“It looks like your right at twelve weeks.”

“Twelve weeks! How the hell have I missed this?” I question in a panic. “I’ve had alcohol these past three months.”

The doctor chuckles and explains to us that most alcohol consumption, unless in excess, usually isn’t a problem. If I did the math right, the day he picked me up from the police station is when the baby was conceived. Thank god it wasn’t before all that drinking.

She asks us if we want an ultrasound and I jump at the chance with a “hell yeah!”

Seeing the baby on the monitor is surreal and makes this feel real. Our baby with arms flailing and little alien head was chilling on a monitor. For as long as I live I’ll never forget Grant’s face when the heartbeat played throughout the room.

We leave the doctor’s office with instructions to get prenatal vitamins and a suggestion to get a baby book to know what’s going on throughout the pregnancy.

We’re walking down the sidewalk when it all hits me. “It’s happening, we’re really doing this.” I’m looking at the picture of our baby with tears in my eyes.

“I love you baby, of course this is happening.” We start walking again when he links his arm through mine. “Which brings me to selling the condo. It’ll be more practical to get a house right outside the city.”

“Can we afford it after you lost half your restaurants?”

“I told you not to worry about money. We’re fine.”

“Okay, but I should get a job after the baby comes.”

He places his finger over my mouth. “Do you want to stay at home with the baby or hire a nanny? I know I’d prefer you home with our baby, but if you want to work I’ll fully support you.”

“That’s something I can decide when the baby’s a few months old right?”

“Absolutely.” He kisses my forehead. “I lined up a meeting with the realtor this afternoon to start going over our wish list so they can start sending us some listings.”

“Oh! Maybe we can find a place that has a pool? Or a finished basement.”

He looks at me trying not to laugh. “Those are on your wish list? Not a bidet or walk-in closet?”

“Ew, who wants a bidet? Not me!”

“Okay, I’ll make sure we don’t get one. I have a business lunch if you want to join me? It’s with Charles. Or I can meet you at home later and have the realtor come there?”

“I’ll head home. I’m tired and could go for a nap. Tell Charlie I said hey.”

“I’ll drop you off before I leave for lunch.”

“No need, I can get there.” I get up on my toes and place a kiss on his lips. “I’ll see you in a few. Can we go for a picture frame tonight? I want to frame this sucker and display it everywhere. Maybe make copies and send one to your mom and give one to Mimi.”

He looks like he’s going to argue but decides better of it. “See you later baby, of course we can. The realtor should be there between one and two. I may be a few minutes late.”

“I can handle her. Also, I want to get over to Mimi’s and tell her about all of this as soon as we have time. She’s gonna shit, she’s wanted a grand kid since I was 12. Oh, we can give her the framed ultrasound picture and that’s how we’ll tell her!”

Grant plants one last kiss to my lips before I start walking in the direction of our condo.

After my walk home I’m ready to crash for a few hours, but set my alarm so I don’t miss the realtor showing up.

Once my head hits the pillow I’m dead to the world.

 

 

***

 

Knock, knock, knock

I jump out of bed unsure what’s going on. When I hear the knocking again I look towards the clock and see it’s only noon. Whoever’s pounding at the door must be giving it their best because usually I can’t hear a knock at the door from the bedroom.

I quickly run my fingers through my hair and head for the person still banging on the door. When I open it, I’m met with a beautiful woman who I’d say is a few years older than me.

“Can I help you?” I smile.

“Is Grant here?”

“No… can I help you?”

“I’m Carissa.” She says it like I should know who she is, maybe I should and that has me concluding...

“Are you the realtor?”

“Yes, yes I am. We have an appointment, right?” She looks me over.

“He told me it wasn’t for another hour, but come on in. Grant’s going to be a little late. He was under the impression you weren’t coming until after one.”

“Silly me, I must have written down the wrong time.” She walks in and studies the place. Hasn’t she seen it before if she sold it to him to begin with?

“Would you like something to drink? Water, soda?”

“A diet soda would be great.”

