Chapter 11

Rhett forced himself to stay far away from Freddie’s home like she’d asked him to do. Instead, he spent his evening shooting whiskey and figuring out the best way to get back at Zach for opening his fat mouth. He had planned to tell Freddie all about the bet when the time was right, preferably after he told her he loved her too.

And now she’s pregnant, he reminded himself and poured more whiskey into his glass.

He would be a dad—if she forgave him and didn’t kick him out of her life. He spent all night pacing around his empty house. Each room reminded him of a night spent laughing or making love in Freddie’s arms. He couldn’t even step outside, not after their last romp in the pool. With a furious yell, he chucked his glass into the sink, shattering it, and texted Freddie. He had to let her know how sorry he was. An apology barely covered what he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t want her going to bed thinking he wasn’t as sorry as he’d ever been about anything.

He readied himself for a restless night alone in his bed, not expecting her to respond. But his phone dinged and he nearly rolled off the bed to snatch it up and read her message: I know and I’ll be ready to talk about it tomorrow, Rhett. Promise.

Rhett fell back onto his pillow, waiting for morning to come. He would have to stop by the florist on his way to the office, and once he got in, he would talk to her and they could figure out their plan. Afterwards, he would find Zach and fire his ass for putting him through all this grief. His fingers hovered over the letters to say he loved her, but sending that admission through a text felt wrong. He would tell her tomorrow. He promised himself those would be the first words out of his mouth.

The following morning, with a bouquet of blue tulips and a teddy bear on the passenger seat of his corvette, he sped towards the office. He was a few minutes later than normal, but when he saw Freddie’s Beetle in the lot, he knew he’d timed it right. His heart hammered in his chest as he marched inside, going over and over what he was going to say. Once inside the elevator, all his well-rehearsed lines went out of his mind as he blinked, confused. Back in the parking lot, it wasn’t just Freddie’s Beetle he saw. Ryan’s car was there, too. What the hell was his brother doing here? The doors parted and he stalked across the floor. When he heard Freddie’s furious yelling, his pace quickened.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

Freddie stood behind her desk, a box on top, with Ryan beside her. Both their faces were bright red and his brother glared furiously at him. “Do you always get to the office this late?”

“Ryan? Why are you here?” He caught Freddie’s hands when she picked up her framed pictures to put in the box. “No, stop.” He dropped the flowers and teddy bear on her desk and pushed her protectively behind him. “Ryan? Explain, now.”

“Maybe you should explain,” he snapped. “I’m here cleaning up your mess!”

“What mess? I don’t have a mess!”

“He means me,” Freddie announced bitterly. “Apparently, I’m not good for the Macon family name. I’m not good enough.”

Rhett shoved his brother away from them both. “You bastard. You get the hell away from her and get out of my building.”

“Your building?” Ryan barked a sharp laugh. “That’s rich. This is not your company, remember? This is my company, something you seem to have forgotten while you were sleeping with your assistant! Oh, and how could I forget? Getting her pregnant. What else have you done, huh? We gave you a chance to grow up and you pull this shit. You drag our family legacy through the mud like you always do.”

“I have done nothing except make this company grow and be more profitable,” he informed his eldest brother, his voice shaking with rage. “Why do you give a damn who I decide to spend my time with? Or who I might choose to make a family with?”

Ryan poked him hard in the chest as he said, “Because I own your ass. You have nothing without your family name, so unless you fall in line, you’ll do as I say. Frederica Sable is fired as of right now.”

“What? You can’t do that!” she yelled.

“Actually, I’m sure you’ll find that I can,” Ryan argued. “Get your things and get out of this building. Or do I have to call the cops?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she snapped, pushing past Rhett so she could stare him down, nose to nose. “You’re going to fire a pregnant woman and have the cops drag her ass out of the building? What kind of bastard are you?”

“One who will not let some no-name woman destroy what he’s built.” Rhett opened his mouth to argue, but Ryan beat him to it. “You and I are going to have a long talk about how you’re running this company.”

Freddie picked up her box of things, balanced it on her hip, and shoved past both of them. “Wait,” Rhett called out, chasing after her.

“No, I can see I’m not wanted here,” she muttered, tears sliding down her cheeks. “All of this… I knew it was too damn good to be true and now I’m out of a job. I won’t be able to care for my sister, or this…this baby. I can’t… I can’t do this.” She sped away from him and he let her go.

She walked away and he let her go. Every face in the office turned towards him as he stared at the stairwell door, telling his feet to move, to go after her and stop standing there like an idiot. But why? All he’d done was mess her life up even more. He hadn’t helped her. Now, because of him, she was pregnant and had no job. He’d told himself this would be his turn-around point where he would grow up and take responsibility for his actions and care for someone else.

“Rhett, let’s go,” Ryan hollered from his office doorway.

