A Bundle of Joy 4: Secret Baby Seduction (BWWM Interracial Romance) (8 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

A
ron was hard at work in Paris in his regional office. He usually spent a few months of the year here, although his presence wasn’t always required. All of his offices were well-oiled machines and he could get his work done from anywhere in the world. He owned a discreet two-story building downtown with thirty permanent employees who looked after his various business interests in Europe. He owned a similar office in Asia and contemplated opening one in North America. Apart from import-export, he also owned several rental properties and interest in stock investments that showed a healthy return because of his sharp business acumen.

While he picked up the paperwork, Aron touched the intercom to call his secretary.

Just then, she knocked on the door and opened it before he could ring her. “Sir, this just came in for you.”

Aron took the rectangular envelope from her hand. He turned it around. The package bore no identifying sender’s address but his heart stopped when he saw that it’d been sent from San Diego. Had Dayna sent it? But how had she located him? He’d deliberately cut off all contact with her. She had no way of knowing where he was. Not wishing to open the anonymous packet in front of his secretary, he handed her the papers he’d readied a minute go. “Please send these out today. But make a copy first and file it for future references in Tiago Shipments folder.”

“Yes, sir.”

After she left and the door closed, Aron opened the envelope. It contained a brief note. “Watch Chanel 167, Program - Incredible Stories, on Sunday, 20
th
of June at 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.”

Surprised by the note’s brevity, he simply stared at it for a long time. Who sent it to him and why? Aron watched a number of episodes of the Incredible Stories. It was a weekly program in its second season and had gained international acclaim because of the emotional and sometimes, controversial content that it aired. The network that showed the program kept the content fresh and appealing and chose a different topic for every episode.

Despite his knowledge of the show, he was unable to figure out who would want him to see the new episode and what it was supposed to show. Could Dayna have sent it? Or Graham? Maybe, Jamie? These were the only people he knew well in San Diego. Or, of course, it could be Brett. Aron respected and like the uncomplicated man who seemed just as devoted to his work as he was to his wife and kids. Perhaps he’d sent the note, so he could show Aron something he thought the other man might find exciting. But then why not sign his name at the bottom of the note? It was cryptic and brief and despite his efforts, it piqued his curiosity.

Aron put a reminder on his phone to watch the show, due to air tomorrow. The letter from San Diego made his old feelings to resurface. Despite his best attempts, he’d been unable to forget Dayna. How could you forget the woman you loved, who managed to betray you in the most terrible way possible? If he’d caught her with another man, his devastation would have been just as acute.

Aron thought of her act to give up their child as selfish and self-pleasing. At the age of eighteen, she probably didn’t want to be saddled with a child. She wanted to travel and see the world and the baby would have prevented her from doing all that. If she’d tried to contact him, told him, he would have come back, raised their child with her, most likely married her. Aron had never been one to shirk his responsibilities. They might have struggled and not been what they were today, but surely, they would have made it work. But of course, she hadn’t wanted to curtail her freedom.

Her selfishness was a big blow to the image of the woman he thought her to be. An unforgivable sin, he could never forget or erase from his mind. Aron wished he could stop thinking about her and the child he’d never seen. He wanted to see his boy. Wanted to know what he looked like. If he’d been well fed and clothed. Yes, he knew the time would come when he would have to take steps to contact his boy’s adopted parents. Meet him. But right now, his wounds were still fresh. He wouldn’t want his son and his adopted parents to see the bitter man he was at the moment. All he needed to do was to shake off his anger, his guilt. But no matter what he did, his thoughts veered to the same wound and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Aron sighed, shook his head, and immersed himself in work like he’d been doing since his arrival.

The next day, he switched on the channel in his room. He’d deliberately not gone to the office, so he could watch the show uninterrupted. The host was a brunette in her mid-thirties. As always, she began with the punch line for the show. “And now it’s time to watch yet another incredible episode of Incredible Stories. Today, we’re in talk with Ethan Reece who is nine years old, his adoptive parents and birth mother.”

