Choices We Make: The Moretti Brothers Series (9 page)

Victoria looked over at him as he stared into his glass. She placed her fork on her plate and took a deep breath.   “Nick I know multiple births are in your family but my mom adopted me as an infant so I don’t know about my biological family.  I don’t know how else to tell you this but we are expecting more than one baby.” 

“Are you telling me we’re having twins?” 

“No Nick I’m telling you we’re having triplets” 

“Excuse me?”  Dominic said a little confused.  “Are you sure, how is this possible?” 

“Well if I had to guess, I would say it was the birthday gift you gave me,” she said with a slight smile.  Dominic thought back to that night and tried not to smile. 

“This is insane,” he said just above a whisper.  “I can’t believe we’re having triplets.  I…” Dominic was so confused he lost his train of thought.  What was he going to do with three babies?  He stood walked over to the bar and poured another drink and swallowed it in one gulp and poured another.

“You may want to slow down on the drinking; you still have to drive home.” 

“I’m fine, but this is going to be interesting, trying to explain this to my family.” 

“You can tell them whatever you want.  Look, I’m sorry that you are so upset, but as I said, I don’t need your help financially but I’m having these babies with or without your support.”  Her words were harsher then she intended but she needed to stay strong.  She stood and started to walk towards the door and opened it indicating that he needed to leave.  “You have my number, if you would like to go with me to my next doctor’s appointment, you are welcome to join me, I’m sure they can answer any questions you may have.  Good night Dominic.” 

Dominic smiled slightly as he realized that she was still under the impression that he was struggling financially.  He walked to the door handed her the glass.  “Good night Victoria and we will continue this conversation, I will be in touch.”  He placed his hand gently on her belly. “However they were conceived and no matter how angry I am right now, these are still my babies, they are a part of me and I will be a part of their lives.”  Dominic bent over and kissed Victoria lightly on the cheek as he ran his hand along her belly.  Victoria felt a tingling sensation from his touch.  “Good night Nick,” she said softly as she closed the door.

Dominic sat in his car thinking about the major upheaval that was about to happen in his life.  He could feel his phone vibrate in his pocket.  Looking at his phone, he had four missed calls from Marco, and he hit the button.  “Hey Marc, what’s up?” 

“What’s up?  What do you mean what’s up, where are you, I’ve been trying to reach you?” 

“I just left Victoria’s house.” 

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, did you say the woman having your baby is Victoria Hart as in Bouvier and Hart consulting firm?” 

“Yes, that’s her, why?” 

“We need to talk, meet me at Charlie’s.”  Marco said before disconnecting the call.

*****

Dominic arrived at Charlie’s twenty minutes later and had a hard time maneuvering through the crowd; Charlie’s is the place where the Moretti siblings hung out.  It was always dark, and the music was always loud, but they had good food and a great atmosphere; the staff was friendly and the drinks were reasonably priced.  He spotted Marco at a booth with a beer in hand.  Dominic slid into the booth across from his brother. 

“How did it go?” Marco asked with concern in his voice. 

“I’m not sure, I went to talk to her about the pregnancy, I was so angry that I really lashed out at her and then she tells me that we are having triplets, can you fucking believe this, triplets.”  Dominic still couldn’t believe it.  Marco almost choked on the sip of beer he was taking. 

“What! Are you shittin me, triplets?  That’s some strong shit you’re packing, you need to be more careful.  Speaking of careful, how did this happen?  I know you and you don’t sleep with women unprotected, hell you’ve drummed it into my head so much I hear your voice every time I’m about to get busy.” Marco said with a smile trying to get his brother to lighten up.  Dominic gave him a half smile.  “So what are you going to do?” 

“What can I do, they're my babies, and I’m going to take care of them.” 

“And you want to tell me how this happened?” 

“I will tell you, but this stays between us.” 

“Come on Nick you’re talking to me.”  Dominic knew he could trust his brother and he really needed to talk this through with someone.  Marco was aware of Kevin’s side business while in college.  Dominic explained that Kevin was still seeing one of his clients and that he was in love with her but hadn’t told her yet.  He continued to explain that Victoria was the best friend of the woman Kevin loved and he wanted someone he trusted to go on the trip with her. 

