Wife by Wednesday (19 page)

Debbie smiled. “Of course. You’ll wonder why you waited to take them once you start.”

They talked about the pro’s and con’s of the pill for some time before Debbie asked, “So what else is bothering you?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t had my usual energy lately. At first, I thought I was just being lazy, on an extended honeymoon. But my appetite is gone most of the day and I’m more tired than normal.”

Debbie scribbled a few notes on her chart. “Any fever?”

“No.”

“Cough?”

“No.”

“Nausea, vomiting… change in bowel habits?”

“A little queasy. But I think it’s just because I go so long between meals.”

“Hmmm,” Debbie stood and removed her stethoscope from around her neck. After listening to her lungs, she said, “Lay back.”

Samantha relaxed on the exam table while Debbie pressed on her belly. “Any pain?”

“No.”

“When was your last period?”

Samantha glanced at the ceiling. “I’m due any day.”

“When was your
last
one?”

“I don’t remember. I’ve always been irregular.” A sick feeling started to grow deep in her stomach.

Debbie tilted her head to the side. “What have you and Blake been using for birth control?”

“I’m not pregnant.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

Samantha sat up, unable to lay any longer. “Condoms. And we’ve never forgotten. We’ve blown through nearly every box he owned.” A nervous laugh left her lips.

“Condoms have a two percent birth rate.”

“Debbie, I’m not pregnant.”

The doctor patted her on her arm before reaching behind her and grabbing a cup. “You know where the bathroom is. Let’s remove pregnancy from possible reasons for your malaise so we can start looking for another source.”

Samantha hopped from the table, ignoring the slight tremor in her hand. “Fine.”

The next ten minutes were the longest in her life. Sam searched back in her calendar on her smart phone to the time before she and Blake had met, desperately trying to prove Debbie wrong before she walked back in the room.

But when the door opened, and Debbie stepped through the doors, Samantha’s heart plunged to the ground.

“Congratulations.”

Sam jumped to her feet, shaking her head. “No.”

“We can run a serum test, but these things are accurate. You’re pregnant, not sick.”

Everything stood still. The institutional style clock on the wall ticked away the seconds and the room closed in around her. Sam’s chest started a rapid rise and fall as she struggled to take a deep breath. Tears stung the back of her eyes. “But we were careful.”

Debbie patted her hand and encouraged her to sit back down. “I can see this is unexpected. Maybe you both wanted to wait to start a family, but it is what it is.”

What was she going to do? Blake trusted her. How could this be happening? They’d been careful.

“Sit down.” Debbie helped her on the exam table again. “Take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay.”

“You don’t understand.” How could she. Debbie saw a newly married woman. Anyone else would be thrilled with the news of a baby.

“Then help me understand. What are you afraid of?”

The loving smile on Blake’s face turning to hatred when he learns of the pregnancy.
All the trust and mutual respect would end the minute she told him the news.

“It’s not what we wanted,” Samantha whispered, lost in her thoughts.

“You’re not the first newlywed to get pregnant. I’m sure your husband loves you. He’ll understand.”

But he didn’t love her.

A tear dropped down her cheek.

“Samantha?”

Her gaze traveled to her old friend whose concern was etched into her face. “What’s wrong? You didn’t cry when your mother died, or when your sister ended up in the emergency room.” By now, Debbie was sitting beside her, her hands holding Samantha’s.

Sucking in her bottom lip and forcing her eyes to dry, Sam shook her head. “Women are emotional creatures. Especially pregnant women.”
Oh, God. I’m pregnant.

“Are you sure that’s all it is?”

Unable to tell Debbie the truth, Samantha nodded. “I’m in shock. I need time to adjust.”

“You’ve always adjusted, no matter what’s thrown at you.”

“I know.”

“All right. Let’s go over a few things you need to know. I’ll be sending you to Dr. Marzikian…” Debbie outlined the first few months of pregnancy, which Samantha listened to with half an ear.

As she walked out of the office with a prescription for prenatal vitamins instead of birth control, Samantha never felt so alone in her life.

By the time she reached her car, the tears were streaming down her face and she was helpless to stop them.

****

Jeff Melina, Blake’s personal lawyer, sat across from him shaking a paper in the air. “Your father was a jackass.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I’ve never seen a more iron-clad will in my life. You’d think there’d be some loophole somewhere to negate what he’s asking you to do.”

Not the words Blake wanted to hear. “There has to be something.”

Jeff tossed the papers on the desk. “I’ve looked. It’s like your dad knew you’d marry long enough to collect, then divorce.”

Confiding in his lawyer couldn’t be avoided from the beginning. “Blows my plan all to hell.”

“If you could find an unscrupulous doctor to jack up Samantha’s medical records, saying she’s unable to get pregnant… oh, forget I said that.”

Blake shook his head. “Samantha is seeing her doctor back in LA this week to get on the pill.”

Jeff tapped his desk. “So you
are
sleeping with her. I didn’t think you’d hold out.”

“It was easier to give in than pretend we weren’t interested.” Blake could hardly wait for his flight later that night to get home to sleep with her again. He’d missed her. When they spoke on the phone earlier in the day, she didn’t sound right. Like something was bothering her. He’d asked, but she let on like nothing was wrong.

“You know… there is something you haven’t considered.”

Blake thought himself a very thorough man. “What would that be?”

Jeff leveled his gaze to Blake. “Get her pregnant.”

“What about ‘going on the pill’ did you not understand?”

“You need two forms of birth control that first month.”

Blake stood and started to pace. “Jesus, Jeff. You’re kidding me, right?”

