Love Rekindled (Candle Light Book 2) (7 page)

“Will, Kristy? Are you guys home?”

“Aunt Sandra!” Was all the warning I got before Kristy rammed into me. Good thing I wasn’t all the way into the house. I held onto the door frame for support.

I hugged my niece back, apologized for the terror I was to her the last time we saw each other. She stared up at me funny and I knew the question was coming.

“Did Uncle Ron do that?”

“Did Uncle Ron do what?” William’s voice preceded him into the room. When he saw me, he stopped in his tracks. Probably because his jaw was dragging the floor but my protruding stomach could be another reason.

Morris came in behind Will, a pretty girl right at his heels. The glass he had in his hand dropped to the ground with a loud crash jolting Will awake. “I’m going to kill that shit head!”

What? To Morris, Ron could do no wrong. He was the playboy Morris wanted to be when he grew up. This reaction wasn’t completely expected and was just as shocking.

“Wait, I only get this reaction when he does knock me up, but never to the cat and mouse game he used to play with me?” Hands on my disappearing hips I glared at him, “You know, if you’d acted the way you were supposed to as a big brother, this may not have happened.”

William groaned, rubbing his forehead, “This I didn’t see coming.”

After everyone’s tempers had been cooled and the shock had worn off, I turned to the pity girl who’d witnessed our family melt down with a bright and yet mortified smile.

“Hi, I’m Sandra. Who are you?”

Morris snorted, “Don’t worry babe. She’s always this rude. Sandra, this is Joy, the woman I married before I plan on knocking her up. You know, the way it’s meant to be.”

Hold the phone! “What?”

Joy approached me with a smile of her own, “I can’t believe he was the same man in a panic to tell you we’d eloped. You should sit down.”

“Yeah, I should,” but I didn’t, “You eloped? Your family was okay with that?”

She shook her head, “Saying they are mad is putting it lightly. Apparently black people don’t elope, who knew?” she finished with a shrug. She turned to look at Morris who was still pacing mumbling angrily to himself. “We actually got married after… I don’t… what I mean to say…”

What she was finding it hard to say was they’d taken the plunge after Eric died. I smiled reassuringly at her, “Don’t worry about it. Life is too short to wait around.”

She looked pointedly at my belly, “Is that why you decided to have another baby?”

I snorted a laugh. Did I plan this? No way. In fact, I’d sworn off having kids ever again. The pain from loosing one was unbearable and I’d barely survived it. I was in a panic when I threw up that first time. I went through the check list and concluded that I was pregnant though I held the hope it was a coincidence. A trip to the resort doctor shattered that hope and I spent close to a week crying. I was already mourning the death of my baby before it was even born.

“Is that true Sandra?” William asked. Morris stopped his pacing and stared at me in pity.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, right after I buried my son I went out and intentionally got pregnant by Ron—Ron of all people!”

“Then what’s this about?”

I lowered myself onto the couch, exhausted. “It wasn’t planned. It just happened and I’m done crying over it. I’ve decided to think of this pregnancy as a positive curve ball.” I glared at William and Morris, “The two of you have no choice but to be happy about it. Am I clear?”

“Yeah.” “Sure.” They responded at the same time.

Joy laughed, coming to sit next to me, “It’s funny how you got them to heel like that. I have a feeling you and I are going to be best friends.”

I smiled at that. I was going to need all the friends I could get at this point. “Welcome to this crazy family Joy Jackson.”

Chapter Seven

To appease Joy’s family, I decided a grand reception was in order. Of course Morris quickly agree to it, wanting to get in his father-in-law’s good books. That is until he saw how many they were in Joy’s family and how much it would cost him. Morris was doing well but not that well. Joy somehow got her father to agree to split the bill and seeing how well she handled her dad reminded me of how easily my sister Kristy had our dad wrapped around her finger. Moments like that weighed heavily on me but I hanged on the new life inside me to keep me afloat.

“You look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”

His soft spoken words washed over me, weakening me to the point I had to lean against the table to keep myself up. I wasn’t ready for this meeting just yet. I wasn’t ready to have the humiliation slapped across my face, or the fight that would come from it. I wasn’t ready to reveal my current state to him but when has life ever let me prepare?

I took several deep breathes and turned around, giving in to the need to wrap my arms around my belly. “Ron, I didn’t think I would see you so soon. Actually I didn’t think I would see you for another year or two. Shouldn’t you be at some remote corner of the world yet to be discovered?”

He smiled weakly and that’s when I noticed his bruised lip.

“I was, until I got an urgent call from your brother.”

I touched my own lip where the bruise sat on his, “That must have been one hell of a hallo.”

He circled his finger over the bruise, “This? Oh no. This was courtesy of William.” He lifted his finger to his eye. I hadn’t seen that one either. It was way bigger and darker. My eye sight was getting worse. “This was your brother. He’s gotten pretty blood thirsty. It didn’t help that he punched the same spot twice when I complemented his beautiful bride.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Morris was a little whacko when it came to Joy.

“Poor baby. Come on, I’ll get you some ice.” I called out for my assistant from across the restaurant, one that everyone forced on me because they thought I was too pregnant to handle organizing everything by myself, and pointed to the stuff I had laid out on the table. He nodded, understanding me and I led Ron to the bar.

“You need help,” he asked from behind me.

I spied at him from over my shoulder, “Help with what?”

He rushed his step until we were shoulder to shoulder, “Walking I guess? You’re waddling.”

I stopped, glared up at him until he had the decency to look contrite before I kept walking. “I’m supposed to waddle. It’s what happens when your body gets ready to give birth.”

“And when will this happy event take place?”

