SAFEHOUSE (A BWWM BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE) (11 page)

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Chapter 27

Believe
me when I say that being the pregnant girlfriend of a billionaire was not how I
saw my life going... Yet here I was, already twelve weeks pregnant and enjoying
another visit with my doctor. She had been wonderful to me, and I couldn't be
happier to have her on my side.

Dr.
Thibodeau was a world-renowned obstetrician loved by the rich and famous… I was
worried that she’d look down on me, but Julien insisted on the best doctor
money could buy.
So much had happened in the past seven weeks since I had found out that I was
pregnant. We had a long and thorough chat about our future, but I refused to
entertain the idea of marriage just yet—something that seemed to aggravate
Julien to no end.

The
truth is… I wanted Julien to propose to me when he was ready, not because I was
having his child.

Of course Julien insisted on me sharing his bedroom with him and I was all for
that idea, obviously. Anything that let me be closer to him was all right in my
book.
He sat there with me, holding my hand as Dr. Thibodeau squeezed some of that
ridiculously cold gel onto my slightly swollen belly. She ran the instrument
over my belly, smiling when she finally picked up the baby's heartbeat.
"Ah," she began, listening in closely. "The baby is very active.
Heartbeat is at 162."

Julien
grinned over me, squeezing my shoulder. The baby's heartbeat sounded like the
craziest herd of galloping horses you'd ever heard. It always made me smile to
hear it, knowing that the baby was healthy and happy in there.
After Dr. Thibodeau had finished up with me, she gave me the usual European
goodbye and kissed both of my cheeks before giving me a little curtsy. I always
thought that was hilarious, and tried to do the same.
Julien helped me sit up, giving me a kiss on my forehead. It felt so nice to be
loved by someone like this, I had to admit.
But the problem was just that. He loved me so much, and he loved the idea of
this baby and the family that we were starting together.

Not
everyone was quite as pleased…
When Julien sat down to let his mother know about the situation, she hung up on
him immediately. I wasn't privy to the conversation he tried to have with her
after she cooled down a bit, but the way it seemed was that she was not at all
happy.

I
didn't want that to affect me, but it did. I tried to give myself some space to
cry in private.

I
had never met Julien's mother before, let alone any of the rest of his family.
But something told me that they weren’t too pleased that he had taken up with
‘the help’.

How
else would it come across?

Even
though I had no proof of it, I just knew that his family didn't like me, and
were not supportive of what was going on. It hurt to know that they couldn’t
see the love I had for Julien.
"I read that a high heartbeat in the first trimester means a girl,"
he teased me, pulling me into his arms.

I
let out a little sigh as he released me, looking around the room I would give
birth in. I was scared… I knew plenty women liked to do the home-birth thing,
but I just wasn't one of them. Of course, Julien had spared no expense in
making this room in the château a proper delivery room. It put me a bit more at
ease to know I would have the absolute best post possible doctor and nursing
staff on hand when the time came, even if I wasn’t in some big fancy hospital…

"I
guess we'll just have to think of some more girl names, then, won't we?" I
teased him back, intertwining my fingers with his.
Part of me really wanted to be excited, and to fully enjoy the excitement that
danced in Julien's eyes whenever we spoke about the baby. But there was still
that small part… Okay, maybe not such a small part of me, that was still
hesitant.

Maybe it was just me being selfish, but becoming a mother was something I
wasn't sure I knew how to do. I was just going to have to roll with it.

