“I know, sweetheart, but you will be bringing her home and we need to be thankful for that.”
“Every new mother is supposed to bring her baby home. Not leave her alone in a hospital!” I yelled.
“She’s not alone, Emma. She’s being well taken care of and looked after.” He lightly gripped my shoulders and I jerked away from him.
“I’m her mother. She’s supposed to be with me! With me.” I began to cry.
Max cautiously wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, holding my head tightly against his firm chest as I continued to sob. We both slowly fell to the ground and he continued to hold me without saying a word. Once I calmed down, Max told me he had something for me. He got up and said that he’d be right back. A few moments later, he walked back in the room and handed me a long, velvet red box with gold trim. I slowly opened the lid, and inside sat a silver bracelet with three dainty silver charms. One of the charms was round and had a baby’s footprint and Sarah’s name engraved underneath. The other round charm said “Mom” and the third charm was of a beautiful silver butterfly.
“Max, it’s beautiful.”
“Do you really like it?”
“I love it. But you didn’t have to do this.”
“You’re right. I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” He smiled.
He took the bracelet out of the box and placed it around my wrist. I looked up at him as he softly wiped away my tears and placed his hands on either side of my face. “We’re in this together, Emma. You don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be there every step of the way. I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but I came back for you because I love you. I’m so madly in love with you and being away for five months drove me insane. I’m here for you whether you want me to be or not.”
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him, burying my face in his neck. I didn’t know where this was going and I was scared. So scared that I couldn’t even tell him that I loved him too.
“Why did you leave me?” I blurted out unexpectedly.
“Because at the time, I thought it was the right thing to do. I was trying to save you from me. I was scared, Emma; frightened of my feelings for you. I was confused and unsure. I was so focused on getting out of New York and getting out from under my father’s control, I couldn’t see straight. Had I known you were pregnant, I never would have left. Did you know you were pregnant?”
“No. I didn’t find out until a week later, the night your father paid me a visit.”
He broke our embrace and looked at me. “What? He came here?”
“Yes. We got into it and he grabbed my arm and called me a filthy whore.”
“WHAT?!” he shouted and I flinched. “He put his hands on you?”
“I found out I was pregnant that night after he left. I started having really bad cramping and Kara took me to the hospital. I thought it was appendicitis because I had been sick prior to that. It was when the doctor did an ultrasound that I found out.”
Max got up. “I need to leave for a while, but I’ll be back. Go lie down and get some rest.”
“Max, no. Don’t confront him.”
“I have to, Emma. He won’t get away with this. He had no right.” He walked out of the room and out of my apartment.
****
Max
The rage I felt inside me was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. How dare that man harass Emma like he did. I took a cab over to my parents’ house and called Darren to meet me there and wait outside. I ran up the steps and threw open the door. My mom came running down the stairs.
“Max. What the hell is going on?”
“Where is he?!” I yelled.
“Who?”
“Bradshaw. Who else?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” my father asked as he stepped into the living room.
Just the mere sight of him made me sick. I lunged at him and threw a punch, hitting him hard as he went down.
“Oh my God, Max. Stop!” My mom grabbed my arm and tried to hold me back.
“Did he tell you, Mom? Did he tell you how he went over to Emma’s apartment and grabbed her arms, calling her a filthy whore?”
“What? Bradshaw, did you do that?”
He lay there on the ground, holding his jaw. “Yes. I did.”
“Why?” my mom asked in anger.
“Because she wouldn’t cooperate and tell me the truth.”
“You son-of-a-bitch.” I lunged at him again and grabbed him by the shirt. “Don’t you ever fucking go near her again. After you left, she had to go to the hospital for severe stomach pains due to the stress you caused her. You know what she found out? That she was pregnant with my child.”
My mom placed her hand over her mouth and lightly touched my arm. I jerked away from her.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” I snapped at her. “A few days ago, Emma gave birth to our baby, two months early, and now my daughter is fighting for her life in the NICU.”
“A girl? I have a granddaughter?” She started to cry.
“No. You have nothing because you will never ever meet her and she will never know that the two of you exist.”
“You can’t do that,” my father spoke.
I sharply turned towards him and saw the fear in his eyes. “You’re no father. You’re nothing but a filthy rich depressed man who’s so unhappy with his life that you have to go and fuck every young woman you can get your hands on.”
“Max! That’s enough!” my mom screamed.
“Turn the other cheek, Mom. Because God knows you’re so damn good at it. Stay by his side all you want. You both are dead to me and I will never raise my child in a home like I was raised in.”
I stormed out of the living room and my mom ran after me, grabbing hold of my arm.
“Don’t go. You’re obviously upset and hurting. Let’s talk about this and about your daughter.”
“No. I tried to talk to you for years and you always took his side. Well, now you can be alone with him because you no longer have a son and I suspect, before too long, you won’t have a daughter either. How does it feel to lose both your children?”
