The Billionaire's Surrogate: A BWWM Pregnancy Love Story (19 page)

She
felt like singing as she got to work, like she was a thousand pounds
lighter even as she was getting bigger physically. She was
very
optimistic about the future.

*****

“
Ma
chérie
, how are you feeling
today?” his mother asked as she came to kiss him on both
cheeks.

“
I’m
doing great
Maman
,
and you?” Max replied with a grin. He was almost buoyant with
happiness; even his mother’s visit couldn’t get him down.

Claire gave a shrug. “I
am alright. I feel sad that you’re here in a hospital bed,
hurting and in pain. It hurts my heart,” she said with a
dramatic hand over said organ.

Max smiled. “I’m
sorry I’ve hurt you mother. But I should be better soon and
back home. I feel perfectly fine actually.”

“
Oh?”
Claire asked in concern.

“
Yes.
I am great.”

“
Alright
then if you are feeling great then how about telling me what is the
meaning of this?” she said proffering her iPad forward; it was
open on a newspaper article about his marriage. He took it and read
it looking up at her finally.

“
Yes
well, Christine and I were married yesterday, we saw no need to wait.
In fact, it was something that you said which made me see that the
sooner the better.”

“
What
did I say?” Claire asked genuinely surprised.

“
You
said that I need a clear line of succession in case something happens
to me.”

“
But…”
Claire said her mouth moving like a fish before she found something
she could say. “You said nothing would happen to you.”

“
I
did. And I have no intention of checking out now. But I do still have
a responsibility and I thought the sooner I fulfill it the better.”

“
And
you are sure that is the right choice? That
she
is the right choice?”

“
Yes,
I’m sure.”

Claire was holding her
iPad out again. “So you are fine with your new bride having
breakfast with her ex-fiancé the morning after your wedding?”
she asked brow furrowed as if she was really puzzled.

Max frowned at her and
took her iPad, looking at the article it was opened at.

NEWLY
WED CHRISTINE LESTRANGE HAS BREAKFAST DATE WITH MYSTERY MAN

Trouble
in paradise already?!? Billionaire Formula One businessman Max
Lestrange’s new wife was seen this morning at the Ritz Carlton
holding hands with a new dude. The guy and Christine appeared to be
really cozy and yes people, we know, pictures or it didn’t
happen right? We happened to get our hands on a few pictures taken on
site which clearly show the two holding hands! Whoopsi! Trouble in
paradise already?

CLICK
HERE FOR PICS

Max found that he was
clicking on the link before he had really thought about it. It was a
punch in the gut to see that it was indeed Christine sitting there,
holding hands with Rudy Sinclair! He stared at the picture as the
blood drained from his face.

“
Max?
Are you okay?” his mother’s voice came from afar and he
tried to take calming breaths and get rid of her before he completely
freaked out.

“
I’m
fine. Would you excuse me mother?” he asked.

“
Yes
of course,” she said picking up her iPad. Max imagined that he
saw a slightly smug smile on her face but he couldn’t be sure
about that.

He
lay back on his pillows. “Right. so…” he murmured
to no one in particular. He didn’t know how he should feel
right now. He wanted to talk to Christine right now, possibly yell at
her for meeting with Rudy of all people the
day
after
their wedding. Was she sleeping
with him? She couldn’t be…they had an agreement even if
it wasn’t a love match; they had shaken on it; no one else but
each other. She wouldn’t go back on that…would she. Max
tried to push it away but she remembered another time that Christine
had said she was over Rudy, that she wouldn’t see him again;
and then had fallen right into bed with him again. But she hadn’t
been married then…hadn’t been pregnant with some other
guy’s baby. She wouldn’t…would she?

“
What
am I doing believing some stupid tabloid mag?” Max said aloud.

“
I
don’t know, what
are
you doing?” Martha asked strolling into the room and unloading
a flask of coffee, some muffins, honey and a fairly large mug.

“
Martha,”
Max says relieved to see her.

“
Max,”
Martha replies.

“
Have
you moved to the office yet?” Martha asked.

“
I
don’t start till Monday. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find
someone suitable to take over for me.”

“
Have
you seen Christine?”

Martha stopped fussing
with Max’s tea and stared at him.

“
I
thought she spent the night here,” she said.

“
She
did,” Max said staring into the middle distance. “And
then she went and had breakfast with Rudy Sinclair.”

“
What?!?”
Martha exclaimed.

Max turned to look at
her. “You didn’t know?”

Martha frowned. “Who
told you that?”

“
Pass
me my phone,” he said and she did so. He clicked onto the URL
that the story had been on and handed it to her already opened on the
picture. Martha’s mouth opened and she looked shocked.

“
So
you didn’t know,” Max said watching her.

“
Have
you spoken to her?” she asked.

“
No.
I just saw this.”

Martha passed the phone
back to him, face impassive. “I suggest you talk to her first
before going off any deep ends.”

“
I
wasn’t planning to go off the deep end,” he protested.
“I’m just…surprised.”

“
I
think that you should suspend thinking and concluding until you’ve
talked with Christine.”

“
Fine.
I’ll do that.”

“
Good.”

“
Pass
me my phone.”

Martha passes him the
phone without a word, pours him some coffee and leaves him alone. Max
dials Christine’s number waiting for her to pick up without a
clear idea of what he’s going to say when she does pick up.

“
Hey,”
she answers just as Max was about to hang up.

“
Hi,”
he replies and finds that he can’t breathe properly.

“
What’s
up? Are you okay?” she asked sounding concerned. There is no
shadow in her words like maybe she’s cheating on their one day
old marriage…

“
I’m…”
Max wants to say ‘fine’ but couldn't quite get the word
out, “confused,” he says instead.

