The Billionaires Hired Baby Mother: When the wife and surrogate are two different people (13 page)

“
Hello,” she said shyly.

“
Hi,” he said. “I was wondering
if I could take you and Lily out. The fair is in town,” he
explained.

“
Oh. We were heading to the park,”
Ettie replied.

Lily who had been standing behind her was quick to intervene.

“
Mom! The fair! Can we please go? I love the
fair. Please, please, please?” she begged.

Ettie bit her lip and looked at Roy who was struggling to hide a
mischievous grin. She rolled her eyes and grinned back.

“
Yes. I suppose,” she said.

They had an amazing time at the fair. They ate everything in sight
from candy apples to cotton candy, funnel cakes and hot dogs. Lily
got on every ride that she was tall enough for, the kid was fearless.
Ettie couldn’t ride anything, being pregnant so she watched Roy
and Lily from the sides. Roy won a giant panda for Lily on the ring
toss and small purple dog for Ettie. They were enjoying themselves
immensely when they walked up to one of the stalls that had a 'guess
how many jelly beans' raffle. Lily insisted on entering. Her guess
was way off until Roy whispered in her ear. She giggled and wrote the
number down on the slip of paper.

“
You have a beautiful daughter,” the
lady at the booth said smiling.

Ettie was about to correct her when Roy thanked her instead. As he
was writing down his guess the lady turned to Ettie.

“
Do you know what you’re having?”
she asked.

“
A boy,” Ettie said automatically.

“
Wonderful,” the lady replied. “The
perfect family.”

Ettie smiled but inside her something cut deep like a sharp knife. No
they weren’t the perfect family. In three months she would have
to stop stealing glimpses of a borrowed perfect life and give up her
son. Her son with Roy. Not my son, she reminded herself. Roy was
quiet after the jelly bean stall. She knew why. Their situation
wasn’t one that you could easily explain to strangers. Around
that time, Lily began to yawn. Worn out from the day. They decided to
head back home. She was soon fast asleep in the car. Ettie feigned
sleep too so she could avoid conversation with Roy while soft rock
played softly. When they got home Roy carried Lily back to the
guesthouse. Ettie carried the panda. He laid Lily on the bed when she
suddenly woke up. She hugged him tightly, surprising him and Ettie.

“
Thank you,” she said. “I had so
much fun,” before yawning and drifting back to sleep.

Roy kissed her lightly on her forehead.

“
I did too kid,” he whispered.

Ettie was standing in the doorway when he looked up, a peculiar look
on her face. She walked him to the door.

“
Thank you,” she repeated. “This
was a really great day for her.”

“
For all of us,” he said. “Goodnight
Ettie.”

“
Goodnight Roy,” she said before
closing the door behind him. She leaned heavily against it. Against
her better judgment, she was falling in love with Roy Gardner.

The next two months were confusing for Roy. As he and Ettie got
closer, Melissa became more and more distant. The sad part was he had
stopped trying to fix it. Every time he tried to talk to her about
what was going on she got angry and defensive. She blamed it on work
and he started letting her use that excuse. Maybe because as wrong as
it was, Ettie and Lily occupied his time.

Ever since the night at the fair Lily was much closer to him. She
came to greet him every night when he came home from work with a hug
and adventures about her day. Ettie had tried to apologize and stop
her but Roy told her that he didn’t mind. In fact, seeing Lily
was one of the best parts of his day. He had grown to love her. He
tried to push aside the word that kept popping into his mind every
time he saw her. Daughter. She wasn’t his, she just started
feeling like it. And that was dangerous thinking. He knew the time
would come when Ettie would leave, taking Lily with her. He couldn’t
force Ettie to allow him in Lily’s life, he didn’t have
any right to do so. Still, those moments with Lily were precious to
him. Concreted the assurance that he would be a good father and also
got him thinking about how wonderful it would be when his own son
greeted him. The thought warmed his heart.

