Chapter Forty

~James~

Never before had two weeks gone so slowly while also rushing by too fast to comprehend. As soon as I returned home, I hit the ground running, making arrangements for everything I needed and lining all my ducks up in a row.

And there were an awful lot of ducks that needed to be lined up. I found myself talking to lawyers, not just my own, coworkers and real estate agents day in and day out, trying to speed through something that normally took months in just fourteen days.

Often, I worked from seven am to nine pm, putting in fourteen hours and rarely leaving my desk even to eat. But when I did eventually go home to my penthouse -which seemed so gold and empty now compared to the warm stay I had with Nicole- everything was too quiet, and I was incredibly lonely.

Suddenly the Bachelor life just wasn’t that fulfilling. I wanted more. But soon I would be divorced, and I would be able to go back to the high flying, well-traveled, ways of my past

I snorted at that thought. There was no way I would ever be able to go back to that life. I had become attached to Nicole and Kireina in a way that I never thought possible, and no matter what happened in the coming days, we were tied together for the rest of our lives.

My phone buzzed right at nine thirty, as it had every night since I had arrived. I reached over like a flash and pulled it to my face, accepting the video call before I even drew a breath. And just like every other night, Nicole and a very sleepy Kireina were there waiting for me.

“Hello there!” Nicole said, picking up our baby’s hand to make her wave. “Look, my baby bean, it’s Daddy!”

Our gorgeous little girl looked somewhat towards the camera, her eyes sparkling at me. “Dear lord, has it really only been two weeks?” I asked. “She’s getting so big!”

“I know, right?!” Nicole said. “We just had our check-up today and she is almost up to weight of a healthy, fully baked baby.”

“Aw, nothing better than a fully baked baby!” I said, laughing genuinely. I didn’t know what had happened to my sense of humor, but I found anything and everything about our baby seemingly hilarious. Maybe it was a chemical thing in my brain, but I needed to cut it out or people were going to start to think that I was getting soft.

“So, you’ll be here tomorrow?” Nicole asked, looking at me with that same cautious expression that she had used all the way back in St. Louis. I still couldn’t quite decipher it; even after having a child together, some of her walls were still too high for me to vault.

“That I will,” I answered. “I figure we’ll get some breakfast, then go to Trevor’s, sign some paperwork, and then -after seven months of running around- we’ll finally have this entire Vegas situation behind us. Totally clean slate.”

“Yeah… a clean slate.” She feigned a yawn and Kireina followed right in her suit. “Alright, I think it’s time for bed on this side of the phone. Say goodnight, Daddy.” She picked up Kiriena’s hand again and waved it, affecting a higher pitched voice as she spoke. “Goodnight Daddy.”

“Goodnight, baby girl. Goodnight mama.”

She hung up the call and then I was alone in my penthouse again, the luxury and space that I had once been so proud of seeming so empty now.

Sighing, I looked up at the ceiling and willed myself to try to get at least a little shut eye. Tomorrow was a big day for all of us and was probably going to change our lives forever.

***

Being a business man had long since taught me how to keep my cards close to my chest and not to give away my emotions, but I could hardly stop shaking as I pulled up to Nicole’s apartment. Today was the big day. The final result of me coming to St. Louis, the wrapping up of a chunk of my life that I never could have predicted.

I had texted Nicole when I was just a few minutes out, and sure enough she was coming out of the front door right as I arrived. God, she looked as beautiful as ever, dressed in a simple knit dress and what I guessed were wooden leggings considering how close we were to winter and how much Nicole liked being toasty.

She was carrying Kireina’s baby carrier with her, a small blanket over the top, but I even just the sight of her holder was enough to make my heart swell.

God, I loved this little kid. Which was stupid. All she did was cry and coo and pee and poon, yet she had my heart wrapped around her little finger for all eternity. I never thought of myself as one of those doting fathers, but there was no doubt in my mind that I would have to fight spoiling her as we both grew older.

Nicole opened the back, setting up Kireina and buckling her in with surprising expertise. I guessed that she probably had been driving around a lot on her own considering her mother and I were out of town, and had gotten plenty of practice in.

She slid into the car next to me and shot me one of her bright smiles. “Hey there handsome, long time no see.”

“You’re telling me,” I said, offering her a short laugh as I put in the address for Trevor’s office.

“You know, I think this is the first time we’ve ever gone to his office on a weekday.” Nicole mused as we pulled out.

“I think you’re right,” I said, flashing back to the other two times we had been there. “That’s so funny, isn’t it?”

“Well, I don’t know about funny. Then again, my humor has been so warped by children shows, I don’t know how to laugh unless something has been said by some sort of talking animal.”

“Sounds like a rough life.”

“You have no idea. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“Good, because you’re kind of stuck with her for the next eighteen years at minimum.”

“Yeah, but I kinda like that. I’ve had too many terrible people stuck to me for most of my life. It’s nice to have a good one.”