“How long have you been in the realty business?” I yell from the kitchen.

“A while.”

When I come out with her soda I notice she has a framed picture of Grant and I in her hands.

“You make a lovely couple. I’m assuming it’s serious?”

“I’d hope so if we’re planning on buying a house together.” I laugh and a look moves quickly across her face. If I didn’t know any better I’d say it was almost jealousy.

Don’t even tell me this is another chick he banged in his manwhore days. Can’t be. He knows better than to bring one of his groupies around me.

“Should we start without him? He mentioned something about a wish list. Maybe you can help me out so that I don’t sound like such an amateur when we go over it with him. If I tell him all I want is oversized windows he might roll his eyes.” I laugh.

“Sure. Do you have some paper?”

Hmmm… unprepared. This realtor doesn’t seem like the type of business woman Grant would go for. But who am I to question it. She may be awesome at what she does. When I’m reaching for a notepad and pen in the kitchen my phone rings.

“Hey baby, how was your nap?”

“Great until the realtor woke me up from it.” I laugh as a yawn slips out. “She’s here now. Apparently, she wrote the wrong time down.”

“That’s impossible. I just got off the phone with Jane and pushed it back a little so I’m not late.”

“What? Jane? Carissa’s here right now.” I peek around the corner and don’t see her anywhere. Then I hear the door slam and run to it trying to figure out why she ran out so fast?

“Weird, she just left.”

“Lock the door, I’m calling 911. I want you to go lock yourself inside the bathroom and don’t unlock the door for anyone except me. I don’t care if they say they’re a police officer.”

“Grant, you’re freaking me out.”

“Do it Aggie, now!” He yells through the phone.

I run to the bathroom and lock myself inside unsure of what’s going on. We hang up when he says he needs to talk to the police and my hearts beating double time. It doesn’t stop until Grant bangs on the door for me to open up.

He pulls me into a hug then holds me at arm’s length looking me over. “Are you okay? Did she touch you?”

“No, she was here maybe fifteen minutes. What’s going on? You’re freaking out.”

“Come on, you need to talk to the police.”

“The police are here? This seems a little overboard don’t you think?”

“It’s not. I’ll explain it all to you.”

Exiting the bathroom, we walk down the hallway to the living room where we’re met by several police officers. They all say hello and ask me to explain what happened. I do as I’m told and tell them about the banging on the door and Carissa claiming to be the realtor.

“Is this the woman that was in here?” The officer holds up his phone with a mugshot.

“Holy shit.” I mumble because it’s her. Well, the picture looks like it was taken a long time ago because she looks like a teenager and has brown hair instead of the red I saw earlier.

“She’s changed a lot, but yes. That’s her.” I study the picture further and gasp when I realize why she looks so familiar. “I’ve seen her before.”

“What do you mean you’ve seen her before?” Grant growls.

“After we first… met. She was in Lace of Desire buying some lingerie for her boyfriend. She was asking me questions and her hair wasn’t red, it was blonde.”

“What kind of questions?”

“It was so long ago. I think she asked if I had a boyfriend or if I was in love. I remember she stood out to me because she was in the store for quite some time. It was the day you sent me those shoes.” I look over towards Grant.

“We’ll need you to tell us what’s changed her appearance from this photo please.”

When I’m done Grant goes crazy. “Fuck. What the hell guys? You didn’t feel the need to tell me she was out? She’s been following me around for a long fucking time if she showed up at her work!”

“It could have been coincidence.”

“This is going to make me seem like a hussy, but I didn’t even know Grant’s name at that point and we had never been out in public. Only at my grandmother’s house.”

The officer’s look towards each other, then back to Grant. “The prison didn’t notify us Mr. Donovan.”

“What are we supposed to do? God knows how long she’s been out and she’s already been stalking me for months! This is unacceptable. We need to reinstate the restraining order today. I can’t trust she’s not after Agnes and the baby.”

