An Unexpected Baby (8 page)

Emma felt queasy. Her stomach tightened in a knot. Her mind quickly reeled to the day she met stupid Lucinda at the Walmart book section but what was she doing there now? She couldn’t possibly…No, she wouldn’t dare!

“Sorry, Evan, but Emma’s not really pregnant. She never was and I have the proof.”

“What?” Evan’s voice fired off.

Gina stood up and moved over to be by Emma’s side. “You’re crazy, bitch!” Gina shouted to Lucinda.

Emma felt dizzy and could not move. She felt paralyzed.

Eagerly, the cameraman continued to roll the film. “This is fantastic. Keep going.”

Evan turned on the cameraman, fury in his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing? Turn the God damned camera off. This is a documentary! Not an episode of Jersey fucking Shore!”

Caught off by Evan’s fury, the man backed down and turned off the light of the camera and placed it down looking at Kyle the producer with confusion on his face. He shrugged his shoulders and stood aside. Evan seemed like he was ready to explode.

“Emma you don’t have to listen to this.”

“Oh, there you go protecting Emma again, Evan. What is wrong with you? Don’t you see she’s pulling the wool over your eyes? She’s trapping you with a fake pregnancy. Ask her. I went to Doctor Van Horne’s office. She’s not a patient there.”

Evan turned to Emma, the look of fury mixed with confusion as he furrowed his brow. He said nothing.

“Oh, Evan, I’m so sorry,” Emma burst out into a river of tears. “I….I…I’m sorry…I…”

“What?” Evan shoved his hands in his pockets and paced frantically around the room. It was as if he was going stark crazy. “What? What?”

“Evan…” Emma cried out weakly.

“You fucking lied to me about having my baby. Are you crazy? How could you do that, Emma?”

“Evan, listen it’s not what it seems,” Gina tried to come to her defence.

“I don’t wanna hear it!”

Lucinda’s smug smile could not be missed as she folded her arms across her chest watching everything unravel. Probably as she had planned.

“Fuck!” Evan cried out again.

“Evan….I’m sorry. I’m so….so sorry…”

“That’s it! I can’t take any more of your damn lies, Emma. It’s over!”

“What?”

“It’s over, Emma. We’re through!” With those lingering words of fury, Evan marched out of the living room and through the foyer. Emma heard the front door slam so hard she swore the house rattled.

Emma felt her head spinning. She was losing control but it was too late as she tried to stand up, she passed out.

15.

Emma woke up some time later on an unfamiliar bed with rails. When she pried her eyes open she realized she was in a private room at the hospital. The pine disinfectant smell of the floor cleaner wafted past her nostrils, the sound of overhead paging outside was evident as was the beeping sound of the monitor that she was attached to. When she looked up she could see numbers on the screen and a squiggly line going up and down. Well thank God, she was alive and she had woken up in a hospital instead of hell!

“You okay, hon?” Gina’s soothing voice distracted her observation. Her friend got up from her chair and placed her Kindle down and reached over and kissed Emma on the forehead.

“What…what happened?” Emma said, weakness in her voice. She could barely hold her head up. She just realized that she was hooked up to an intravenous drip, too. It appeared that Normal Saline was infusing in her veins. But why?

Emma’s memory came back about the documentary and Evan storming out of the house and that witch Lucinda! She burst  into tears.

“Evan’s g-g-gone, isn’t he?”

“It’s okay, sweetie. I told him everything. I told him that you didn’t know about the result. That you really thought it was positive at first but when you went to tell him that he was already emotional and that you didn’t want to burst his bubble. It’s gonna be okay, hon.”

“Thanks, G-Gina,” Emma stuttered. “But I lied to him and he’s gone. It’s over-”

“It ain’t over till I say it’s over,” Evan came into the room with three cups of Starbuck’s drinks. She knew two of them must be coffee. She guessed the other was her favorite, hot chocolate with real whipped cream on top.

