The Billionaire's Surrogate: A BWWM Pregnancy Love Story (10 page)

Cordelia stared back at
her and then back down at her plate. She shrugged her shoulders.
“Just because I’m not interested in having a dry ass
pussy like you and Aunt Misha or am not afraid of living like
Christine here is, don’t mean there’s something wrong
with me.”

There
was a collective intake of breath around the table. Martha’s
face was wooden and Misha looked like she was about to throw down.
Uncle Andrew stood up walked around the table and lifted Cordelia
from her seat with one hand. “Time for a time out,” he
said dragging her away toward the living room. “You can come
back when you learn how to speak to people young lady,” they
heard him say as he led her kicking and screaming. Kevin sat stiffly
looking around at them as if waiting for someone to jump on
him.

“
Perhaps
you should go console your girl,” Uncle Carl told him. Kevin
stood up at once and left. Pretty soon they heard the roar of his
engine as they screeched out of the driveway. Uncle Andrew strolled
back in minutes later looking like he’d just kicked ass and
taken names.

“
We
good?” he asked the group at large.

There were various
sounds of assent made around the table and Andrew took his seat
looking at Christine.

“
So…is
this guy going to marry you or what?”

There was a collective
wince around the table at the question. No one ever talked about
marriage in Christine’s hearing if they could help it.

Christine shrugged
trying to look nonchalant. “He proposed.”

Martha showed surprise
for the first time that day, “What? When?”

“
That
time we went for coffee,” Christine told her.

“
Oh.
He said...” Martha trailed off.

“
He
said what?” Christine asked sitting up with interest.

Martha
shrugged. “He asked me what I thought of the idea of you two
getting married.”

“
And
you said?” Christine found she was holding her breath.

“
I
said…that it was a conversation he should have with you, not
me.”

“
Well
I guess he took your advice.”

“
And
you said
yes
?”
Martha was clearly surprised at this turn of events.

“
I
said that I would think about it,” Christine qualified.

“
Well
what are you gonna say?” Angie wanted to know.

Christine
shrugged. “I’ll let you know as soon as I decide. For
now, you need to know that I’m pregnant, I’m moving in
with Max, strictly platonic,” she said this last to her
grandmother, “And we’re gonna have a baby.”

“
Do
you love him?” Sadie asked.

Christine
laughed in surprise. “I um, I’ve known him for years ever
since gra started working for him fifteen years ago. I can’t
say I don’t love him. I think we’re friends…sometimes.
Sometimes I hate him; especially when he’s right. Am I
in
love with him? Nope. That would be even more stupid than being in
love with Rudy,” that last bit came out more breathless than
she’d planned. She hadn’t said Rudy’s name out loud
since the wedding.

“
Well
stupid or not, sometimes these things happen,” Angie said with
a shrug.

“
Well
it hasn’t happened,” Christine countered.

“
Yet,”
said Sadie.

*****

Christine was packing
her clothes, really slowly, and thinking about what Sadie had said.
She wondered if there was a chance of that happening. How stupid
would she have to be to give her heart to Rudy and then to Max? If
ever there was a player to beat all players, it was Max. The parade
of models, actresses and socialites in his life was endless; it
wasn’t even funny. But then she relaxed, as far as she knew,
Rudy still had full custody of her heart so there was really no way
it was available for Max to ravage. Besides Max wasn’t
interested in that; if he had been he had his chance to suggest on
that memorable morning when they’d…done it.

“
What
are you thinking about?” a deep voice asked from her doorway
startling her.

“
Sex,”
she said turning to look at him.

He lifted his eyebrows.

“
What
happens in marriages of convenience? Does the wife have sex with the
gardener and the husband with his assistant or what?”

Max shuddered. “Ugh
don’t even say it. Me and Andrea? And we don’t have a
garden. Though I suppose we could move; the kids are going to need
somewhere to play.”

“
So
many places to go in that reply. What’s wrong with Andrea?
Kids? As in plural? I haven’t even settled in, in the house you
currently have; now we’re moving? And to get back to the
original issue…what?”

Max laughed. “I
don’t know, okay? We’re just going to have to play it by
ear. But I do think we should think about moving though…eventually.
Please don’t sleep with the gardener?”

It was Christine’s
turn to laugh, “Okay.”

“
Am
I so repulsive then?” he asked.

“
What?”
Christine asked confused.

“
I
notice you didn’t include the option of sleeping with each
other,” he said.

“
Yeah
but it’s a marriage of
convenience,
”
Christine pointed out.

“
And
don’t you think it’d be
convenient
to have sex with each other?” Max
asked. “Only if we are both agreeable, of course.”

“
And
are we?” Christine asked head tipped to the side in curiosity.

“
Are
we what?”

“
Agreeable.”

Max shrugged, “I
don’t know about you, but I am perfectly agreeable.”

“
I’m
really high maintenance.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yeah.
If I’m having sex with someone, I kind of have this thing where
I don’t expect them to be having sex with anyone else.”

“
Wow.
That is high maintenance.”

“
Yeah.”

“
But
I think I can swing it.”

“
Yeah?”

“
Yes.
Why not? I don’t want you to have sex with other people either.
Do unto others and all that.”

“
Wow,
I so was not expecting that.”

“
I
like to surprise,” Max said smugly.

“
How
about you surprise me further by packing the rest of my shit?”

“
Okay,”
Max said stepping toward her closet.

“
Whoa
dude, enough with the agreeableness, it's freaking me out. I’m
gonna need you to start an argument right now or I’m spraying
you with holy water.”

