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

  Dee wanted to be positive about it all, but she was certainly feeling anxious about his true feelings. The worst-case scenario would be that he cut ties with Dee, sending her back to her mother’s house to have two children to take care of alone. He wouldn’t have any problem being there financially, and while that was a relief for Dee and a comfort she didn’t have for the last pregnancy, that wasn’t all she needed to feel better about having this child.

  She watched Keisha play on the ground, wondering what it would be like to watch two children playing. She loved her siblings more than anything. Though there was a bit more of an age difference between her and Sydney than most siblings, the two girls had managed to become best friends. She also had some cousins that she grew up with, always having built-in friends to play with. Jordan was a nice addition to the family, though Dee was almost twice his age, meaning she was already a teen when he was trying to play like a kid. She would have enjoyed being closer in age to her siblings, but they certainly would have turned out differently.

  Dee had to step up and take care of her siblings a lot while their mother was working or dating. If Dee wasn’t there to help take care of the kids, who would have been? Without any parental guidance, they might have turned out much worse. Dee was disappointed Sydney hadn’t gone to college, but that wasn’t really her interest. She wanted to study cosmetology but getting pregnant with Roman put a wrench in that plan. She was always more interested in beauty and glamour than Dee, making her wonder if Sydney was having trouble with her new spontaneous job. Sydney probably would have killed to get the opportunity that Dee was blessed with.

  Part of her considered ending the pregnancy as well. She didn’t think about that as an option when she found out she was pregnant with Keisha. She knew that she was in love with Ozzie and wanted to keep the baby. Having so much love inside of her felt wrong to take away, but she couldn’t be selfish in this decision. How would Keisha react to being a big sister? Loving Ozzie and wanting a family made her decision with Keisha so much easier.

  Could she say the same about Ricardo? She still couldn’t imagine what it would be like to stop her pregnancy. What if Keisha was never born? Dee didn’t know if she would still be alive. Keisha had become her light on her darkest days. To Dee, there wasn’t anything greater in her life than her daughter and her nephew. She loved them so much that she didn’t think there was any other option than to keep the child growing inside of her.

  Once she knew Anastasia was out of earshot, she finally got the courage to call her doctor for an appointment. Before she made any more decisions, she had to get the baby checked out and make sure everything was legit. She still had her OBGYN saved in her phone even though she was due for a normal checkup. He was one of the best doctors in Detroit, so Keisha felt the most comfortable going to him. She never would have thought this was the situation she’d be in when she called him again.

  “I need to schedule an appointment,” Dee said with a shaky voice. She didn’t know if she’d ever have more kids, and the situation she was in was certainly the last she would have ever thought she’d be in when she found out she was pregnant with her next baby. It didn’t feel real at all. Before she had Keisha, she’d have dreams that she was pregnant, scared about what her true options were. This certainly felt like a dream, and the hold music on the other line only cemented that fantasy.

  “I don’t have anything for two months. But I did have someone cancel today’s 2 P.M. appointment if you can make it in by then,” the woman on the other line told Dee abruptly, interrupting Dee’s stream of consciousness during her period on hold.

  “I’ll be there,” Dee responded nervously. Jonathon would be there by that time, and part of her assumed that Ricardo wouldn’t be coming out of his office for the rest of the day. Dee was a little excited to get out of the house again at least. She wondered if it would feel strange to be home the same time as Jonathon, but at least now she would get some use out of the nanny that she had hired. She didn’t feel like it was totally necessary, but Anastasia and Ricardo were insistent on having extra help there in case anything came up. They probably never would have assumed that this was going to be the issue that came up.

  *****

  Dee looked around the cold office, wearing nothing but a gown having just peed into a cup. The doctor always felt like he took ages to make it back into the room. Why did the rooms at the doctor’s office have to feel so cold? It made sense that there were bright lights to help make sure doctors could see everything when they were doing certain examinations, but there should have been a warmer mode where the doctor could dim the lights and create a more welcoming environment for the patients that were nervously awaiting results in the office.

  “Congratulations,” the doctor said as he walked back into the room. Dee sat up, ready to hear the news. At that point, congratulations really could have went either way. Dee knew what he really meant by his comment, however. She swallowed hard, ready to hear more about the little thing growing inside her body. It was probably smaller than a bean, but as soon as he said that word to Dee, she felt a light in her stomach, almost as if she could feel the beating heart pulsing in her body. She wanted to cry and wasn’t quite sure if they would be tears of happiness or streams of panic. She squeezed her nails into her palm just to double check that she wasn’t dreaming.

  “So, it was positive?” she asked. She knew the answer, but hearing things repeated out loud made them make more sense to Dee for some reason. “You’re positive, it was, positive?”

  “Yup,” he told her. “You found out early. You’re only about four weeks along.”

  Four weeks? Dee hadn’t realized that it had been that long since she had gone on vacation in the Bahamas. Ever since she first kissed Ricardo, everything else had seemed to sort of blend together. She wondered if she had just woken up in an alternate universe.

