A Bundle of Joy 2: The Baby Proposal (BWWM Interracial Romance) (3 page)

Chapter Three

Triston rang the doorbell. It wasn’t difficult to find where Selene live
d. Zac, who used to be her neighbor in the area in which she grew up, had attended the same high school that he and Selene had attended and Triston and Zac had kept in touch, on and off, over the years since graduation. Triston clutched a bouquet of white roses in his hand.

Selene opened the door, and for a minute, he couldn’t say anything. She looked better than he remember
ed. In her teens she had been beautiful, but now she was ravishing.

Desire.

Need.

Love.

Everything rolled together in a giant ball
and settled into his gut. Damn. But he wanted her.

“Triston?” She pressed her palms against her cheeks. “What are you doing here? When did you come back?”

Her voice sent shivers down his spine. It was just as sweet and innocent as it had ever been. It actually caught him a little by surprise. “A few months ago. I…” He was at a loss for words. Handing the flowers over, Triston let his fingers touch hers. A gentle, careless caress. Easy to brush off as accidental. But, the shock of electricity surprised him. He searched her face for a similar reaction. A spark of light in her eyes, the slight lift of her lips, a deep breath. What he saw made his inner smile grow. There, the hitch in her pulse, the flare of her nostrils, and the lowering of her eyelids. She felt the same. His own heart soared at the realization. How could there still be so much between them?

“It’s been a while.” He raised a hand to brush wayward strands of hair behind Selene’s ear, but stopped short. It was difficult to clear the well of emotion that threatened to choke him completely.

Her smile faded. “Yes, it has.”

A flashback sprang to his mind. The day he left. Triston stood on a similar threshold, looking into the same woman’s eyes, six years y
ounger then, more hopeful. He’d come to tell her his decision. Come to say goodbye. He’d brought flowers that time, too. He remembered the first words he’d said, all wrong, tongue-tied. His voice had cracked, a little squeal escaping. He remembered the feeling of his cheeks burning. He’d wanted her to see him as a man, a man capable of making that momentous decision, not a teenage boy acting on impulse.

Selene had begged him to stay, to reconsider his decision
, but Triston wanted—no, needed—to do this. He was a loyal and patriotic son of the soil. Although his father had wanted him to join the family’s custom design furniture business, the business that had made generations of Walkers quite wealthy, Triston wanted to do what his heart commanded him.

Being a soldier was a matter of choice, of pride, of patriotism. He was proud to be born in this country and wanted to serve it to the best of his ability. And he didn’t regret his decision. Not even now when he was considered damaged by the
doctors and therapists who were responsible for his medical and mental health. If he could have stayed, he would have served his country even longer, but he’d been refused active field duty. Triston had no intention of sitting behind a desk in an office. Or at least, if he did that, it would be on his own terms. So he came back to join his father. Together, they’d already started expansion plans for the business.  

Triston knew that his PTSD wasn’t going to go away anytime soon
, but he was on the right path to healing. All he needed was to see Selene and convince her to give him another chance. With her by his side, he was sure that their life would be better than it was ever before.

“I remember…” There was no need to finish the sentence, Selene was always attuned to his thoughts, his feelings, but she would be able to sense what he still found difficult to articulate.

They stood in the doorway for a long moment. He could bet the trust fund his father had established for him that Selene was also reliving the last moment they were together and the argument that followed. Triston watched as her gaze left his to fall to the tile entryway. In the corner of her eye, he was amazed to see a tear forming.

“Selene, no.” He took a step closer. Her eyes raised and caught his. They were full of tears. Her lower lip quivered. Lifting a hand, he moved to touch her cheek. He couldn’t bear to see her cry, not now. He needed to try and slay whatever demons he’d raised.

“Triston—”

His palm touched her cheek as he stepped into her space. She stepped back a little at his intrusion, but he didn’t care. Placing his other hand over hers, he pulled her fingers free from the door and let it close with a click. Moving closer still, he pushed her back against the wall. Still holding her fingers, he entwined them.

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

She hesitated. Of course she wouldn’t give in so easily. She was a strong woman, even back when they were teenagers. That is what had drawn him to her. She might now understand why he went, might even appreciate the sacrifice. But, she wouldn’t accept he did it for her—she deserved a hero, a strong man, a man who could keep her safe—until he could prove it. Assuming she let him back into her life…

He needed to prove how much she meant to him. How much she still did. How much she always had.

Her back tapped the wall and he felt more than saw the fear flash, even momentarily, in her dewy eyes. Then, the tears fell. Like a dam broken open, her entire face fell, crashing it on itself. Triston’s heart lurched at the sight.

“Oh, God. Babe
!” He didn’t mean to shout, but he couldn’t contain his agony. She pulled her head back at the sound. The whites of her eyes expanded and her sobbing picked up pace.

Not fear, not from her.

Triston didn’t think.

He reacted.

Slipping his hand on her cheek down and around the column of her throat, he tangled his fingers in the silky hair at her nape. He held her still as he blew a soft breath against her wet and puffy lips before dropping his to press against hers.

She froze.

He didn’t care that she was crying, that her nose was cold and clammy and leaking or her cheeks were wet. He didn’t care that he knew nothing about her now, about her life. Honestly, he didn’t care. He kissed her only because he wanted to.

Needed to.

At this moment.

When she probably thought she was at her ugliest.

Because he still loved her.