“Evan,” Emma said weakly, too tied up to move with all the wires attached to her from the ECG.

“Thanks, Evan,” Gina said as she took her coffee. “Ems, I’m just going downstairs for a while. See you later, okay?” She winked to her friend then gathered her handbag and Kindle and walked out the room closing the door behind her.

Evan drew in a deep breath and placed Emma’s drink on the table beside her.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“It’s okay.”

There was a long awkward silence that filled the air between them until Evan finally broke it. “I’m sorry.”

“What? Honey, I’m sorry. I’m the one who lied to you.”

“And for a good reason, I guess. I mean, the way Gina explained it…”

“Yes, hon. I was so stupid. The test strip was positive, I thought. I mean they all give different results. I got so excited I didn’t know that I had confused it with another test strip. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“But you should have just opened up and tell me the truth, hon. You know how I feel about lies.”

“When was I supposed to do that? When you told me I made you feel like a real man or….when your…father passed.”

Evan swallowed hard. Emma could see his Adam’s apple bob in his throat. He drew in another deep breath. “Okay, you’ve made your point.”

“Well, will you ever forgive me? I mean, I was hoping that we could try and get pregnant.”

“No.”

Emma felt her heart smash against her chest. “No?”

“No, baby.” He handed her a hospital printout of blood results. “The ER doc ran some tests on you after you passed out and that included an hCG pregnancy test since Gina told them about some pregnancy. And well…it turns out that we’re really going to have a baby!” Evan’s smile grew wider.

“What?” Emma’s heart leaped in her chest. She tried to lean up but couldn’t.

“Don’t try to get up, baby, just rest.”

“That’s wonderful….but….the pregnancy test.”

“Yeah, I explained that to the doc and he said that the test strip was probably faulty in the first place or you didn’t give a good enough urine sample. It happens a lot, he said. Anyway, they also did an ultrasound on your while you were sleeping just to date the pregnancy and give an accurate due date!”

Emma could not believe it. “We’re going to have a baby.”

“Nope. I’m sorry,” the doctor said, walking into the room.

“No?” Both Emma and Evan called out in unison. The look of confusion plastered on their faces.

“No. You are not going to have a baby,” he said as he paused, peering out at them over his spectacles. “According to this ultrasound result,” he said, showing them a grey photo, “you're going to have three babies. You’re pregnant with triplets! Congratulations!” The doctor’s smile appeared.

“What?” Evan was beside himself. He stood up pacing in excitement. “We’re having three babies? That’s…that’s fantastic! Unbelievably fantastic!”

Emma was dazed. Here she went from one baby to no baby to three. The events of the day was almost too much excitement for her to handle.

She took the picture and looked at the image of her uterus. A miracle. Three little miracles!

“Oh, baby, this is so amazing. I love you so much,” Evan said hugging her shoulders and brushing his lips against hers.

“Baby, I love you, too. Just think we’re going to be parents to triplets!”

“Yes, and your due date is June the first!”

Emma could not believe what the doctor had just told her. So, she was spot on. So to speak. Talk about coincidence.

“From this day forward, we  promise to love and honor each other and keep no more secrets from each other. Agree?”

“Agree, baby! One hundred percent.”

They embraced in a passionate kiss as the doctor left the room to answer a page.

“To a new beginning.” Evan raised his cup to Emma.

He placed her cup of hot chocolate in her hand and they both toasted.

“To a new beginning and three little miracles!”

EPILOGUE

June 1
^st

Evan and Emma with three sleeping babies in their arms posed as Gina took the snapshot on her BlackBerry. They were cuddled together on the hospital bed. The babies wrapped in matching white blankets with blue stripes on the edges.

“Beautiful,” she said. “I’m the proudest godmother this side of heaven!”

Emma laughed. “Oh, don’t we know it.”