  “I’m really pregnant?” Dee asked. She had wanted something exciting to happen during her days of zoning out as assistant manager. She dreamed about someone coming in and taking her away from that terrible situation, so Dee was starting to feel like she wished Ricardo into existence. That old saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ seemed more relevant to Dee now than ever.

  “Looks to be that way. Is this something that you didn’t want to happen? I can refer you to a few places,” her doctor told her. What places was he talking about? Dee needed help, but probably not anything that he was trying to offer. She could use a bar, but with the announcement that she was pregnant also came the realization she had at least nine months before she could start drinking again.

  “No, this is good. I think I can do this,” she responded. Was it bad that one of the first things she thought about after getting the results was how much worse her breasts might look after she breast-fed this next baby? Was it going to be a little boy or a little girl? What if there were twins? Triplets? She knew that didn’t happen often, but nothing that was happening to Dee was probably something that happened very often.

  “If you need help, you know who to call. I’ll want to see you again soon, but in the meantime, start taking prenatal vitamins and give up everything else you did for Keisha. You remember those things, right?” he asked.

  “Yeah, definitely,” Dee responded. “I can do this,” she told herself again.

  She really thought she could.

  Chapter10

  Dee got home to find Keisha eating at the table. She had known before she went to the doctor’s that she was likely pregnant, but she still felt pretty strange coming home now, knowing that it was certainly the truth. She had pinched and poked herself a few times, and at one point in the bathroom at the doctor’s even told herself to wake up. She wasn’t dreaming, however, and the reality of the situation was starting to dig its claws into Dee’s brain.

  The house was still quiet, Jonathon cleaning up some dishes in the kitchen. “Mommy!” Keisha shouted as soon as she saw Dee.

  “Hi baby,” Dee said, walking up to her
little girl. “How was she today Jonathon?”

  “Horrible. This is the worst child I’ve ever seen,” he said seriously. “Just kidding she’s an angel.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that,” Dee said laughing. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here to help you out on your first day.”

  “Don’t sweat it. We had a blast playing together. And she showed me the beautiful artwork on the couch,” Jonathon explained.

  “Yeah, we’re really proud of our little Picasso,” Dee joked. “I’m not going anywhere the rest of the day, so if you want to head out you can. We’ll still pay you, of course.”

  “Are you sure? I feel like that was too easy,” he said.

  “Get out of here before I change my mind! Is Anastasia home?” Dee asked.

  “No, she left a few minutes after you did. He still hasn’t come out of his office all day,” he told her.

  They were supposed to start the shoot that week, and Dee was starting to get nervous. Would he cancel everything, or did he still want to continue on with the shoot? Did he still want her to be his model? Part of Dee worried that he would see her in a different way now that she was pregnant. He already knew that she was a mother, but now she had two kids. For someone who didn’t like children, or at least said he didn’t in the beginning, how was he going to accept this? The last thing she wanted was to worry if he thought that she was gross or wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship anymore. She felt like they were so close to actually becoming official. She had to admit to herself that part of her heart was latching onto his.

  Dee sat down on the couch again, watching Keisha play after her post-lunch snack. She was barely pregnant, and she was already feeling exhausted. She needed to talk to Ricardo quick, so she could start to feel better about the situation. She didn’t want to put her baby through any stress. That just wasn’t fair for him or her. She knew her baby was going to feel everything that she did. They were in this pregnancy together, so she needed to clear things up with the father.

  There was one person that she needed to talk to more than anyone, however. Her own daughter was going to be a big sister, a life-changing event. Did she know what that meant? Would she handle it well? Dee had heard horror stories about firstborn children lashing out or even harming their little sibling. Keisha had never hurt anyone, not even her cousin Roman after he bugged her too much. Dee never knew what could come out of a child, however.

  “Baby will you come here?” Dee asked her daughter, wanting to have this conversation with her little girl.

  “What Mommy?” Keisha said, really into her dolls. She was already starting to remind Dee of a teenager.

  “Keisha, you’re going to be a big sister. Do you know what that means?” Dee asked as she lifted Keisha onto her lap.

  “You have a baby?” Keisha asked, pointing at Dee’s stomach. Keisha had seen pregnant people before and knew that she used to be a baby inside her mommy’s belly. Did she grasp what it meant that there was another baby growing inside her mother?

  “Yeah, exactly!” Dee cried. She couldn’t believe that it was real. There were tears streaming down her face, and she realized the pregnancy hormones were already kicking in.

  “Mommy why are you crying?” Keisha asked.

  “I’m just so excited. I love you so much and I already love your little brother or sister so much,” Keisha said. “Are you excited?”

  “I guess so,” Keisha said, still holding one of her dolls.

  “OK, if you have any questions, you can ask me anything about the baby or my belly, you know that right?” Dee asked her daughter.

  “Yes Mommy. Can I go play again now?” Keisha asked, leaving the crying Dee on the couch. She realized she might be a little more emotional about the new baby than Keisha, as to be expected, of course. Little Roman would have another playmate as well, and Dee felt that Keisha and her little sibling would do pretty well together despite their larger age gap than most siblings.

