That Night In The Bahamas (BWWM Romance Book 1) Read online

  Dee had certainly been eating more since she stayed with Ricardo, not watching what she ate nearly as much. It was hard to do so with a private chef always there to offer up a tasty meal. She wasn’t used to watching what she ate, being blessed with a good figure and fast metabolism. She was tall, and her thighs and waist were thick but evenly proportioned, a true body jackpot that many people envied when Dee was growing up. She was still certainly insecure often about being too thick or too wide. Anastasia was making all those junior high insecurities flood quickly back to Dee’s vulnerable mind. She could feel the pregnancy hormones sending tears to her eyes. She wanted to run out of the room and never see Anastasia again.

  “We’re going to have to let these out or you’re going to have to lose some weight,” Anastasia told her. She rolled her eyes and started shifting through the clothes. “These are all going to be way too small.”

  “That’s definitely not going to be possible,” Dee replied. She thought about insulting Anastasia’s measuring skills and blaming it on her taking down the wrong information. She felt there was no use, however, and decided to just tell her the truth so she might lighten up a bit. “I’m pregnant.”

  “I knew it. I thought I saw a receipt for a pregnancy test on one of his cards,” Anastasia said. “He always gets automatic emailed receipts. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and figured you bought it for one of your sisters or retail friends.”

  Dee had something new to cry about. Anastasia was really laying into her, showing her clear judgement over the situation. “I know it might not seem like he’s happy, but I’m really excited about this Anastasia. Your support would help.”

  “Support? I bet you’re really happy with yourself, aren’t you? You managed to trap him in less than a month,” she said coldly.

  “It’s not like that Anastasia and I really don’t appreciate you saying that,” Dee explained. Anastasia rolled her eyes.

  “Well I guess the rest of this fitting is useless. I’ll have to see if the company is willing to do a fall maternity line I guess,” Anastasia said sarcastically.

  “We can just find another model if it’s that big of a deal,” Dee responded, annoyed.

  “The dresses will work but we might have to find someone else for the jeans,” Anastasia said, collecting garment bags and walking out.

  *****

  Dee sat on the couch and flipped through the channels as Keisha played on the floor. Dinner had been served by the chefs and she still had yet to see Ricardo emerge from his office all day. After the treatment she received from Anastasia, Dee was ready to lock herself in a room as well.

  Just as she thought it would be best to give up hope for Ricardo, she heard his office door open and him come rushing down the spiral stairs. He looked good, clean, and not like he had been hiding in his office since Sunday.

  “I want to take you two out,” he told Dee, standing cheerily in front of the couch.

  “Woah hold on, I haven’t seen you in a few days, don’t you want to tell me what’s going on?” Dee asked.

  “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t feel good when you told me that,” he explained. “At first, it was bad news.”

  Dee felt bad, signaling to Ricardo she didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Keisha.

  “No, but it’s OK now! I realized it was only out of fear,” he explained. “I’m just scared I won’t be a good dad again, or that the child will hate me.”

  “I know, I’m scared too,” she told him. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll have each other.”

  “I want to be a father again. After I finish the fall collection, I can take time off just for you two,” he told her. “I want to make this work Dee, but first I have to show you two gorgeous ladies something. Do you want to go on an adventure Keisha?”

  “Yes! Yes!” she shouted.

  “What do you mean?” Dee asked.

  “I can’t tell you. And you’ll have to wear a blindfold,” he told the unsuspecting Dee.

  “You want me to wear a blindfold?” Dee asked, starting to get skeptical about his intentions again.

  “Just trust me. I promise you can trust me,” he told her.

  Part of her still worried that he wasn’t being genuine. Of course, he was doing the right thing. Someone in his position should step up to help care for her, however, she didn’t want to force him to do it. She was relieved to hear those words come from his mouth, but she still couldn’t help but wonder if it was legitimate or just feeding her what she wanted to hear.

  Once they got in the car, Ricardo made Dee slip on an eye mask, so she couldn’t peek at where they were going. She knew the city pretty well, however, and kind of had an idea where they might be going. She didn’t want to get too excited, however.

  “OK, take your blindfold off,” Ricardo told her after they had been driving for several minutes. When Dee looked out her car window, she saw the house that she had pointed out to Ricardo. The for-sale sign that had been in the yard for over a decade was now gone, and instead of sneaking in through the fence, they were sitting parked in the driveway.

  “Where are we?” Keisha asked from the back seat.

  “What’s going on?” Dee asked.

  “I want to make this place beautiful for you,” he said with a smile on his face. Dee couldn’t believe what he had told her. All over again, she thought she might be dreaming. This time, she was afraid of waking up. Things seemed like they were all becoming a little too good.

  “OH Ricardo, I don’t believe it,” Dee responded, tears streaming down her face. She knew the waterworks were going to be inevitable.

  “I’ve spent the last couple of days trying to find the actual owner of this place. He practically gave it to me for free. It’s going to take some time to get done and might not make it until after the baby, but once it’s done, it’s going to be incredible,” he told her.