Rhett’s anger at himself was replaced by fury at his brother always thinking he could control Rhett and his actions, and tell him he did everything wrong in his life. And what did Ryan have besides his last name and a company he couldn’t even take credit for building?

He stormed through the office. Ryan was talking, but Rhett tuned him out. He had no idea what his brother said to him, and frankly, he didn’t give a damn anymore. He shoved his brother so hard he staggered backwards into the office. He followed that up with a right hook, sending his brother falling backwards.

“Rhett,” Jeremy hollered, rushing in to try and break them up.

Rhett shoved him aside and went after his brother again. They scuffled, landing blows to each other, and wound up on the floor. It took Jeremy, Adam, and two other employees to pull them apart and keep them apart. Rhett spewed curses at his brother as Ryan wiped the blood from his lip on his jacket sleeve.

“Get ahold of yourself. She’s just one woman. You’ll find someone else, someone we all approve of.”

“I don’t want someone else!”

“You won’t have a choice,” he warned.

“Why not?”

“I told you, I own you. Without us—without your family—you have nothing, do you hear me? Not a dime to your name, not a company, nothing. You will be out on your ass.”

Rhett lunged for him again, but Adam and Jeremy held him back. “Asshole!”

“Maybe I am, but if that’s what it takes for you to figure your shit out then that’s what I’ll be.” He shoved the other employees off him and straightened his tie. “I expect to see you first thing at the main office tomorrow morning so we can talk about your future. And we’ll find you a new assistant, one we approve of.”

He yelled at the others to get out of his way as he left. Jeremy and Adam didn’t let go of Rhett until his brother was gone.

“Are you all right?” Adam asked.

“No, I’m not all right. Where the hell is Zach?”

“He didn’t come in today,” Jeremy told him.

“Good. When he does come back, you can tell him he’s fired. I don’t want to see him here ever again, understood?”

“Rhett, you can’t just fire him.”

“Yes, I can,” he growled. “I’m done putting up with him and his shit. I’m going out for lunch—a very long lunch.” He wanted to go after Freddie, but he needed a plan and there was only one brother who might be willing to help him with what he had in mind.

Rodney had rebelled in the beginning when their dad tried to get him to partner with Ryan and take over the family business. He wanted nothing to do with it and fell in love with a woman the total opposite of what their dad and mom hoped he would find. Unfortunately, tragedy hit when she was struck by a car and killed. Rodney was left alone without the love of his life. He was dragged back into the Macon fold and never escaped again. Rhett floored it through the city to the offices Rodney held in downtown LA for the marketing branch of the main company.

He breezed past his brother’s assistant and knocked loudly on his door as he opened it. “Rod?”

“I’m going to have to call you back,” Rodney said and hung up the phone. “Rhett, from your disgruntled and slightly bruised face, I’m going to assume Ryan’s chat with you did not go well.”

“No, it did not. He fired Freddie. She’s pregnant and he had the gall to fire her!”

“And he threatened to kick you out of the family,” he stated. “It sounds familiar.”

“Rod, I know you never found love again, but Freddie… this woman is the one I’m meant to be with and I have to find a way around all this. I can’t be without a job. She needs financial support for her sister and our baby and…” Rhett slumped over his brother’s desk. “I’ve never asked you for anything and I know I wasn’t there when you needed me, but I need your help. Please.”

Rodney tapped his chin in thought as Rhett waited for his second oldest brother to kick him out of his office or pick up the phone and call Ryan. “What did you have in mind?” he asked finally.

“Several things. Several very important things,” Rhett informed him.

“Well, let’s see how we can mess up our dear brother’s plans,” Rodney said cheerfully. “I’ll call for lunch. This could take a while.”

***

Freddie moped around her house for days. She’d cried nonstop the first day after getting home from the office. She’d trashed her living room and bedroom. She considered tearing the cabinets Rhett had fixed from their hinges, but sensed that was the hormones talking.

Rhett texted her every few hours, but she had nothing to say to him that didn’t come out sounding terrible, so she left his messages unanswered. If he called, she let the phone ring. Rosie tried consoling her several times, but the rambling old woman was at a loss as to what Freddie should do. She needed to find a new job. She was, sadly, too mentally unstable to even consider a new endeavor right now.

After a week, she finally managed to visit Clarice. She meant for it to be a happy visit, but instead, she broke down, and by the end of it, her baby sister was comforting her as she bawled her eyes out, crying over Rhett and the baby. For so many years, she’d been strong, but suddenly, her strength was gone. All gone.

Clarice handed her a tissue. “You should probably text him back at some point,” her little sister pointed out as if it were that easy.

“And tell him what?” she asked, her nose stuffy from crying.

“Tell him you love him,” she said. “I’m not sure why you both waited so long anyway.”