  She wasn’t far along enough yet to tell everyone, but she knew she could trust her sister and Ricardo to not tell anyone. If there was one thing Sydney was, it was loyal. She wanted to tell her mom and her grandmother, but it was best to just wait before they made a big fuss. She considered letting them know that she had been seeing Ricardo at least so the pregnancy wouldn’t be such a shock. They might not handle that well either, so Dee decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Was there even anything between Ricardo and Dee that was worth writing home about?

  Of course, they had created a child, so that was super important. But they had only done that so far. They didn’t exchange any other reaffirmations, such as saying “I love you,” or even calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. The doctor said she was around four weeks, but it was likely more three as that was how long it had been since her and Ricardo first slept together. She had been back in Detroit for longer than she realized when she saw Ricardo again.

  Dee tried to not think too much about her anxieties about the relationship and instead wanted to start to get excited about having another little cutie to snuggle and hold. She missed when Keisha was just a tiny baby, loving holding her and watching her sleep. This part was fun too, but Keisha was certainly excited to start it all over again. She was already dying to know if she was going to have another daughter or her first son. For Ricardo, it would be the opposite.

  A girl would mean a built-in friend for life for Keisha. Her and Sydney had some troubles when they were younger, but she didn’t know a set of sisters at her age now that weren’t best friends.

  A boy would be a different experience for her. She loved Roman to death, but she certainly feared what it would be like to have a little toddler boy running around the house.

  What did Ricardo want? Was he thinking this far ahead right now, or was he planning his escape?

  Dee would probably start showing during the scheduled shoot for the fall spread. It was planned in a few different phases over the next couple of weeks. She could make it through the first round, but as things progressed, would she start to pop out?

  *****

  Monday came and went, and as Tuesday started, Dee hoped that this would be the day she’d finally see Ricardo. There wasn’t a bathroom in his office, so Dee knew that he had to leave at some point to pee. He couldn’t be sleeping on his desk either, but he wasn’t sleeping in Dee’s room. He had a bed of his own, but every time Dee walked by, his bed didn’t look like it had been slept in before. The apartment was massive and there were still a few corners that Dee hadn’t explored herself. It was still all one place, however, so Dee was confused as to how he kept going so unnoticed around the place. He was like the phantom of the loft.

  As she sipped her morning tea, Dee heard the door shut, hoping it was Ricardo. Instead, Anastasia’s cold eyes cut through her hard as she held a handful of clothes. She didn’t like completely that Anastasia had full access to the house. Though they had only made love a few times, one of the moments that Ricardo and Dee had hooked up had occurred on the couch that was visible to whoever walked in the front door.

  “Ugh, remind me to order a new couch. I can’t stand looking at this mess every day,” Anastasia said as she walked by Dee and Keisha playing on the floor. Keisha hadn’t heard anything Anastasia said, or if she did, she didn’t really care about what was coming from her mouth.

  “Good morning Anastasia,” Dee said condescendingly.

  “Some of the pieces came in, so we’ll have to do a fitting again to make sure everything fits before the shoot at the end of the month," Anastasia explained as she set at least a dozen garment bags down on the dining room table.

  “Wait, the end of the month? The schedule said this weekend,” Dee said frantically. Had Ricardo pushed it back because he was reconsidering doing the shoot with Dee? Was he even still going to do it? Dee was starting to get panicked.

  “Oh, did it? My mistake,” Anastasia said with an evil smile. Dee started to worry about what her figure might look like by the end of the
month. Would little Ricardo Jr. or her second daughter start to be popping out just yet? Dee started to get a little worried. Anastasia had clearly been keeping information from Dee to keep her a little detached. Dee was getting annoyed.

  She followed Anastasia into her small office and stood on the stool again once Jonathon had arrived to watch Keisha. She didn’t want to have to feel Anastasia’s long nails on her back again, but she was excited to finally get a glimpse at some of the pieces from the line up close and personal this time.

  As she unzipped the different items of clothing, Dee realized that they certainly were lacking color. The first item was a plum-colored shoulderless body suit. She saw a pair of burnt orange pants as well and a black jean jacket. It was certainly her style, and Dee was beyond excited to start the shoot with Ricardo.

  “Try this one first,” Anastasia said, handing Dee a mustard-colored baseball tee. Dee slipped it on and it was tight in the stomach, her belly button showing through the thin material. She didn’t look pregnant, but she certainly wasn’t as thin as she was when she first got measured.

  “Well, that’s definitely not going to work,” Anastasia said, signaling for Dee to take the top off. “Let’s try this dress. It’s really flowy.”

  “This is gorgeous,” Dee said, slipping the dress over her head. It was a black velvet bubble skirt, tight in the chest and loose in the stomach. She looked in the mirror and realized that this dress certainly made her look pregnant. It seemed like it might just be that type of dress for anyone who put it on, however.

  “You have to watch what you eat,” Anastasia told Dee, the words cutting right through her head. She knew it was likely the pregnancy that was causing her belly to bulge, but Anastasia was certainly being insensitive about the ordeal.