  “Ricardo, this is just, I don’t know what to say,” she told him.

  “Say you’ll move in here with me? Once it’s done? Us three plus one on the way, what do you say girls?” Ricardo asked. Dee felt her heart falling into her stomach. She couldn’t believe what he was asking.

  “You hate Detroit though,” Dee said.

  “No, I don’t hate it,” he said in a high-pitched tone. Dee could clearly tell that he was stretching the truth just a bit.

  “Come on, you said you didn’t think it was a good place to raise kids!” Dee said, not wanting him to get away with any stretched truths.

  “Well, I don’t have to spend all my time here, but I’ll definitely help out with you girls when you need it,” he told her. Dee wasn’t completely satisfied with that answer. She just wanted someone who was going to be thrilled that she was carrying their child. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

  It didn’t look much different than the last time they had snuck in, but now, Dee could call it her own. She would have the house that she always dreamed of. Even though the place was covered in cobwebs and Dee had seen a rat run through at one point, she felt like it was the most romantic place on earth.

  “Ricardo, I can’t believe it,” Dee said, crying. The house was destroyed, but it was beautiful. He leaned in and kissed her head, moving down and kissing her mouth.

  “Mommy, this place is scary,” Keisha said as she wandered a bit from the two.

  “Sweetie don’t go too far.” Dee was honestly a bit worried about the safety of the overall structure of the place.

  “Well Keisha, that’s because we’re going to have to fix it up together,” he told her. “You can decorate your very own room. And your little brother or sister will get their own room too,” he said to her sweetly.

  “If you say so,” Keisha responded, weirded out.

  Even though she was feeling a bit insecure about the status of their relationship still, she enjoyed the sight of the two of them bonding. At that moment, she was in her new home with her new family, and nothing was going to take that joy away from h
er.

  *****

  “My son, you’re more handsome every day,” Ricardo said with a smile as he opened the front door. Ricardo decided to invite his son, Pablo, to visit him in Detroit. It had been over a month since he last saw his growing teenage son, and he wanted him to meet his new family.

  Pablo really was the spitting image of his father. He was cute and charming, and made Dee wonder what Ricardo was like as a child.

  “Pablo, this is the beautiful and intelligent Dee I’ve been telling you about, as well as Keisha,” Ricardo said, gesturing to the two girls.

  “Nice to meet you,” Dee said, shaking his hand. He was the same age as Jordan, so Dee was excited to get to know him. “Keisha can you say hi?”

  “Keisha, this is my little boy, can you believe it?” Ricardo asked.

  “He’s not that little,” Keisha said, the three of them laughing.

  “Nice to meet you Keisha. I’ve heard so many things about you,” Pablo said. He didn’t have his father’s thick Spanish accent, but Dee could still tell from his deep voice that they were related. It was strange to see the two next to each other like that, a clear comparison in front of her that allowed her to see the magic of genetics.

  With Keisha having her mother’s features and Ricardo’s only son having his father’s, Keisha wondered what the baby growing inside of her would turn out like. Both children were gorgeous, so she was even more anxious to meet the little peanut growing in her stomach.

  “What good things do you have to tell me about your life?” his father asked, beaming brightly to see his son. Dee could tell that he really loved Pablo.

  “Well, I think I might be in love,” Pablo responded with the same smile that stretched across his father’s face. Their eyes even squinted the same way when they smiled, too.

  “Oh, son, that’s so wonderful. To be in love must be one of the greatest feelings, I envy you!” he told his son while squeezing his shoulders. “Tell me all about her!”

  “Maybe later,” Pablo responded.

  All the while his son and him caught up, Dee couldn’t get the sound of what he had just said out of her head. Why did he envy his son? Was he not in love at all? Dee certainly wondered about his feelings for her, but at the same time, she assumed he was feeling something deep down.

  Maybe he just didn’t want his son to know that he was in love with Dee, but he probably could have phrased a few things differently.

  Dee liked seeing him interact with his own child. She could see that he treated Keisha the same.

  All she wanted for Keisha was someone who treated her like their own child. She felt like she might be getting that from Ricardo. She wondered at first but seeing the two of them together reminded her that he was going out of his way to make the little girl feel special.

  There was no doubt that he was going to be a good father. Dee wondered a bit just because he was a little hard on Keisha in the beginning, but she could trust that he would take care of his child.

  On the other hand, Dee wanted someone that could also take care of her. Would this be yet another relationship that she would have to pick herself up from?

  Chapter11

  Dee walked by his office, seeing that the door was wide open. For the first time, she could see in completely. Even though she had been inside before, his office was feeling very exclusive, as if it was a “members only” type status. Dee felt strange being in there without his invitation still, so she didn’t walk all the way in just yet.

  Instead of locking himself inside or laying on his desk, he was talking to his son, laughing, joking, and having a good conversation with each other. Dee felt good knowing that he was in such a great mood, a change that she wasn’t used to seeing from him. It was nice to see him so thrilled for once. She wondered if it was just because of his son or if the upcoming baby had anything to do with his elevated mood. She certainly hoped that was the case, but she didn’t want to get too ahead of herself.

