Wives and Champions (2 page)

While they had a nanny now,
Ms. Praline, the sweetest, most kindest woman ever, Emily still
struggled with what every working mom considered a thorn – having
someone else raise her children while she was busy working. And her
case was a unique one because she didn’t need to work. Time and
time again, Dante reminded her of that. He made enough money for
the both of them, so from his vantage point, her working so hard
was voluntary, which meant she was
voluntarily
taking time away from
Ezra. And what angered her the most was, he was right.

She closed her eyes and took a breath.
It was her boutique. Her store. Her passion. What was she supposed
to do? Give it up because her husband had money? Could a woman not
have her own money-making venture, or did marrying a man with
wealth automatically mean the woman was supposed to stay home,
raise children, walk around with bare feet and forego her
dreams?

She frowned slightly. Cleared her
throat. She couldn’t tell Dante any of this because she knew what
his solution would be. He’d tell her to quit, or hire people to run
the boutique for her. The businessman inside of his six-feet body
wouldn’t understand her predicament. Besides, men and women had
completely different mindsets when it came to rearing children.
While Dante loved Ezra, was a phenomenal father and provider, most
of the responsibility for Ezra’s care fell on her. Like, for
instance, when Ezra needed his shots – she left work to take Ezra
to the doctor, not him. And what about those occasions when a child
just needed his mother. When no one else would do, not even a
sixty-year-old, nurturing Ms. Praline.

“
Emily.” He called her name
so she could look at him. He’d been trying to get her attention for
the last few minutes, but she’d completely checked out,
daydreaming.

She blinked, came out of her reverie
and caught sight of his narrowed, inquisitive eyes.

“
Are you okay?” he
asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Just
tired.”

Just tired.

He sighed heavily. Every
married man knew what
just tired
meant. While it could’ve actually meant she was
exhausted in a physical sense, and maybe she was, she was more
tired of whatever it was bothering her. Was she tired of the
boutique? Tired of him asking her questions? What?

“
Maybe dinner was a bad
idea,” he told her. “I thought it would be nice to go out since we
haven’t had an opportunity to do this in a while, but—”

“
It’s fine,
Dante.”

He lifted a brow. “Is it?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then why do I feel so much
tension between us right now?”

“
Because you’re making it
tense. Just drop it. Please?”

His eyes narrowed. Veins hardened at
his temples. “Okay. Dropped,” he said, taking his glass of wine
from the table, enjoying a long sip. He set the glass on the table,
twirled it while looking across the table at her and her untouched
glass of wine. She didn’t want to be here. He could feel
it.

The waiter was back with
their meals and while they ate, Dante glanced up at Emily now and
then because he was concerned about her. She didn’t need to stress
herself out over the boutique or anything else. He understood her
drive and loved the fact that she was a driven, go-getter, but she
didn’t need to do much
go-getting
when he was pulling in millions of dollars in
income every year. Her work was by choice, which meant her stress
was also by choice. Now, without her even having to confess it to
him, he realized the boutique was too much for her. And what he
wanted to talk about tonight would make her stress level rise even
higher.

He wanted another child.

He hesitated to bring it up in the
past, but he had to bring it up now. He wanted his children to grow
up together. He didn’t want them spread too far apart in age and
Ezra was already a year old. Now was the time to discuss having
another baby.

“
How’s your meal?” she
asked him.

“
It’s delicious.” Dante
took a sip of water.

“
Mine, too.”

More silence passed between them while
they continued eating.

Breaking the silence after licking
butter from his fingers, Dante said, “Emily, I’ve been hesitant to
bring up this subject, but I’m just going to put it out there. Have
you given any consideration to another baby?”

Emily fought hard to keep a
straight, expressionless face.
Another
baby?
Was she hearing things? Had to be.
She barely had time to spend with Ezra. When would she have time
for another baby?

“
Emily.”

“
No, I haven’t given it any
consideration,” she said, avoiding eye contact. She took a sip of
water.

He frowned. “Why not?”

“
Because—”

“
Can you look at me?” he
interrupted to request.

She looked at him, holding his gaze
and said, “I’m not ready for another baby.”

“
Can you
elaborate?”

“
What’s there to elaborate
on? I’m not ready.”

Dante dropped his fork on his plate
and snatched the black napkin from his lap to wipe his
mouth.

Emily frowned. Okay, he wanted her to
elaborate, so she decided to do just that. “Do you know I haven’t
seen Ezra since I left home this morning? I left the house at eight
o’clock and I haven’t seen my son once during the course of the
day,” Emily said with a strained voice. She rolled her wrist to
check the time. “It’s a few minutes after nine, and I haven’t seen
my child at all today. Do you know how that makes me feel,
Dante?”

“
What do you mean you
haven’t seen him? Didn’t you go home to change clothes before
coming here?”

“
No,” she responded,
flustered.

“
Then—”

“
I took this dress from my
inventory at the boutique, then went straight to the salon to get
something done to my hair so I could look halfway
decent
enough to come to
a five-star restaurant tonight, but if I’m being completely honest
with you, I would much rather—” Her voice cracked. Broke. She took
a moment before continuing, “I would much rather be home with my
son right now.”

Dante dropped the black napkin on his
plate. He knew she didn’t want to be here. This confirmed it. What
was the point of continuing to sit, have dinner, enjoy dessert and
conversation when their exchange had been strained from the start.
“We can go.”

“
We’re here now. We may as
well—”

Dante stood up. “No. Let’s go. If you
don’t want to be here, then you shouldn’t.”

