Love Regardless: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance (13 page)

The first time her eyes found mine I panicked like a deer in
headlights. I felt like I’d been spotted by the most important
person to me in the entire world.

And she stopped crying – as she saw my face, she stopped
crying. She stretched out a pudgy hand and I saw her ten, perfectly
formed fingernails. As if answering an unspoken question I offered
her my baby finger and she happily wrapped her fingers around it with
joy, and gurgled softly, her eyes closing already.

I looked up to find Elliot and I was shocked to see him by the door,
his back turned to me. My voice was raspy so I don’t call out,
but when he turned I saw the tears in his eyes, which he was swiftly
wiping away.

He saw me looking at him and seemed to fall in bedside us on the bed,
careful not to upset the baby, or move me too harshly. His tears
began to flow harder still as he gently touched her head, her tuffs
of dark hair already growing.

“
She’s the perfect mixture.”
Elliot whispered to me, smiling as he touched the skin on her arms –
a perfect mixture of my chocolate and Elliot’s alabaster.

“
I love you.” Elliot whispered into my
ears as I watched the baby begin to suck on my baby finger and I knew
instantly that she was looking for food. “I love you
both
.”
He amended, quieter still.

I looked over at the nurse as I gently nudged the baby upwards and I
pulled my hospital vest open with ease. She latched on to my nipple
quickly and perfectly, adding another sensation to the list for me as
I felt the milk leave my breasts in dribs and drabs.

“
We are officially in charge of naming a
human.” I said to Elliot and he beamed at me.

They asked if they could take the baby away to be assessed by the
doctors, Elliot stood up and told me that he needed to tell his mom
the good news. All of a sudden I wished I had a mother I could share
the good news with – a grandchild. A perfectly
all-ten-fingers-and-toes grandchild.

It was in that moment that I got an idea which I made a mental note
to discuss with Elliot later.

It was nearly an hour before I saw my baby again and I hadn't slept,
the adrenaline pumping through my body felt immensely powerful. By
the time she came back she was sound asleep and had apparently only
cried once – during her bath. Her smell enveloped me as I
kissed her head.

I could see the doctor’s talking out in the hall, and I knew
Elliot was tense, but I focused on our daughter and thought only of
her. It seemed surprising to me that my life ever existed without
this girl.

I quickly told Elliot of my thought process about a name and I was
grateful when he agreed after a long minute of looking down at her.

“
Violet.” He said softly, touching the
top of her head again. It was my mother’s name – and
meant the world to me that Elliot was accepting of it.

We were able to take Violet home for the first time one week later –
it was a long week of waiting for doctor’s opinions and by the
end of it Elliot looked very old and weary from the worry. I on the
other hand, spent the majority of my time sleeping – which I
classed as a fortunate thing to be able to do as Violet slept through
the night.

We were told that Violet’s form of Down Syndrome was mild,
which was a lucky thing – apparently. She had a minor hole in
her heart which was severely common and unlikely to cause any
problems. No, for Violet, the main problems would arise in education
and her social understanding.

She was barely a week old and I was already aware of the intense
worry I felt for her future – would she go to school? Would she
be as accepted as anyone else into society? It was hard to tell what
the biggest worry was. I knew the same questions were playing on
Elliot’s mind, though he said little but held Violet close to
his chest, as though he would protect her from the woes of life.

Judith was the biggest help, thankfully, as she had prepared Violet’s
bed next to ours by the time we made it back to the Countess. She was
helpful and not at all judgmental as she helped me deal with the pain
of breast-feeding – an almighty pain that pinched and stung at
the same time. And when I slept, Judith was there to hold Violet
happy in the knowledge that she was safe.

Violet’s flattened nose soon became my favorite feature of hers
to look at – it is a Down Syndrome trait, but to me it was
simply beautiful – especially when she slept and kept her face
scrunched up. I often wondered if she was dreaming and if so, what?

Sitting by the large glass windows at the Countess, I held Violet who
slept peacefully, and Elliot was stretched out on the couch, also
asleep. The only sound was the crackling of the fire. We stayed like
that until the light went down, and I made a realization that I
didn’t think I ever would; I was happy being still.

I was perfectly content in this stillness, my little world of
stillness I found in Elliot and Violet.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

*****

The next three years of our lives were difficult,
but in no way bad. Violet learned quickly by Down Syndrome standards,
but much slower than the average child. But that mattered very little
to me, because to me and Elliot, Violet was much more than average in
our eyes – and in the eyes of Judith.

Stranger still was the love that Ophelia had for her.

It was Judith who introduced Violet to her, slowly at first –
she was cautious of Elliot’s reaction, as the tension remained
as strong as the day of the original accusation of arson.

I was Clara.

There were a few different Clara's though – I was still Clara
the Confident, but I was now Elliot’s Clara. More importantly,
I was a mother.

Having Violet in my life helped me learn that I could be more than
one thing – more than anything I ever was before.

Violet’s Clara.

The end.

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If
you enjoyed that, you'll love Evgeni, My Russian Savior by J A
Fielding (sample and description of what it's about below).

