Forgotten Love: A BWWM Pregnancy Billionaire Love Story (15 page)

Frances
dropped the phone and bawled her eyes out. It was the first time she
could remember crying like this…ever. Once she started though,
she couldn’t seem to stop. The tears were endless and they came
from the core of her so that her whole body was wracked with sobs. It
was bewildering and scary and she just wanted Allen to be here so he
could tell her what the hell was happening. By the time he got back,
the sobs were petering off and she was exhausted. He came into the
house at a run though, face frantic and clutching a package in his
hands.

“
Frannie?”
he said when he saw her, eyes flying over her face in fear. He came
to her and she fell into his arms, tears falling afresh as he held
her to him as tight as he could.

“
What’s
wrong baby?” he asked rubbing his hand up and down her back.

“
I
d-d-don’t kn-now,” she cried into his shoulder. “I
c-c-can’t s-s-stop crying!”

“
Shhh,’
he said rubbing at her back and her arms, holding her tighter to him
as she completely fell apart. He murmured nonsense words to her and
at some point she was pretty sure he was singing nursery rhymes.
Eventually though, the crying petered off and left hiccups behind.

“
Did
you –hic- bring the –hic- tums?” she asked because
her stomach was still burning up.

“
Yeah,”
he replied thrusting the small bag he was still holding into her
hands. She opened it and saw a bottle of pills, and then there was
another box; a black one, square and velvet underneath that. She
extracted the pill bottle, popped it and put a tum in her mouth, all
without taking her eyes from the other box. As she chewed on the
antacid, she reached in to take out the black velvet box. Allen
looked startled to see it in her hand.

“
Oh,
I forgot that was in there,” he said sheepishly.

She
stared from the box to him and then back to the box. He took it
gently from her hand and opened it, turning it so she could see what
lay inside. It was a unique ring or at least Frances hadn’t
seen one like it before. The classic styling was perfect, the taper
from the lateral sides to the gem natural and beautiful. The
detailing was intricate and carefully done. The emerald was dynamic,
going from a piercing, dazzling green, to a deeper, more rich tone
depending on the lighting and environment. The rose gold was
beautiful and added additional classic beauty to an already gorgeous
antique flair. The band width was perfect, with subtle details in the
band styling. The ring looked different in shade, as opposed to with
sunlight directly on it; it displayed a changing energy that Frances
could only marvel at.

“
It
was my mother’s,” he said also looking at it. “I
had it re-sized so it could fit your hand.”

“
You
did that in the last few hours?” Frances asked in disbelief.

Allen
smiled looking shy all of a sudden. “Well actually no, I had it
done after we got back from the hospital when the doctor said you
were pregnant. I had plans to make it official at some point before
the baby came. I was just giving you time to get used to the whole
idea of me, and pregnancy and amnesia…” he said and he
was
blushing
…Frances
could hardly believe it; he never blushed.

“
So
did me getting my memory back throw a curve ball in those plans or…?”
she asked.

“
Oh
yeah definitely. No need to wait anymore,” he said with a small
laugh.

“
Hmm,”
she said and looked at him. He looked back at her and they just stood
for a while. Then Frances held out her ring finger and Allen took the
ring and slipped it on, all without losing eye contact.

“
How
does it fit?” he asked.

“
Perfect,”
she replied not looking at it.

Allen
nodded his head, “Good.”

Frances
smiled.

Allen
took a step closer to her as she did the same and their lips met,
softly. The kiss was short, and Allen tried to keep it light, but
Frances pressed forward and gave it all she had, trying to say
everything with this one action. She drew Allen's bottom lip into her
mouth and slid her hand into Allen's hair. Kissed him sweet and hard
and pulled away slowly, keeping her eyes shut until she was back
where she started, hand slipping back to her sides, heart hammering
like she just had a near-death experience.
Allen’s
eyes were still open and he could see the earnest little crinkles at
the edges of Frances closed eyes. He could feel her suck his top lip
between her own, and hear it when she let out the tiniest sigh
against his mouth, like she was just so fucking happy.

“
Well,”
he said after a stretch where they both just breathed.

“
Well,”
Frances agreed.

“
How
is your stomach doing? Still burning?” he asked.

Frances
looked down at her still flat stomach in surprise, she’d
completely forgotten all about it. “Huh, I do believe its just
fine and dandy,” she said musingly.

“
Great.
Do you wanna maybe take this action to the bedroom?” he asked
with a small side smile.

“
Seal
the deal, so to speak?” she quipped.

“
Yep.”

“
Always.”

Allen
took her hand and led her to their room. He was gentle with her
because he hadn’t forgotten the crying jag earlier and it had
scared the hell out of him. He didn’t think he’d ever
seen Frances cry before. Not even when they’d almost been
arrested that one time when collecting for Karl. The mark hadn’t
wanted to hand over the cash. He was a new guy and thought he could
intimidate a couple of kids by pulling in his pal who he said was a
cop. Allen had been terrified but Frances had stood up to him and
threatened to break his legs if he didn’t stay out of business
that wasn’t his. Heart hammering like a drumstick, Allen had
backed her up and he was already a big guy then. The mark had hemmed
and hawed a bit just for appearance sake but he handed over the cash
when he saw that the ‘kids’ weren’t backing down.
It had been a lesson for Allen, Frances might be small and female but
you didn’t mess with her because she was tougher than all the
big tall men in the room.