Julien
picked up the phone in the room and dialed for the kitchen, asking Gervaise if
he would mind bringing me and Julien some lunch. Not even twenty minutes later
we had hot sandwiches and soup sitting on the small coffee table between us.
Usually Julien and I liked to have lunch outside when it's nice enough, but it
had been pretty hot since the summer was starting to really blaze down here
between the mountains.
My sandwich practically melted in my mouth, and I groaned, thoroughly enjoying
the taste even if I was going to regret it in a few hours. If there was one
thing I knew, it was that I couldn't wait to be done with the morning sickness.
I had read somewhere that most women start feeling it fade away by now,
especially with second trimester approaching. Apparently, I was one of the
unlucky few who enjoyed morning sickness just a bit longer…. All I could do was
hope and pray that I wasn't going to be one of those cases that had to take
Zofran the entire pregnancy.
His phone rang, and he quietly picked it up, holding up a finger to me to
signify that it was important.
"Yes?" he answered, dabbing at the corners of his mouth. It always
cracked me up to see how manner-driven he could be in the silliest of moments
to me. Nobody but me was watching him eat, yet he found the need to stay as
polite and on point as possible. Me? Ha! I didn't care at this point. I was
wolfing down the sandwich even though I knew there was really no point of it.
"Really?" His voice wavered a bit at the end, and he sounded
incredulous. I raised my brow at him, as if to ask him what was going on.
He took in a deep breath, clearly listening with great detail to the person on
the other line.
I slowly chewed my sandwich, bringing my glass of water up to my lips, not
bothering to take a sip until he looked back up at me. He shook his head slowly,
and I shrugged. Whatever it was I would probably find out eventually anyway. No
need to worry about it now, right?
Julien slowly rose from his seat, not bothering to look back at me as he walked
out of the room.

I
frowned.
Seriously? Not even a backwards
glance?
Sometimes he could be so off-putting and not even realize it, I
swear.
I wanted to follow him, but I knew that would be ridiculous and so I stayed
put, trying to finish my soup as best as I could. Thank God for Zofran, because
heaven knows I wouldn't have been able to eat anything without it. I drank the
rest of my glass of water and picked up the plate, along with Julien's barely
touched food, and loaded my arms full before heading back towards the kitchen.
I struggled down the hallway, but when I heard his voice above the clanging of
the glasses in my arms, I knew something was going on. Something that I wanted
to listen to…
I sat the dishes and food on a nearby hall table, and crept closely to the door
where Julien had shut himself inside the room. It was a room I wasn't familiar
with, and probably just some room that didn't matter much to him, either of
which told me he was quickly trying to get rid of me so that he could speak
freely to the person on the phone.
I didn't know what to make of that, but I knew that I wouldn't just let him
shut me out. His voice carried even further down the hallway, and I leaned up
against the door, trying to carefully listen.
"And there's nothing that can be done?" He roared into the phone,
sounding angrier than I had ever heard him before. Most of whatever
conversation he was having was coming from the other person, so I could barely
make out was going on, but whatever it was, it was not good.
A few minutes later he was quiet, and I heard his footsteps coming quickly
towards the door. I picked up the tray and headed down the hallway and by the
time he opened the door and closed it behind him, I was already a few doors
down. Was I that stealthy? Probably not, but it certainly didn't hurt to try.
 
I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster, and shrugged innocently as he
eyed the dishes. "Sorry babe, I had no idea when you'd be finished. So I
figured I would go ahead and take things to the kitchen. I didn't make it all
the way past the soup," I explained, slowly rubbing my belly for emphasis.
He wrapped his arm around me, placing a quick kiss on my cheek, before taking
everything out of my hands and walking alongside of me. I didn't know what had
been going on, but he seemed fine now. So maybe there wasn't much to worry
about, after all.

