For His Forever

For His Forever (For His Pleasure, Book 6)

By Kelly Favor

© 2012 All Rights Reserved

The wave crashed onto the shore.

The sound of the ocean brought Nicole back to reality, and she realized that she’d been daydreaming.

She’d been thinking about the water in Belize, and swimming with Red—those mornings and afternoons of sun and surf and the nights dancing and drinking. It seemed like it had all happened just a moment ago, or maybe it was years ago and Nicole had dreamt everything.

Now she was sitting under a large umbrella with her skin smelling of sunscreen, a one-piece red bathing suit covering as much of her as humanly possible, and large round sunglasses that allowed her to watch the other beach goers as they frolicked and played in the water and laid on their blankets.

Red was in the water, so far out she could hardly even see him from where she sat. But then again, Nicole was used to Red swimming for long stretches of time.

She put a hand on her belly and rubbed the smooth roundness of it, something she did often—it comforted her. Sometimes she felt the baby kick, and that was even more reassuring still.

Seven months gone by.

Nicole still couldn’t believe that those warm, sunny days in Belize were seven months in the past.

In that time, she’d lived dozens of lifetimes, it seemed. She’d experienced the fear of waiting for things to go wrong, waiting to tell family and friends of the pregnancy until Dr. Rosen had conducted the sonogram, this time finding the fetus and the heart beat.

And then there had been tears of joy and hugs and phone calls had been made, celebration dinners had been planned.

But life had still gone on. The business was growing faster than even Red had ever imagined it would—he’d found the eye of the tiger and he was winning again. He was renewed, it seemed, wanting to prove himself to the world and his new family.

Nicole continued working by his side, faithfully, even as her stomach slowly grew and sleeping became more difficult, and her hormones raged.

When they’d eventually found out the sex of the baby—and that it was a girl no less—they both agreed that fate had intended it just so.

She no longer felt so sprightly and beautiful as she had in the first months of pregnancy. Now she felt like a balloon about to pop, and in this red bathing suit, she wondered if some kid might mistake her for one and try to poke her with a thumbtack.

Red finally swam his back to shore and made his way to the umbrella, still dripping wet. He sat down next to her, sighing contentedly. “We needed this, Nicole.”

“I think we earned some time off after pulling seventy and eighty hour work weeks the last six months,” she agreed, picking up a bottle of water that had been sweating in the shade and taking a long drink.

“How are you feeling?” Red asked. He kept his voice light, but Nicole knew how much weight that question still carried.

Even though every test had come back fine and Dr. Rosen told them the pregnancy was progressing smoothly, neither of them could truly shake the feeling that something was bound to go wrong.

“I’m feeling huge,” she said with a grin.

“You look amazing,” he replied, and grabbed her hand, squeezing. She knew he wasn’t just saying it. The way Red looked at her, she saw the love and softness in his eyes.

“Thanks, babe.”

Suddenly, Nicole’s phone was ringing. She picked it out of her beach bag and looked closely. “I think it’s your mother.”

“Great,” Red replied, without enthusiasm.

“I should answer it,” she said, even though she didn’t want to. Since the first email Erica had sent Nicole seven months ago, the two had begun tentatively communicating. Red hadn’t been in favor of it, but neither had he expressly forbid her to speak to his estranged mother.

Nicole was conflicted about Erica Jameson, but she thought that ultimately Red would want to have his mother in his life in some fashion—not to mention the life of his baby girl. And so Nicole had continued corresponding intermittently, usually just talking about silly things like the weather, and Nicole asked about Erica questions about work and her other son, Jeb.

Things changed when Nicole wrote Erica of her pregnancy. The older woman asked for her cell number and then immediately called her, seeming to be overjoyed by the news. Since that time, Erica called once every few weeks, usually just asking how Nicole was feeling and being nice and supportive.

So why did Nicole still get that strange knot in her stomach when Red’s mother’s number showed up on her called ID? She wasn’t completely sure—maybe it was just that little nagging sensation that Erica had an agenda and she hadn’t revealed it yet.

