A Kiss of Color: A BWWM Interracial Pregnancy Romance (Book 2) (5 page)

Dr. Forge nodded sympathetically, jotting a few things down on a pad before raising her gaze to meet Helena’s. “Well, I’m sure it’s nothing serious, but would you mind giving me a few samples just so we can check things out for you? We wouldn’t want anything going unchecked.”

For once, Helena allowed herself to relax as the Doctor took a few blood samples and asked her to give a bit of urine. She was feeling a lot better after she was provided with a cup of soda water and a few crackers, and found herself sitting up on the examination table with Miranda keeping careful watch over her as she waited for her results.

When Doctor Forge re-entered the room, her expression was carefully guarded. Helena immediately found herself on high alert. Having worked with Susan for the past two years gave her the ability to tell when the doctor was going to deliver bad news. “What is it, Dr. Forge?”

The tall woman took a seat in the chair beside the examination table, looking through the results on the clipboard in front of her before fixing Helena with her steady brown gaze. “Well, Helena, before we talk about your results, I’d like to ask you a few questions. “

“…Alright.” Helena found herself slightly confused as to where the conversation was headed, but she nodded slowly.

“When was the date of your last period?”

The question caught the young woman completely unawares. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d even thought about her period. She’d been so stressed lately that she hadn’t really kept track of it. “I…I’m not sure, actually. Sometime last month? Maybe the month before?”

“But you have no idea of the date? Not even roughly, perhaps?” Embarrassed, the young woman shook her head. Xavier would probably know better than her as he observed how cranky she got when she was menstruating.

“Alright. And we had you on Depo shots, correct? When was the last time you had one?”

Well, Christ. She couldn’t quite remember that either. What Helena did remember was that she kept setting reminders on her phone for making her next appointment, and had never gotten around to actually doing it. But she’d had a shot within the last two or three months, that was for sure.

“It had to have been in April or May sometime.” She replied confidently. “I remember coming in on my off day.”

“Really?” Doctor Forge raised an elegant eyebrow, her expression one of slight disbelief. “Your charts say your last shot was over six months ago.”

Helena’s eyes widened. Six months? How on earth could she have gone for so long between her shots? Despite how crazy her life with Xavier could be, she tried to keep on top of things pertaining to her health. “Well, is there any way I can get one today?” She inquired, somewhat sheepishly, “before your evening appointments?”

The doctor was giving her a look that made her slightly nervous. Setting her medical chart down at the edge of the examination table, Susan sighed, shaking her head. “I’m afraid that will be impossible, Helena.”

“Why?” The dark-skinned intern arched a brow. “If you’re going to be busy, I could administer it myself. I’ll need your permission, of course-”

“It has nothing to do with how willing I am.” Susan cut her off gently, “But with the law.” Reaching out, she took Helena’s hand lightly in hers. “It’s illegal to administer contraceptive drugs to pregnant patients.”

For a moment, Helena wasn’t sure she’d heard her mentor correctly. Illegal to administer to…pregnant patients? But she wasn’t…she couldn’t be…

All at once, it all made sense. The nausea, the fatigue, the mood swings that had been driving her half out of her mind. The realization itself was enough to make bile rise anew in her throat.

She was going to have a baby.

A baby she was
completely
unprepared for.

Chapter Three:
What Will Never Be

This week was going to go down in history as one of the most memorable of Xavier’s entire life. He could still hardly believe what had happened in the past few days. He was still processing the deal in his mind, and there was still a mountain of paperwork to be hashed out, but in the end, the results still read plainly:

He had just signed a three hundred million dollar deal with one of the largest technology distributers in the country for exclusive rights to their troubleshooting and maintenance services. This would, of course, mean expansion on a massive scale once the deal went public. He’d have to hire hundreds of workers and open up many more locations in order to provide the resources he’d signed on for, but Xavier knew it would be done.

It was the sheer scope of the deal that fascinated him. The deal with Harrison and Harrison was the largest he’d made to date. He, who his parents had told him would never amount to anything. They had completely and totally cut him off after he’d graduated from Antioch, and he was lucky to hear from them two or three times a year. Despite the fact that he was beginning to make his own fortune, they were still loathe to be associated with him and the defiance he’d shown them.

It hurt.

Much more than he was willing to admit. But Xavier had always been particularly sensitive to the dysfunctional nature of his family. Even though he was over thirty, they still wanted to control everything that he did – and if they couldn’t, they wanted nothing to do with him. It was as simple as that. He supposed he should be lucky that he hadn’t been cut off from his family entirely. He still had Brandy, his older sister, who called him almost every week, thrilled with the progress he made.

And then, there was Emily.

He hadn’t seen her in years, he realized. She’d been shipped off to boarding school at the tender age of ten, and had barely been home since. In much the same fashion as he and his other siblings, she’d been pinioned into doing exactly what they wanted her to do – or else. Xavier had seen less and less of her since he’d gone away to college, and now, when he had a spare moment to think, he often found himself wondering what his little sister was up to.

Or what she might think of him.

He liked to think that Brandy had some influence on Emily’s image of her elder brother, but if his parents had anything to do with it, she probably thought he was the worst human being on the face of the planet.

The thought made Xavier frown. Despite the high he’d just been flying on, it was enough to ruin his entire morning. Leaning back from his desk, he stared, for a moment, at his cell phone in the center of it. He could call Brandy. No doubt his sister would have a way for him to be in contact with Emily. The problem was considering the tight hold his parents still operated over the lawyer and her husband. While Xavier prided himself on escaping the pitfalls of his family name, Brandy was still under their parents thumb – and would remain that way. Unlike himself, she had a lot more to lose if they decided to pull their support.

