Expecting my Billionaire Stepbrother's Baby (a Stepbrother Romance Novel) (11 page)

Drake ran his hands through his hair and shook his head.

“I’m not a monster. I do love Leah, but… I can’t, no I don’t want to take care of her. It’s not in me. Call it selfishness, call it whatever you like, but motherhood is not for me.”

“No one said you were a monster,” I said, stepping closer.

She looked at me and for a moment, and it was like we understood what the other was thinking. Christine needed to be free, and I needed a family.

For a second I blinked, and my mother stood before me. The one who’d gone without saying goodbye and left me asking a thousand questions. The realisation finally dawned upon me – she didn’t abandon me because she didn’t love me. She left because there was no other alternative.

She didn’t have a choice. If my mother had stayed, it would’ve been the end of her. Depressed and lashing out, she left in order to survive.

“I will take very good care of Leah. I promise,” I said, and took Drake’s hand. “We both will. But you need to promise something, too. You can’t keep disrupting her life like this. She can’t grow up to see you two constantly fighting. She can’t find out that you used her as a bargaining chip, OK? That’s not fair on that little girl down there.”

Christine sniffed and nodded. The hard shell Christine who had done so well to armour herself fell by the wayside.

“Chris, I’ll get my lawyers to draw something up about signing over full custody. I’ll make sure you’re well looked after. You’ll be able to start the fashion business you’ve always dreamed of.”

“I’m so sorry for everything,” Christine whispered to Drake and then thanked him for his offer. She took another cleansing breath and managed a smile, then stiffened, standing up straight again. I imagined her donning her armour again as she turned without another word and walked towards the valet station.

“
W
hat a party
,” Drake said as he closed the bedroom door. The last of the guests had taken their sweet–ass time to leave, and he’d been a generous host and stayed with them till the end, letting Leah and me sneak away without notice.

After putting her exhausted floppy body into her crib next door, I collapsed into bed without even bothering to take my expensive dress off.

Drake lay down next to me, pulling his tie free as his muscular frame sank into the mattress.

“You know, I couldn’t have done any of that without you,” he said, the glints in his eyes sparkling once again.

“It was fun,” I said.

“I’m not talking about that.”

“I know you weren’t, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood.”

Drake pulled me into his warm arms, wrapping me up close to his chest. “If it weren’t for you I’d probably be doomed to spend my years arguing with that woman. Fighting for Leah. God, I can’t even imagine what might’ve happened… she could’ve fought me out of spite and tried get custody.”

“Shh, it’s not what she really wants. I don’t think even she realised that until someone told her,” I said, remembering the way her eyes had widened in surprise. Someone had let her off the hook… it had been what she’d needed all that time.

Drake murmured a sleepy reply while we hugged each other on the bed. A moment passed.

“What is it? I can hear the cogs turning from here,” he said.

“You’re not going to believe what your mother said to me.”

He groaned. “What’s she done this time?”

“Nothing,” I said, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice and failing miserably. I bit my lip. “She knows.”

“Knows what?” he asked innocently. As if us being together was perfectly normal.

“About us, you doofus!”

“What? You’re joking, right?”

I shook my head and stared into his steely, panicked eyes. Now he was getting it. He released me and sat at the edge of the bed, the muscles in his back rippling under his shirt as he hunched over and claimed his head in his hands.

“How? I don’t understand…”

“She’s not stupid. I don’t think she knows I’m pregnant, though. We’re going to have to tell them,” I said sitting up, watching Drake pace the length of the bedroom.

“Fuck no!”

“Drake, we’re going to have to tell them sometime, you know, before I get huge. And I’d rather tell them ourselves before someone else figures it out and blurts it out…”

He groaned again, louder this time.

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t think your mom minded. She told me to go fight for you and Leah… or at least I think she did.”

“So, she might not know?” he said, halting suddenly.

“You’re grasping at straws, honey,” I said and moved down the bed, holding out my hands, wanting him to come forward. Was it so wrong that I just wanted him to wrap my arms around me again? But I knew I had to be the logical one… we had to tell our parents. We couldn’t keep a secret like this buried for long.

Well, I supposed, we could. We could flee in the middle of the night, move around the world and never see them again. The temptation was high, but I’d only just rekindled what was left of my family. To run away again, to leave like my mother had without saying goodbye would not only break my heart, it would break my father’s, too.

“Let’s tell them over dinner, on neutral ground? Somewhere where they’d be less likely to make a scene?” I said, knowing this was for the best.

