Stella let’s go of her hold on me and takes my
hand and pats it. “Ok, so what are you afraid of, hon?” She
asks.
I look around a bit and back to her eyes.
“Promise you won’t say anything to anyone? I mean it Stella, not to
anyone!”
She crosses her heart with her other hand. “I
swear pumpkin.”
I look down and whisper, “I think I might be
pregnant and I’m not sure who the father is.”
Stella takes a step back. “You, what?” She
yells.
“Shhhh. Oh, my God! Be quiet,” I say looking
around as if there was anyone else in this tiny bathroom with us.
Stella now has her hand over her heart and is breathing heavy like
she’s about to have a heart attack.
“Oh, my God Stella. It’s a long story! I can’t
go into all of it right now.” I proceed to tell her enough that she
would understand why I was so upset. “So, you see? It really could
be either one of them and I have no idea how to tell who the father
is.”
Stella backs up to the stall behind her and
leans on the stall wall. She starts fanning herself with her
hand.
Stella looks at me. “Well, there’s only three
things to do right now. Go out there and act like everything is ok,
get you some saltines and I need a very big drink. A very, very big
drink.”
Chapter
twenty-seven
Stella and I walk over to the booth Jesse is
sitting in. I am feeling a little better now. I slide in next to
him and he puts his arm around my shoulder. I turn my head, look at
him and smile. “I’m better now. Must have been something I ate that
didn’t agree with me.” He smiles back and gives me a kiss on my
forehead. “Good. You had me worried, baby.”
Stella walks over with some saltine crackers
and a glass of water and sets them down in front of me. I look up
and smile. “Here, pumpkin. This is always good to settle a sour
stomach,” she says smiling and gives me a wink.
She reaches across me with her hand out to
Jesse. “I’m Stella. Been kind of like a mom to my pumpkin here.”
Jesse shakes her hand and nods. “I know you’re Jesse. Nice to meet
the man who has captured my pumpkin’s heart.” She smiles at
him.
The rest of the crew eventually stops by the
table to meet Jesse and to give me hugs then leaves us to
eat.
“So, you never really told me what you do,
Jesse, besides look for your mom’s killers. You have me curious,” I
say looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
He clears his throat and squirms in his seat.
“Well, I run a Charity Organization out of the house. I have
several large corporations that privately hire me and my staff to
organize big charity events and manage the money from them. I do
most of the work from my computer and phone. My clientele keeps
growing all the time and pretty soon I may have to hire more
staff.” He looks at me proudly and smiles.
“Wow that sounds great! You must be good at
what you do,” I say biting my finger nail. “Why do you say that?”
He asks.
“Hmm, well, if you’re getting more clients all
the time you must be doing something right.” I look down at my
hands in my lap and then back up at Jesse. “Well, I guess what I
don’t know is, where do you live? I mean, you don’t live at your
safe house, or do you? I guess there’s still a lot I don’t know
about you?” I sound and look confused.
Again Jesse squirms in his chair. “I really
haven’t been too forthcoming, have I?” I shake my head. He takes
his hand and places it on my face, his thumb rubbing my cheek. “And
you have been so sharing, so giving, about your life.” He
smiles.
“Baby, I pretty much don’t have to worry about
money to live on. Let’s just say I can live very comfortably. I
love what I do with the charities. It keeps me occupied and I do
attend some of them to keep up appearances and relationships with
my clients. But if I didn’t work a day in my life, I still wouldn’t
need money. My mom was a wealthy woman from when she was married to
my birth father. I inherited it all when she died. I started the
company five years ago, mainly out of boredom. In the first year it
was horrible. I couldn’t find the right staff, no one I hired was
competent or could be trusted. Then when Betsy applied, my
assistant and right hand, everything just took off. Between us, the
next three years we were booming with clients. So much that Betsy
didn’t mind that I took off to find mom’s killers. She took on
almost everything while I was gone. She would call me and give me
updates or ask questions if she needed help.”