“I don’t understand Nick, why would you sleep with her for money?  You have more than you can spend.”

“No, I told you, it was a favor for Kevin and I needed a vacation.  He said she was a very beautiful and intelligent woman who had just lost her mother and was still healing emotionally.  He wanted to make sure that she went with someone who would not take advantage or use her.   He said she didn’t have a lot of experience with men and wanted this vacation to be an enjoyable one for her.  I thought, what the hell, vacationing with a beautiful woman, no strings attached why not.  He told me to just meet her and I would see what he meant.  Kevin was right; she was breathtakingly beautiful and genuinely kind.  There was something about her that I was drawn to, so I went.”  Dominic also explained her stipulations, the testing and the conversation he had with her doctor about her sterilization.  “At the end of the vacation she gave me a check for twenty five thousand dollars.”  

“Shit, she enjoyed it that much?  We are in the wrong fucking professions.”   Marco said with a half grin.  Wait… so that means she doesn’t know that you’re Dominic Moretti software mogul?”

“I’m serious Marc.”

“So am I Nick, how do you think she’s going to react when she finds out that you deceived her.”

“I don’t know; my plan was to invite her to dinner, explain it to her and giving her the check back, but when we got back to the States, we went our separate ways, then Anna reappeared and I never got around to giving her back the check.”

Marco signaled the waiter.  “We definitely need to drink something stronger.  Well I’ve been doing a little investigating on your baby mama...”

“I didn’t ask you to do that and don’t call her my baby mama, she is going to be the mother of my children.”  Marco looked at his brother and wondering if there was more to the relationship then Dominic was letting on. 

“Sorry.  I know you know her intimately…” he said with a smirk, “but do you know who she is?” 

“We talked during the vacation, so I know about her personal life.”  Dominic responded.

“So you don’t know about her professionally or how her company is making a huge splash in the business world?” 

Dominic looked at his brother irritated “Of course I do, you know I never go into a situation blind.  I had an extensive background check done on her and the fact still remains, in about seven months I’m going to be the father of three babies and I don’t know a fucking thing about fatherhood.  If you had asked me last week when I thought I would be ready to be a father I would have said maybe in about five years, provided I found the right woman.” 

“And how do you feel about the woman carrying your babies?” 

Dominic took a sip of his drink.  “This shit is so complicated; I just started dating Anna again, and I don’t know how this is going to affect our relationship.  What about Mom and Dad, you know how Dad is and if he said something to Victoria to upset her…I just don’t want to cause a riff in the family.” 

Marco knew he was talking about his father’s reaction to having babies with a black woman.  “Yeah, I know how dad is, but he’s from the old world, they think differently, and you’ve stood up to him on more than one occasion.  You remember how he reacted when Kevin first came around, after you set dad straight, and mom got through with him, he came around, now look, Kevin comes to Sunday dinner almost as much as you.”  Marco paused and took a sip of his drink.  “Nick, that still didn’t answer my question, how do you feel about Victoria?” 

“I don’t know Marc.  When we were together on vacation, there was something there, I just couldn’t put my finger on it, she just felt right.  While we were on the island, I had an overwhelming feeling to take care of her and protect her, but when we got back to the States, we went our separate ways.  I didn’t talk to her until today when I found out she was pregnant.”  Marco didn’t want to push the issue.  He could see his brother was clearly stressed. 

“So how are you going to handle this with the family?” 

“I’m going to tell everyone on Sunday, your support would be appreciated.  I will not tell them about the arrangement between Victoria and I, just that we went out a few times and the pregnancy resulted.” 

“You know they are going to interrogate you.  Are you bringing Victoria with you?  You know that family will want to meet her.” 

“No, I need to do this alone and I don’t want to subject her to the questions and comments that are going to be made.  Maybe I will bring her next Sunday after everyone has had a chance adjust to the situation.”  Marco nodded in agreement as they finished their drinks.