“Hello?” Nicole answered, as Red muttered something under his breath and got up from his chair.

“I’m going to grab an ice cream,” he said. “You want?”

Nicole shook her head no.

“Nicole, it’s Erica!” the older woman squealed. “How are you? How is your vacation going?”

“It’s going great,” she said.

“Well, I have a bit of a surprise. And I really hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m listening,” Nicole said, feeling even more uncertain now.

“Yesterday I came to a work conference in Manhattan with Jeb. As it turns out, Jeb is so busy hobnobbing with the other doctors, that I’ve got time on my hands. So I thought, why not come up to The Hamptons to see you tomorrow?”

Nicole didn’t know what to say. The smile was frozen on her face. “Tomorrow?”

“I’ll take you shopping and to lunch,” Erica said. “It will be lovely to catch up and see how you’re coming along.”

Nicole looked out at the beach, were Red was standing in line at the little restaurant that served everything from fried clams to ice cream. There was a very long line of people and Red was at the back of it. He was waiting there, arms crossed, looking annoyed.

“That sounds like a plan,” Nicole said, wishing she had more time to consider the offer.

Erica was overjoyed, and said she’d call her first thing in the morning to nail things down.

After hanging up, Nicole was deeply uneasy.

Everything had been going so well up until now, she thought. Was it possible that this was the sign of their luck turning bad?

“Kallie, could you bring the children back here please?” Nicole was once again shaken from her thoughts by the sound of a woman’s voice, loud and demanding.

“Kallie?” More insistent this time.

“Coming Mrs. Danvers!” the young woman—who Nicole could only assume was the aforementioned Kallie—called out from the shallow water, where she was holding a toddler in one arm, as another child splashed in the water beside her. Kallie started back toward the beach blanket with the one child in her arm and the other holding her hand.

On the blanket, the owner of the demanding voice—a middle-aged woman with leathery skin and fake boobs—sat spraying herself with tanning lotion.

Kallie came back and put the toddler down next to the woman, where he started to instantly try and get up and walk away.

“Ben, come back here!” the woman yelled, not moving a muscle to stop him.

Kallie laughed and knelt down, scooping him up. The girl giggled and jumped into the sand, kicking it so that it sprayed up. Some of it peppered the older woman, who scowled.

“Kallie, is it too much to ask you to keep them from making a mess every single place they go? For God’s sake…”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Danvers,” the younger woman said.

“They need to have sunscreen reapplied every two hours.” She lay back on her beach towel and adjusted her designer sunglasses. Mrs. Danvers had a manner and tone of voice that Nicole recognized as coming from someone who’d grown up wealthy, used to ordering people around her whole life.

Nicole couldn’t even imagine treating people that way, but she was used to seeing a lot of this sort of behavior since marrying Red and moving in social circles that included the very richest of rich people.

And now, vacationing with Red in The Hamptons, she seemed to have found a class of people that took the word entitled to a whole new level.

Kallie went about putting on the sunscreen, diligently applying it to the two children who seemed intent on keeping her from doing the job at hand.

Nicole had to give it to her—the young woman had a good attitude and kept a smile on her face better than Nicole would have done in that situation.

Mrs. Danvers lay on her blanket like a log, occasionally opening her eyes to make a comment or to critique something about what Kallie was doing with the children—

meanwhile never offering to help even once.

Nicole was getting angrier and angrier as she watched the scene unfold. It was typical in its own way, especially in these parts.

Still, Nicole kept her sunglasses on and tried to appear as though she were resting in the shade, rather than watching every moment of every interaction.

Mrs. Danvers’s phone rang and she answered it as Kallie played and laughed with her children nearby.

“Hello, Brad? Are you here?” Mrs. Danvers asked, sitting up on her elbow. Her fake breasts swayed as she moved. “I’ll bring the children to the car. Kallie can’t do it by herself, she’s been having a great deal of trouble all day.”

Nicole watched Kallie’s expression, which didn’t change, even as the woman continued to belittle her. She was a beautiful girl, with sky blue eyes, honey blond hair, and the body of a dancer.