Much to Aron’s shock, the camera panned to Dayna’s face. The stab through his heart might not have been real but it felt just as painful as if someone had just put a knife in him.

She looked heartbreakingly beautiful. Next to her sat a boy, who without a doubt was a product of her genes, as well as his.

He wanted to switch off the TV and not compound his misery, but Aron couldn’t pull his gaze away from his son.
Al diablo con ella
!
What the hell is she doing? Why do this?
And why ask him to watch? What did she hope to expect from such an act?

The host of the show introduced all the parties and talked to Ethan who acted surprisingly confident and charming for his age. They appeared to be seated in the Reece family’s living room, and in the background, he could see pictures of Ethan as a child. A three year old, wielding a baseball bat. A six year old, on a bicycle. A nine year old, with his friends. Every picture was a reminder of all the things Aron had missed. He would never get this time back and nothing this conniving woman could do would ever convince him to forgive her.

Surely, she’d sent him the note in the hope he would see his son and discover how she was making an attempt to erase her mistake. Did she think it would be so easy to wipe away the past?

“So Dayna, tell us, what made you decide to give up your child?” the host of the show asked. “I know that it’s a hard decision for any mother who is faced with the choice of either raising the baby herself or giving it up.”

Dayna cleared her throat.

To Aron’s surprise, she was holding hands with Robin, Ethan’s mother.

“Yes, it was a hard decision. I did consider keeping Ethan, although I wasn’t in touch with his father. He didn’t know about the child because he’d already moved away and we were not in touch. I know in my heart that he would have come back and supported us if that is what I wanted—but…” Aron could see Robin squeezing Dayna’s hand. “But I was five months pregnant when I found out that our baby, Ethan, had a congenital heart defect. He had a hole in his heart.”

Aron felt his heart stop.
What? Increíble! Why hadn’t she told him about this?
Of course, he didn’t give her the time to, had he? When he discovered the truth, he wanted to get as far away from her as possible. He leaned forward, eager to hear the rest of it.

On the show, Jeremy ran a hand over Ethan’s head in an affectionate gesture.

“So, what happened? That must have been devastating news,” the host asked.

“It was. I was eighteen, with no prospects of finding a good job, since I was barely out of high school, and I was told that my child would need regular hospital visits to monitor his progress and he might need surgery when he was around two. After that also, he would need to be checked every few months. The sheer cost of that—I knew that I couldn’t afford it. My parents offered to support us, but it wasn’t as much the financial cost that persuaded me to—give him up, but rather the emotional security that I wanted him to have.”

“I see,” the host replied. “You felt you couldn’t take care of an ailing child.”

“No, I felt that he deserved to be with parents who could be there for him emotionally whenever he needed them. I wanted him to grow up in an environment where he didn’t have to constantly struggle which he surely would have done with me. A child who has to go through surgery and hospital visits at such a young age, needs parents who can be there for him in every way possible. And I felt Robin and Jeremy were suited to be his parents. They wanted a child; they were willing to take him on knowing his medical condition. Jeremy is a doctor and Robin is a nurse, so I knew that they could handle all the anxiety and the work that would need to be done after Ethan was born. ”

“So, you wanted to give him the best possible start.”

“Yes, I did. And today, I’m glad about my decision. They’ve done an amazing job.” She was looking at the camera, her head held high. “Ethan is completely healthy after the surgery. He’s a happy and a well-adjusted child and I couldn’t have asked for better parents for him. Thank you, Jeremy and Robin, for being there for him.” She turned towards them as tears escaped her eyes. “You gave Ethan what I couldn’t and for that, I will be forever grateful.”

As the camera pulled back and showed the Reece family hugging Dayna and Ethan, the host took over. “It takes enormous courage for a young mother to look at her circumstances with an objective eye and decide if she can raise the child in the best possible way. For mothers who are unable to do it, it makes sense to give the child in the waiting arms of willing parents. And with open adoption, there’s always the chance of a happy reunion with the child. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

As the show continued and the host went on to interview Jeremy and Robin, they even asked Ethan his view on his parentage. Aron found his thoughts moving from annoyed and shocked to emotional and regretful. She hadn’t given up Ethan because she was selfish, but because she wanted him to have a better life than what they could offer. Even if he had married Dayna and they had raised Ethan together, they couldn’t have offered him all the opportunities that he availed now. They certainly would not have been able to afford the medical care that he had needed in his early years. Living with them, he may have suffered or been left behind. But today—he was a happy and friendly child who seemed just as at ease with his birth mother as he was with his adoptive parents.