“
Oh?
What’s up?” Christine sounds very light and happy
underneath the concern. Is it because she’s seeing her first
love behind his back?

“
I’m
looking at this picture of you,” he tries to let her know
without mentioning
his
name.

“
Aww
how sweet, what picture is that?” she asks sounding completely
oblivious to even the possibility of wrong doing.

“
A
picture of you…at the Ritz Carlton. And you’re not
alone,” he says.

There is a short
silence.

“
Oh,”
she says at last.

“
Oh?
Is that all you have to say?”

“
This
isn’t a conversation to have over the phone.”

Max’s heart drops
to his feet. “Just tell me what you were doing there with him.
Have you been seeing him this whole time?”

“
No!”
she exclaims and the surprise in her voice that he would think that
seems honest enough.

“
Then
what then?” he asks. He’s almost yelling in his upset.

“
He
called me this morning wanting to talk. To make peace. I thought it
was bloody time so I agreed.”

“
So
that was a smoking the peace pipe type meeting?”

“
Yes
and no.”

“
What
do you mean yes and no!” His efforts to keep from yelling were
quickly falling by the wayside.

“
I
mean I went there with the intention of…you know, laying that
ghost to rest but it turned out he had other intentions so I left.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes.
Really.”

“
Okay
then…will I see you later?”

“
I’m
at work right now and I’ll be leaving here late. I thought I’d
get some sleep and come see you tomorrow.”

The silence was heavy
with unsaid things for a moment.

“
Okay
then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Yeah
okay, so…er have a good day.”

“
You
too.”

*****

Max was a bit more
settled after that phone call but he was also rather perturbed at the
level of his upset. He wanted to leave his bed and maybe go and kill
Rudy Sinclair. He also wanted to strangle Christine for going to meet
with him.

“
Your
grand daughter will be the death of me,” he complained to
Martha when she came back into the room.

“
Will
she now?” Martha said not sounding very concerned.

“
Yes.
We haven’t been married one day and I already want to lock her
in the basement,” he bit out.

“
Oh?
I didn’t know we had a basement,” Martha said packing up
the snacks that Max had neglected to eat. “Was the food not to
your liking, would you like something else?”

Max just gave her a
side long glance. “What? Nothing to say about my potential
caveman tactics?”

“
How
you and Chris conduct your marriage is none o’ mine. I learned
long ago not to get in the middle of people’s marital woes.”

Max raised his
eyebrows. “Even when they ask you to?” he asked.

“
Especially
when they ask.”

Max laughed.

“
I’m
going to leave you to rest now. Any special requests for your
dinner?”

“
Something
with fish in it; maybe French fries? Some salad.”

“
Okay
then. I’ll leave you to rest. Try to get some won’t you?”

“
Yes
mom,” Max said with real affection. Martha just smiled as she
left.

*****

“
I
need you to leave,” Cordelia told Kevin when she got home that
day.

“
Leave?
Girl watchu mean?”

“
I
mean to the left baby boy, everything you own in a box to the left,”
Cordelia pointed. There was actually a suitcase in the corner that
seemed to be packed. Kevin had been home all day and hadn’t
noticed it.

“
I
hoped you’d take your things and be gone by now but clearly you
need to hear the words,” she said.

“
Where
is this coming from baby?” Kevin coaxed standing up and coming
toward Cordelia.

“
Look
you got your fifty grand; could you go blow it somewhere else. I
meant what I said to my daughter about turning over a new leaf and
clearly you ain’t the man to do that with.”

“
Why
not? Why not me? What’s wrong with me?”

Cordelia
put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Let me count the
ways…” she said and proceeded to break down to him the
various ways he’d let her down including going behind her back
and telling the lawyer to proceed with Max’s extortion when
she’d
specifically
nixed that idea.

“
So
what? So you think you better than me just coz you got cold feet at
the last minute? You was just scared they was goin to find you out
and cut you off from the fambly. You ain’t no better than me so
don’t be frontin here like you are,” he sneered.

“
Fine.
I’m not better than you. I still want you to go,”
Cordelia said swiveling her head with attitude and pointing to the
door. She could see Kevin wanting to argue further but she just
gestured again for him to leave and that shut him up. He walked to
the suitcase and picked it up and then looked at her again.

“
Where
am I supposed to go?” he asked sounding heart broken.

“
Call
Tyrone. How the fuck should I know. I look like your mama?”
Cordelia asked holding the door open for him.

Kevin inclined his
head. “You’ll be calling me when you lonely. Don’t
expect me to pick up,” he said as he walked past her.

“
Uh
huh. Whatever you have to tell yourself boo boo,” Cordelia said
and closed the door firmly behind him. She had fifty grand and her
daughter had just married a billionaire. It was time she was done
with the hood rats.

*****

Max would have gotten
some sleep; in fact he had fully been intending to – but his
phone was switched on and apparently everyone in Massachusetts had
seen both his marriage announcement and the story about Christine
meeting some mystery man for breakfast. As a result his phone was
ringing all day with people either extending congratulations or
trying to find out more details. Worse yet, a tabloid got hold of his
number and called him for comment on the story. After that, he
switched off the offending device wondering belatedly where Andrea
had got to. But even after the phone was off he was too agitated to
sleep. He was tired of being at the hospital. He wanted to be home in
his bed…with his wife. The word felt strange on his tongue and
yet at the same time it fit perfectly. Dr. Benson came around to
check him that evening and the first question he asked as soon as he
caught sight of him was when he could go home.