Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (24 page)

“You should be fine,” the woman who picked up the phone reiterated. “As long as it’s post marked by today, the 25
th
, we’ll be able to process it.”

Elise let out a sigh of relief, but something about the date struck a chord with her. After getting off the phone, she dug through her purse for her day planner to make sure she hadn’t forgotten any appointments, but it was completely blank.

“Huh,” Elise wondered aloud as she wracked her brain to figure out why the date seemed so significant. Then it hit her. It was Jesse’s birthday. Suddenly, all of the quirks regarding his behavior started to make sense. He was basically asking her if she wanted to go out and celebrate, and she immediately felt awful for having blown him off.

“Isaiah, put on your coat,” Elise said as she started to load the dishwasher. “We need to run a quick errand.”

Two hours later, Elise pulled a whining Isaiah towards the cash register near the front of the fourth store they’d stepped into. After scouring through the mall, she’d finally found what she thought was a suitable gift for Jesse: a long-sleeved sweater that not only was deliciously soft, but also happened to be the exact same shade of blue as his eyes. It was perfect for fall, which was rapidly approaching, and Elise felt sure that he would love it.

The store wasn’t busy, but the line ahead of Elise was moving ridiculously slow. To ward off Isaiah’s whining, she handed him a sucker from her purse that she kept in stock for moments like this one, focusing her attention on the mother and daughter ahead of her. They were discussing how it was only appropriate for girlfriends or wives to buy a man clothing, and she immediately looked down at the sweater in her arms. Without another thought, she hung it back up on the closest rack she could find and exited the store without making a purchase.

“Mommy,” Isaiah whined, gnawing into his sucker. “I’m tired.”

Elise glanced down at her cell phone. When she realized how late it was, she immediately kicked herself for giving him sugar this close to bed. “I know buddy,” she said, giving up on the idea of finding something suitable for Jesse. “Let’s go home.”

Despite his fatigue, Isaiah was still wide-awake when Elise pulled into the driveway. When they entered the house, they found Jesse sitting on the couch watching the tail end of a basketball game. A thick wave of guilt settled over Elise as soon as she met eyes with him. She didn’t want to demean him by simply wishing him a happy birthday.

“Hey, where were you guys?” Jesse questioned, smiling as Isaiah climbed up next to him and snuggled into the crook of his arm.

“Mommy went to buy a sweater, but she changed her mind,” Isaiah stated, putting everything out on the table as usual.

Elise was at least grateful that she hadn’t informed him of the underlying purpose of their visit to the mall.

Jesse looked over at Elise and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t get anything?” he questioned, nodding at the fact that she didn’t have any bags.

Elise shook her head and watched as Isaiah’s eyes began to get heavy lidded. From where she was standing, she couldn’t help but notice how much he mirrored Jesse. It was all there, from his dimples, to his mannerisms, to the color of his eyes.

It was in that moment that the perfect gift for Jesse revealed itself to Elise. “Isaiah, come on,” she spoke up, holding her hand out to her son. “Let’s go get ready for bed.”

Jesse glanced briefly over at the clock on the wall. “It’s not that late,” he protested, meeting eyes with Elise. “Can’t he stay up a little while longer?”

“Jesse,” Elise said in an even tone, giving him a look that told him not to undermine her on this. “He’s already starting to fall asleep. He’s been running around all day.”

“No!” Isaiah insisted, forcing his eyes to stay open. “I’m not tired!”

“Isaiah, come on,” Elise said more firmly. “You can even wear your Superman pajamas. I just washed them.”

Isaiah perked up at the prospect of wearing his favorite pajamas, hopping off the couch and heading upstairs in one fluid motion. As Elise went to follow him, she noticed that Jesse looked a little depressed and a heavy lump of guilt surfaced in her throat.

Elise snuggled up beside Isaiah for a few minutes after getting him ready for bed. She smoothed his hair back away from his face as she spoke, making extra sure he understood her every word.

Isaiah emerged from his room a few minutes later to say goodnight to Jesse, who looked curious when he noticed the secretive grin on his son’s face.

“He wanted to say goodnight,” Elise spoke up, making a point of hanging back in the doorway.

Isaiah suddenly looked shy as he stood before Jesse. He grinned up at him with wide eyes before hoping into his lap and wrapping his small arms around his neck. “Happy birthday daddy,” he whispered, planting a sloppy kiss against his father’s cheek.

Jesse was at a loss for words. Elise found herself ripe with anticipation as she stared at him, waiting to see how he would respond.  It took a moment for him to fully digest what had been said to him, but when he finally did, he responded by pulling his son into a tight embrace.

Elise stared at them as tears brimmed up in the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision. Letting go of that last bit of control wasn’t anywhere as difficult as she’d thought it would be. Satisfied, she backed out of the room, smiling to herself as she walked away.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Jesse went looking for Elise and found her in the kitchen loading up the dishwasher. He leaned against the doorway and remained quiet, studying her as she worked. Even though she didn’t look up at him, he could tell that she was aware of his presence.

“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?” Jesse expressed after a few minutes, taking a step towards her. “Thank you…”

Elise smiled but kept her back turned away from him. She could feel all too familiar emotions reaching a full boil inside of her. Emotions she was far too afraid to express. “You don’t have to thank me,” she said, swallowing down the lump in her throat. “It was long overdue.”