“As far as we know she’s undergone therapy and counseling…”

“I don’t give a fuck! She was in my house when I wasn’t here with my pregnant girlfriend! She’s changed her appearance and is clearly looking for me. She could have hurt them! If you don’t do something so help me god…”

“Everything’s going to be handled. We’ll call the prison and figure out where the disconnect was and get working on the restraining order. Lie low and make sure your doorman knows not to let her in the building. That’s the best we can do right now Mr. Donovan.”

Grant shakes their hands and walks them out of the condo. Nothing I’ve heard makes me feel any better. It makes me feel like there’s a whole lot of information I don’t know and I’m terrified to find out what it is. Prison? She was in prison! I’m thinking the worst when Grant comes back in the room.

“Carissa Locke starred in my first film with me. Or she was supposed to. We were both 17 and new to the industry. I’ve been around it my whole life but it was her first ever taste at celebrity. She was so naïve and latched onto me right away. I was with Michelle already so I wasn’t looking for a relationship.”

He takes a seat next to me and inhales a deep breath. “It started small. She kept showing up everywhere I was and figured out my address. I was still living with my parents so she’d show up randomly and my mom or the housekeeper would tell her I wasn’t home. She started getting weird so I decided to keep my distance. It was the best bet.”

“When we were on the movie set she was glued to my side and started acting like my girlfriend. She played my love interest and it didn’t help matters at all. We’d have a kissing scene and she’d run with it. Show up in my trailer waiting to take it further. One afternoon I got back from a grueling stunt scene to find her naked. At that time, I point blank told her it wasn’t going to happen between us. That night she slit her wrists trying to commit suicide.”

I rub Grant’s back knowing this isn’t easy for him. “Take your time, we have all afternoon.” I kiss his cheek and rest my head on his shoulder.

“She tried to run me over with her car after she left the hospital. I was walking across the street to the movie set and she nearly blindsided me. If it weren’t for the security guard pushing me out of the way she would have succeeded. Production was shut down. We had done a lot of filming and it was clear she couldn’t continue on so they let her go and a warrant was issued for her arrest.”

“I’m assuming they got her then because she went to jail?”

“She went to jail, but not for this incident.”

My breathe catches and I know what comes next will be hard to hear. I grab his hand with both mine and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“One night I was at the bar with my buddies. I was eighteen but in Hollywood everyone would serve me. They made exceptions for celebrities most of the time. I remember taking a shot with my friend then waking up with my wrists bound and my mouth taped shut. She managed to drag me from the bathroom to her car. She recruited her brother to help her.”

“But… how?”

“She slipped something in my drink. I was so out of it I had no idea what was going on. If it wasn’t for one of my friends following the car after he noticed I was missing…”

“It’s okay.”

“I’d hate to think of what could have happened. When the cops busted down the hotel door they found trash bags, bleach and a big ass butcher knife. Later in interrogation she admitted to wanting me dead. If she couldn’t have me no one else could.”

Chills wrack my body because she was here, in our house and that’s not okay with me.

“She went through a trial and her lawyer worked the insanity route. Carissa found her ass in jail but in the psychiatric unit to get some help. She wasn’t supposed to be out for a few more years and I have no fucking clue why she’s out now. They usually give us updates every few months.”

“Her showing up isn’t good.”

“No, it’s bad baby. I hate to say this, but we can’t stay here anymore. I refuse to put you and the baby in danger. When Jane gets here we’ll get the ball rolling as quickly as possible on finding a house and until then we’re staying in a hotel.”

“No Grant. We’re safer here than at any hotel. Think about it.”

“Fuck, you’re right.” He gets up and paces the floor. “You’ll be glued to my hip baby. Where you go I go and vice versa. If I have a business meeting or need to handle something on locations Rylan’s your new best friend. He can stay with you during the day if I need to be somewhere because he works nights. We can’t take any chances until the restraining orders in place and they catch up to her. Even then I’m hoping it’s enough for her to back off, but I don’t know what her mental state is.”

“I promise.”

“How about a nap before Jane gets here?”

“I’d love a nap.” I smile at him.

Although there’s no way I’m falling asleep.