“Women have tricked men into unwanted pregnancies for centuries. They always want equal rights.”

Blake shook him off. “Stop. I know you think I’m an ass, but I’m not that far gone.” Obviously his lawyer was, which might be a good thing in a courtroom, but not in this situation.

“It’s my job to find a way to legally get you what you want. It’s just a suggestion. You might try asking her.”

“Ask her to get pregnant?”

“Why not? She obviously had a price the first time.”

Blake’s jaw started to ache. Jeff was treading a thin line, even if it held some truth. “She’s not a hooker, Jeff.”

“You’re paying her ten million dollars to be your wife for a year and you’re sleeping with her.”

Blake was on the desk in a heartbeat. Gripping the edge, he shoved his face next to Jeff’s. “Don’t go there.”

“Whoa, boy, back off. I didn’t realize you actually cared about her. I’m sorry.” Jeff’s face had gone ashen.

As Blake stepped away, he wondered if he’d have to find a new lawyer. Something in the way Jeff spoke about Samantha as if she were no more than a piece of furniture, made him see red.

“I think we’re done here.” Blake needed to get out of the office before he started throwing punches.

Jeff smoothed his tie as he stood. “If she cares about you half as much as you seem to care for her, she might say yes to having your baby. Women are emotional that way.”

Where had Blake heard that before?

Maybe.

Blake was going to talk to Samantha tonight. Because keeping his father’s shitty will to himself wasn’t something he could do any longer. ‘Honesty is our code word.’ Samantha’s absolute trust in him would make him a better man. It scared him that Jeff thought he could force Samantha into a pregnancy… that Blake would use her that way. Had he deserved that reputation? Maybe he did. There weren’t a lot of people who thought better of him, except maybe her.

Keeping her trust suddenly became paramount.

It was just past six when he walked into his
Malibu
home. The sound of Mary in the kitchen drew him there first.

“I hope you’ve made enough for two,” he said, catching the woman’s attention.

“Oh, you’re home. Thank goodness. I thought I’d have to call you.”

“Call me? Why? Is everything okay?” Blake glanced around the kitchen expecting Samantha to walk into the room. She wasn’t as used to Mary’s services and often stood by to lend a hand with the chores.

“It’s Samantha. She’s hardly come out of your room all day.”

Alarm bells went off in his head. “Is she sick?” He was already walking toward the stairs.

Mary followed behind him, dishtowel in hand. “I don’t know. She said she’s fine, but she isn’t eating and I hear her crying.”

Blake took the stairs two at a time and flew into his room. The door opened immediately and he could hear Samantha in the bathroom. Her sobs thrust a knife in his chest. When he heard her swear, he thought it best to avoid an audience.

“I’ve got this,” he told Mary.

Closing the door behind him, Blake stepped into the doorway of the bathroom and found Samantha sitting with her back to the tub, her head buried on her knees.

“Samantha?” He reached her side as he called her name.

When she brought her tear-soaked eyes to his something inside him ripped apart. What could possible be so awful? For all the talk about women being emotional creatures, he hadn’t seen it with the woman in front of him until now. Her lip quivered and a new round of tears started to fall.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” He started pulling her into his arms but she resisted his touch.

“They d-didn’t work,” she said.

“What didn’t work?” He settled on his knees and kept his hands on her shoulders so she couldn’t turn away.

Samantha reached for a box at her feet, and waved it in front of his eyes. “These.”

It took a few seconds to recognize what she held in her hand. Packages of condoms had been tossed around the bathroom as if Samantha had a fight with the latex. Several boxes were on the counter others by the tub.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

Samantha picked up another box and threw it across the room at a wastebasket. “They didn’t work!” she cried. She grabbed another packet, threw it, and missed.

Didn’t work? What is she saying?

She buried her head on her knees again. “I’m pregnant.”

Oh, hell.
Every nerve in his body jolted. Blake braced himself… for what, he didn’t know. The feeling of dread didn’t come, dismay… no, that wasn’t there either. Shock! Yes, he was definitely shocked. The last thing he thought he’d come home to after an appointment with his lawyer discussing a need for an heir was to hear his temporary wife declare she was going to have his child. His astounded disbelief knowing the trembling woman sitting on the floor of his bathroom was carrying his baby wouldn’t set in for some time.

Damn, no wonder Samantha was so upset.

Blake gathered her in his arms.

She all but crawled in his lap.

“It’s okay,” he cooed in her ear.

Her sobs were so loud, so heartbreaking, that he felt a heavy guilt only the man who put her in this position could feel. “It’s going to be okay.”

And it would be.

Someway.

Somehow.

“Shhh.”

“I didn’t m-mean for this to h-happen,” she hiccupped between words.

“I know.” He did know. Without any doubt, he knew Samantha wouldn’t have ever planned this event.

Vanessa… absolutely! If for no other reason than to be a Duchess.

Jacqueline… probably not, but then she wasn’t mother material.

But Samantha… hell no. His wife was too real for games, too real for this kind of deceit. At least with him. Honesty was their key word, after all.

Blake shifted on the balls of his feet and picked Samantha up to take her away from her war with the condoms. Lord, how was it he had so many boxes of the damn things anyway? Oh, yeah… Vanessa swore she was allergic to anything other than the brand he now saw littered all over the bathroom floor.

In their bedroom, he kept Samantha in his lap and crawled onto the soft surface of the bed. Samantha’s upsetting sobs reduced to whimpers until finally he felt her relax against his chest in what he thought was a much-needed slumber. The entire time Blake held her, stroked her hair, and told her that he was there and that everything would work out.