have a layer of sweat covering your body.”

“He just won’t give up and leave me alone. He says he knows Bee is here, and he’s going to find me.” A tear had escaped my eye and then another. Damien pulled me into a tight hug. “I can’t let him find me. He’s threatening me and… I’m just scared.”

I can tell he was on edge because I could feel his heart rate increase. “That motherfucker is never going to find you, and if he does, he will have to get through me first. I don’t care what I have to do. I will protect you.”

Nuzzling myself closer to him, I did the only thing I could do. “That means everything to me. Thank you.”

“I would do anything for you. You are very special
to me.” And there it was—that word
special
again.

Pulling myself together after Wes’ texts, I put on a brave face. I could do this. “All right, I’m going to go grab a shower and get ready. I can’t wait to see the places you have lined up for us. Hopefully, one of them is a winner.”

We walked out of the first house on the list, closing the door behind us. I shuddered at the thought of actually living there.

“Oh, my God. That place was a complete dump! I hope the next two are better because there is no way I’m living there. The carpet looked like it hadn’t been changed since 1942,” Bee said.

“I completely agree. That place left a lot to be desired.” I looked to Damien. “Please tell me the next one will be better?”

“Relax, ladies, I got this under control. We only went to that one because it was the cheapest. I think you’ll like the next two. Although we talked about a four bedroom, this one is only a three bedroom. Just remember, we will be paying a little more a month.” He glanced over to me.

“What’s a little more?” I asked.

“Yeah, how much are you expecting us to shell out?” Bee chimed in from the backseat.

“Well, this one is twenty-one hundred a month. Which I don’t think is bad. That would be seven hundred each per month plus utilities.”

“That’s fine by me.” I smiled over at him.

“That sounds great. It will be a hell of a lot less than what I’m paying right now, that’s for damn sure.” I felt bad Bee had been stuck paying for both my rent and hers after I left. She still hadn’t found anyone to take over my lease when I upped and moved. I’d been sending her money, but I still felt bad for leaving her hanging.

We entered another subdivision, and I noticed that there were trees lining the drives and everyone had well-manicured lawns. The houses seemed to be well kept. It was great to see life in the neighborhood as well. There were small children out playing and even dogs.

He turned into a drive, and the most beautiful house filled my eyes. It was a two-story house done in beige stucco and black shutters with a red front door. It was stunning from the outside. There were lots of trees and even some flowers planted.

“This place looks really nice.” We all hopped out of the car and headed up to the front door.

“It’s supposed to be from the pictures I looked at this morning.” He rang the bell and an older lady answered.

“Hello, you must be Damien?” She was shorter, maybe a few inches taller than I was, a little on the lumpy side, and had gray hair piled on top of her head. She gave us a warm smile, and I instantly liked her.

“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a polite smile.

“Well, come on in. I’m Carol. Let me show you around.” We all shook hands and introduced ourselves.

We walked into the foyer, and there was a huge staircase that I could only imagine led up to the bedrooms. The foyer was grand with high ceilings and a beautiful contemporary chandelier. The walls were painted a warm gray.

Immediately to the right of the foyer was a room with French doors. “This is the study.” She waved her hand in the air, and we all looked in to inspect it.

“Great, I can do some of my work from the shop in here,” Damien said.

She led us down the short hall into an open floor plan kitchen and family room. “Did you just recently redo everything?”

“Yes, my husband and I did. Wait until you see the bedrooms upstairs. They are all setup as masters. We often receive complaints about our tenants needing more bathrooms and not having to share, so we fixed that little problem. This house was originally a four bedroom, but we made it a three bedroom to allow for the extra amenities.” Hearing that made my heart jump with excitement. It just kept getting better and better
.

As we made our way further into the kitchen, I noticed that the appliances were all new and stainless with a gas range. The counter tops weren’t granite, but they were a nice laminate top. The walls were done in a cheery yellow and the cabinets were a rich brown wood with cream colored counter tops. There was even an island with a place to put bar stools. The house was like one you only dreamed about living in. The house I grew up in wasn’t even as nice.