Just as he was about to reach for the device, his landline rang, startling him slightly. Recovering quickly, the programmer and CEO reached out to pick up the receiver. “Yes?”

“You have two visitors here, Mr. Thompson.” His receptionist, Julie, surprised him completely with the statement. Opening his planner, Xavier flipped through the pages quickly, looking for the meeting she mentioned. He was fairly sure that he didn’t have any major engagements for the next two days.

“Um…Julie…I don’t see anything about visitors on the schedule…” Before he could finish his sentence, however, the double doors to his office swung open.

At the sight of his older sister’s broad smile, Xavier’s good mood immediately returned. “Brandy!”

How long had it been since he’d seen her? Ten months? Eleven? His sister looked dashing as always – an immaculately groomed, perfectly coiffed blonde clad in the latest fashion. However, the young CEO would always be of the opinion that the most beautiful thing about his sister was her warm, welcoming smile. With their parents on the opposite coast, they had nothing to hide from one another – no secrets, and no lies.

“Xavier!” She crossed his office in three strides to leap into his arms, and he laughed aloud in delight. “I’ve missed you!”

“It’s been forever!” He hugged her close, delighting in the comfort of his true family. Brandy had never abandoned him - never discouraged him from following his dreams. She’d been there when his parents had tried to destroy him, when he had first discovered his love for technology – and when he had met the love of his life. One of the best things about seeing his sister was knowing how happy Helena would be to see her as well. The two women had grown exceedingly close over the years, and were now as thick as thieves.

“It’s not MY fault you’re impossible to get ahold of.” She teased him drawing back to cup his face warmly. “You’re all over the place these days! I can’t leave the house without hearing something about XTech.”

“Well, we’re slowly taking over the world.” He joked with her, before hugging her close once more. “It’s great to see you, sis. Helena will be excited too.”

“…Xavier?”

At a soft, tentative feminine tone, Xavier drew back from Brandy in disbelief. His sister had the presence of mind to look sheepish a moment before he looked past her for his first view of his second visitor.

For a moment, all Xavier could do was stare in disbelief.

The young woman in his doorway bore a passing resemblance to the small girl that he remembered, but she was completely and totally different as well. She was, he realized, a full blown woman, and he had missed her transformation by years and years.

“
Emily
.” When he said her name, his voice was hoarse as his brain tried to process the sight before him. His youngest sister was actually here – in the flesh.

She had grown up, he realized, to heavily resemble their mother, though without all the harsh lines that gave the elder woman’s face its distinctly unfriendly cast. Her long, blonde hair was pulled back from a pretty face with blue eyes that mirrored his own – and she was tall. Taller, even, than Brandy’s lofty five ten height.

If there was one thing that hadn’t changed about Emily, it was her willowy, almost waif-like thinness. She would be what, twenty one? Twenty two, now? When she was a child, he’d called her a little twig because she’d weighed approximately as much as a newborn kitten. It didn’t look like much had changed. She was still thin – almost painfully so – though the tentative smile she wore was more than enough to make up for it.

Ten years.

It had to be at
least
ten years since he’d last seen her. “Hi Xavier.” The young woman waved meekly. Without a word, the programmer moved past Brandy to advance on his youngest sister. She came up past his chin, and as he enfolded her in his arms, he found his heart twisting as he realized just how absent he’d been from her life.

“
Emily
.” He exhaled, holding her against him for a long moment before withdrawing to take her in once more. “You’re…you’re…”

“I’m all grown up.” Her grin was just as adorable as he remembered. “Still at Julliard, though.”

That, he had never forgotten. His parents wouldn’t let him, or any other affluent family, for that matter, do so. According to them, Emily was one of the leading cello scholars in the country. While Xavier had no problem believing that his sister was talented, he had never actually had the opportunity to hear her play. He’d been too busy proving his parents wrong over the years.

“You’ll be almost done now, right? Another, what, year?”

“Half a year. Then I’ll be starting as first chair at the New York Metropolitan.”

Damn. Not that he’d ever suspected his parents of flat out lying, but he knew they tended to exaggerate about their children when it came to the prestige involved in their chosen profession; or, at least, the profession their parents had chosen for them. But, for Emily to have been accepted as first chair for the famous Metropolitan Orchestra group…that was quite a feat indeed – especially for someone as young as she was. “That’s
amazing,
Em. I’ll have to get season tickets to come up and see you!”

“But…you’re in California.” She ventured shyly. “I’ll be three thousand miles away.”

Xavier put on an expression of mock affront. “Do you think that’s going to stop me from seeing my baby sister?”

Emily’s grin lit up the office as she threw her arms around him and they embraced for the third time in as many minutes. Standing off to the side, Brandy looked on with a soft laugh. “I knew it would be a good idea to bring her. She’s taking a little break for some preparations for a show later on this summer, and I figured I’d bring her over….while Mom and Dad are out of the country.”

Their parents were currently in Europe on some grandiose tour of all the major cities that was costing them a fortune. The trip would keep them away from their home in the North East for a good month and a half. Xavier secretly caught his sister’s eye in an inquiry that both of them knew all too well: How much had Emily suffered at the hands of their stifling family?

It was something, Xavier knew, that they couldn’t talk about in front of the young woman. It would be a conversation for later, when Brandy and he got some time alone to discuss things. For now, it would be a better plan to take off an hour or two and have lunch – to revel in a family that hadn’t been together like this in over a decade.