I fell quiet at that and just nodded. We hadn’t heard a peep from Jason or his ex since one of my lawyer’s minions had served them, and I’d like for it to stay that way. She was right, she had too many awful people in her life. I was glad for the change.

I just had to hope it stayed that way.

We arrived at Trevor’s place in good time and walked into his office with one more person than usual. The same receptionist was there, as usual, but her entire face brightened the moment she saw our carrier.

“Is that your baby?” She asked, standing up from her desk so quickly I was worried she might pass out.

“Yes, it is!” Nicole answered, glowing brightly as she did. If motherhood had ever been meant for someone, it was for the woman beside me. She looked so beautiful and full of life, even if she probably was tired and maybe not eating the best while she was on her own. “Would you like to see?”

“Of course, I would like to see!”

She practically ran around the desk and soon the two women were cooing over Kireina. I stepped back, letting them have their moment, and for once we were still standing in the lobby when Trevor came in with his ever-present briefcase.

“Oh, what’s this? A party?”

“Something like that,” I said, gesturing to the baby. “Just meeting the newest member of the family.”

Trevor took one look and then nodded. “Adorable. So, are we ready to sign some papers?”

“Sure, just give them a second.”

He shrugged and went around the corner into the office. Nicole and the secretary wrapped up their conversation and I snuck between them to pick the carrier back up. A few minutes later, we were heading towards his office.

We arranged ourselves comfortably once we were inside. Or as comfortable as we could be considering the situation. There was a whole lot of paper shuffling and clearing of throats, until finally Trevor spoke.

“So, as you see here, I have the divorce declaration here, as well as a several other tidbits. All you have to do is sign all of these, initial where I marked, then I’ll send them to a judge and we’ll get confirmation in a couple of weeks.”

“So, it’s that easy?” I asked, tension building in my middle.

“That it is! Luckily you guys did all of the hard work at the beginning of this, so now all that’s left is smooth sailing.”

“Wow,” Nicole murmured. I noted she didn’t sound exactly pleased beside me. “So, this is it then, isn’t it? The world’s strangest marriage is about to become the world’s strangest divorce.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say either of those two statements are true,” Trevor interrupted, handing us both pens. “I’ve had a lot of clients and believe me when I say you don’t even rank in the top ten on the worst or strange list.”

“That’s good to know, I suppose.”

Suddenly my heart was racing and I could feel sweat start to creep up onto my skin. Sure, while I had been planning for this moment for the past two weeks, suddenly I couldn’t believe it was here.

I sat there, a bit stunned in my realization, but Nicole took the pen and leaned over. I watched, taking in every iota of her reaction. Her face was stalwart and responsible, like she knew that she was doing what she thought was right but didn’t like the consequences of that. Or maybe I was projecting my own feelings on her in the hopes that what I was about to do wasn’t totally idiotic.

“What’s wrong,” she said, noticing my stare.

“Everything about this,” I answered matter of factly without answering anything at all.

“What-”

But I was already on my way to my knee, kneeling before her in the overly expensive chair she was perched in. “Nicole,” I said, pulling her hand into my own. She stared at me like I had grown another head, her face pale and her eyes wide, but I persisted. “I know that the only reason I came to this city was for this particular moment, but I have found so much more along the way.”

“You’ve given me an entirely different life, a purpose, and I am and always will be grateful to you for that. You’ve shown me emotions I never thought I could have and also helped me see life from a perspective that I never would have known on my own.”

“You’ve changed me irrevocably for that, and I never want to go back. In fact, I only want to go forward.” I reached into my suit jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out a medium sized, flat velvet box. Holding it out to her, I opened the top to reveal a bright, sparkling ring and a tiny baby charm-bracelet for Kireina. “So please, go forward with me into this next phase of our life as real husband and wife, because I don’t think I can live without either of you in my world.”

“Oh my God!” she cried, hands over her mouth. “Oh my God!”

“This was certainly unexpected,” Trevor said. “I guess you guys might have just made that top ten list.”

“But what about your job?” Nicole asked, ever the practical one. “I’m not sure I want to move that far from my mother, and my job is here, and-”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said, shaking my head. “After a lot of moving and shaking, we managed to work out a great merger deal with a company here in St. Louis, so we’re going to be opening another branch here, that I’ll be heading for two years to help it get on its feet and moving like a well-oiled machine. After that, we can discuss where we want to go.”

“Oh my god!” She repeated again. “Those were the details you meant before! You… you planned all of this!”

“Of course, I did,” I answered blithely. “I’ve known I was in love with you for months, but it took seeing Kireina’s beautiful face against your own to force me to be brave. So please, I feel like I’m being pretty brave now considering you haven’t said yes yet.”

“Oh my God, I’m an idiot. Yes! Yes!”

Abruptly she was throwing herself forward, then she was in my arms, hugging me with all her might. I returned the action in kind, holding onto her for all that I was worth. We kissed, the whole world falling away and leaving only the sparkling lights of our affection, until Trevor cleared his throat.

“So, uh, I’m guessing you’re going to want a minister?”