She motioned us into the family room. It was very spacious with beams in the ceiling making it a bit warmer. The color on the walls was a very neutral cream. There was a fireplace with a beautiful mantel above it. I would be able to put décor up there and make this house feel like a home. I even imagined where I could put pictures.

I leaned over to Damien and whispered in his ear, “I love this place!”

“I know. Me, too.”

“And me three.” I thought I had whispered, but apparently, Bee had on her dog hearing today. She could hear a mouse three rooms away.

We checked out each of the bedrooms. They all had walls painted similarly, beige walls, white trim, walk in closets, and a bonus as she had mentioned was each had a full bath.

The best part about the house was that it had all hardwood floors. They were large walnut wood planks. We would need lots of area rugs, but we could pull it off. Hell, I’d just won thirty thousand dollars. I had some money to spend.

Walking down the stairs, we made our way back into the kitchen. “So what did you all think?”

“I actually have this crazy idea and would love to paint the bedroom I choose. Do you think it would be a problem?” I had to ask.

She contemplated for a moment. “Absolutely, as long as the colors aren’t too crazy.”

I wasn’t going to get too crazy. Maybe paint it an aqua color in my master suite that was the same color in my bedding. “Well, then I say I’m in. You totally sold me, but it is up to my roommates.”

Bee jumped up and down. “I love it, too! We so need to jump on this house before someone else does.”

“Ladies, I couldn’t agree more.”

I looked to Carol and couldn’t control my grin that I had on my face. “We’ll take it. When can we move in?

Sydney

W
e signed the lease on the new house and had been given a move in date of exactly a month later. I had hoped that the stomach bug would have passed, but after a few days, I was still sicker than shit. I’d been vomiting almost every hour, and each night, I woke up in a pool of sweat from a nightmare. Of course, Damien was always by my side. Two days of puking up anything that I managed to put in my stomach and not being able to sleep through the night really took a toll on my body. I knew I had to call in sick for work. I just wished Bee hadn’t left. She always took care of me when I was sick.

Feeling weak, lethargic, and very dehydrated, I made my way on unsteady legs into the kitchen to grab a Ginger Ale. Just as I brought the can to my mouth, another wave of nausea hit, and I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom. I couldn’t make it to my bathroom so I went to the hall bathroom not even shutting the door behind me. I started violently throwing up. After about five minutes, it stopped. My body went limp. My head throbbed and the room started to spin. I felt my entire body get clammy. I couldn’t move. I was rooted to the ground, and I felt like I was being swept under, and then everything went black as I felt my head hit the hard tile.

Beep, Beep, Beep.

I woke with a start to find myself in a foreign bed staring at a white wall that wasn’t mine. I looked around and spotted Damien sitting in the chair next to me, tenderly holding my hand.

“Damien, why am I in the hospital?”

“You passed out in the bathroom, and I couldn’t get you to wake up so I called an ambulance. Scared the ever-loving shit out of me.” He looked like hell. He had dark circles under his eyes, his face was stretched with worry, and he looked like he had been biting his bottom lip.

“All I remember is throwing up and then my head hitting the tile. I’m so weak and dehydrated from the damn stomach bug I have.” I looked at my left hand to find an IV. My head was killing me, and I felt like I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for days. My nausea was gone, which was a total blessing.

A nurse came in my room. “Hi, Sydney, how are you feeling?”

“Hi, my nausea went away. I’m just feeling really tired right now.” I had noticed that I had been sleeping a bit more lately from the damn nausea.

“We drew some blood and are just waiting for the results. I’m going to let the doctor know you’re awake, but not before I read your vitals.” I then noticed I had a cuff on my arm and it started to inflate with air to take my blood pressure.

“You don’t have a fever. Your friend told us you’ve been throwing up for a few days now.”

“Yes, actually, it has been going on for about a week, damn stomach bug.”

She just smirked at me. Why was she smirking? This wasn’t funny. “Yes, well, the doctor will be here in a few minutes to go over your results.”

