Light (The Shadows Series) (19 page)

 I can hear Theron calling for me. He walks into the bathroom and stops mid-sentence when he sees me. “Hey, beautiful, what kind of—”

 “I just wanted to shower.” A tear slips down my face and I wipe it away with the hand that is not gripping the toilet seat.

 “Baby, I’m so sorry. I guess pizza wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

 “I don’t think it would have mattered. My stomach hates me.”

 Theron squats down, handing me a towel for my face. “Come on. I’ll help you up off the floor.” He holds his hands out for me and I gladly take them. He doesn’t let go until he is sure that I am standing securely on my feet. “Take a shower, beautiful. It might make you feel better.” He kisses my forehead and another tear rolls down my cheek. No words are said. He leans in and kisses my cheek where my tear landed. I close my eyes, reveling in his touch. His touch and scent wrap around me. I inhale deeply, breathing him in.

Everything about him makes me feel more relaxed and calm. He eases my nerves and makes my heart rush at the same time. Opening my eyes, I find a bright green emerald and a golden chocolate pool staring straight back at me. His eyes are full of light. I don’t know when the shadows disappeared from his eyes, but I’m glad that the light is back.

 He helps me step into the shower and closes the glass doors. I wait for him to leave, but he just leans back against the vanity.

 “What are you doing?”

 “This is my bathroom, too. Am I not allowed?”

 “Why are you watching me?”

 “Because I like watching you. You are beautiful, and so incredibly sexy. I’m going to watch your naked body move under the water. Why?”

 My cheeks flush at his words. I have never thought of myself as beautiful, let alone sexy. My thighs jiggle. My stomach isn’t taught or tight, it’s soft. I have stretch marks on my breasts from when Mother Nature decided I needed them overnight. I don’t resemble anything close to what magazines and the media tell me is pretty, yet there is this unbelievably gorgeous man telling me that I am incredibly sexy. To hell with what sexy is supposed to look like. If he tells me that I am sexy then damn it, I am sexy.

I turn so that my back is facing the glass doors, and give Theron a little swivel of my hips. Grabbing my body scrub, I bend over, working the soap up my legs, starting with my toes. I have a huge grin on my face and I hear him laugh. “Naughty, naughty girl. Finish up with your shower. You need breakfast and I don’t want to be late to our appointment.”

“What? I’m just washing up.”

“Sure you are.”

“Theron, you’re a perv.”

“Yeah, but I’m your perv.”

“Yes, you are. Now get out, so I can finish.”

When I meet Theron downstairs, I find him in the kitchen with my breakfast waiting for me. Theron’s gaze never leaves me, as I get closer to him. He shakes his head, as if he is snapping back to reality and pulls my chair out for me.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I am wearing a pale, yellow sundress, with soft, red flowers on it. I have left my hair down, and dried it into waves. It is hanging loosely around my shoulders. I can’t shake his words from this morning, and I feel absolutely radiant sitting beside him. I didn’t even put lip gloss on. He has seen me at my worst, and he still loves me.

“A few things came up this morning. Thomas found out about the buyout. I’m not sure who leaked it, but it doesn’t matter because officially at three o’clock yesterday afternoon, I owned majority of his company and now retain full assets to the company. So, his opinion no longer matters. I plan on having him forced from the board this afternoon, and I will give him the option to sell to me. If he chooses not to, I will prove that he is unfit to run the company. If I have to, I’ll smoke him out, but he will be done with Rowe Inc. I hope to have the name changed to GILF by Monday morning. My lawyers are already working out the details with the banks.”

“Wow. Did you know that it was going to happen this quickly? I mean, I know this is what you have been working for, but I didn’t think it would be that easy.”

“Neither did I. My gut is telling me that he isn’t done with this, yet. That’s why I’m worried about those notes. I know you don’t think he has anything to do with this now, but who else would be out to hurt us, to hurt you?”

“I don’t know, babe. Are you not coming with me then?” My eyes drop to the plate in front of me. I have barely touched my breakfast. I am so afraid that if I eat, I am going to puke. Theron takes my hand, his thumb brushing over the skin of my knuckles and raises it to his lips. A soft gentle kiss graces my skin.

“Of course I’m coming with you. I’ll come to every appointment. I’m not going to miss any of this.”

I try to hold back my grin, by biting my lower lip. I hear him gasp and our eyes meet again.

“Those are my lips. Bite them again, and I’ll have to mark you before we leave. We don’t have time for what I will want to do to you, so finish your breakfast, Eve.”

I drop my eyes back to my plate, and cross my legs. Holy shit. He knows exactly what to say to set my nerves on fire. I finish my breakfast in silence. Rebecca clears our plates and we stand from the table. Theron waits for me, as I rush upstairs quickly to grab a light sweater in case the office is cold, and rush back downstairs so that we can leave for the doctor.

I am in the gown they gave me to put on. I thought ultrasounds were done on my stomach, but the nurse insisted I take off everything below the waist. Theron is sitting nervously in a chair in the corner of the room, taking turns bouncing each of his knees. There is a light tap on the door, and a woman comes in pulling an ultrasound machine behind her. She introduces herself and shakes both of our hands. She instructs me to lay back and has Theron come stand by my head.

“This is going to be a transvaginal ultrasound. Dr. Knox wants us to determine how far along you are, and since she thinks that you’re only a couple of weeks, this will be our best option. I’m going to have you scoot down to the edge of the table and put your feet in the stirrups. Make sure you bend and relax your knees, letting them fall to the side.” I follow her commands, and Theron grabs my hand. “Okay, here we go. This may feel a little weird, but I promise that it won’t hurt.” The ultrasound tech puts a little gel on the wand in her hand, and my first instinct is to close my legs. It is cold and intrusive, but she is right. It doesn’t hurt. I look over at Theron and all of his attention is focused on the black and white screen. There it is. I can see my little bump on the screen. It is so small, but I can see a little flutter.