Ettie’s thoughts mirrored Roy’s. Sometimes she wondered
if she was being fair to Lily. How unfair it was to allow her to bond
with Roy when soon, too soon she would be leaving. She wasn’t
sure how to explain this to her and wasn’t sure what damage it
would do to her daughter. And still she allowed it because when
Lily’s face lit up when she was with him it made Ettie happy.
Of course she didn’t think the feelings were the same on Roy’s
part. He was just being the great man he was, it just came natural
for him. And soon he would have his own child and Lily would be
forgotten. She knew she couldn’t ask him to include Lily in his
life, no matter how much her little girl had grown to love him. No
matter how much she was starting to see him as a father figure. It
wasn’t his responsibility. Maybe the time had finally come when
she should call George and insist he meet Lily. It was apparent now
more than ever, that Lily needed that in her life.

*****

“
Please Ettie, you don’t have to make
dinner. You should have your feet up getting some rest,” Ellen
protested.

“
Trust me it’s no trouble at all.
Besides you got off an hour ago!” Ettie laughed.

“
Yes, but normally I make dinner before I
leave,” Ellen insisted.

“
It’s fine. I’m going stir
crazy. I miss my job. If it were up to me, I would have kept working
until they kicked me out of the office,” Ettie explained.

“
I know exactly how that is,” Ellen
smiled. “Last year Mr. Gardner insisted I take a vacation. I
spent the whole time volunteering at my church. I don’t look
forward to retirement.”

“
Oh Ellen. You never have to retire if you
don’t want to. Besides you’re family,” Roy said
kissing her on her cheek.

“
I didn’t hear you come in,”
Ettie said smiling at him.

“
That smells great. What is it?” Roy
asked sitting at the counter.

“
This is all Ettie,” Ellen explained.

Ettie took a small spoon and offered a taste to Roy.

“
This is my mother’s recipe, chicken
and dumplings. I was, well he was,” she said pointing at her
belly, “craving it.”

Roy grinned. “My boy has great taste already,” he said.

Ettie beamed.

“
Oh Ettie. There’s something I wanted
to talk to you about,” Roy said suddenly.

“
What’s that?” Ettie asked.

“
It’s almost time for me and Andrea’s
scrabble game. Excuse me,” Ellen said heading out the door
discreetly.

“
Is everything okay?” Ettie asked.

“
Everything is great. I wanted to talk about
Lily,” Roy said.

“
What about Lily? Did she do something
wrong?” Ettie asked alarmed.

“
No. Not at all. I was just thinking, she
told me that even though she loves it here she misses her friends.”

“
I didn’t know that. She never
mentioned it but I guess it’s a bit lonely here for her,”
Ettie said frowning.

“
My sister Kate is coming this weekend and
she has three kids of her own. I was thinking of inviting Lily’s
class to a pool party. ” Roy explained.

“
That’s nice of you. But some of her
friend’s don’t have transportation to get here and I
don’t think I could pick them all up and take them back home,”
Ettie said.

“
That’s not a problem. I could rent a
bus to pick them up.”

“
That seems like a lot of trouble,”
Ettie replied.

“
It’s no trouble at all. I love seeing
her happy. I was also thinking we could invite some of the kids from
Castlewood. She starts there this fall and it would be nice for her
to have some friends already.”

Ettie looked at him, her heart overflowing. He was perfect. He was so
thoughtful.

“
Roy. That would be amazing. Really. She
would love that,” Ettie said gratefully.

“
Besides, you can finally get Gina and Abbie
up here. You talk so much about them I feel like I know them. It
would be nice to finally meet them. Invite whoever you would like,”
he added.

The next week was spent planning the party. Everyone was excited to
attend, Gina and Abbie were curious as she expected and Lily was
bouncing off the walls. She couldn’t wait to show her friends
how well she could swim now. Ettie appreciated Roy for what he was
doing for Lily. It would be nice for her to meet some new friends at
her new school and she was looking forward to it. After all this is
what this was all about. Securing Lily’s future.