She exited the ER room, and I looked to Damien.

“Baby, I was so scared when I found you. Why didn’t you tell me this has been going on a lot longer?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I didn’t mean to scare you, honestly, I didn’t. Wait a second. What did you do with Zeus?” My poor little baby. I hadn’t taken him out since last night.

“I wasn’t sure if you had taken him out or not, and I couldn’t exactly leave you when you were passed out, so I called Justice.”

“Oh, thank God.”

The doctor chose that moment to enter my room. “Hi, Ms. Summers, I’m Dr. Cain. May I speak to you alone?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. He can stay.” I motioned toward Damien,

“That will be fine then. I have the results from your blood work. I need to know when the last day of your period was.” He had a smile on his face. I thought back trying to remember. And then it hit me. I didn’t have a period last month. I just had spotting the month before. Placing my hand over my mouth, it hit me at once.

Oh, no. I felt the bile rise in my throat, and I grabbed the bedpan and began to dry heave. Damien was instantly there pulling back my hair and telling me sweet things.

No, this can’t be happening. I started to sob uncontrollably after I had finished vomiting.

He kept staring at me. “Take your time, Sydney,” the Doctor said.

I tried to calm myself down, but I was such a wreck. “W…two…. two months ago. But it was just light spotting.” My stomach whirled, and I felt like I could be sick again, my nerves were completely out of control.

But my stomach wasn’t letting up. I lifted the bed pan off the portable table in front of me and dry heaved again. The doctor took his time and was very patient with me.

I finished my round of puking and the nurse came in to take the bed pan from me.

“Baby, you okay? You’re white as a ghost,” Damien asked with concern lacing his voice.

“She’s actually just fine. She’s going to have a baby. We need to do an ultrasound to make sure the baby is okay, and at that time, we’ll check to see how far along you are. From what I gather, she’s most likely two to three months along.”

And I knew instantly how far along I was. I had to be a little over three months along. It had been that long since the rape, and I hadn’t had sex since. And it had been a year before that.

The tears continued to flow down my face. And I couldn’t get the image of Wes taking me against my will out of my head. He’d done this to me. This moment was crippling.

“We gave you medicine for the nausea, but I’ll have the nurse administer some more. I will also be sending you home with a script. There are some natural remedies you can find on the internet as well. If you’d like, I can send by a counselor to talk to you. I will also have a nurse bring you some information about your options.”

I couldn’t talk. I was paralyzed by the results. Why was this happening to me? “Thank you, Doctor. We appreciate it.” Damien replied for me.

He left the room and the tears started flowing even harder. Damien took me in his arms. “Sweets, we’ll get through this. I will be there for you and support your decision no matter what you choose. You have me, sweetheart. I’m here for you.”

Those were such sweet words and by all means, I was going to have this baby. I didn’t believe in abortion, but maybe I would give it up for adoption.

I pulled away from Damien. “Damien, why is this happening to me? That fucking asshole took away my choice to choose when I wanted to be a mother. I hope he rots in hell!” I continued to sob. “I don’t believe in abortion, so I’m going to have this baby, but I don’t know if I will keep it. I have a lot to think about.”

He tapped me on the nose with his finger. “Oh, sweetheart, it is going to be okay. I will help you work this out. If you do decide to keep it, I think you would make a damn fine mother.”

The tears were still running down my face. Would this baby be a constant reminder of that tragic night, or would I be able to overcome it and give the baby a happy, healthy life like he or she deserved. I never expected this to happen. I thought I was in the clear.

A person dressed in scrubs came into the room who I hadn’t seen before. “We’re going to take you for your ultrasound now. Are you ready to see your baby?”

“Sure.” I wiped at my tears. But this wasn’t my baby. This was the result of Wes raping me. This child was his.

“I hear congratulations are in order. You two are going to be amazing parents.”

Did she just refer to Damien as the father? “Thank you,” Damien said with a huge grin plastered to his face.

My mouth hit the floor.

What. The. Hell.