I blinked a few times. What the hell did he mean by that? “Exactly what are you asking me?”

Now he looked confused, “Is there more than one answer to that question? When’s you’re due date?”

“Oh. June, if I go full term but most probably May.”

“Why most probably May?”

I rolled my lips in my mouth. Time to let the big cat out of the bag: “I’m pregnant with twins.”

From my peripheral view, I saw him go down but the loud thud that came after still made my jump. When I turned around, Ron was on the floor out cold. I burst out laughing completely stunned. This was a side of Ron I never thought existed.

A waiter came and stood next to me, wide eyed and I could only guess what he was thinking and it just made me laugh harder.

“Is everything alright miss?”

“Everything is fine. Could I get some ice? Wait, help me down.” With his help I sat on the floor then lifted Ron’s head onto the little remaining lap my belly wasn’t on. I fought to smother my laughter as I patted his cheeks. “Ron, wake up.”

I should take a picture. I shook my head no. That would be mean. But it would be fun to have something to tease him mercilessly over. Definitely taking a picture. I pulled my smart phone out of my back pocket and took as many pictures as I could from as many angles but quickly stopped when he began to stir. He moaned, his hand reaching up to touch the back of his head. He must have hit it when he kissed the ground. I put my hand over my mouth as I chuckled.

“Here you go miss.” The waiter said handing me an ice bag.

I took the offered bag and pressed it against Ron’s face. He shivered violently moving away from me. “What are you doing?” he grumbled.

“Waking you up. Where does it hurt?”

“Here,” he mumbled turning his head and pointing out the area. I held the bag of ice there.

“Feel better?”

Eyes still closed he said, “Hmm.”

I turned away hoping to hide my amusement from Ron but the way my body was shaking from laughter, there was no point. I then saw William, Morris and Joy rushing quickly to where we were on the floor and the laugh escaped me.

“What happened?” William asked crouching down next to us.

“He went down like jelly. His legs gave out first and the rest of him kind of poured to the floor,” I answered, laughing until tears flooded my eyes.

“Not funny,” Ron grumbled.

“Actually, it is,” Morris countered laughingly.

“Okay, okay.” William began with a diplomatic smile, “What brought on the fainting spell?”

“I didn’t faint,” Ron pushed himself to a sitting position, replacing my hand with his where the ice bag was held to his head, “I got knocked out.”

“By what?”

“I told him I was pregnant with twins,” I confessed and the entire room seemed to descend into complete silence. Yeah, well, what else did I expect?

“Twins?” William echoed, looking at me as if I had suddenly grown a second head.

“Yeah, that’s enough to knock someone out.” Morris mumbled behind me.

“Well I think it’s great,” Joy exclaimed coming to kneel beside me. I smiled at her, thankful for the backup. I realized times like this I didn’t feel the sting of not having my sister with me when she was around. I could swear Kristy sent someone similar to herself to us so we wouldn’t miss her so much. But we still missed her, more so now I believe with Joy around but it doesn’t hurt as much. It’s a happy hurt—if anyone can understand that.

“I need to leave.” Ron announced quickly getting up to his feet. He swayed a little but William held him steady. His declaration brought my heart to a stop. He was leaving me again?

“What do you mean you need to leave? You have issues here to handle!” Morris yelled and Joy quickly got to her feet and went to him, holding him back.

I stared up at him. He looked lost, pulling on his tie to loosen it as if he was suffocating. He was going to do another runner. I could see it in his eyes. And all this while everyone yelled around us, I stared at him, held his gaze and received a wave of broken words and emotions begging and apologizing, and only I could hear. I knew I had to let him go. I finally understood why he kept pushing me away every time I got close and yet always there when I needed him to hold me up when I was too weak to stand on my own. He had his own demons to fight. Demons he covered so well with his eccentric playboy lifestyle.

“Go.”

“What? Sandra you can’t be serious!” Morris yelled at the top of his voice but I didn’t break eye contact with Ron. Because I knew the moment I did, he would be gone and I still had one more thing to say to him.

“You can go, but you need to understand you won’t be able to run for long. I won’t wait forever either.” Then, I lowered my gaze to the ground. I couldn’t watch him run from me.

*

I sat at the bar, exhausted but too tired to move. It had been a tiring day, both physically and emotionally. Joy had dragged Morris away after Ron left and he’d turned on me demanding to know why I let the yellow belly run from his responsibilities. William stayed back to help finish up decorating the restaurant for tomorrow, so he said, but I knew he just wanted to watch over me.

Ron, why did I love that haunted idiot so much? After what happened at the cabin, I treated him like he was some long lost friend and not a cheating bastard. I groaned reminding myself he didn’t cheat because we weren’t in a relationship and I was the one who suggested occupying our time with mind blowing sex. Now here I am, alone and pregnant with twins while my baby daddy tried again, to run away from his demons. I just hope that this time when he fails, he’ll let me hold him up like he’d done for me countless of times.

I actually believed I wouldn’t survive after Kristy’s death and when I hit the lowest of lows, he was there. He held me. He let me cry on his expensive shirt until I was dry. Talked and joked with me then thanked me for helping out William. Not having William around to look after had left me with my own grief and I was glad Ron came just at the right moment to remind me Kristy’s life was meant to be celebrated. We shouldn’t let our grief cloud that. Then he’d kissed me. Then we fooled around and right before I took that step of no return I pushed him away. I’d known for a long time I could never have Ron the way I wanted him and making love would make impossible to keep him in the ‘do not touch’ box in my heart. So that very same night I sent him off to London to save his brother from dragon Gloria. He was both relieved and disappointed that I put the brakes on things but I knew he too knew there was no future for us.