As the days blurred together and summer became something a whole lot more like fall, Isaiah began to call Jesse ‘daddy’ more and more. It was such a gradual shift that Elise hardly even noticed it.

Jesse, on the other hand, had noticed. He’d been waiting a long time to hear his son say the word, and every time Isaiah said it, he felt like jumping for joy.

He wasn’t the only one in good spirits though.

Elise had received the phone call she’d been eagerly anticipating earlier that week, alerting her that she’d won one of her scholarships and was accepted into the university. She had an appointment with the Dean of Admissions later that afternoon, and she couldn’t wait. It seemed like everything was starting to fall into place, but just in case something went wrong a long the way, she kept the news to herself until she was officially enrolled.

Keeping with the current trend in the household, Isaiah was also in good spirits. His first day of first grade was rapidly approaching, and while most kids dreaded going back to school, he could barely contain his joy. He told everyone he came into contact with about his new clothing for his first day, and when Jesse took him shopping for a new backpack, it energized him all the more.

With all of the changes and preparations being made, one very important thing failed to occur to Elise, and that was how much time she and Jesse would be spending alone once Isaiah was back in school. Their son was always a nice defense, enabling them to interact without focusing solely on each other, and now they wouldn’t have that.

Elise considered this as she stared at the calendar on the wall, taking note of Jesse’s work schedule. When she turned around, she saw a smiling woman peering inside the window. She perked up when she noticed that Elise was aware of her presence, holding up a perfectly manicured hand to wave at her.

“Hi,” Elise greeted. She needed to be out the door in five minutes for her appointment, and she didn’t want anything to make her even later than she already was.

“Hi there!” the woman said, giving Elise a slow once over. “I’m Karen, the realtor who sold your husband this house.”

“Oh, he’s not my husband,” Elise said, not explaining any further.

“My apologies,” Karen said, taking note of the toys on the floor behind Elise. “Are you the nanny?”

“Um, no,” Elise stated flatly. What was this woman’s deal?

“Oh, okay.” Karen dropped it, seeming to get the point. “I’m sorry…is Mr. Stone not living here then?”

“Uh, yes, he lives here. He’s just busy at the moment.”

“Oh.” Karen looked puzzled. “Because he mentioned…well he said he was single, so I brought over some free entry passes for a few nightclubs in the area…”

Elise raised an eyebrow and looked down at the vouchers in Karen’s hands. When she looked up, she saw that Karen was eyeing her intently.

“Well, if you want to leave them with me, I’ll make sure he gets them,” Elise said, holding out a hand.

“I’m sorry,” Karen said, appearing visibly mortified. “I hope I didn’t offend you. I didn’t know that Jesse was with someone. Gosh, I’m so embarrassed.”

“It’s fine,” Elise said. “Jesse and I are only friends. We just live together.”

“Oh, I see. You guys are roommates, then?” Karen brightened up immediately. “Well in that case, I’ll leave these with you, if you wouldn’t mind giving them to Jesse and letting him know I dropped by.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure he gets them.” Elise accepted the vouchers and looked down at the time on her cell phone as she did. She really needed to hurry if she was going to make her appointment.

Elise set the information down on the kitchen counter and was about to grab her keys when she noticed that Karen had scribbled her cell phone number on the back of one of the vouchers. There was also, not so subtly, a bright red kiss mark beside it. Elise held onto the piece of paper for a few minutes as she contemplated whether or not to pass this particular voucher along to Jesse.

“Who was that?” Jesse questioned, startling Elise away from her thoughts as he entered the kitchen.

“Your realtor. She dropped off some stuff for you. Something about nightclubs?”

Jesse smirked and rolled his eyes as he glanced down at the vouchers.

Elise watched him turn them over as if there was something else he was looking for. “Here, she left her number too,” she spoke up, holding out the crumpled up piece of paper in her hand to him.

Jesse used the counter to smooth it out before giving Elise a slow once over. He noticed right away that she wasn’t dressed in her normal casual attire.

“Do you have a job interview or something?”

Elise looked down at her clothing. “No,” she said, trying her best to evade the question. “Just running a few errands.”

“Where’s Isaiah?”

“In his room playing. I’m taking him with me.”

“Well…how long are you going to be gone?”

“I don’t know, probably an hour or so. Jeez, what’s with the third degree?”

“Sorry,” Jesse said, rubbing his neck. After a few moments of hesitation, he met Elise’s gaze and made his request. “I was just going to say…you could leave him with me if you wanted.”

“Really?” Elise looked immediately relieved.

“Yeah, I mean…as long as you won’t be long. I have to be at Stone in a few hours.”

Elise agreed, and without Isaiah by her side, she was out the door in a flash. As Jesse stood in the foyer and watched her drive off, he took comfort in her resentful disposition after meeting Karen. She looked a little envious over the fact that another woman seemed interested in him, and at this point, Jesse was pretty sure that Karen was interested. She’d called and texted him several times since he’d closed on his house, and once, she’d even been bold enough to show up at his job. This, however, marked the first time she’d dropped by his house.