I couldn’t possibly ask him to do that.

“Thank you.” I tried to smile, but it is hard when I was still crying.

Just then, the nurse who had been attending me came back into the room with a syringe and injected it to my IV.

“Please, call me Vanessa.” She got my bed and started rolling it out of the room.

Damien looked at me with hopefulness. “Can I come with you?”

I looked to Vanessa. “Is it all right if he comes?”

“Sure,” she said while wheeling me into another room.

I placed a tender hand on my belly and rubbed it. There was a little life growing inside of me. One that was placed in my body on a horrific night. He may not have broken me, but he sure as hell left a lifelong mark.

Vanessa left the room, and I turned to Damien.

“Damien, what am I going to do?”

“Well, that’s easy. You’re going to have a baby. If you decide to keep it, then we’re going to raise him or her.”

“We?” What the hell was he talking about we weren’t even a couple.

“Yes, we.” He looked at me tenderly. “If you will allow me to, it would be a great honor. No one except us would have to know the baby isn’t mine.”

Was he out of his mind? “Damien, we aren’t even a couple. We’re roommates.”

“I would like to think we’re much more than roommates. I would like to give you
special
and for you to be mine.”

My belly whooshed, and it wasn’t a nausea feeling. It was a good tingling feeling.

Special.

He had thrown out that word again.

“I can’t ask that of you. Besides, what are you going to do about the revolving door of women you have?” I knew the answer before I asked, but I still had to know.

“What women? I haven’t been with another woman in a while. I gave up that lifestyle because I want to give you
special.
” He looked at me with sincerity.

Vanessa walked back in and cleared her throat. “Are you two ready for an ultrasound?” She walked over to the machine and grabbed a tube off the cart. “I’m going to place some jelly on your tummy, and then we can have a look at things.”

She carefully lifted the gown I had on to expose only my stomach and then squirted the cool jelly on my lower abdomen. She placed the probe on my belly, and I instantly started hearing a whooshing noise.

I looked over at Damien and smiled while he smiled back. This would make it all so real seeing my baby for the first time, but there was still the strong thought about adoption. This was all Wes—how could I possibly make it my baby?

“Ah, here we are. Do you hear that noise? That’s the baby’s heartbeat. From the looks of things, and the way you are measuring, I would say you are about 13 weeks along.”

Just as I figured. It had been three months.

You will need to follow up with your OBGYN and they can actually set an appointment with you for another ultrasound to find out the sex of baby when you are far enough along.” She moved the probe around again. “If you look closely, you can see the head and arms. I will print out a picture for you.”

“Do you see that, Damien? That’s a baby.”

He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. “Yes, I see it.”

I looked to him and saw his eyes were glistening. He was as emotional as I was.

“Okay, you’re all done here. Time to go back to your room.” She handed me the picture of the baby, and the tears instantly flowed down my face. This baby was so innocent. How could something so pure come out of a situation so wrong?

She wheeled me back into my room, and I just stared at the picture. Could I actually raise a baby that was conceived in the most horrible moment of my entire life? I was a strong woman, but was I strong enough?

I looked up to see Reeve, Damien’s brother.

What the heck was he doing here?

“Hey, little bro, the nurse told me you were here. What the hell’s going on?” He looked at me with concern.

Damien went on to explain everything that had happened. Some of the story I didn’t know, because I’d been unconscious.

He walked over to my bed. “How are you feeling, Sydney? Sounds like you gave my brother quite the scare.”

“I honestly don’t know how I am right now. This visit has turned out to be a huge surprise.”

Reeve looked at the picture in my hand and gave me a warm smile.

Damien spoke before I could say anything. “We’re having a baby, Reeve. Sydney is pregnant.”

My mouth dropped open, my face turned a bright shade of red, and I clenched my fist. What the fuck? Why was he telling his brother this? He was taking away my choice. My choice. How could he be doing this to me? I was so livid. We hadn’t even talked this through. He was automatically claiming to be the baby’s father. This was turning into one huge mess.