“That’s the baby’s heart. Your baby is very strong. I’m going to take a couple of pictures for Dr. Knox. I would estimate you being around eight weeks. If you give me a couple of minutes, I’ll get all of this cleaned up and put away. Dr. Knox will be in to speak with you shortly.”

“That’s our baby.” Theron speaks. Glancing at his face, I think that he is in shock. He has a euphoric look in his eyes. “Beautiful, we made a baby.”

“We did.” My hands find my stomach, and love that I never thought possible, fills me completely. The tech allows me sit up, while she goes to get the doctor.

“Eve, it’s a pleasure to see you so soon.”

I turn my head and shake Helen’s hand. “This is my boyfriend, Theron.”

“Doctor.” Theron shakes her hand, and she walks around the table and takes a seat beside me.

“First of all, I’d like to say congratulations to both of you. Eve, I’ve known you since you were younger. You are going to make a wonderful mother. Now, my tech gave me the report. It looks as though you are right around eight weeks. So, we can try this, but don’t stress out if it doesn’t work. Obviously, the baby is doing just fine, as we just saw him or her nestled all warm and cozy. I’m going to put a little gel on the tip of this, and rub it around your stomach. Let’s see if we can hear your little one’s heartbeat. Shall we?”

Theron grabs my hand again. It is hot and sweaty. Is he really that nervous? At first, I don’t hear anything, but my heartbeat. She must notice something that I don’t. She moves back and forth, pushing down on my lower stomach in the same spot, and then I hear it. It’s so fast. It is incredible.

“Is that it? That’s the baby?”

“Yes, Sir it is. Congratulations again. Eve, you can go ahead and get dressed. I’ll need to see you for a checkup in about four weeks, so if you don’t have one scheduled, the receptionist will set you up with one.” Helen hands me a little white folded card. When I open it, I see my ultrasound with the words Baby’s First Picture printed on the edges. She leaves and Theron helps me get dressed.

There is a permanent smile on my face, as we leave the office. Absolutely nothing can ruin this day. I am in complete and utter heaven.

W
e park in front of the bookstore and Theron’s phone starts ringing before he can even turn the engine off. I start to get out, but he grabs my wrist and motions for me to wait a minute. I lean back in my seat, as he answers the phone.

“Theron…what? Damn it. Did he tell you why? Fine. Fuck, I’ll be right there. Keep him in that room until I get there.”

I grab Theron’s wrist, giving him a questioning look. What’s going on? I really hope whatever it is, doesn’t deal with Thomas. Theron looks at me and shakes his head.

“Shit. That will leave Eve here by herself.”

“Babe, it’s okay. I promise I won’t leave the store. Olivia’s with me. I’ll stay in the back and order in. Okay?”

He covers the phone with his hand and I can see the thoughts of concern bouncing around in his head. “I don’t like the feel of this, at all. Come to the office with me.”

“Who’s in the room? Who do you need to get to?”

“It’s Thomas. He is refusing to leave until I get there, and he’s threatened the board if I’m not there soon.”

“See? It will be fine. You are so worried about Thomas, and you already know where he is. It’ll be fine.”

“But we aren’t sure it’s him, yet. Please, come with me, Eve. I won’t be able to get anything done worrying about you.”

I lean over and place a kiss on his temple. “I’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll call you if I’m the least bit suspicious of anything. Okay?”

Theron lets out a deep sigh, and leans his forehead against mine. “Fine, but you call me if you need anything. I don’t care if it’s for a bottle of water, you call me.”

“Absolutely. I love you. Will you be here when I get off?”

“Yes ma’am. Badass and I will be waiting right here for you. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I give him a soft kiss on his cheek, and head into the store. I call out for Olivia and she pops out from behind a shelf, nearly giving me a heart attack.

“Don’t do that!”

“Well, hello to you, too. How are we feeling this morning?”

“Better, I was little ill earlier, but it seems as if it’s left me for the day. Would you like to see the baby?” Laying my purse on the counter, I reach into it and pull out the white envelope with my ultrasound tucked neatly inside it. I hand it over to Olivia and her face is already beaming with excitement.

“Has anyone else seen this yet?”

“Nope, just you and Theron. I’m hoping to have my family over for dinner this weekend, so that I can show them. I’m so excited.”

Olivia pats my hand and beams at me. “I can tell. You are absolutely glowing. We will have to find you a more comfortable chair to sit in. These wooden ones are going to start hurting your back soon.”

“Don’t put yourself out. I’ll be fine. So, what’s our plans for today? Anymore shelves to be built?”

“No, Kayla and I finished the last one up yesterday. Today we are stocking the shelves. We are going to move your lovely organized boxes onto the shelves. Harold’s nephew came by earlier and helped me push them against the walls, so now all we have to do is fill them.”

“Well, that should be easy enough.”

I follow Olivia into the back and make my way through the maze of boxes she has set up. The shelves are tall, but I should be able to reach all of them. We start with the books sorted by age group, then sort through genres, and finally alphabetically. I am sweaty and my feet are tired by noon. We decide to take a break and I sit in the chair that Olivia has insisted that we keep in the back for me. I send Kayla a quick text asking if she will be by for lunch today. While I wait for her response, I order some salads for Olivia and me from the diner up the street. Since we are so close, the girl agreed to walk them over. I think me offering a big tip might have persuaded her just a little bit. The bells chime in the front of the store and Oliva walks out to see who is here. She comes back with the salads in her arms, along with our drinks. We have just started eating when my phone goes off.