Stepbrother's Gift

“That's an excellent question,” James said. “I am having it looked into. Right now, we believe it was a disgruntled employee. As to the why, I don't wish to speculate, but these kinds of photos and stories are very lucrative. Next question.”

More hands. Again, Audrey picked one out.

“How long has this relationship been going on?”

James squeezed my hand. “Over a month. We wanted to continue to keep it quiet, as I'm sure you can appreciate. Unfortunately, this employee betrayed not only my trust but all common decency. We hadn't even told our parents yet when the news broke. Next question.”

Audrey stepped out, carefully searching the crowd before selecting a reporter. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had pre-screened many of these questions, yet for all intents and purposes, it looked like a real question and answer session. I was impressed with her abilities so far.

“How are your parents taking the news?”

James looked sadly down at the podium. “I don't know yet. We had wanted to tell them ourselves. I'm sure they've always suspected we had feelings for one another, but they didn't know that we had started dating. Unfortunately, they found out this morning reading the news paper just like everybody else. With all the publicity surrounding us, we haven't had a chance to sit down with them and have a discussion like every other couple would. That chance was stolen from us.”

More cameras flashed and I leaned into James as if offering him support.

“Last question,” Audrey announced. “You, in the gray skirt.”

“What do you want people to know about this? About you two?”

It was such a softball question, I knew that they had pre-selected these questions. That was James though, controlling everything so he came out on top.

“Thank you for that question,” he started. I tried not to roll my eyes. He'd make a great politician if he ever decided to change careers. “I want people to know that we're no different than any other young couple in love. We're nervous to tell our parents, we're excited for the future, and we have dreams for what will happen next in our lives. Our parents' late-in-life marriage has nothing to do with us. Feel free to report that billionaire James Coleman is off the market, but that's really the only news story here.”

The camera flashes were blinding. It was like being caught in a strobe light convention. I just held onto James and smiled, hoping that I didn't look too much like a deer in the headlights.

“Thank you all for coming,” Audrey called out. “That's it for tonight. If you have any other questions, you can direct them to Mr. Coleman's press secretary. Thank you.”

James turned and pulled me away from the flashing lights, away from the mess of reporters. I followed him, doing my best not to trip on my own two feet out of a big heavy door with two big guards on either side into an empty hallway.

With the doors firmly closed behind us, James pulled me into a kiss. It reminded me of the passion of our first kiss, our lips meeting so strongly that I was sure they would come out bruised. I pressed my entire body against him, wanting more.

He pulled back, breathless. “Well, there's one good thing that came out of all this.”

“And what's that?”

He grinned, pressing me into the wall and taking another hungry kiss from my lips. “Now I can kiss you whenever I want.”

And kiss me he did.

Epilogue

“Here comes another contraction,” I whined, closing my eyes as the pain in my middle started again. Bands of muscle contracted around my waist as my body attempted to start labor.

“That one was fifty seconds,” Anne announced as I sucked in a breath once the pain stopped.

I had no idea this was going to hurt this much. If I had known the level of pain involved, I might not have been so eager to get pregnant. And this was just the beginning. I knew it was only going to get worse as time went on.

“How far apart are they?” I asked, putting a hand on my stomach. Nine months. Forty weeks. 284 days. My due date was four days ago and I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted my body back and my baby in my arms.

“Five minutes apart on the nose,” Anne said, checking her phone. “You can go to the hospital now if you want.”

I thought of how the searing pain was going to come back as my body squeezed down again in about three more minutes. I had intended on having a drug-free labor, but now that it was actually happening, I was debating how much I wanted drugs. An epidural suddenly didn't sound near as scary as it had.

“Crap- here comes another one.” The pain stole my breath and it took everything I had to breathe through it.

“That one was a whole minute and only three minutes apart, Allie. I think it's time.” Anne looked me up and down. “I can tell you that right now, I am really really glad I'm into girls and don't have to worry about getting knocked up by accident.”

I glared at her. “We have to get James first. I'm not going to the hospital without him.”