Athena
Davis is still struggling to come to terms with the death of her
fiancé on their wedding day.
Two years have gone by, and
despite her friend's insistence she needs to do otherwise, she's
still living a fairly sheltered life.
That is, until Evgeni
Markovic comes along.
Evgeni is a Russian business man full of
charm, a handsome smile, and that 'je ne sais quoi'.
However, he
also has a very dark past.
Part of the Russian mafia with deep
ties in the lifestyle, he's now trying to go legit and change his
ways.
But his mafia buddies have other plans.
Can these two
find love and stay safe with Evgeni's dark past hanging over them?

Athena
Davis adjusted her earpiece as she made her way back into the
Virginia Aquarium. She had been outside getting a breath of fresh air
and giving her feet a breather after being on her feet for almost
five hours straight.

“This
fundraiser is never-ending,” she thought as she stroked her
hair which she had pulled back in a high bun.

Athena’s
company GoCreative had been in charge of organizing the charity
fundraiser at the Aquarium. She would have rather spent her time
organizing a more exciting event but this was what fell on her lap
and considering she had spent almost two weeks at her desk, she
needed to be out of the office. A lot of people at GoCreative had
been skeptical about the venue but Athena was positive she could pull
it off…and she did.

As
soon as she stepped foot back in the Aquarium, she sighed. She could
not wait for this event to be over so she could go home and soak in a
long bubbly bath. That was all she really craved at that moment. She
made her way to one corner of the main foyer. A smile played on her
lips. They were now auctioning a date with one of her bosses, Conrad
Malone. She had to admit, it was a brilliant move especially since
Conrad was everything any woman dreamed of: rich, good looking and
had a killer smile. The bid was now at sixty five thousand dollars.
She picked a glass of cider from one of the waiters who was walking
past her.

“You
are a very private person,” she heard a male voice behind her
say. She could not help but notice the strong eastern European accent
in his voice. Hungarian, Romanian, Russian…she could not quite
place her finger on it. She was not very sure what it was.

“What
makes you say that?” she asked as she turned around to come
face to face with a brown haired hazel eyed man.

“I
have been watching you since I got here,” he said.

She
raised an eyebrow over the other.

“You
have been watching me? Should I call the police or something?”

The
man smiled.

“Maybe
I should be the one calling for help,” he said in a soft voice.
Athena took another long sip of her cider.

“And
why is that?” she asked again.

“Attractive
black woman in killer heels on her feet all evening,” he said
as he slowly walked around her to lean on the wall. “And the
earpiece you have on,” he added as he pointed at her right ear.
“You are either an assassin who’s been sent out here for
someone or CIA.”

Athena
laughed and shook her head. And it was not a forced laughter either.
It was a genuine honest to goodness laugh.

“So,
Femme Fatale, which one is it?” he asked.

“Assassin?
Why would you come to that conclusion?”

“Well,
I have watched enough movies to know that the best assassins are the
ones who can distract their mark,” he answered. “Mostly
they use their sex appeal.”

“So
what you are telling me in so many words, is that I have sex appeal?”
she asked and the man shrugged.

“Everyone
has sex appeal. Even the most unappealing people. They have their own
idea of sex appeal.” His eyes ran down her body. “And
yours is literally the life of this party.” She smiled and bit
her lower lip.

“I
would have thought that the life of this party was Rue Sorrento,”
she pointed out.

He
gently scratched his right temple.

“And
why is that?”

“Simple.
She has money coming out of her…well, choose an orifice and
she has spent it to get that picture perfect body she loves flaunting
so much.” She turned and looked at the subject of her criticism
who had on a tighter than tight white dress with an amazingly low
neckline. “Seriously, every man here is ogling at her.”
She turned her attention back to the man again. “Makes me
wonder why you are not part of that bandwagon.”

“Well,
for starters I am not every man.”

“But
you are a man, right?” she had an insincere smile on her face.

“I
am but I tend to delve deeper into personality rather than work with
what is on the surface,” he said in a whisper. “And right
now I would like to know if someone here will be dropping dead any
time soon.”

Athena
looked into his eyes and then shook her head.

“I
hate to disappoint you sir, but I do not work for the CIA or some
black ops program,” she smiled.

“That
is exactly what an assassin or a CIA agent would say,” the man
pointed out.

“I
guess you are right but the earpiece is for team coordination,”
she said in a soft voice.

“Again,
something a CIA agent or an assassin would do.” This time
Athena laughed.

“Most
assassins work alone, right?” she said as she looked at him and
he nodded.

“Yes,
so that option is out.”

She
bit her lower lip again and stretched her hand out.

“Athena
Davis from GoCreative, the company that organized this event.”

“That
clears a lot of confusion,” the man said smiling. “Evgeni
Markovic,” he said as he shook Athena’s hand.

“Nice
to meet you.”

“Believe
me, the pleasure is all mine.”

“So,
I have to ask. Evgeni…what is that Hungarian?”

“Russian.”

Athena
smiled. This was probably the most exciting thing that had ever
happened to her. She had never met someone from outside the US let
alone Russia. She almost asked him if he knew any guys from the mafia
but she quickly realized that asking him that was as shallow as
someone asking her if she knew Obama or Beyoncé.