They left the bar with a promise to call each other tomorrow.  It was late and Dominic needed to get some rest.  He looked at his phone and saw two missed calls from Anna.
I’ll call her tomorrow. 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dominic arrived at the office at seven o’clock and immediately began to work.  When he looked at his clock again, it was eleven o’clock and he realized that he left his cell phone on his desk in the other room.  He needed to talk to Anna, but he still wasn’t sure how he felt about being in a relationship with her again.  She needed to know the truth if he was going to continue to move forward.  He picked up his phone and dialed.  “Hey how are you? I know, something important came up yesterday and I had to take care of it. What are you doing tonight?  Do you want to have dinner?   Okay, I’ll pick you up about seven.  See you then.”  Dominic disconnected the call and his thoughts went immediately to Victoria and the fact that she was carrying his babies; a smile crept on his face. 

He sat back in the seat resting his head on the back of the chair as the magnitude of this life-changing event perforated his mind.  That beautiful woman that constantly invaded his thoughts for weeks was now having his babies.  He realized that he was still smiling.  He needed to talk to her.  He dialed her number; it rang before her voicemail picked up. 
“Hi I’m not available please leave your name and number and I will call you back.  Have a great day.”
  Hearing her voice brought back memories of their vacation.  “Hi Victoria, call me when you get a chance, I would like to discuss some things with you, talk to you later.”  He disconnected the phone and went back to work.

Later that evening, Dominic arrived at Anna’s home; she invited him in, explaining that she would be ready in a few minutes.  Anna was a beautiful woman.  She stood five feet eight inches tall.  She was very athletic and had the body to prove it.  She walked back into the room wearing a green dress that hugged every curve on her body. The stilettos she wore gave the illusion that she was taller. She had long auburn hair and green eyes. 

“Are you ready to go?” she asked in a seductive tone.

“Yes and you look beautiful.”  He kissed her on the cheek as they walked out of the house. 

They entered the restaurant and were seated right away.  They ordered drinks and looked over the dinner menu. 

“Anna, I need to talk to you about something.” 

“Okay, what is it?” she said softly as she placed her menu on the table.  She was hoping this was not another “it’s not you, it me,” breakup because she had one of those since leaving town. 

“I was seeing someone before we started seeing each other again and I just found out that she’s pregnant.” he paused; waiting for a reaction.

“Wow, do you still love her?” 

“No, it’s not like that, we went out a few times and it just happened, it wasn’t planned.” 

“Dominic so you are sleeping with random women unprotected?” 

“She is not a random woman,” he said getting angry. 

“Look, she is special to me, but we are not together as a couple.” 

“Okay but don’t be upset with me, I’m not the one coming to you saying I’m expecting a baby,” she said visibly upset. 

“Look this is probably not the best time to get involved in a relationship so….”

She interrupted him “wait let’s just slow down.  I really missed you and I think that we are good together.  If you say that you aren’t involved with her, that’s good enough for me.  Thank you for telling me, now let’s just enjoy our dinner.”  Dominic took a sip of his drink when his phone rang.  He looked and saw it was Victoria.  “I need to take this.”  As he stood, she heard him say, “Hey, how are you feeling?”  Dominic walked to a quiet part of the restaurant. 

“Are you busy?  I can call you later or you can call me when you are free.” 

“No, I’m not busy, but I do need to see you, can I come by tonight if it’s not too late?” 

“What time?”  

“Would ten o’clock be okay?” 

There was a few seconds of silence; he thought she would refuse him.  “That’s fine, I’ll notify the desk to let you up.  I'll see you then.” 

Dominic hung up the phone with a smile on his face when he returned to the table.  Anna was not happy but she was not going to let him know that.  She screwed up once and left, she was not going to mess up this second chance. 

“So is everything okay?” she said with a fake smile. 

“Yes, I need to take care of something later.”

“Later?  Does that mean you are cutting our date short?” 

“I’m afraid so, but I will make it up to you.”

He took a sip of his drink as he picked up the menu.  They placed their order and continued with light conversation.  She wanted to ask him where he was going after dinner but she decided against it.  She didn’t want to upset him, but she had to figure out how to work through his current baby mama predicament so that he stayed with her.  After dinner Dominic dropped Anna off before heading to Victoria’s condo. 

Victoria heard the door and knew it was Dominic.
“I hope this isn’t going to be round two because I don’t have the energy,”
Victoria thought as she opened the door. 