Coming
home with her after that was what had given him courage to stand up
to his uncle. Because he knew she had his back, and she would break
his uncle’s legs if he tried anything funny ever again. Not
that he’d seen her actually break anyone’s legs but she
had the chutzpah to do it definitely. Allen smiled to himself,
wondering why he’d never been afraid she would break
his
legs. God know he deserved it on quite a few occasions.

“
What
are you smiling at,” she asked him as she lay in gleaming sated
contentment beside him.

He
shrugged the shoulder that wasn’t deeply embedded in the
mattress, “I was just thinking about that time you threatened
to break that mark’s legs. Remember? The one who said he’d
call the police on us?”

“
Oh
you mean fat Joey? Yeah he was always full of bluster. Generally
harmless though.”

“
I
was scared to death,” he confessed.

“
Yeah?
Well you didn’t show it,” she said turning over to face
him and resting her head on her hands. The cold sharpness of her new
ring startled her and she moved her head slightly to look at it.

“
I
don’t think I’m ever going to get used to
this,
”
she said.

“
What?
The ring or the life?” he asked.

“
I
don’t know. Both? I mean I have the last ten years back sure,
but sometimes being a street rat seems like the only real reality,
you know? The rest is like a cruel dream I’ll wake up from one
day and find that it wasn’t real. I’m back in my bunker,
I’m alone and nothing has changed.”

Allen
reached forward and pinched her arm “I’m real,” he
said quietly.

“
Ouch,”
Frances replied.

“
So
is that why you were crying earlier?”

It was
Frances turn to shrug. “I don’t know why I was crying. It
was just…suddenly too much. I think I cried for every time I
wanted to cry before in my life you know?”

“
You
finally felt safe enough to,” Allen said completely surprising
Frances.

“
Hey
Dr. Phil where’d you come from?”

Allen
laughed, “Or maybe its just pregnancy hormones.”

“
Oh
my God, what are you going to say next? PMS?” she scoffed.

Allen
just looked at her. “Listen Frances, I’m gonna be serious
for a minute so I need you to brace yourself.” Frances actually
held her breath.

“
I
am sorry if I never made you feel safe enough to express yourself the
way you needed to, okay?”

Frances
laughed. “Trust you to make this about you,” she said in
amusement.

“
I’m
serious Frannie,” he persisted.

“
Yeah
I know. It's not that I didn’t feel safe. I promise. Maybe it's
just the first time I felt safe
and
my hormones were working overtime,” she dismissed.

“
Promise
me you won’t wait for the stars to align that way next time. If
you wanna cry, then cry. Safe room okay? Always,” Allen said.

“
Deal,”
Frances replied with a smile. “Can we stop talking about this
now please.”

“
Sure
tough guy, go to sleep,” he said.

Frances
face screwed up. “I’m kinda hungry.” Allen laughed
out loud but he got up to go scrounge for something to eat.

“
Hey
you,” Frances said sitting up.

“
Yeah?”
Allen said.

“
Thanks
for not judging me,” she said.

Allen
turned around to say something but Frances dived back into the
blanket, covering her head. “Go on, get food,” she said
from inside her cocoon. Allen smiled and went.

*****

Kareem
came back two days later. Frances hadn’t told him about her
recovery because she wanted to see his face when she said she
remembered him; but also she needed to tell him about the wedding and
she hadn’t previously been aware that he was still in love with
her. She still loved him as a very good friend and did not want to
hurt him. She didn’t know how she could tell him without doing
that. Still, they’d managed to be friends through at least five
years of her and Allen being together so he must have contemplated
the possibility of marriage between them. Especially now that she was
pregnant. Allen told her that it was in fact Kareem who had told him
to make a move on her, so she knew he was at least okay with the idea
of their togetherness and with them having sex. It was just a hop
skip and jump to ‘we’re getting married!’ she
hoped. If it wasn’t, then for his own good, she might have to
cut him loose and she didn’t want that.

“
Kareem,”
she said as she opened the door to him.

“
Hey
girl,” he said stepping forward to give her a one armed hug.
“Guess what I have for you.”

“
Cheeseburger?”
she asked; it was fast becoming an obsession.

“
Guess
again,” he said holding out a bag to her.

She took
it and peered inside; clothes. She reached in and pulled out a pair
of black jeans.

“
Biker
pregnancy clothes!” Kareem exclaimed excitedly. “They
have an elastic waist which will expand with your belly.”

Frances
smiled; they were going to be alright. “You are the best
Kareem, you know that?”

“
Of
course I do. Now go on, try them on,” he said shooing her away.

She went
off just to oblige him and came back wearing the jeans. They fit her
like a glove and the color was perfect for her complexion. It brought
out the brightness of her hair and her complexion.

“
You
are a genius Kareem,” she told him, modeling her outfit.

“
Thank
you kindly,” he replied with a smug smile.

“
So
anyway, I have some news,” she told him.

“
Spill,”
Kareem said settling down on the sofa.

Frances
spread her hands out and opened her mouth. Kareem’s eyes
shifted to her fingers.

“
Oh
my God, he proposed,” he said staring at her ring.