Grandpa Wiggins sat stroking the hat of Montel, named after his own middle name. “Pumpkin, you’ve made me the happiest great-grandfather in the world. Long live the Wiggins line.” A tear drop fell from the corner of his eye. Tears of joy.

It was now Dale’s turn to take a  snapshot on his iPhone. The room was filled with gifts and flowers and balloons. Three of everything. “So, what are the names again?”

“Uh…you should know by now. I mean, you are the godfather,” Gina teased Dale.

Meanwhile Evan and Emma were cuddling together with their three bundle of joys in their arms on the bed. Together. After twenty hours of labour and Evan at her side the whole time, this was a moment of true bliss.

“Marilyn, Marley and Montel!” Emma cooed over her babies as she kissed each one. Their hands balled up into tiny fists by their heads. Cute knitted hats on their heads to keep the warmth in.

“To the Fletcher family!”

“Hear, hear,” Gina answered to Dale’s informal toast.

This was a new beginning and things would only get better from now on. No more deceptions and no more meddling from jealous co-workers. Lucinda had since been relieved of her duties at work. She was given the Trump “You’re Fired!” speech after Evan found out about her campaign against his wife.

Yes, things were going to be very different from now on.

This was a beautiful moment that neither thought they’d live to see.

Triplets.

Evan and Emma were parents to three precious beautiful babies. Two boys and one little girl. This was the most joyous moment of their lives.

An Unexpected Surprise!

THE END

THE BRIDE SERIES – Click on Titles to Download!                    

An Unexpected Bride
– Book 1

Emma Wiggins is about to marry her heart-stopping gorgeous boss, CEO Evan Fletcher, in seven days—too bad he doesn’t know it yet! Desperate to fulfill her ailing grandfather’s last wish to see her settle down, she tells him a little white lie on his deathbed about being engaged to her secret crush—commitment-phobic Evan
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Can love blossom in the most unlikely situation?

The Jilted Bride
– Book 2

Jody Anders’ adoptive grandparents surprised her with a short one-day visit from New York and they can’t wait to meet Gregory, her wonderful new husband with whom she eloped. Trouble is, she forgot to mention that he jilted her at the altar and is no longer in the picture. Will her gorgeous neighbour, Jake help her out?

The Matchmaker Bride
– Book 3

What happens when a lonely matchmaker unexpectedly falls in love with a forbidden client— a gorgeous, high-flying CEO with a secret past? Read the story of Sophie Wilson and Carlos Bradley III.

His Island Bride
– Book 4

Jessica Mills wasn’t looking for love, but love found her...while vacationing on the sunny island of Jamaica. Undercover billionaire, James Carrington thought he was through with serious relationships…that was until he met darling Jessica.

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Now the first four romance novels in the BRIDE SERIES available in ONE complete volume for only $3.99  Read the fun, page-turning stories of four modern women as they stumble their way to finding happiness at the altar
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An Unexpected Baby – Book 5    (The sequel to An Unexpected Bride)

Getting a man is one thing…keeping him is a whole different story!
Recently wed to her hot boss, CEO Evan Fletcher, Emma Wiggins-Fletcher thinks her sizzling hubby is avoiding spending quality time with her…that is until Emma discovers that her pregnancy test is positive.A baby changes everything. Jetsetter Evan discovers his new wife is pregnant and cancels an important business trip and prepares to rearrange his workaholic life to pamper his newlywed princess. Too bad her world is turned upside down when she discovers the pregnancy result was false. She’s been enjoying Evan’s new attention and he’s already moved his life around to be daddy to their unborn. How could she possibly break the news to her husband and to her ailing grandfather without breaking their hearts? Still, pretending to be pregnant is a whole different story and can only last so long before they find out the truth
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Coming soon…

For more in THE BRIDE SERIES click
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Read the first book in the series: where the fun all began!

Excerpt of
An Unexpected Bride: Part 1 (The Bride Series)
, the #1 Kindle Bestseller in Humor