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Chapter 28

I
ran my hands across the many different fabrics of clothing hanging in my
closet, contemplating on what I wanted to wear for the day. I had finally had
the chance to sleep in for once, without Marie or someone else barging in to
wake me up at some ungodly hour. I was pregnant, for Pete's sake! What was with
trying to get me up and going so early? Shouldn't I be allowed to sleep in
until nine o'clock? Even Julien had a bad habit of doing that.
My hand went to my belly, absentmindedly rubbing small circles around it,
waiting. Just a few days ago I had finally begun to feel the baby kick, and it
scared me to death. Of course I got over that real fast, and since then have
been enjoying poking around, trying to get the little guy to get moving. I
don't know what it was, but I just had this feeling that I’m having a boy. I
used to joke around with women when they had that feeling that they knew,
because really, how could you know? The answer is that you just do sometimes.
And I felt like maybe this was one of those times.
"Fifteen weeks along, and you're already such a big deal to me," I
said out loud, speaking to the baby. The resounding feeling of popcorn bursting
forth in my abdomen made me giggle. It was as if he knew what to say, without
saying anything. He was a smart little guy.
After I got dressed, I eagerly headed to meet up with Gervaise in the kitchen.
Which seemed to be my new favorite place, especially now that the morning
sickness has faded away. God, I had never been so happy or relieved in my life.
For the most part, anyway.
The scent of blueberries filled my nose way before and made it to the end of
the hall where the kitchen was. I deeply inhaled the air, knowing right away
that it involved blueberry muffins, a staple of my diet as of late. I wasn't
sure what it was, but something about the berries had been making my mouth
water since Gervaise first served some up to me a few weeks back. I smiled at
him as I made it in through the door, giving him a little curtsy as I liked to
do to thank him for making me yet another delicious meal.

Gervaise
didn't have a family of his own, so he lived in private quarters at the château
serving up food whenever I wanted. I didn't know exactly why that pleased him
so much, because cooking definitely wasn't my thing, but hey at least he seemed
happy. He wasn’t a man of many words, but I was definitely thankful for him.
"You keep feeding me like this and I might give birth to a muffin..."
He smiled, placing the silverware by my plate at the table and gesturing me to
have a seat.

I
sat down carefully, throwing my legs over the seat. After a few bites of food,
someone placed their hand on my shoulder and I spun around to see Julien
standing there.
I picked up my fork, stabbing a piece of the chicken and trying to give him a
bite. "Want some? C'est magnifique!" I exclaimed, wiggling my
eyebrows at him with my fancy French. Usually that got a couple chuckles out of
him, but Julien just shrugged it off.
"No thank you love. I'm not really in the mood for eating at the
moment."
He slid his hand off my shoulder and walked away, muttering to himself.
Well. That was really weird.
I let out a sigh, seriously over his down in the dumps attitude. I had no idea
what had been going on in his mind, as he had rarely spoken to me about much
besides my weekly appointments with Dr. Thibodeau. If it had anything to do
with me or something that wasn't revolving around the baby, it didn't seem to
register on Julien's radar…

I
could see he loved me of course. I saw it in the way he touched me when he
rubbed my stomach. I felt it in every kiss.

But
I knew something was wrong…
"Julien? I know you're not hungry and all, but would you mind sitting down
to spend time with me while I eat lunch? I feel like I've barely seen you
today."
He turned away from Gervaise, who gave me a softened look of his own, and
Julien bit his lip. That right there told me that he really wasn't going to
talk, and that maybe there was no point in trying to get him to.
But he still walked over to me, patting my shoulder again as he did. "I
apologize. I'd love to spend more time with you, it's just that there are a lot
of things going on . . . work-related, you see. I was actually just asking
Gervaise if he would mind setting up a catering event at the end of the month
for a possible gathering of the board members here."
I huffed. That was one of my least favorite parts about this whole
arrangement—the work. Julien had been more active in his job than ever it
seemed, even though he was greatly displeased by it. He used to have pretty
much the run of whatever he wanted to do, but lately whether he had been
signing himself up for it or not, he had much more responsibility. And that
meant less time for me and the baby.
He must've seen the gears working in my head, coming to that very same
conclusion. He sat down next to me, swinging his legs so that he was straddling
the bench. "Please don't be angry with me. I know it seems like I might be
avoiding you . . . I'm really not. I just have so much on my plate right now,
and I don't want to upset my family by shirking my duties with the company. As
much as I would love to be doing pretty much anything else, I have a legacy to
uphold for future genreations... For our child…”
I wasn't above pouting, even as Julien was definitely getting immune to it by
now. He ran his thumb over my lips, shaking his head at me as he laughed.
"You can try all you want, Amira. It won't get you anywhere today. I need
to focus now so I can take some time off when our child comes."
I tried to smile at him, but beneath his joking manner, I could still feel the
hum of disappointment. I just didn't know where it was coming from, and even though
he was claiming he was just stressed out from work, I knew that wasn't all.
Julien hopped up, giving me one last kiss before heading out the kitchen. I
wasn't really sure how to feel at the moment. Even the muffins weren’t making
me feel any better.