Max laughed again,
“Sometimes, you…think you’re funny.”

“
Ha,
look who’s laughing.”

“
Hey,
how about I hire some movers to take care of all this shit and we go
get some ice cream instead. You’re pregnant right? That means
you have cravings?”

“
Not
yet. But I never say no to ice cream.”

“
Great.
I’ll get Andrea to take care of this.”

“
Did
you tell her already?” Christine asked as she hooked an arm
around Max’ and let him lead her to the car.

“
Yeah.
I did. She didn’t seem too happy about it for some reason.”

“
Maybe
she has a thing for you.”

Max
snorted, “
Everybody
has a thing for me.”

“
Oh
yeah? Do you think
I
have
a thing for you?”

“
Obviously.”

“
Dude,
you gotta get me some of that LSD you’re on. It obviously gives
you excellent hallucinations.”

“
You
can’t have any; you’re pregnant.”

“
Oh
yeah. Dang. I guess it’ll have to wait.”

“
Yeah,
meanwhile, do you wanna do ice cream cups or shall we just go
stockpile tubs in the fridge.”

“
That
last one.”

“
Which
reminds me; lemme call Andrea,” he said as he fished out his
phone.

*****

Andrea
was
pissed
.
It was supposedly her day off; Sunday was her day off, unless Max had
something big going on. Like that time he was hosting Mayweather for
the weekend and he’d needed her to fulfill the myriad of
requirements Mayweather had in order to feel comfortable. She’d
scoured the city for the very specific bubble bath he needed before
he could take a bath and he only used one brand of peanut butter on
his bread; which he wanted to eat so…it had been exhausting.
But Max was an appreciative boss and her bonus for that weekend had
paid for her Birkin bag. But
this
…how
could this be happening? Max was having a baby with Martha’s
grand-daughter. The sentence even sounded wrong in her head. This was
not supposed to happen. They were supposed to be working late one
night and he was supposed to offer her a drink. They were supposed to
get drunk; happy drunk, not wrecked, and then she’d lean
forward and kiss him because obviously he wouldn’t touch her
first in case it became a case of sexual harassment which she never
would have filed…before. When they kissed he would put a
shaking hand gently on her breast and his breath would catch and he
would tell her he had been waiting forever for this. And she would
have said that she’d been waiting for it too. And they
would…have sex on the rug and on the table and then his bed
and he would ask her to never leave him.

He was not supposed to
get the housekeeper’s grand daughter pregnant and move her into
his house.

*****

MAX LESTRANGE SPOTTED
SHOPPING WTH MYSTERY WOMAN

Andrea saw the headline
and clicked on the story wondering what the hell Max thought he was
doing. There wasn’t much of a story; just a picture of Max and
Martha’s granddaughter looking down at the ice cream fridge in
the supermarket. They looked pretty cozy together; heads bent close
to each other, pointing out flavors to each other…

‘
That
should be me.’

The thought flashed
through Andrea’s brain faster than a bullet and her face closed
in frustration.

‘
Why
did he choose
her
?’

Andrea
had a degree in marketing and communications from Berkeley
University. She wasn’t just some dumb blonde. If it was brains
Max was looking for she had those. She had beauty, poise, grace; she
was the perfect life partner for a man like him. Why had he chosen
this girl instead. Granted she was bright; she’d gotten into
MIT with a full ride but that was about it. Her hair was a hot mess,
she walked around in coveralls three quarters of the time and she was
black
for
crying out loud. Wrong wrong wrong. Andrea straightened suddenly, a
thought occurred to her.

‘
I
bet your mother doesn’t know about this.’

She thought at the
picture of Max. How to have her find out without the trail leading
back to Andrea was the challenge. If Max’ mother knew what was
happening, she’d take steps to stop it. She’d never let
Max end up with someone so…unsuitable. And she might help
Andrea out in her gratitude to get Max to notice her at last. It was
worth a try.

*****

“
It's
them again,” Cordelia told Kevin as she brought his beer from
the fridge. She showed him her iPad which was opened on some tabloid
that showed Christine and Max shopping together at the supermarket.

“
They’re
calling her the ‘mystery women’. You think they’d
pay good money to know who she is?” Cordelia asked looking
speculatively at the picture and then at Kevin. They were running low
on funds since neither of them had a steady job. They mostly relied
on government relief.

“
I
hear those niggas pay like millions for this kind of shit,”
Kevin said.

“
How
would we get to them to sell our story? Do we need to get lawyered
up? We got the inside scoop after all.”

“
Yeah
but…” Kevin hesitated. “What if your daughter
like… disses us after that. We could go to this cat she with
and tell him to pay us not to sell our story right? That way we ain’t
got to go to no tabloid and we still get money.”

Cordelia regarded him
with shining eyes, “You the bomb Kevin, you know that?”

Kevin nodded his head
and smirked, “We still gotta get lawyered up doh; you know this
guy’s got like lawyers on lawyers on lawyers on retainer. We
gotta protect our rights.”

“
Yeah,”
Cordelia nodded her agreement. “Pass the blunt.”

*****

“
So
these are your rooms. We have a little sitting room for you to relax
in, your bedroom and en-suite bath. There’s a walk in closet
and a small balcony,” Max showed her around her new digs,
pointing out all the amenities.

“
It's
sweet,” Christine said impressed in spite of herself. “Where
the baby room though?”

“
I’m
thinking we can put the nursery next door. I’m just opposite
you so it’d be convenient for both of us.”

“
Mm,”
Christine said. “Works for me. Only can I have a crib in here
in case like, I need to be close?”