It was a beautiful day out. Perfect for a pool party. Ellen, Andrea
and Ettie had prepared enough food for a small army. Roy, against
Ettie’s protests had rented an ice cone maker, popcorn and
cotton candy machine,all manned by Ellen’s son Kevin and his
girlfriend. He had even rented extra tables and chairs which were
scattered at shady spots on the massive lawn. Roy was currently
grilling hotdogs and hamburgers. It made her smile to see how at ease
he was in this normal role. Around noon guests started to arrive and
Ettie hadn’t changed yet so she excused herself to get ready.

When she stepped outside, her eyes instantly found Roy. He gave her a
bright smile that gave her butterflies. Embarrassed she looked away,
feigning looking for Lily. The bus had gotten to the house at one
thirty and Lily had played the perfect hostess. She was a little shy
with the kids she didn’t know at first but soon all the fun of
swimming and excitement kicked in and they were all having a blast.
Even Melissa, who Ettie had to admit sometimes came across as cold,
seemed to be having fun. She wore a perfect black bikini with a
matching sarong that instantly made Ettie feel fat in her one piece
and shorts.

Melissa had invited some of her friends, three couples, and their
children, and while the children all interacted, Melissa and her
friends stayed isolated at one table sipping cocktails. Ettie felt
excluded but she didn’t blame Melissa. After all, their
relationship was a complicated one. Andrea and Ellen, who had become
fast friends also sat off to the side with Ellen’s husband and
one of his friends. Ettie bit her lip to keep from smiling. It was
nice to see Andrea having fun and flirting. Ettie always thought that
her mother should date and apparently so did Ellen. Andrea looked
beautiful in a one piece coral bathing suit that she had gotten for
the party. She had left her long hair down and even threw on some
lipstick. The man, Lou Chapman was a very handsome retired football
coach and he seemed as enchanted with Andrea as she was with him.
With so many people around she was surprised to feel lonely but
that’s what she felt. The husbands of Melissa’s friends
milled around Roy drinking scotch and laughing. None of them beside
Roy wore swimming trunks, they wore similar outfits, casual khakis
and golf shirts. Ettie kept feeling eyes on her and knew she was the
topic of conversation. Finally she was rescued when Gina and Abbie
along with a pudgy Jordan wearing the cutest swim trunks and floppy
sun hat arrived.

“
Ettie,” Gina said hugging her friend.

“
Sorry we’re late. Jordy was a little
fussy earlier,” she said kissing Ettie on the cheek.

Ettie hugged them and took Jordan in her arms kissing her godson on
the top of his head.

“
I missed you guys so much,” Ettie
said getting teary eyed.

“
What is wrong?” Gina asked.

She could always tell when something was wrong with her best friend.
She knew her so well.

“
Nothing. I’m just happy to see you
guys,” Ettie exclaimed.

“
Ettie I just saw you last week for lunch
and I talk to you almost every day. Is everything okay? Really?”
Gina said frowning.

“
Yes,” Ettie said waving her off.
“Pregnancy hormones.”

Gina gave Abbie a pointed look.

“
Here. Let me have him,” Abbie said
stretching out her arms to take Jordan. “Let’s go see
aunt Andrea and put our toes in the water,” she cooed to him.

“
Let’s talk,” Gina said.

“
What?” Ettie asked innocently.

“
Ettie,” Gina scowled.

“
Fine. Fine,” Ettie said pointing to
an empty table. “Can we at least grab a drink first?”

They sat at one of the tables under the shade of a tree that was away
from everyone else. Ettie had gotten them lemonade and Gina had
grabbed some pretzels.

“
So tell me what’s going on Ettie,”
Gina jumped right in.

“
I was just feeling out of place until you
arrived. Don’t look now but the woman in the black bikini?
That’s Melissa. You’ll meet her later.”

“
Out of place how?” Gina questioned,
glancing at Melissa.

“
She introduced me to her friends but they
looked at me like I didn’t exist. Then they all sat in their
corner chatting. She didn’t invite me to join them. It’s
like I’m the help,” Ettie complained.

Gina took a sip of her drink contemplating her next words.

“
Ettie you never really cared about things
like that before though. You’ve always been strong willed,
intelligent and your own person. Why would you care about being part
of the crowd now?” Gina asked.