His Sugar Baby

“He believes you’re eight, weeks pregnant.”

“Wow. The baby, with all the birth control pills will be okay?”

“Yes, I told him and he says the baby will be fine. When we get back to Chicago we’ll find you the best ob/gyn in the city, I promise. You won’t have any worries about the baby’s health this time around.”

“Thomas’ heart condition was from Billy’s side of the family. I didn’t find out until Thomas died, but it was the reason his uncle Eli never had children, he didn’t want to pass it on.”

“I know, sweetheart, I already know.”

“Of course you do.”

“Should I be saying sorry?”

“No, it doesn’t fit you.”

There’s a knock before a woman rolls in an ultrasound machine. I hadn’t been forced into a gown when I got here and I’m still in a maxi skirt and loose shirt. The woman doesn’t speak English, she tells Grant. I push down my skirt to my panty line and pull up my shirt. She squeezes the jelly on my stomach then rolls the wand over my stomach, she’s a little heavy handed as she tries to find the baby. When the image appears, I see it instantly and tell her.

Her eyes widen, she says something to Grant then points to the screen. Poor Grant takes a few times of me pointing it out to him before he sees the tiny image. “I thought she would be bigger by now.” He sounds disappointed. “Print them out please.”

He holds the picture up almost to his nose. “Our baby.” When he looks at me the sheen of tears start my own happy tears all over again.

Chapter Fifteen

The sight of my baby on the grey screen fills me close to bursting with happiness. After the last week of wondering, this moment of confirmation is beyond my wildest dreams. What makes it even better is knowing Anne is as happy as I am.

Fuck, it had been a rough hour between her fainting and her hiding in the bathroom before I knew for sure she was happy. I have a feeling I’m not through the weeds yet on my suspecting but not telling her, but I leave it until then.

Anne refuses to let me take her back to the hotel to relax, reminding me we are leaving the next day. I relent, she was right, we had been all over the city the last week, and today shouldn’t be any different. Only it is, everything feels different. There isn’t just Anne I have to take care of, now I have a baby to think about and prepare for. Fuck, I have to call my lawyer as soon as we get back to the hotel and have a new will drawn up and... “Goddamnit.”

“What? What’s the matter?” Anne looks worried.

“Nothing, nothing, never mind.” I try to reassure her. I’m also embarrassed because we’re at the turtle fountain. It’s a popular tourist attraction that has several people around it taking pictures and now looking at us.

“Grant, please, right now, with me being all emotional and hormonal is not the time to yell goddamnit then say it didn’t mean anything.” Her grey eyes are already shining with unshed tears.

“It’s just, I just. I’ve had this the whole time, waiting for the right time, but now you’re going to think it’s just because of the baby.” She’s confused, I know I’m not making much sense so I pull out it out of my pocket to show her. It’s the ten carat old European cut diamond solitaire ring I bought to propose with. “I bought it the day after I told you I love you, but it never felt right, anywhere we went in the city, to ask you. I thought somewhere here in Italy...”

She faints, again. God damn it, I barely catch her and carry her over to the edge of a tree in a large pot, the only place to sit in the whole damned piazza. I’m still trying to figure out if her fainting is good or bad. I would’ve have really liked an ‘oh’ right about now. As it had this morning, it takes her a while to come around, when she does, she’s clinging to me. “Grant?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Was that an engagement ring?” Her voice is small, her face tucked in under my chin.

“Yes, hopefully followed by a wedding ring very, very soon.” Keeping my voice steady, as if we’re discussing the weather, is a trial I’m willing to endure, if it keeps her from running from me. Which, right now, I’m afraid of even with my baby inside her. She’s a flight risk until she figures it all out.

“You bought it back in Chicago, and have been trying to find the right time to give it to me for almost a month now?”

“Yeah.”

“Grant, why do you want to marry me?”

“It’s kind of the thing you do when you love someone. I know you’re mine and you know you’re mine, now it’s time for everyone else to know. Then there’s the kid thing, I knew I wanted kids, and I want them to have my name, and then we buy the house in the suburbs so the kids and I can play in the backyard. Being married was supposed to kind of get all that rolling. I also kind of liked the idea of calling you my wife.”

“Even though, there I was on the floor of the closet, only hours after you told me you loved me, trying to leave, and you still wanted to marry me?”

“Trying to leave, sweetheart, you couldn’t even make it out of our bedroom. The same way I can’t walk away from you, you can’t leave me. I’m prepared to wait until you are ready to love me, too.

“This trip though, I was hoping it would end with us getting married in Venice. I got us the suite with a rooftop terrace but now, now you’ll...” I trail off, too afraid to put my fear of her finding a reason to say ‘no’ into words.