I opened the door and walked out as my mom screamed my name from the doorway. I hopped in the front seat of the Rolls Royce and told Darren to pull away immediately.
“I’m sorry, Max.”
“It’s fine, Darren. I’ve said what I came to say and now I’m going back to Emma. I have my company and my own family to focus on. I told her that I loved her today.”
“How did she respond?”
“She didn’t.” I sighed. “I’m just going to wait for her for as long as it takes and I pray to God she still loves me.”
****
Emma
I heard the door open as I lay on the couch. I sat up and looked at Max as he walked towards me.
“Are you okay?” I asked as he sat down next to me.
“I’m fine. I said what needed to be said and I told them about Sarah, but also that they will never meet her.”
“Max.”
“No, Emma. Don’t. I don’t want to think or talk about them. They no longer exist in my life. The only thing that matters to me is you and Sarah.” He put his arm around me and pulled me into him, kissing the top of my head. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I guess. I can’t stop thinking about Sarah and I want to see her so badly.”
“I know. Me too. We’ll see her first thing tomorrow morning.”
There was silence for a while before I decided to bring something up. “I never talked to you about how I felt before we called off the engagement.”
“What do you mean?”
“I never told you how I felt about you. I never told you that I was falling in love with you because I was scared that you didn’t feel the same way and I didn’t want you to feel guilty. Maybe I should have told you, but you were so excited about going to Chicago and starting your own business and I didn’t want to ruin that for you. It was your opportunity to
shine and I wasn’t going to take that away. But when you left, I hated you for leaving me, even though you didn’t know how I felt.”
“But I knew, Emma. I knew you were in love with me. Why do you think I wrote you that letter? I swear to you I never meant to hurt you and the more time I spent away from you, the more I drank to get you off my mind, until one day I couldn’t take it anymore. I missed everything about you. I missed your smile, your cute laugh, the way you smelled, kissing your beautiful lips, and waking up to your body wrapped around mine. You had dreams here in New York and I couldn’t risk you losing them for someone like me. I would never ask you to give up your dream of going to Parsons. When I finally came back home and saw you were pregnant, the worst feeling in the world washed over me. I was so scared that she wasn’t mine. If you’re scared that I’ll become my father, you don’t have to be. I would never do that.”
I needed to ask him a question, but I was too scared to know the truth, if he would even tell me the truth. I took in a deep breath.
“Did you sleep with anyone while you were in Chicago?”
“No,” he replied without hesitation. “I didn’t want anyone else. Only you.”
“You’re a guy and guys have needs.”
“Yes, I do have needs and it wasn’t a problem every time I looked at your picture, and there may have been some porn involved.” He winked.
I couldn’t help but smile. I stared into his eyes as he stared back. I stared so hard that I could see his soul. His beautiful, apologetic soul.
“I love you, Emma.”
“I love you too, Max. I never stopped.”
“I’m going to kiss your soft lips that I’ve missed so badly.”
“Please do because I’ve missed yours too.”
He brought his lips to mine and softly kissed me. It felt good to touch him again and even better to be loved by him.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” I asked.
“I’m never leaving you again.” He smiled.
“We can’t have sex for at least six weeks.” I pouted.
“I know, and I’m okay with that because as long as I can kiss your lips, hold your hand, and wrap my arms around you, I’m good and I can wait.”
Chapter 29
The days went by slowly and the countdown was on until we were able to bring our baby home. I spent all my days sitting with Sarah, holding her, watching her stare at me and wrapping her tiny hand around my finger. It had been four weeks since I delivered her and every day she was getting stronger. She was no longer in the incubator because her body was able to regulate its own temperature, which meant she was in an open crib where I had more access to her. She was my tiny miracle and I loved her so much. I didn’t think it was possible to love someone so much. She had gained approximately two pounds since her birth, putting her at four pounds. She was thriving and I couldn’t wait to bring her home. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen for about two to three more weeks. As I was holding her and trying to feed her, Max walked in.
“How are my girls?” he asked as he kissed my cheek.
“We’re doing great. She’s having a good day.” I smiled.
Since I had been there all day with her, I got up from the chair and carefully handed her to Max. It was his turn to spend some time with his daughter. His company was taking off better than he expected and he spent most days at the office, but he always came to the hospital midday and at night. Since the girls couldn’t visit Sarah, they would come to the hospital and we’d have lunch together and catch up.
“Guess what?” I said to Max.
“What?”
“I didn’t tell you this earlier because I wanted to wait. I had my post-baby checkup today and I received the okay.”
His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, and there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I want to go out on a date tonight.”
“Just the two of us?” he asked.
“Did you want anyone else to go?” I laughed.
“No. I mean. God. I don’t know what I mean.” He smiled. “Of course we can go out on a date. Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“The question is, Mr. Hamilton, are you up to it?” I winked.
