The Billionaire's Surrogate: A BWWM Pregnancy Love Story (18 page)

“
I,
Max Anthony Lestrange do take you, Christine Alexandre Richards, as
my wedded partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for
better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

The celebrant then
turned to Christine and gestured to her to follow his lead.

“
I,
Christine Alexandre Richards, do take you, Max Anthony Lestrange, as
my wedded partner, to have and to hold from this day forward, for
better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

“
For
as much as Christine Alexandre Richards and Max Anthony Lestrange
have consented together in wedlock, and have witnessed the same
before this company of friends and family, and have given and pledged
their promises to each other, and have declared the same by giving
and receiving a ring, and by joining hands. By the authority vested
in me by the State of Massachusetts, I pronounce this couple to be
united in marriage. You may kiss,” the judge said with a
pleased beam.

Max looked up at her
and she looked down at him. They both burst out laughing and then
Christine leaned down to peck him on the lips. When her lips touched
his, he opened his mouth and let her in and what was meant to be a
quick acknowledgment of the end of the ceremony became an
experimental exploration with ‘to be continued’ in the
subtext. Christine pulled away, cheeks hot, staring at no-one but Max
as her family cat called and wolf whistled until a nurse came
hurrying in exhorting them to keep it down. Christine found that she
couldn’t stop looking at Max and he looked right back at her.

“
Congratulations
Mrs. Lestrange,” he said to her.

“
Richards-Lestrange,”
Christine corrected.

“
Aha,
so you
will
take my name?”

“
It's
only polite to hyphenate. Everyone knows that.”

Max laughed and laughed
and laughed.

Andrea had been tasked
with bringing in the champagne at this time and she did so, trying
her best to look pleased. Everyone toasted save the bride and groom
who were both off alcohol for health reasons.

Uncle Carl’s
“roommate”, Sean, who was an amateur photographer took
pictures and the celebrations might have continued well into the
night if the nurse hadn’t come in after half an hour to shoo
everyone away.

“
We’re
newly weds, you can’t make my wife go!” Max protested.

“
Fine.
The wife stays but everyone else needs to get out of here. There are
other patients who need their rest.”

That was the cue for
everyone to chorus their goodbyes and leave in an alcohol fueled haze
of delight.

“
We’re
so happy for you. Be happy,” Sadie whispered as she kissed
Christine on the cheek before filing out with the rest. Christine
waved at them as they left and then turned back to her new husband.

“
Well…looks
like it's just you and me kid,” she said.

Christine got home the
next day, still wearing her string of pearls and earrings that Max
had presented her with just before their wedding. They were her
something new. Her wedding dress had been her something old as well
as something borrowed, and the blue diamonds on her wedding ring were
her something blue. She looked at it, still unable to believe it was
real. She was married. Her name was hyphenated. She could audition
for real housewives of Massachusetts if she wanted; or Stepford wives
or even first wives club…though she didn’t anticipate
getting divorced. Maybe if Max fell in love with someone…Christine
dismissed that thought because she didn’t want to think about
it. He’d made a commitment and so had she. She knew they would
both try their level best to keep it.

She opened the front
door, accepting congratulations from the doorman on her nuptials. Max
had said something about putting the announcement in the morning
papers. She guessed it was done then. She went up to the apartment,
contemplating the prospect of firing her grandmother. She really
couldn’t visualize how her own grandmother was supposed to be
her housekeeper. Max had said something about moving her to the
office as head of housekeeping there and she hoped that was done
because otherwise she couldn’t imagine how awkward things were
going to be.

“
Gra?”
she called as she came in. There was no answer so she went to her
room to get out of her jeans and shower. She took her time to
luxuriate…as she lay back in the bathtub letting the bath
salts tickle her skin and the scent of the candle permeate the room,
she wondered if she should move in to Max’s room. She’d
read a few romances in her day, some beginning with marriages of
convenience. Most of those couples retained their own rooms. Most of
those couples also were in the eighteenth century so really not the
best guide…if one were being real, they had already had sex
anyway so maybe Max was expecting…Christine found the whole
thing extremely confusing. She emerged from her shower to see that
she had three missed calls from an unknown number. Her mind jumped to
the hospital and the possibility that something had happened to Max
since she’d left him this morning. She quickly hit the call
back button, breath suspended in fear.

“
Hello
Christine,” a familiar voice said. The breath she’d been
holding completely disappeared.

“
R-Ru,”
was all she could say before she completely ran out of breath.

“
Yes
it's me. I’m in town and I wondered if we could meet,”
Rudy said.

“
You
want to meet? Why?” Christine asked in a whisper, her breathing
returning to normal very slowly.

“
I
think it's time that we talked; don’t you?”

Christine just stood
there with her mouth open, unable to think coherently in any way.

“
Tell
you what; I have a suite booked at the Ritz Carlton – why don’t
you come over here? We can have lunch.”

“
Is
your wife with you?” Christine asked finally.

There was a small
silence on the line.

“
No.
she’s not,” Rudy said at last. “Please. Christine.”

“
Did
you know
I
got married?” Christine asked.

“
I
read it in the paper this morning. I figured since you’ve moved
on this would be a good time to make peace.”

“
Make
peace?” Christine asked in disbelief.

“
Yes.”