Freddie sat up, mopping up her face, and stared at her little sister. “What do you mean?”

“The first time I saw you both here together, I knew it. Everyone knew it,” she explained. “You never looked at Mack that way—ever—and he certainly did not treat you as well as Rhett does. He loves you, Freddie.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“If he doesn’t love you, why does he keep texting you when you refuse to text him back?”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered, afraid, as she rubbed her belly. Soon, it would grow and she would see what their love created. “Have a baby? Be with a man whose family hates me because I’m not good enough for him?”

“Rhett thinks you are. Will you please call him back, and at least have him over to talk? You both deserve a chance to figure this out.”

Freddie hugged her sister and kissed the top of her head. “When did you grow up on me?”

“I didn’t, trust me, but you’ve sacrificed too much for me to not be happy.” She fiddled with the edge of her robe and shrugged one shoulder. “You carried the burden of Mom’s suicide for too long without me.”

“What? How did you find out?” she asked, panicking.

“I asked. I knew she wasn’t sick, not like what you said. She was like me and she couldn’t take it anymore. And I know you worry about me too, but I don’t want you to. I’m going to be fine,” she insisted, bobbing her head. “I’m going to be just fine, but only if you are, too.” She caught her sister’s hands in hers and squeezed them tightly. “It’s your chance to be happy, Freddie. Don’t waste it, please.”

She hugged her even harder, and the sisters sat on the couch in the sitting room of the home, talking quietly about their mom and the baby Freddie carried. They talked for hours as the afternoon turned into evening and night crept in around them. Clarice appeared clearer-headed than she had in a long while, and it lifted Freddie’s hopes that her sister would be strong enough to pull through on her own. She had to be. Freddie could only be her support, but Clarice had to make the change and prove to herself she could overcome this illness.

Clarice yawned and Freddie pulled her to her feet. “Come on, you should get some rest.”

“And you have a boyfriend to call,” Clarice reminded her sleepily. She stretched her arms over her head and rubbed Freddie’s stomach. “Night, little one.” She grinned and wandered towards her room, Theo trailing behind.

“Congratulations,” he whispered to Freddie as he passed.

“Thanks,” she replied and stood there for a long while, holding her flat stomach and dreaming of holding a baby in her arms with Rhett by her side. Her house fell away and she imagined a different one, one they built together, the home they both so desperately wanted to have.

Freddie sucked in a deep breath as the images hit her over and over of the life she wanted for her and Rhett, together. No asshole big brother would scare her away from him. She would get home and call him and tell him to come over. She was still pissed about the bet, but she believed him when he said he’d called it off. And he loved her. That she felt for certain in every touch and every lingering kiss. Freddie had let life trample her too many times before. This time, she would stand up and fight back for what she wanted.

And she wanted Rhett.

She pulled her keys from her purse after she’d parked her car out front and hurried to get inside, fumbling for her cell at the same time. She dropped everything on the front porch, cursing her clumsiness and nerves. When she managed to get inside, she called Rhett, but it went straight to voicemail.

“Hey, it’s me, please call me back as soon as you hear this. I want you here and I don’t care what your brother says. I know what you feel and what I feel and this baby needs us both, and please, call me back,” she rambled.

Once the message was sent, she hung up and clutched her phone to her chest, begging for it to ring.

“Is that true?”

Freddie’s eyes shot open. Rhett stood in the doorway of the kitchen, holding the cute teddy bear from the first day and an even bigger bouquet of blue tulips. “Rhett.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he explained, closing the distance between them. Each heavy step made Freddie’s breath come faster. She saw the cocky smile on his face, but underneath was a look of such raw emotion it brought tears to her eyes. She felt it as if his love reached out and held her in its arms. “I waited as long as I could, though I’ll admit, I think I drove by your house every night.”

“You did?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I was so scared, Freddie.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought I fucked this up,” he admitted. “I thought I lost the only woman I’ve ever loved and my chance to be a family with you and the baby. I… my brother isn’t me. I want you, all of you, and I won’t back down.”

Freddie set her phone on the table nearby. “Good, because I won’t let you.”

She reached out and grabbed his shirt, dragging him to her. The bear and flowers fell to the floor as he wrapped his arms around her and they kissed. She sighed at the feeling of being back in his arms. She’d missed him. God, how she’d missed him. Every inch of her body cried out for his love to swallow her as the kiss deepened. He tugged the band loose from her hair so it cascaded over her shoulders. He ran his fingers through it, then to her neck, caressing her shoulders and hugging her to him as if afraid he would lose her if he let go too soon. She sank into his warmth, tears of joy pricking her eyes.

“Rhett,” she whispered, muffled against his shirt.

“No, I get to say it first,” he whispered and leaned back so he could see her face. “I love you, Freddie, and I will never leave you.”