“Emma, don’t. I’m holding our daughter.”
As soon as she was finished eating, we kissed her goodbye and went home to change and go on our date. Max had been staying at my place every night. I’d longed to make love to him. My longing had gotten so bad, I started dreaming about it. Thank God he never noticed. I took care of him every now and again and he was happy with that. But tonight, tonight was going to be the night that our bodies would connect again and become one.
“You look so beautiful.” He smiled as he stared at me in my fitted black low cut dress and my black heels.
“Thank you. Can you put this on, please?” I handed him the butterfly necklace he gave me.
After putting it around me, he leaned in and planted tiny light kisses on my neck.
“Sorry, Mr. Hamilton, you’ll have to wait until later.”
“I’m just sampling.” He smiled.
We left the apartment and had dinner at Per Se. As we were eating, Max stunned me with what he said.
“I have a proposed deal for you.”
I cocked my head and slyly smiled at him. “What kind of deal?”
“I found a new apartment today and I need you and Sarah to move in with me, but I promise it’s only for a specific amount of time.”
“Really? And how much time are we talking?” I asked.
“Forever.” He smiled.
“Hmm. If I do that for you, what’s in it for me?”
“Me, of course. For a lifetime.” He winked.
“I think that’s a fair deal. Where’s this apartment at?”
“I’ll take you there tomorrow.” He reached across the table and took my hand. “Listen, Emma. I want us both to start somewhere new. I could have easily asked you to move into my place, but since we’re starting fresh and with Sarah, I thought it would be best to move. If you like the penthouse, then I would hire decorators to paint the nursery exactly how you already have it. Nothing would be changed.”
“Penthouse? I like that idea, Max. I can’t wait to see it.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d be excited about it. We can go tomorrow morning before heading to the hospital.”
After we finished eating, Max held his arm out and I took hold of it as we walked out of the restaurant.
“Where to now?” he asked.
“Home.” I smiled.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He kissed my lips.
****
His hands swept over my body as if he had never touched me before. Slowly unzipping the back of my dress, Max pressed his lips against mine and took down each strap, letting it fall to the ground. My hand traveled to the front of him, feeling his already hard cock through the fabric of his pants. He moaned as my fingers deftly moved up and down him. He laid me down gently on the bed and hooked his fingers on each side of my panties, sliding them down and removing them. Unbuttoning his pants and sliding them off his hips, he climbed on the bed in between my legs as his tongue slowly slid up the inside of my thigh. I was already pulsating for him. I missed him so much and I missed his erotic touches. He set my body on fire with each flick of his tongue against my clit. When he slipped his finger inside of me, we both gasped. His mouth made its way up my torso, over my breasts, and up to my mouth, where his lips passionately kissed me as he manipulated my insides.
“I need to be inside of you now, Emma. I can’t wait any longer. It’s been far too long.”
He grabbed hold of his manhood and slowly entered me. He was gentle and passionate and taking his time, savoring every moment with each long, deep thrust. I threw my head back in pleasure and wrapped my arms around him, pulling his naked body down onto mine.
“I love you so much,” he whispered as his lips explored my neck.
>
“I love you too,” I panted as his thrusts became faster and brought me to climax.
“You feel so good, baby. God, I’ve wanted you for so long.”
He moved faster in and out of me, his cock swelling with delight as he thrust one last time, pulling out and releasing himself all over my stomach. He looked at me and smiled as he softly kissed my lips.
“I’ll be right back.”
He walked into the bathroom to grab some tissues as I lay there in my happy place, my body relaxed and the burning desire to fuck him again, but confused as to why he pulled out instead of coming inside of me. Max climbed in bed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.
“Okay, we need to talk.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Why didn’t you come in me?”
He chuckled. “I’m sorry, but I got scared.”
I laughed. “Scared of what?”
“That you’d get pregnant again.”
“Well, I’ve been back on the pill for three weeks, but you’re right. Now I’m a little nervous. Maybe we should get some latex-free condoms to use for the next couple of weeks or so. Just in case.”
“We could or maybe I can just keep pulling out until we’re one hundred percent sure it’s safe. I have a feeling we’ll be going through way too many condoms too fast because I plan on making love to you at least three times a day. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“We sure do, Mr. Hamilton, and I think I’m ready for round two.”
“I love it when you say things like that.” He smiled as he pulled me on top of him.
Chapter 30
Max and I got up bright and early the next morning. After showering together, we got dressed and headed to the penthouse that Max was dying to show me.
“So where exactly is this penthouse?” I asked as I took hold of his hand when he slid in next to me.
“East 61st Street. About eleven minutes from my other apartment. It’s closer to my office and only one minute further to Parsons for you.”
Darren pulled up to the curb and Max slid out, holding out his hand to me. I looked up and saw the name Trump Towers splayed across the front of the thirty-nine-story building. I gasped.