I looked at him with admiration. “Wow, Jesse.
Your dad and Allie must be so proud of you. How could they not?
Look at what you have accomplished! I am so proud of you.” I
smile.
He grabs me and throws his arms around me. He
cradles my head as he kisses me. “You don’t know what that means to
me,” he says in my ear.
We let each other go but he continues to hold
my hand. “They are proud but dad flipped out when I told him I was
going after mom’s killers. Allie did too but she tried to
understand.”
Stella chose then to come over and started to
clear our dishes. “Pumpkin. Are you and Jesse going to stay at your
apartment? I have been keeping it clean hoping you would be back
some day,” she says with a sniffle.
Jesse looks at her and then at me. “Um, well,
I was going to talk to you about that, Stella? Can you give us a
few minutes?”
I look at Stella’s concerned face and smile at
her. She smiles back, winks and walks away.
I turn in my seat so I am facing Jesse better.
“What was that all about?” I asked him skeptically.
He takes my hands in his. “Ahem. Well, on the
way here I saw this house for rent. It’s just outside of town. I’d
like us to go and see it. If it looks good I was thinking about
renting it for us?” He clears his throat. “That is, if you want to
maybe stay with me?”
My heart just melted. I mean right here it
melted into a puddle on the floor.
I launch myself at him so hard he falls back
with me and hits his head on the window sill. “Ouch!” He yells
grabbing the back of his head. He starts laughing.
“Oh, my God, Jesse! I’m so sorry! Are you ok?”
I say giggling the whole time.
He stops laughing. “Is that a yes?” He asks
seriously. I nod. “Then I am just perfect.”
Chapter
twenty-eight
The next morning we go to the house and Jesse
calls the number on the sign for the owner to come meet us. He’s a
burly man, maybe early thirties with a beard and an earring in one
ear. He has black jeans on with a black shirt that has the sleeves
cut off. Tattoos adorn his arms.
He shows us around the two story house. It has
three bedrooms, a nice sized family room, huge kitchen with eating
area and separate dining room. We find that the basement is
finished with a rec room, 2 bedrooms, full bath and a smaller room
that’s perfect to use as an office. The backyard is really nice,
fenced in with a deck off the kitchen.
“I will do some maintenance but if you can
fend for yourself that would help me out. I own the new tattoo
parlor in town so I don’t have a lot of extra time to spare,” he
says to Jesse. “Names Buck. My parents owned the house. After they
passed away and I moved back here a few weeks ago, I decided to
rent it out since there is an apartment over the shop. I know it
doesn’t have much furnishings but if you want to get all your own
stuff just let me know and I’ll come around and pick everything
up.”
Jesse shakes his hand and introduces us. Buck
clears his throat, “Well, I’ll give you all a little bit of time to
look around on your own. I’ll just be out front making a couple of
calls. Take your time.” And with that he leaves us.
We walk around for a while and end up in the
kitchen. Jesse leans back against the counter and takes my hands.
“Well, what do you think, baby?” He asks. I turn my head looking
around the kitchen. “I love it! But, I really can’t afford much.” I
look down shyly.
He lifts my chin with a finger and says, “You
can work at the Café because I know you love the people there and
if that’s what you want to do. If you don’t want to work at all,
that’s ok by me too. But you don’t have to pay for anything. This
is something I want to do for you. For us.” He leans forward and
kisses me lightly. Sigh.
I shake my head. “Jesse, you don’t have to pay
for everything. I want to help out. I don’t want to feel like I’m a
freeloader.” I smile.
Jesse laughs. “I’ll tell you what, as long as
you help me with the cooking and decorating this place to make it a
home, you can do what you want with your money,” he says and he
pulls me into his arms. I nod. “Deal!” We laugh.
Once we told Buck we would rent the house and
Jesse gave him the deposit, he gave us the keys. We broke in the
house properly by making love on the family room floor.
