CHAPTER 20
Scarlet
I groaned as the alarm on my cell phone went off. My eyes still closed, I felt blindly along the nightstand until my hand finally found it. I opened my eyes just enough to see to turn it off.
What I wouldn’t have given for another few hours of sleep. Pregnancy was certainly taking a lot out of me. I could hardly remember ever feeling so exhausted in my life. But I guess that was to be expected since my body was busying developing not one, but two whole human beings. I knew part of my exhaustion was mental though too.
I sat up in bed, a dull ache having set in across my back, another symptom pregnancy had given me. I rubbed my belly, smiling slightly. Symptoms were annoying, but the two little lives inside me were anything but.
Although I still had a while before my check-out time, I was already ready to leave Chicago behind. I needed to leave Tobias Gentry’s world and figure out where I was going to go and what I was going to do from now on.
I had to prepare for the life that lied ahead of me, as well as the life I would be providing for my children.
But then the nausea began to kick in. My stomach churned, and I felt a wave of my usual morning sickness coming forward. I sat at the edge of the bed, willing it to go away, just wanting one peaceful morning that didn’t involve on-and-off puking. It gave me nightmares to think that some women experienced this kind of nausea for the entire duration of their pregnancies; I’d been praying relentlessly to not be one of them, hoping that as I moved through my trimesters, the sickness would subside.
But clearly, that wasn’t going to be the case at the moment. A powerful wave of nausea sent me running to the bathroom, doing the best I could to ignore the aching in my lower back as I kneeled over the toilet.
Afterwards, I brushed my teeth, showered, and dressed. And then my sickness was replaced by nagging hunger.
Seems like I just can’t win these days, I thought to myself, reflecting on how if I wasn’t nauseous from morning sickness, I was nauseous from hunger, which was a strange sensation I hadn’t even known was possible before.
Knowing I couldn’t hit the road without eating something first, I picked up the hotel room phone, ordering from room service before packing the rest of my belongings.
“A pickle, cinnamon toast, and vanilla ice cream?” the voice on the other end asked skeptically.
“Yes,” I said somewhat agitated, although I couldn’t blame them for thinking they’d heard me incorrectly. I realized my request wasn’t the most common breakfast combination. “And some orange juice, please.”
After finishing my unusual breakfast, I grabbed my suitcase, preparing to go downstairs to call an Uber. I opened my hotel room door.
“Good morning.”
I froze, unable to believe my eyes.
Tobias Gentry stood in the hallway holding two dozen of the reddest roses I had ever seen in my life. All I could do was stare at him in utter shock.
He looked back at me, smiling tentatively. “I spoke to the receptionist downstairs,” he said. “She told me that you still had a couple hours before you checked out. She let me come up here to meet you.”
“I bet she did,” I mumbled, my voice small. I thought back to the girl who worked the front desk and the way she had been so enamored with Tobias. I knew she undoubtedly thought he was here to whisk me away for another romantic outing, as if our lives were something straight out of a movie.
Tobias stepped forward, handing me one of the bouquets. He then gestured toward my hotel room. “Is it all right if we talk for a while, Scarlet? Please.”
I swallowed and breathed in the scent of the roses. My eyes had started to tear up and I wasn’t even entirely sure why. Damned hormones. Not wanting him to see, I turned around, letting my back face him. “Sure,” I said, my voice flat.
I stepped back inside the hotel room and he followed after me, lugging my suitcase back inside with him and then shutting the door.
I went to place the roses on the dresser and then turned around once I was sure my eyes had dried.
Tobias had set the second bouquet of roses on the bed, and then took a seat at the edge of it. He patted the space beside him, his eyes already pleading for my forgiveness.
I folded my arms and slowly approached, sitting at the other end of the bed, not wanting to be too close to him. Awkwardly, I looked down to my lap, noticing that I held my hands clasped tightly together. I folded my legs at the ankles and stared ahead at the dark green carpet covering the floor.
Feeling rather than seeing Tobias stirring beside me, I heard his intake of breath. I waited for him to speak, wondering what he had to say, although it took him a while to get started.
“Scarlet,” he said, “I want to apologize for yesterday.”
“Oh yeah?” I said after a moment.
“Yes,” he said. “Look, I was just…surprised, that’s all. But I never meant to upset you. I realize in hindsight how shitty my response must have looked from your end. I don’t blame you for leaving after that. I should have been…more understanding.”
I swallowed, my throat feeling uncomfortably tight. On some level, I wanted to apologize as well for leaving so childishly. But then again, I figured that Tobias could have called me if he was that concerned. All he’d done was send a text without bothering to call for the rest of the night. I was just about to point this out to him when I realized doing so would have been another immature move. After all, he had done better than just called; he’d shown up with a whole flower-shop as a peace-offering.
I glanced at him. He was staring directly at me, his eyes still pleading for my forgiveness. But I didn’t know what to say, so I averted my gaze and stared at the carpet again, simply nodding my head.
“I can’t deny,” Tobias continued, “it’s going to take some time for me to get used to the idea of being a father, of twins no less, but I’m up for the challenge. If you’ll allow me to try.” He slid over on the bed and reached for my hand. “What I’m trying to say is that I want to be there for you and the babies. I’m not going to let you go through this alone. Whatever you and the babies need, I’m here. No matter what. All right? I want to be a part of your lives. I can’t imagine not being there for you guys. I can’t imagine not knowing my children. That’s just not the type of man I want to be. I could never live with myself if I wasn’t there for you and the babies.”
Again, pesky tears began to form in my eyes and there was no hope of me hiding them this time. Noticing them, Tobias squeezed my hand.
“What made you have a change of heart?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I never had a change of heart. It was never my intention to abandon you in the first place. I was just shocked last night and needed time to process what you told me. I never once fathomed not being in our children’s lives, Scarlet. It’s just that you left so abruptly, I didn’t have a chance to explain. And when you didn’t answer my text, I figured I needed to wait until I actually saw you again to say what I needed to say.”
He reached out, gently running a hand down the side of my face and then leaning in to press his forehead against mine.
I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent. I squeezed his hand back in mine. “Thank you, Tobias.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said. “You guys are my responsibility now, and I will never walk away.”
I opened my eyes, only to find him staring back intently at me. He slowly brought his lips to mine, giving me a delicate lingering kiss.
Moving closer, he fully wrapped me into his arms, cradling me against him. I exhaled, feeling like the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted from my shoulders. I wasn’t in this alone; the elation I felt couldn’t even be put into words.
Letting my tears fall freely, I grabbed Tobias’s face with both my hands and kissed him. Without even realizing it, I had stood and positioned myself in front of him to deepen the kiss.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned back until he was lying on the bed with me straddled on top of him.
I stared down at him, and he smiled up at me, gazing into my eyes.
“Everything is going to change, you know that?” I said.
“Yes, as it should,” he replied. “And I’m excited about it, especially since I’ll be going through this experience with you. Now come here,” he said, pulling me down to him.