“Hi Nick, come in, do you want something to drink?” 

Dominic looked at the woman carrying his babies
“God she’s beautiful,”
he walked into the living room.

“No, thank you.”  Dominic said as he sat.

“So what did we need to talk about?” Victoria sat on the sofa and placed her feet under her as Dominic sat beside her. 

“I owe you an apology,” he said as he tried to gather his thoughts.  “Although it is still unnerving for me to think about have babies right now, I never took into consideration how you were feeling.  I know this must have been a serious shock to you as well.”  She looked into the eyes of the man who fathered the babies she was carrying and felt overwhelmed with emotions, as a single tear slid down her face. 

“I’m not trying to upset you again?” he said as he gently wiped the tear from her face. 

“No, I’m looking at you and the enormity of this situation is really starting to sink in; we are going to be parents of three babies.”  Dominic looked at Victoria and pulled her into an embrace.  “I know this wasn’t planned but I think you are going to a wonderful mom.”  She allowed herself a few seconds in his embrace then sat upright, she needed to distance herself from him and his scent was sending her hormones into overdrive. 

“So what did you need to talk about?” 

“I would like to know the dates of your appointments, because I will be attending them from now on and anything else you think I need to know concerning the pregnancy.” 

“I will send you a schedule of all my upcoming appointments.  I guess for now we just stick to the appointments, and if anything else comes up regarding the babies I will let you know.” 

“Okay, fair enough, I still need to tell my family about the babies.  I will tell them at Sunday dinner.  One of my brothers already knows, but he won’t say anything until I tell the rest of the family.  I would like you to come next Sunday; they will want to meet you.” 

“I would like that.  I have an appointment on Wednesday.  They’re going to do an ultrasound and talk about my due date.” 

Dominic put his hand on her belly; amazed that she already had a baby bump.  “Wow when did this happen?” 

“I know, I can’t believe it either, if I keep growing at this rate I won’t be able to fit through the door,” she said with a faint smiling. 

He kissed her on the forehead “You look beautiful.  So how have you been feeling?” 

She looked at her belly then back at Dominic “Some days are better than others.  I had to buy more clothes because mine don’t fit anymore.  My employees are starting to whisper because they’ve noticed the weight gain but I have not officially told them that I’m pregnant.  I’m still able to do my yoga, which is a blessing.” 

He took her hand into his.   “If you need anything, you know I’m only a phone call away.” 

“I don’t know if your girlfriend would like that,” she said trying to gauge the seriousness of their relationship. 

“You let me worry about that.” He looked down at her “I’m serious, if you need anything, call me, we are in this together.  It may not be the ideal timing or situation, but it’s done and we have to work together for our babies.”  He stood prompting her to stand.  Nick wrapped his arms around Victoria and gave her a hug.  Victoria allowed him to hold her a little while longer, she knew that she needed to move away from him, but he felt so good and he made your feel safe. 
“Victoria get a grip, he has a girlfriend.”

“Nick, I know that this is a huge life change for both of us and I am really sorry.” 

“Victoria, I was very angry initially and honestly my emotions are still unsettled from this situation.  But I do know that I agreed to have unprotected sex and the fact that you were told that you couldn’t conceive does not absolve me of my part in this, I chose to sleep with you and we both will now deal with the impact it will have on both our lives.” 

“Nick, I’m petrified, what if something goes wrong.” 

“Vic, you’re not going through this alone, I’ll be by your side, regardless of who I am seeing, I promise you.”  Victoria felt such a feeling of security and contentment that it startled her and she pulled back.  She did not want to let her heart continue to go to a place where it was not welcomed, he was in love with another woman. 

“Well, I don’t want to hold you Nick; I’ll send all my scheduled appointments to your phone.”

Dominic grabbed the door handle.  “Okay, but remember to call if you need anything.” 

“I will.” 

He opened the door but before exiting he placed his hand on her stomach and kissed her on her forehead, Victoria could feel the warmth of his hand through her t-shirt “I will talk to you tomorrow,” he said before exiting.   She closed the door and headed to her bedroom.  She couldn’t explain the feeling she got when she was in his presence, but she knew some day it will be the cause of her heartbreak, she was sure of it.