“Are you sure? We can always wait a few more months. I don’t want you to get upset if it goes wrong. Not in your condition…”

Drake had a small point. I’d be lying to myself if I wasn’t worried that it would all go tits up. That we’d be shunned, and our actions would cause Leah or the new baby to never know their grandparents.

“No. I want to. I’m sick of keeping secrets. Let’s get it out in the open and if they react badly, then we can pack our bags and never see them again.”

“Done deal. Where in the world would you like to live, so I can start planning our escape?” he said, his groomed eyebrows raising a fraction.

I poked him in the ribs, digging my fingers into the right spot, tickling him to make him scream like a teenage girl.

W
e shouldn’t have done
this, I thought. This was a terrible idea. What the hell was I thinking?
I think I’m going to be sick.

My stomach was doing its own little dance, and it had nothing to do with the baby. It was all down to jittery, uncontrollable nerves.

“You’re shaking like a leaf,” Drake whispered and placed his hand upon mine on the table to stop it from twitching. “If you don’t calm down, they’re going to know something is up right away.”

“I think that ship sailed when you asked them to dinner…”

“Maybe,” he replied, knowing I was right.

Drake had, without much trouble, secured a private dining experience at the exclusive
Châteaux au Coeur
restaurant for just the four of us a few days after Leah’s party.

I picked at a dinner roll while we waited for Barbara and my dad to arrive. How were we going to tell them? Should we just blurt it right out that we were together, and I was pregnant? I shuddered as waves of cold air danced across my shoulders.

Suddenly Drake stood up, and Barbara and my dad, Henry, emerged from behind a pulled back, thick velvet curtain as they were escorted into the private room.

I kept my bum securely on my seat, not trusting my nervous legs to support me. I’d probably end up losing my footing and going head first into the table, falling to the floor, pulling the tablecloth and all the china with me.

Actually that wasn’t such a bad idea; the dinner would be over before it started, and we could forget that we’d even considered telling them.

“Hi, darling,” Barbara said as she greeted Drake with a hug. She moved over to my side and air kissed my cheek. “Viola, you’re looking lovely. Positively glowing…”

I stayed in my seat like a scared rabbit in the middle of the road as the three of them stared at me.

“Viola, are you all right?” my dad asked as he too gave me a kiss on the cheek. My brow suddenly felt like it was dripping wet; my make–up was surely melting off my face.

Is it hot in here or just me?

“Yes,” I squeaked, an octave higher than normal.

They both frowned at me and took their seats. Drake glared at me and then mouthed,
What the fuck, Vi?

I shrugged and drew in a long breath, trying to pull myself together.

“So, what’s brought this on? You’ve never wanted to dine with us before,” Barbara said to Drake.

Oh, god, she was diving right in. Forget the pleasantries, and let’s just steamroll ahead.

“Let me order the wine first, then we can talk. I think we’ll all be needing a drink after this,” Drake replied.

All right for some, but I was stuck sipping sparkling mineral water. What I wouldn’t give for some Dutch courage right about now.

A sommelier appeared as if on cue and took Drake’s order.

“We’ll have the ’82
Chateau Latour
,” Drake requested, not even looking at the wine menu.

“Very good choice, Sir,” said the man in the crisp uniform who then withdrew through the closed curtains.

We sat in awkward silence as the tension crept up to stifling levels, and all I could hear was the rapid thrum of my pulse pounding against my temples.

Barbara sighed, and her hand moved to fiddle with her earring, pulling on her lobe. “OK, I’ve had enough of this. I’m not waiting any longer. Spill it. Now.”

We’d agreed earlier that it would probably best if Drake took the lead. He could charm the pants off business investors and the like, so hopefully his words would soothe and calm our parents, breaking it to them gently… yeah, that
was
the plan.

“I’m pregnant,” I said, blurting it out. The suspense was killing me. Keeping the secret bottled up had been doing my nerves no good at all, it felt good once the cork finally popped, and I’d just said it out loud.

“Viola!” Drake muttered, followed by a deep groan. He closed his eyes, waiting for the fallout.

Across from me Barbara’s eyes went wide; her long fake eyelashes almost curled and touched the base of her thin eyebrows.

My dad unfolded his napkin, smoothed it onto his lap and smiled, then patted my hand. “That’s lovely, my dear.”

I’d been expecting at least a whiff of disapproval; I wasn’t married, and he was under the impression I had no boyfriend, and yet he’d accepted it just like that. That, however, was just half of what was yet to come.

“Who’s the father? When can we meet him?” my dad asked nonchalantly, reaching for a dinner roll and starting to butter it. The rest of us sucked in a hiss of air, holding it until the penny dropped. He was never ever really good at figuring this type of stuff out; he seemed oblivious to the obvious.