~*~*~*~
Later that evening we checked out of the hotel
and went over to the Café for dinner. I told Stella and the girls
that we rented the house and we all stood there screaming like
girls and hugging. “Does that mean you’ll come back to work,
pumpkin?” Stella asks.
“I would like to, if that’s ok? I may just
need a few days to get settled?” I shrug.
Stella gives me a big hug. “Of course it’s ok,
honey. You just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll add you to
the schedule. I am so glad you’re back safe and sound.”
Once the girls get back to work Stella gets
close and softly says, “Um, any more stomach problems? Have you
figured out for sure what that was?” She raises her
eyebrows.
I look around and see Jesse sitting in our
booth talking to Brenda. “Yeah, I am still getting nauseous off and
on and no, I’m not sure yet but I am going to take another
pregnancy test tonight.” I look at her with tears in my eyes.
“Stella, I’m scared.”
Stella hugs me and whispers, “Don’t be scared,
pumpkin. We are all here for you and whatever happens, we love
you.” I nod my head on her shoulder.
After dinner we do a little shopping at the
furniture store. We try out the beds, laughing as we bounce on them
and roll around. We order bedroom furniture, couches, chairs, a
dining set, breakfast table and chairs, the works. It will all be
delivered tomorrow afternoon.
After going grocery shopping we return home
and start unpacking the bags. I am exhausted! When we are done,
Jesse comes over and puts his hands on my shoulders, looking at me
with concern in his eyes. “Baby? Are you ok? You look kind of
pale.”
“I’m just really tired. All this running
around today has me worn out,” I smile at him. “Do you mind if I
just go to bed?” He lets out a sigh of relief. “No, you go ahead. I
will just get some stuff done around here and then I’ll join you.”
He gives me a kiss on my forehead.
I go upstairs and find the pregnancy tests in
his bag and take one into the bathroom. As I sit and wait for it to
be done I think about what I am going to do if it shows positive.
How will I know who the father is? I am so nervous. I know there is
only a small chance it may not be Jesse’s but I want to know for
sure, to help put all the bad behind me.
After a few minutes, I look over at the test
on the counter one eye closed and the other squinting. I’m not sure
why I think that’s going to help. The test is glaring at me.
‘POSITIVE’, it shouts!
I sit down on the floor. Oh, my God! What am I
going to do?
Chapter
twenty-nine
The next morning Buck comes over with a couple
of other men to remove all his furniture from the house. Once they
leave Jesse and I thoroughly clean the house from top to bottom.
The furniture is delivered at 1:00 that afternoon and I am so
excited to get the house to look like a home.
Of course, I am exhausted once everything is
in its place but we just had to christen our new bed right
away!
I have a hard time sleeping that night. I keep
thinking about the fact that I am going to have a baby. I am not
worried about being a mother at all even though I wasn’t planning
to have any kids this early in my life. I’ve always wanted to have
kids. I am more worried about who the father is, but I know I’ll
love my baby no matter what.
In the morning, while eating breakfast I am
really quiet. “Baby? What’s wrong? You’re so quiet. Are you ok?”
Jesse asks looking at me concerned.
Do I tell him? I’m so scared of his reaction.
I know he said we would deal with this together and that he would
love the baby no matter what but deep down I am afraid if it isn’t
his then he’ll leave me.
I smile. “Everything’s great! You just really
wore me out yesterday. Cleaning, getting all the furniture in their
right places and the sex, WOW! That really did me in.” I laugh a
little.
Jesse changes his concerned look to a wide
grin. He reaches over and cups my face rubbing circles on my cheek
with his thumb. “That was amazing last night. I love you so much!
You know that, right?” Jesse’s eyes are so full of love.
I sigh. How can I do this to him? What if the
baby is not his? I need to talk to someone. I need
Stella.
I look at Jesse. “I love you too, so much! I
am so happy right now. I can’t believe after everything we’ve been
through that we are sitting in our new home and that we’re
together.”