New Beginnings (11 page)

As we drove home, I stared unabashedly at how attractive he was. I reached out and ran my fingers through his hair as I admired his strong facial features in profile. He hummed with pleasure at my touch. The sound reverberated through my body.

When we finally stepped off the elevator, Xavier pulled me towards the living room. He wordlessly opened the Waterford bag and took out our new ornament. Placing a hook on it, he handed it to me.

“Would you do the honors, sweetness?” he whispered.

Just as I reached for the ornament, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me tight against him. He sealed his mouth over mine kissing me passionately. He pulled away leaving me breathless and slightly unsteady on my feet. It took me a little longer than usual to get my bearings given the heightened state of sexual arousal I was already in.

I placed the heavy ornament on a sturdy branch within the tree. The way the crystal sparkled and caught the little colored lights was mesmerizing. I stood and admired it for several minutes.

“Come here.” Xavier’s soft, seductive voice snapped me out of my reverie. He had the fireplace going, and was curled up on the couch eagerly patting the empty space next to him.

I curled up into his side. “Are we going to make out on the couch like we were a couple of teenagers?” I chuckled.

“Oh, Ms. Martin. I plan on doing a great deal more than just making out,” he said, as he wrapped himself around me.

I called Dr. Ellington’s office before I picked up Renatta Monday morning. As luck would have it, they had a cancellation and will be able to get me in at 1:00 p.m. Now I had to tell Renatta and hope that she doesn’t let anything slip. I pulled up in front of Equinox and she approached my SUV with a surprised look on her face.

“Where’s Marissa? You mean to tell me that Xavier let you out of the house unsupervised?” she said jokingly.

“Ha. Ha. I am temporarily free of Marissa. It would seem Carline and Stephen headed to New York City for the holidays. I had to beg Xavier to let me out without her. He wasn’t happy about it, but he eventually agreed to it,” I said happily.

“I think you could get that man to agree to anything.” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Hardly. Listen, I need to ask you if you would like to join Xavier and me for the holidays. He has a lodge he usually rents in Mt. Baker. I wasn’t sure if you and Tom had any plans.”

“I’ll check with Tom. I know we won’t be visiting his parents on Christmas since it’s difficult to get his family all together. We are going this weekend instead since it was convenient for everyone. What about your parents?”

“I called mom last night and she said they had friends to visit with. Besides, Xavier had flown them out for Thanksgiving, so my mom didn’t want to travel again. She fears the weather in the winter.” I paused for a minute. “Um, I need to go to an appointment in downtown at one, okay?” I carefully looked over at Renatta.

“Okay. What kind of appointment? You’re acting a little …” She paused for a moment narrowing her eyes at me suspiciously. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you’re pregnant?” Her voice shot up several octaves.

I nodded at her. “I just found out Saturday by doing a home pregnancy test. Xavier doesn’t know yet so please don’t say anything.” I rushed to tell her.

“I didn’t realize you guys were trying again already. Wait, what do you mean Xavier doesn’t know yet?” She frowned at me.

“We really weren’t. We were supposed to wait two months, but obviously that didn’t happen. I really want to get it confirmed by the doctor first. Besides, I figured what better Christmas present to give the man who already has everything.”

“Oh, Ella. I’m so happy for you. Congratulations. He’s going to be ecstatic. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling really good. Other than being a little nauseous the last several mornings and feeling very emotional, I haven’t had any other problems.”

“Are you going to be able to keep this quiet until Christmas?” she asked doubtfully.

“I seriously doubt it. I might have to give in and tell him this weekend.” I sighed heavily.

Just before one o’clock, Renatta and I made our way to Dr. Ellington’s office. I sat nervously waiting while I eyed all the other pregnant mothers in the waiting room. How did I get here? Just three months ago, I had known Xavier for all of a week and here I was living with him and pregnant. We’ve barely had time to be a couple. We weren’t even married. The panic started to rise. My heart was pounding in my chest.

“Ella? Everything okay?” Renatta asked, frowning at me.

“I don’t know, Ren. Maybe this is a mistake. We aren’t even married. What are my parents going to think? What’s everybody going to think if we run out and get married now? Everybody’s going to think that he’s only marrying me because he knocked me up. He kept our engagement out of the paper. They are going to think I’m a gold digger who trapped him. We should’ve waited. We should’ve been more careful. I shouldn’t have let this happen.” My eyes were wide as I was clutching onto her arm.

Renatta gave me a sympathetic look. “You’re over thinking this, Ella. First, your parents are going to be thrilled. You’re their only child. They gave up hope of ever having their own biological grandchildren until now. Second, it doesn’t matter what the world thinks. Those that are closest to the two of you are going to know differently and that’s all that matters. This is not a mistake. It’s a miracle, Ella.” Renatta placed her hand over mine and squeezed. “Besides, you said you were feeling emotional. Don’t panic. Everything is going to be great.” She smiled widely at me.

She was right. I was emotional and over thinking it all. I sighed and took a deep calming breath. “Thank you, Ren. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d have a full blown panic attack,” she said teasingly.

An hour later, I walked out of the doctor’s office in a complete daze. Silently, Renatta calmly followed me back to the SUV, but I could tell she was dying for any tidbit of information. As soon as we got into the SUV, she started talking rapidly.

“Well, Ella? How is everything? I can’t tell by the look on your face, but you look scared to death, which of course has me a little scared. You were back there for a long time, and my imagination is really starting to run away with me.”

I grabbed her arm and squeezed. “I’m sorry. I just got bombarded with tons of information. Thankfully, they gave me reading material and websites to go visit, because I was in such a daze I know I didn’t catch everything the doctor said. She did a pelvic exam and a pregnancy test. They also took blood.” I glanced down at my arm. “Damn, I hope this doesn’t bruise. How am I going to explain I had blood drawn?” I frowned at the bandage currently in place in the crook of my arm.