Barbara’s mouth was still open, and I watched as she forcibly tapped a couple of ringed fingers under her chin to close it as she blinked away the shock… at least she didn’t need it to be spelled out to her.

Still no one had breathed a word. Who was going to be the one to tell my dad?

Dad raised his head and looked about the table, frowning at each of us.

“What? Was that rude? Shouldn’t I have asked?” he said and put his butter knife back down with a clank onto his bread plate.

“Isn’t obvious, Henry?” Barbara asked gently.

“I wouldn’t have asked if…” His eyes narrowed, and his greying head turned to stare at me. I blushed violently and felt the rise of tears behind my eyes.

Is he going to be mad? He’s mad isn’t he? We’re doomed.

His face darkened, and then he slowly turned to face Drake sitting opposite, who instinctively smiled in a wide grin.

That’s not helping, honey!

“Dad? Say something,” I said managing to form the words. The thickness in my throat was getting worse, and I had to keep biting my tongue, pressing down hard to stop from crying.

“You and Drake?” he whispered, his eyes still pinned upon his step–son.

Just as the sommelier pulled back the curtain, holding the expensive bottle of red, ready to pour, my dad shot to his feet.

“Drake is the father?” he shouted.

The bottle slipped from the startled young man’s hands and crashed to wooden floor, shattering. Burgundy droplets flew into the air and coated Drake’s face like a fine sea mist.

I wanted to hide, wanted to bury my head in my hands and slink under the table.

For what seemed like an age no one said anything. The silence was excruciating, tempting me to scream to break it. All of a sudden the sommelier leapt into action as if he’d just woken up to the situation and broke the spell around us all.

“I am terribly sorry!” he cried, his face a darkening red, almost matching the tone of the velvet curtains behind him. In a matter of seconds, he’d poured over a thousand pounds worth of wine onto the floor — not that it was his fault, of course, but I did hope that he wouldn’t get in trouble.

“Henry!” Barbara scolded, urging him to sit back down, yanking on sleeve as my dad tried to vaporise Drake with his eyes.

The sommelier called in reinforcements, and within a few minutes it was almost as if nothing untoward had happened in the room. The only giveaway was the way the four of us stared at each other and the pinpricks of wine that covered the exposed sections of Drake’s crisp, grey shirt.

“I – no,
we
, wanted to break it to you both a little bit more gently than that, but I guess our nerves got the better of us,” Drake said, shooting a tiny smile my way. Oh, thank god he wasn’t mad, I thought.

“Well, I think it’s wonderful news. I knew it, you know? Had a feeling…”

“You knew?” my dad asked.

“A suspicion,” Barbara answered. “Oh, come on, Henry. They aren’t related, and I always thought my Drakie had a thing for Viola, ever since he was a young lad.”

“You, what? How?” Now it was Drake’s turn to blush.

Barbara snorted a laugh. “You can’t hide these things from your mother,” she said and tapped a manicured nail against the side of her nose.

Stunned, I sat there blinking, my heart rate returning to a normal base line. Had I just heard right? Barbara was
OK
with Drake and me being together? She was laughing about it, so she must be, I thought. There was only one person left. The one person who I needed to tell me it was OK.

I considered what I would do if my dad said the worst and told me that he wouldn’t have any of it… that he would disown me. I waited for the horrible words to spill from his open mouth, an ultimatum perhaps, but it was as if he’d lost his voice. Would I give Drake up? The baby? I knew in my heart that would be something I could never do.

“Dad?” I whispered. He needed to be OK with this, he just had to be. “Talk to me.” I placed my hand on top of his as he turned to look at me.

“Henry,” Drake interrupted, and I scowled at him. Didn’t he realise this was a delicate moment? One that could make or break us? But then he did the unexpected.

“I love your daughter with all my heart. I wish that I’d been brave enough to realise that all those years ago. So many years wasted…”

My heart sang. He’d yet to tell me he loved me, and to do so now in front of our parents brought tears to my eyes.

“You love him, too?” my dad asked, his attention firmly fixed upon me now, as if we were the only two in the room.

I nodded. “I do, Daddy. I love him very much, and Leah, too.”

My dad took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. His face showed no indication as to which way the wind was going to blow.

“I can’t say that I’m pleased about it… it’s, well, it’s bloody peculiar.” The song my heart had been playing only a moment before halted, screeching to a sudden stop.
Please no.

“But,” my dad continued. “if you are happy, then that’s all I could ever ask for. You’d better look after her, though!”

“Oh, I will, Henry. I promise,” said Drake.