EPILOGUE TO THE PRICELESS ONE - ERIN
The sky was clear and my mind was a million miles away. I knew that I had to tell Drake what I had found out. He was going to be thrilled; I wasn’t worried about that. I was worried about everything else that he was dealing with at the moment. I knew that it was a lot for him to take. He was in court that very moment with his father over his inheritance and the family business that he’d been promised. I knew it was all because of me and Drake not bringing up the prenuptial agreement. I told him I would sign it, but as a matter of principal he wouldn’t let me.
So now he was in court fighting with his father and I was sitting on a huge secret that was driving me crazy. I’d never kept anything from him in the year we had been married. We shared everything, maybe too much of everything, and now I didn’t know how to function with such a secret in my mind. I knew I had to wait until he was done with everything at court. After almost a week of hearings, I was hoping that today would be the day he would get an answer, one way or another.
Pushing back from the counter, I held the little bump that was in my stomach. I had been worried that wedded bliss had helped me gain a few pounds, but now I knew that it was our love becoming another person. It was what I had wanted the first time we were together, but I wasn’t sure how Drake was going to feel about it. We had never really discussed it, and it was a big deal. I worried how he would take it, and it just seemed like too much stress for him right now.
I looked at the clock for the fifth time in as many minutes. It was a little after six and the sun was starting to go down. I knew he should be home soon. He was always home about that time. Maybe he had gotten a verdict against him and was drinking away some of his worry. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he had done that very thing.
The dress on my body was black, sleek and paired well with the sky-high heels that I was wearing. I knew that it was his favorite and it was hard for him to be upset or angry when I was scantily clad. I can’t say that it wasn’t part of my plan, one that I hoped he would like. No matter what had happened in court, I was bound and determined to make his day a better one.
When I heard the front door open, my heart skipped a few beats and I held my breath to hear him. I don’t know what I was listening for, but I barely got turned around before he was coming up behind me, kissing the side of my cheek. “I missed you today.”
It was the first thing he said to me and I melted against him. It was what he made me do, even a year later. I stayed in his arms for a time and felt his heart beating against my back. I didn’t want to find out what had happened. I didn’t want the moment to be taken away.
He pulled away from me and turned me around. “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t know that my eyes were a little red and wet. While I liked to think that it was my mixed-up emotions that were doing it, I knew that it was just the way he held me, the way he loved me. Everything about him was too much and this was no different. I was supposed to be there for him and I was worried about my own needs.
Shaking off the thoughts, I asked him how his day had gone. There was a flash of some emotion on his face, but then he covered it with a smile. “It went better than I thought it would.”
He was being careful with his words and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I just waited for him to tell me everything. After a few moments, I went to the cabinet and made him a drink. It looked like he needed one, and I almost poured me one as well before I remembered the secret I was keeping.
Drake’s mind was elsewhere and he didn’t even really notice. I guess that I should have felt better that his mind was somewhere else. It left me in the clear and he wouldn’t guess what was going on, but I was ready to tell him and get the secret off my chest. But first I had to find out what had happened at court.
“So what happened, Drake? Did you win or did your father win?”
“Neither one of us won in the end. The judge closed the case without prejudice and we are going to try and work it out.”
I was trying to understand what he was talking about. Drake must have known that I didn’t get it, because he explained how their lawyers had decided that making everything public and on record about the business was just going to hurt them both. They needed to work it out and had a month to figure out a way to amicably take care of the business and the inheritance.
“Do you think he is really going to give it a shot?” I was hopeful, but what I had heard about his father – and the fact that he wouldn’t even meet me – told me that he was stubborn to no end.
Drake kind of sighed and then shrugged with a hopeful look on his face. I wanted everything to work out the way he wanted it to, but he surprised me when he said something about them wanting to meet me for dinner that night. That was a big change in everything that had happened so far, so I was hopeful that this was the first step towards the two of them working something out. But I would have been lying and crazy to have said that I was looking forward to it. I knew that his father didn’t like me. I just hoped it would go okay.
There wasn’t much time to get ready, but there was enough time for him to drive me crazy and make me beg for him to take me against the kitchen table. It was fast and hard, everything that I needed it to be at that moment. I came hard and screamed his name. It was a big release, even though what I wanted to say and do didn’t happen. By the end of it, when we were leaving the house and getting into one of the cars, I was relaxed about everything. It didn’t matter then that his parents hadn’t come to our wedding. All that mattered was that Drake wanted me. While I wanted it to all go okay, I was okay with it if it didn’t. How could I be upset about it when it was Drake that I wanted? We were going to be a family soon, and there was nothing that his father could do about it.
***
“Don’t be so nervous.”
“I’m not.” My tone sounded a little defensive, but I was trying hard not to show how I really felt about everything. I was more than a little worried about meeting his parents for the first time. I had been poised to tell him about the baby we were going to have, but like every day since I had found out there was something that held me back. I was worried about how he was going to take it, how the night would go, how business would go. For a moment I just wanted to leave and never look back.
“Baby, I know you, and I know you are nervous, but you don’t have to be. My father is not going to say anything mean to you. I wouldn’t let him. My mom will most likely be drunk when they get here. Trust me, it will be fine.”
I don’t know why he thought that his words would actually help anything, because they didn’t. It just made me feel worse, and I had to go to the bathroom when I felt the urge to get sick. I knew that it was the baby and my emotions making me sick, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know how to turn it off.
When I got back to the table I was a little pale and the rest of the dinner party was there. I knew I looked a mess and hoped that no one noticed. Drake did seem to notice, and sent me a questioning look, but there was nothing I could do.
I was introduced to his father and mother and got a stiff handshake from each of them. His father seemed to be studying me far too well, while his mother was as drunk as Drake had said she would be. It was strange at first, but it seemed like his father was making an effort, and before long I was actually enjoying myself.
The waiter came through with more wine and I put my hand over my glass for the third time. It was then that his father noticed and asked me why I wasn’t drinking. “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”
I kind of froze. It was not the way that I’d wanted it to come out, but when I looked at Drake, I knew that this was it. Apparently I was going to have to tell him right there in front of his parents. After I got over the embarrassment and reluctance of it all, I finally just agreed to it. Why deny it?
“Yes, I actually just found out a couple of days ago.”
Drake looked from me and then to his parents. I guess he wanted to know how his father knew, but I couldn’t tell him. If it was a guess, it was a really good one. Drake was shocked for a moment, and then he got a big smile on his face. I had been so worried about what he would do that I had forgotten that Drake was Drake. My husband was going to be happy. Of course he would be.
He moved to kiss me, and for a moment we both forgot that his parents were looking on. When I realized it, I kind of pushed him away and groaned to the growl in his throat. He was so sexy when he did that that it made me want to leave right then. It wasn’t for embarrassment that I was ready to be alone. Again, I was just going to blame it on hormones for the way my crazy body was responding.
The rest of the dinner went by at a snail’s pace. I knew that Drake and I had a lot to talk about afterwards. The only good thing out of it all was that his mother seemed to sober up some and wanted to talk about Drake when he was young. I learned a lot about him, and by the end of the evening everyone was far more relaxed. When we left, father and son did a little half-hug that was a step up from the dirty looks when it all began. I was going to see it as progress.
As soon as we got back to the car, Drake had this smile on his face that I couldn’t look away from.
“What?”
“You are pregnant?”
I kind of nodded my head and his hand moved down to my stomach. “I can’t wait, baby.”
I just smiled back at him, relieved. I don’t know why I worried so much. When was I going to learn that with Drake, everything was going to be okay?
~The End~