I
looked out the window to see a small breeze making the short tufts of grass
dance. It'd been so long since I'd gone outside just to admire the beauty of
the valley we lived in, that I thought about doing just that. Maybe it would
clear my mind.
I cleaned up after myself, the dishes clinking together as I set them inside
the sink to quickly wash them off. Of course Gervaise wasn't having that, and
shooed me away before I even got a chance to break out the dish soap.

I
couldn't complain, washing dishes was my absolute least favorite chore if I had
to choose. And it had been so long since I actually had to do them that maybe I
was getting a little spoiled. I vowed to myself to wake up early one morning
and clean the kitchen even before Gervaise woke up, just to surprise him. I
couldn't help but laugh when I wondered what his reaction to that might be.
When the breeze from outside finally hit me as I made it out the entryway, I
closed my eyes, enjoying it. Sometimes it's the small things about nature that
really help you feel put together again. That was something I never had back in
the city, and it was something that I was very grateful for now.

The
faint scent of horses caught my attention. They had been sent off for training
and the estate wasn’t the same in their absence. Without the large, framing
bodies occupying the stables, the building seemed lonely and sad. In fact I
hated being anywhere near it, because it also made me lonely and sad and really
I had no reason to feel like that anymore.
Something about it was drawing me nearer today though, and I found myself
bunching up my long skirt in my fists, trying to make it so that I wouldn't
trip over my feet as I went down the small hill to the building. Julien tried
to warn me now and then about sticking to the path, especially in areas that
weren't usually mowed that often.

The
landscaping company did a very good job and had a specific place around the
château to keep neatly done, but I had gone outside that scope. Where I was the
grass grew tall and in bunches, easily hiding a snake or two. For some reason
though, I didn't really feel like sticking to the path, and found myself
carefully picking my footing over the small mossy rocks along the short
hillside.
A bigger breeze swept past me, managing to ruffle shorter pieces of my dark
hair from my headband. I had finally made it to the building, not even needing
to hold my nose as I went past.

Something
about this whole thing… about the way Julien had been acting… it wasn't
settling well with me. I mean, of course he was stressed out. He was getting
ready to be a father. No one could begrudge him for that—certainly not me.
This was something different, though. I almost felt like he was keeping
something from me, and in the face of his family probably disliking me and
wanting to disown him for our "little indiscretion,” that didn't really
bode well for me.

And
the way he had been so intense on all things baby related… that kind of made me
wonder, too. Was he being genuine about his excitement?

Even
with Julien's loving and charming personality it was hard to believe he saw no
obstacles in our situation. I saw plenty of them, myself. I didn't want to
think that would make me a bad mother, because I felt like I was being
realistic, if anything. I knew I would love this baby more than anything else
in the world —heck, I already did. Maybe that's what he was keeping from me.
Maybe he didn't feel the same...
And now I see why people have such a rough go with it when they have
kids—whether they were married or not married, or not even together anymore.
Babies change everything.
Too much had happened too soon. Maybe he couldn't handle it, and his working
overtime was his way of getting out of it. I hated doubting him, and doubting
everything that had been going on. I wanted to believe it wasn't true.

I
leaned up against the side wall of the stables, facing towards the château.
From the pocket in my blouse, my phone began to ring, startling me.

When
I saw who it was, I felt fear creeping through my body.

"Hi, Agent Wilson."