No wonder Mrs. Danvers seemed so annoyed with her, Nicole thought. She was probably sick of looking at this natural, gorgeous girl and wondering why she couldn’t buy breasts and a face to equal hers.

Nicole felt a little guilty for judging the older woman so harshly, but than again, she’d behaved terribly every single moment that Nicole had been watching so far.

The older woman suddenly noticed Nicole looking in their direction. She stared directly back at Nicole without moving a muscle. “This is what you have to look forward to,” she said, in a hostile tone that was couched in humor. “Enjoy the piece and quiet while you still can.”

Nicole didn’t respond, she just nodded slightly and turned away from the scene.

“Kallie, it’s time to go,” the woman commanded loudly. “Could you help me get the children’s shoes on? Please remember to wipe their feet off beforehand, because otherwise there will be sand all over the Range Rover.”

“Yes, Mrs. Danvers,” Kallie said.

“And could you pack up everything and bring it up to the car, please?”

Soon after, Mrs. Danvers collected the children and took them up the stairs to the lot and the waiting Range Rover, while Kallie was stuck trying to move all of the family’s beach paraphernalia by her lonesome.

Nicole decided she couldn’t just sit there and not say something. So she slowly got up from her beach chair and walked to where the young woman was gathering the family’s things together.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you needed some help.”

Kallie looked up at her. “Oh, no! Please, I’m fine.”

“Can I say something?” Nicole asked her.

“Sure.”

“And I hope this isn’t overstepping, since I don’t know you at all. But I was watching how you handled those children and I think you’re doing a great job.”

Kallie brightened visibly. “I appreciate that,” she said, laughing. “Sometimes it feels like I’m just the worst nanny ever. And I wonder if the Danvers’s are going to send me on the first flight back to Ohio.”

“Is that we’re you’re from?”

“Born and raised,” Kallie said.

“My name’s Nicole,” Nicole said, reaching out her hand. Kallie shook it with a grin.

“Kallie Young.”

“How long have you been working as a nanny?”

The girl began folding the yellow beach blanket and Nicole bent down (with some effort) and grabbed two corners and helped her.

“About six months. I always wanted to move to New York, and this opportunity came up and I couldn’t resist.”

“I know how that goes,” Nicole laughed. “Believe me.”

They folded the blanket and then Nicole helped her put away the rest of the materials and throw away the garbage.

“I better get going,” Kallie said. “It was really nice meeting you, though. I swear--it’s like I’m invisible out here. You’re the first person I’ve met who’s really tried to have a conversation with me.”

“Tell you the truth, I haven’t made many friends here myself,” Nicole said.

“Maybe we can meet up for coffee or something. And then at least we’ll have one person to talk to.”

“That would be really great,” Kallie said.

“You can take my number if you want.”

“Definitely.” Kallie smiled. “That would be great.”

“We can exchange numbers, actually.”

Nicole ran—well it was more of a quick shuffle—back to her chair and grabbed her cell phone. They input each other’s contact info into their phones, talking about how they should definitely try to meet up for coffee and bales.

Then Kallie got the family’s things together all at once, and hauling it all like a Sherpa, went up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

Red came back with two ice cream cones. “I thought you might want one, even though you said you didn’t.”

She laughed. “You know me too well.”

He handed the cone off to her. “I saw you talking with some girl. What was that all about?”

Nicole licked her ice cream. It was delicious. As usual, Red knew exactly what she needed, sometimes before she even knew it herself. “She was this really nice nanny who was being given a hard time by the woman she worked for. I went over and chatted with her for a minute.”

“So you made a friend?” he asked.

“Actually, I think I did.”

***

Kallie Young was sitting in the back of the Range Rover with the two children as Brad and Trina Danvers sat in the front seat, quietly stewing as they often seemed to do.

It was odd how they would talk to one another in public and even pretend to be cuddly and affectionate, only to suddenly become quiet and distant in private.

Was it all an act to impress others with how great their marriage was? Kallie wondered.

And then she wondered, not for the first time, if she hadn’t made a huge mistake in coming to New York City to work for this couple.