“
Dante—”

“
I’m not going to make you
spend time with me, Emily. You don’t want to be here so the simple
solution is to go. So let’s go.”

“
All right,” Emily said,
pushing her chair away from the table and standing. She started
walking to the exit while Dante placed a few bills on the
table.

When he caught up to her, he asked,
“Where are your keys?”

She shook her head. His
driver must’ve dropped him off at the restaurant, so now they had
to ride home together which equaled more tension.
Great
. “I’ll drive,”
Emily told him.

“
Emily, you’re not driving.
Please give me the keys.”

Emily dug around in her purse until
she found them. After pressing the unlock button on the keychain
remote, she tossed them to him. She didn’t wait for him to walk
around the car to open the door for her. Irritated, she snatched
the door open quickly and slammed it closed behind
herself.

Dante took a breath in an attempt to
suppress his frustration before getting inside of the car. Tonight
was the first time in a long time they’d had a real dinner date and
she wanted to be home. Not here with him, chatting, catching up,
spending quality time. She wanted to be home.

He opened the door, sat in the
driver’s seat and glanced over at her. “I was just trying to do
something nice for us for a change.”

“
A change?” She looked at
him. “We go out all the time, Dante.”

“
Yes. With Ezra. We, you
and I, haven’t been on a date in months, Emily. You plan something,
it doesn’t work out. I make reservations and cancel them
systematically, one after the other. Sometimes I don’t know why I
bother to make a reservation because I know it’s going to be
canceled. Tonight was—” He shook his head. “Never mind. Tonight was
a complete disaster.”

He started the engine then began the
drive home, stewing, yet still trying to understand her. On the
drive, he glanced over at her, seeing her glazed eyes when they
passed a street lamp. She was frustrated about not seeing Ezra
today. He could understand that, but what he couldn’t understand
was why she was doing this to herself. She didn’t need to torture
herself like this – stress out over work – not when she had a man
like him on her team. The problem was, she was having issues seeing
that from his point of view.

* * *

At home, Emily quickly got out of the
car and nearly ran to the house to see Ezra. He was probably
sleeping, but she didn’t care. She had to see her little boy. Hold
him. She jogged upstairs to his room and stood at the crib –
admiring him, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

“
I’m sorry, Ezra,” she
whispered brokenly. She wanted to be a good mother, but she didn’t
feel like she was giving Ezra her best. And, if she wasn’t
giving
him
her
best, what would she do with another baby? Like the one growing
inside of her.

She’d taken a pregnancy test a week
ago. It was positive. She took another one before meeting Dante at
the restaurant. It was positive. At seven weeks, she wasn’t showing
just yet. While this was supposed to be an exciting time for her,
all she could think about was how she would juggle two kids. A
business. A husband.

She shook her head. This is everything
she wanted – a fine, hardworking husband, a beautiful home, her
boutique, a son and a child on the way – but now it all seemed
overwhelming.

She jumped a little when she felt
Dante’s arms close around her. She closed her eyes and immediately
melted against him.

“
I don’t want to fight with
you,” he whispered softly so as not to wake Ezra.

Goosebumps traveled the length of her
when she felt his lips brush against her neck. “I don’t want to
fight with you, either, Dante.”

“
Come on. Let him sleep,”
he said, taking her by the hand, leading her down the hallway to
their bedroom.

Once there, she asked, “Can you unzip
me?”

“
My pleasure.”

She raked her hair over her left
shoulder so he could grab the zipper at the top of her dress. Then,
tugging gently, he pulled it down until it stopped, just above her
waist. Emily worked her arms out of the sleeves and allowed the
dress to fall to the floor.

“
I don’t like it when
you’re stressed out, Emily,” he said before pressing his lips
against her neck while lowering the strap to the black, lace bra
she had on. He kissed a path from her neck to her shoulder then
kissed and suctioned her there, listening as she
whimpered.

She didn’t like being stressed out
either. That’s why she closed her eyes and allowed him to bring her
peace with his loving touch. His lips. The warmness of his breath
against her skin. His left hand lay flat against her quivering
stomach. She had yet to tell him that his baby was growing
there.

She turned around, took his hands into
hers, staring up into his hazel, worried eyes. “I’ll be okay,
Dante. I just need to figure some things out…do some planning. You
know.”

He smoothed a hand across her hair.
“Okay, sweetheart.”

She felt his hands rake across her
back, down to her bottom and squeeze firmly – a pressure that made
her entire body tremble.

He took a deep, slow-paced breath,
hoping it would help him breathe normally. “I want you.”

“
I know,” she said, seeing
passion in his eyes, hearing it in his voice – in his elevated
breaths. She began unbuttoning his shirt, slowly, holding his gaze
as she did so. Everything about Dante, she loved. Even amidst her
own frustration, she loved him, and wouldn’t pass up an opportunity
to make love to him.

“
But only if you want me,”
he told her while she carefully removed his platinum cuff links,
one at a time.

Emily placed them on her nightstand,
then took a few step back over to him. He’d already come out of his
dress shirt, but he still had on a plain, white T-shirt. It had to
go. Now. She tugged at it, pulled up and he finished the rest,
looking at her after he pulled the shirt over his head and dropped
it to the floor.

Emily placed her head against his
chest, buried it there, enjoying the escape from reality he
provided. She inhaled. Exhaled. Ran her palm across a muscled chest
down to a ripped six-pack.