  Dee listened in to see what they might be discussing. It might not have been right for her to do, but they seemed to be having an intimate conversation and Dee didn’t want to just interrupt that right away. She wanted Ricardo to have a chance to reconnect and get closer with his son. Dee didn’t want to stand in the way of anyone’s relationship and seeing how he interacted with other people he loved would give her a little insight into what it meant when he interacted with her certain ways.

  “So, how is your mother?” Ricardo asked. That felt strange for Dee to hear. She knew that Pablo obviously had a mother, but the last thing she really wanted to think about was who that was. Did Ricardo still have any feelings for her or was she completely dead to him? Dee clearly had some insecurity issues as it was, so having to question what his feelings were for a different woman was not something she wanted to think about.

  “She’s doing fine. You never ask about her,” he said. She had looked up his ex-wife at one point, the internet giving very little information about that. She didn’t even know her name, only a few pictures showing the very private couple. On one hand, she liked that he kept things to himself. On the other, she just wanted to be able to have more things to snoop!

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about her. You mostly, and when you were just a little boy. But, you know she was there too, so she certainly crossed my mind,” he told his son. That felt strange for Dee to hear as well. What was Pablo like as a little boy? Was he wild like Roman or reserved like Keisha? Dee would likely never get to know. She could see that he had a decent relationship with his son then, but he was a teen now, meaning it was certainly easier for him to understand and communicate with his son now than when he was, say, a 4-year-old boy.

  Dee felt strange. They hadn’t talked about his previous relationship before, this being the first instance that he ever mentioned her. She didn’t even know when they got married, how long they were together, or pretty much any other detail about this woman that had a child with the man she was going to have a child with. She did know that she had huge crystal blue eyes, as that was the only difference between Ricardo and Pablo.

  She listened for only a moment longer, walking way when she felt she was overstepping their privacy. She knew she shouldn’t have listened in on their conversation in the first place. It wasn’t right for her to invade their privacy, but part of her felt that this was the only way she was actually going to get any information out of Ricardo when it came to his personal life. He was a very creative and artistic person, but that didn’t mean for one second that he was open about his emotions or easy to understand.

  Dee didn’t know how to process everything that she heard. She couldn’t help but overthink a few things. For the past few years, Dee felt pretty old, growing further and further from her teenage years and approaching her 30s. Being with Ricardo, she felt young again, but not necessarily in a good way.

  She felt like the kind of young you did in high school when your teachers would remind you that you were all still kids. The kind of young that came when in a group of people that were all older and smarter than you, looking down based on a number alone. Dee was worried that Ricardo had insecurities about this too. She was still just a kid herself when his son was born, so how would they work together as parents? Would he have some outdated views that Dee would need to help him ditch? She certainly hoped not.

  Dee went and checked on the sleeping Keisha, who seemed to be napping more than ever now. Dee didn’t mind having some time to herself, but she was still a little disappointed that now she had all this time to spend with Keisha, but Keisha was just spending it all with her eyelids closed.

  Dee walked into her bathroom and decided to get ready to go out to dinner that night. They were headed back to The Whitney, Ricardo falling in love with the place the first time they had gone. It was cute that he was getting a little attached to the area and made her a little more hopeful that they would be able to live in Detroit together and raise their child as a couple. Only time would tell if that would actually
be the case, however, something Dee couldn’t fully grasp. She looked in the mirror as she changed into a simple black dress, realizing her stomach was already popping out.

  The days were zooming by, and Dee promised herself to enjoy every moment she could before it all slipped away from her. It might not be easy, but it was a challenge she was going to try and complete.

  *****

  As they sat down to dinner, Dee couldn’t help but think about all the things she had overheard between the father-son duo earlier. She would have to remind herself what she had overheard versus what Ricardo had told her in person, so she didn’t get the two things mixed up. Dee looked at the menu, deciding the lobster tails were the last thing she ever hoped to see in her life again. They were delicious the night she ate them, but after throwing them up and seeing them in the bottom of her toilet, she considered never going to the ocean again just so she wouldn’t have to remember that.

  She was still having some morning sickness, making it a challenge to even be in the same restaurant that served her the lobster a few days ago. She decided to just order a steak, the red meat sounding super appealing. During her pregnancy with Keisha, meat was her biggest craving, the meatier something was the better. Hopefully this pregnancy would be similar, as she always feared that she wouldn’t be able to eat her favorite foods at moments in her pregnancy. Sydney certainly had a challenge when she was carrying Roman, the little baby seemingly turning down everything that Sydney tried to eat.

  “Well son, I brought you out to a nice restaurant because we have something to tell you,” Ricardo told him.

  “I’m glad I came out. It’s a lot cooler here than what I would have thought,” Pablo responded. “So, what’s this big news?”

  “You’re going to be a big brother,” he said, patting his son on the back. That was another strange reminder Dee hadn’t thought about much. This baby was going to have an older brother as well as an older sister. He lived all the way in L.A., but Dee still hoped that they’d manage to have a close relationship.