“And? Come on, Ella. Is everything all right?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes. Sorry. Yes, everything is all right. She confirmed the pregnancy. My hormone levels were low, but she said not to worry that we may have just caught it early.”

“Oh my God, Ella,” Renatta breathed. “You’re going to have a baby!” she said excitedly. “How far along are you?”

“According to her calculations, I’m about six weeks. I have a due date of July 27th.”

“I can’t believe it. A possible Leo baby,” Renatta said shaking her head.

“Huh, I hadn’t even thought of that.” I smirked at her. “Let’s get back to work.”

Once we finished out the day, Renatta and I visited the local Carter’s store in Tukwila. I found exactly what I needed there for my gift to Xavier. I dropped Renatta off and headed home.

Xavier’s black SUV was in its marked spot when I pulled into the garage. I reached over and grabbed the Carter’s bag and stuck it in the bottom of my Coach bag along with the information pamphlets I had gotten from the doctor. Xavier never went into my pocketbook, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.

As soon as I stepped off the elevator, I paused. The soulful sound of Luther Vandross was coming from the living room. I took a deep breath. The wonderful smell of P. F. Chang’s filled my nose making my stomach grumble. What exactly was he up to?

I quickly deposited my pocketbook and camera bag in the bedroom, and headed out to find my handsome man. The only light coming from the living room was from a fire in the fireplace and the colorful glow of the Christmas tree. The lights of Seattle twinkled through the windows behind the tree. I stopped and admired the view for a moment. It looked like the front of a Seattleite’s Christmas card. I made a mental note to grab my camera before the night was out.

Then my eyes found and focused on Xavier. Of course I knew he was sitting there intently watching me because my skin tingled with awareness as soon as I came down the hall. Xavier was tucked in the corner of the couch. His left arm was draped casually over the back while his long legs were stretched out in front of him. He still had his Armani trousers on minus the vest, tie, and jacket. The first few buttons of his dress shirt were undone and he had the sleeves rolled up over his forearms. He looked sexy as hell. He looked very much the same as he did the first night we were intimate.

“Good evening, sweetness,” he said huskily. The way he spoke in that sexy baritone made my nipples harden.

I stood on the threshold of the living room. “Good evening, hotness,” I quietly replied.

He smirked and shook his head before he shrugged off the couch and sauntered over to me. Stopping before me, he placed his warm, long fingers on either side of my neck while his thumbs pushed my chin up forcing me to look him in the eye. His beautiful blue eyes twinkled with amusement. He pressed his lips to mine for a kiss, but pulled away all too quickly.

“Did you have a good day?” he asked.

“Yes, and it seems to only be getting better.” I winked at him. “You?”

“I had a good day, but how it ends is going to be up to you.” He grabbed my hand. “Come. I picked up your favorite for dinner.” He led me to the dining room.

I was surprised to find two place settings made up at the end of the huge dining room table. He used the same white linen tablecloth and crystal goblets from the first time I had dinner with him months ago. A small vase with six red roses was placed in the middle of the place settings with the familiar silver candleholders with white taper candles.

He pulled my chair out for me and gently pushed me in. He leaned over and lit the candles. I noticed a bucket with a bottle of wine sitting off to the side. Shit. I can’t have wine. How am I going to get around this?

“I thought I would change things up a little tonight. I got egg rolls instead of lettuce wraps and pepper steak instead of Mongolian beef. I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. As a matter of fact, anything from PF Chang’s is fine.” I smiled up at him.

He moved to grab the bottle of wine. “If it’s okay, I think I’ll pass on the wine tonight. I’ve been fighting some acid reflux all day, and I’m afraid the wine will only irritate my stomach more.”

He paused and frowned at me. “Okay, baby. Sparkling water or sparkling cranberry juice?”

“Mmm, sparkling cranberry juice would be divine. Thank you.”

Minutes later, he was pouring the sparkling juice into my goblet. He placed all the containers of food on the table. “Dig in,” he said playfully.

I quickly started in on the pepper steak as soon as I devoured an egg roll. Xavier eyed me suspiciously. “Were you hungry, Ella? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat with such gusto. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were …” His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.

“Pregnant?” I shook my head. “Sorry, no such luck. I’m just about to get my period.” The despairing look on his face almost broke my resolve. “Don’t look so sad, hotness. I’ve really enjoyed all of our attempts so far.”

“As have I, sweetness.” He gave me a scorching look. “Finish up. We can give it another go tonight if you’re up to it.”

I continued eating. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would swear you were trying to butter me up for something.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

He put his fork down, took a gulp of his wine, and cleared his throat.

“You are, aren’t you?” I asked accusingly.

“Sweetness, I … I have to travel over the next couple of days. I just wanted us to have an enjoyable night tonight before I have to leave,” he said with a doleful tone.

I gaped at him. “Travel? How long are you going to be gone?” I whispered.

“I need to go to Vancouver. I’ll leave tomorrow. I’m hoping to be back on Thursday.”

My eyes were drawn to the flame of one of the candles. I stared into it wistfully. “Two nights?” I solemnly asked. We haven’t been apart for any amount of time in months.

“I’m sorry, baby. If I didn’t have to go I wouldn’t,” he said apologetically.

“No, it’s all right. I understand. You have a job to do. You news just surprised me.”

He reached over and placed his hand on my forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Listen, I got your text about Tom and Renatta being able to join us for the holiday. So, I planned something special for us this weekend. Just the two of us.”

“Oh?” That got my attention.

“It’s a Bavarian village my parents used to take Gabriel and me to. It’s wonderfully decorated for the holiday.”