Maybe he’d made a mistake in judging Dayna. She should’ve told him…true. But she hadn’t been driven by selfish motives when she made that choice. In fact, she would be considered the epitome of a loving and concerned mother who’d done the best possible thing for her child. When the program finished, Aron switched off the TV. For a while, he felt too overwhelmed to make a move and he sat where he was for a long time, but then he stood and walked over to his phone.

When he made a mistake, he didn’t mind rectifying it. Aron punched in the number but the call went through to voice message. He tried a number of times and then finally left a short message. Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair.
No!
He couldn't just sit here and do nothing, waiting for the call. He would go right now. Having made up his mind, Aron only paused to take out his passport and travel bag before he opened the door and rushed out.

To his shock, he nearly ran over Dayna who was just getting out of the elevator in front of his apartment. “
Qué demonios
! You?” Aron stopped in his tracks.

Her gaze travelled to his bag and the passport he held in his hand. “You’re going—somewhere?” Disappointment flooded her words.

“How did you find me?” he asked, rather than answering her question.

Dayna pushed back her hair, looking distraught. “I hired a private investigator. He found you, and then I sent the envelope.”

Aron simply stared at her for a long time.

Looking nervous, she fidgeted. “I guess I should’ve called or sent a text message, but you didn’t answer my calls for so long that I thought I should show up here and talk to you in person. Did you watch the program?”

He nodded. “Yes, I did.”

“What did you think of it?”

Aron dropped his bag and drew her in his arms in one smooth move. “I think you’re the most amazing woman that I’ve ever met.
Y te amo
…And I love you.” And with that, his lips swooped down on hers and he kissed her.

So now, everything fell back into place.

EPILOGUE

T
wo years later
…

Aron and Dayna stepped into the Reece family’s plush living room. It was Ethan’s eleventh birthday and they’d been invited for the party. Aron held the birthday present in his hands.

“Glad you could make it,” Jeremy greeted as he shook his hand. “Robin has been running around like a headless chicken trying to make everything perfect. But of course, the last minute hiccups continue to baffle us. The caterer called to say she would be thirty minutes late, the magician still hasn’t shown up. It’s a disaster.” He threw up his hands.

Dayna laughed. “I’ll go help her. Where is Ethan? Aron, you might want to hand him the gift now.”

Just then, Robin and Ethan walked out of the kitchen. “Everything is under control,” Robin declared. “Wow!” she exclaimed as she gazed at Dayna. “When is the due day?”

Dayna patted her tummy that was sticking out. “In two weeks.”

“The doctor said any day now, so we’re being careful,” Aron added.

“Did you find out yet, if it’s a boy or a girl?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, it’s a boy.” Dayna shared a glance with Aron. Both of them were relaxed that this baby was healthy. “So, you’re getting a brother.”

“Cool! I’ve already made a list of names. You can choose one of them,” he stated confidently as he took his present from Aron. “Thank you.”

Jeremy laughed as he watched his son take the present to the living room, so he could put it on the table. “He’s very excited about the baby.”

Aron squeezed Dayna’s hand. Whenever he saw Ethan, he would be reminded of his own childhood. The boy had his demeanor, a little bit of it, if not a lot. Though, they’d missed out on seeing Ethan grow up, both Dayna and him were looking forward to the new arrival. Given the fact that Jeremy and Robin allowed them to meet with Ethan every week and had even gone on picnics and outings with them. So now, when they were having a new child, it looked as if their family was finally complete.

He couldn’t have been happier.

Un Feliz Para Siempre.

A Happy Ever After….
As far as Aron was concerned, life was perfect.

~***THE END***~