Christine
hung up the phone. She was in complete shock here. She put on her
robe and went to the kitchen making herself a hot cup of chocolate
with shaking hands and sparing a moment to wonder at her
grandmother’s whereabouts. She could hear the sound of movement
in the house which meant the day maid was around at least, maybe
Craddock too. There was no sign of breakfast though; understandable
considering that no one had slept at home the night before. She
fished out some baked goods from the bread basket and tried to eat it
but she was too upset. Her heart was beating frantically and her face
was hot. She was all trembly and her hyper-acidity was burning her up
from the inside. She couldn’t
believe
him. How could he do this? Just call her out of the blue to ‘make
peace’…who did that? Seriously who brought up that kid;
clearly they’d missed a few lessons in how to treat other human
beings! Before she knew what she was doing she grabbed her phone and
redialed the number. Rudy picked up on the first ring which is lucky
for him because she was not in the mood to be kept waiting.

“
I
don’t believe you, you know,” she growled down the line.

“
I’m
sorry,” Rudy said, the first time he’s ever said that to
her that she could recall and it rendered her speechless for a
minute.

“
Fine
then. What time?” she asked.

“
Whenever
you’re available,” he said and she ground her teeth in
frustration.

“
Fine.
Now then. I’ll meet you at the Ritz Carlton in an hour.”

“
Okay,”
he agreed.

*****

Christine was extremely
flustered and she couldn't seem to get herself together. Her purse
was MIA and she couldn't find those comfy wedges that give her two
more inches of height yet are comfortable to wear. Her good jeans
were filthy and the ones that she could find have one leg shorter
than the other. She didn't want to wear a skirt or a dress; she
wanted jeans! She used up almost the entire hour putting herself
together so she had to rush out to get to her appointment in time.
Rudy was waiting for her as she entered the restaurant. He didn't
look much different. He still had the curly hair cut in a box with a
line through the side. He’s still well built, still tall as she
can see when he stands up to greet her. He’s kept himself in
good shape; and he looks well and prosperous. Christine was
disappointed; she’d been hoping he’d grown old before his
time, had a receding hairline and a paunch.

“
Hello
Christine. It's good to see you,” he said with a smile.

Christine steadied her
breathing and put a smile on her face. “Hello Rudy. I wish I
could say the same.”

Rudy just ignored that
last part and gestured for her to sit. He sat after her, lifting his
hand for the waiter to come over.

“
So,
congratulations on your wedding,” he said to her.

“
Thank
you,” Christine replied, fiddling with her purse strap. It just
occurred to her that she had a shift starting at 3pm and she did not
know how she would be expected to work in this condition. She could
feel the nausea building; she would throw up on him pretty soon if
she didn’t get to a bathroom.

“
Excuse
me,” she said standing up abruptly and heading for where she
thought the ladies should be. Luckily, she literally run into a
waiter who pointed out the way. She threw up her entire guts and then
cleaned herself up before going back out there to talk to her
ex-fiancé.

“
So.
You have something to say to me? Say it.” She said.

Rudy leaned forward to
cover her hand with his. “I don’t know what I can even
say,” he said.

It was the hand with
her wedding ring he covered and now he was caressing the back of that
hand with one finger. “I don’t know how I can make it up
to you,” he said, his voice hypnotic.

Christine stared at his
hand, waiting for her heart to begin to accelerate the way that it
always did when his hands were on her before. She waited for her
stomach to drop and the dizziness to come. None of that happened. In
fact, her body did not react at all. This was surprising to her and
it took her a moment to assimilate. Rudy took her silence for
permission to get even more handsy with her.

“
Lets
go upstairs,” he whispered to her. “Let me show you how
much I’ve missed you.”

“
What?”
Christine managed to get out at last, she pulled her hand out of his
grip. “Have you lost your mind?”

Rudy shrugged leaning
back in his seat with a wry smile. “It was worth a shot.”

“
You’re
a sick, sick man,” she growled getting up from her seat. “Lose
my number would you?” she said and then walked away. She
couldn’t believe she kept letting this guy get under her skin.
She couldn’t believe she had ever loved that piece of shit; let
alone contemplated marrying him. Suddenly, Christine was feeling a
whole lot more optimistic about the future. What had happened hadn’t
been her fault;
Rudy
was the douche. For the first time since her aborted wedding day, she
felt happy again. She had finally dropped the Rudy baggage from her
life.

*****

Rudy watched her storm
out of the restaurant. He was feeling faintly regretful that she
hadn’t been game for some horizontal mamba. Christine might not
have been very experienced in the sack when they were together but
she had been down to try anything. A very amenable bed
partner…teachable. And he had a whole lot of stuff to teach.
Being with Nat was great and he knew she was the right woman for him,
but being with just one chick was boring; variety was the spice of
life after all. He fished out his phone and dialed a number.

“
Hello.
Yeah, well, the plan didn’t quite work out. She didn’t
bite,” he said.

“
Never
you mind. I had a plan B in place just in case. Thank you for your
help. The money will be transferred to your Caymans account before
the end of the day,” Claire Lestrange said.

“
Okay.
Thank you. Nice doing business with you.”

“
Goodbye
Mr. Sinclair. Enjoy your visit to Boston,” Claire said and then
hung up. She called another number immediately after.

“
Did
you get what you need?” she asked.

“
I
have some great pictures Mrs. Lestrange.”

“
Wonderful,
send them off right away, to
all
the tabloids.”

“
Already
emailing as we speak.”

*****

Christine stopped off
at Kentucky Fried Chicken and ordered half the menu. She was suddenly
ravenous and she had to be at work in less than two hours. It would
surely take her that long to get through all the food on her table so
she got down to it with no further preamble.