Gently, he held the pressure on her lips. He lapped at the salty tears which clung to her upper lip. He cajoled, soothed, sought. She opened on a wail and he swallowed the noise. His tongue licked at her smooth teeth and back to her lips. He paused. Then, he felt it. Her tongue flicked out to find his.

Just like in high school, that move was his kryptonite. Both hands dropped to her shoulders and despite the circumstances—later he would regret his haste—he pushed her harder against the wall and took her mouth with a frenzy.

Tongues wrestled, tangled, stroked and sampled. He remembered her taste, like summertime honeysuckle. More mature, the flavor had only deepened. Now, she tasted like honey. Heavy, sweet, wild. He fed on it. Sucking her tongue into his mouth, he held her captive to his need.

Moving to line his body up against hers, he edged a knee between their bodies, pressing into the heat between her thighs. Her head fell to the side and she moaned. The tears were gone from her eyes and drying on her cheeks. He heard the crush of plastic, and felt it grazing against his lower chest. When he glanced down, he was mildly surpri
sed to see the white roses he’d recently purchased squashed between Selene and him. They were fit to be thrown away, but he couldn’t even muster the energy to care. His focus was on this woman. Selene.

He kissed along the curve of her jaw and taking her lobe between his teeth, he suckled.

Another moan.

“Triston.” God, his name sounded sinful on her lips when she was like this.

“Selene…” He echoed.

“I’m pregnant.”

He bit down, stunned. She yelped and pushed him back off her. “What? Whose?” Mind reeling, Triston’s heart stopped. Literally. Nothing during his years of service had affected him so sharply.

Selene was pregnant.

With
another
man’s baby.

Chapter Four

The doorbell rang. When Selene opened the door, Meg was standing there.

What
’s she doing here?

“Hi,
Meg. Come in.”

Selene had been scouring the pages of the newspapers to look for a job she could apply for and had already marked two of them, when the doorbell rang. Having come to the realization that there were few opportunities in her field, Selene had changed tactics and begun to look in other directions. She’d marked jobs that had nothing to
do with publishing or editing, but if she got them, she’d make do until better came along.

At least, she was settled in her new apartment now. Jamie’s room was ready whenever she came for a visit. Her sister h
ad promised to come someday soon. Selene was looking forward to see her.

Meg’s somewhat nervous cough
nudged Selene back to the present.

“I realize that
I should’ve called you first, made an appointment even, but I was in the neighborhood and just thought I should check if everything is okay.”

“That’s fine, Meg
,” said Selene. “Now that I’m this far along, the nausea is almost a thing of the past, and I feel as healthy as a horse.”

“Good. Good.” Meg nodded absen
t-mindedly as she sat on the couch. Her gaze took in the sparse furniture that Selene had hauled from her old apartment but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Selene had hardly interacted with Meg in the past three months. She’d seen her when they’d gone for the first trimester screening. Warren was the one who always dropped in to give her the check, but she’d talked to Meg on the phone at least once every week. She’d never sounded as distracted as she did now.

And Selene was distracted too, especially since
the day Triston had paid her a visit. Try as she might, Selene couldn’t push him to the back of her mind. Ever since he came to see her, she’d been consumed by thoughts of him more than ever before. They’d dated for four years before he left, and some might call it teenage or puppy love, but for Selene it had been the real thing. She’d really loved Triston. They had dreams of being together forever, perhaps marrying and having children of their own. His decision to join the army demolished all hopes of the life she’d imagined with him. Sure, she’d dated other guys since he’d gone, had even tried to convince herself she was in love with one or two of them, but her feelings for them paled in comparison with the way she felt for Triston.

She’d tried to understand, to accept his decis
ion, but the mere thought of him being so far away, of coming back on scheduled leave sporadically, and then going to active duty in a war-torn country broke her courage. She couldn’t bear the thought that something might happen to him. Selene knew that she wouldn’t be able to handle the agony of always waiting for a letter or a phone call to know that he was all right. Many might wonder how fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives of soldiers endured the fear and turmoil that consumed every thought of their loved one being so far away in a situation that was possibly life-threatening. But she and Jamie knew. They’d lost their brother to the same war that Triston wanted to fight, almost one year to the day the president had declared war on terrorism. Their parents had never been the same after losing their first born. And the thought of losing Triston was too much to bear.

She was devastated when Triston broke the news to her. And s
he’d broken off their engagement. Triston had been adamant about joining the army. She’d been against it. Their differences drove them apart and caused them to break up before he left, but always, Selene had known that had he stayed, they would’ve had a different life together.

A life that w
ouldn’t have been perfect, but good.

Seeing him the other
day had brought back all the memories.

He’d looked so good
. With the same messy dark hair, eyes the color of ripe blackberries that seemed to penetrate deep into her soul, the tall, lean built, he’d been as handsome as she remembered. In fact, the years had honed his looks, making him look manly, dangerous.

Desire had sho
t through her as soon as she saw him. She’d always thought if they’d ever met again, she’d be able to put up a valiant fight, but she was so wrong. She was defeated at the first brush of his fingers against hers, his nearness. And then with that kiss, that head-spinning kiss, she was a goner. If he didn’t know she still harbored feelings for him, her reaction to that kiss would erase any doubt.

But then she’d told him she was pregnant, and it seemed like he couldn’t leave her apartment fast enough, couldn’t wait to put some physical distance between them.

Selene sighed. She hadn’t meant to think about the past, but now that she had, the pain came knifing its way back into her heart.

It was still hard for her
to believe that he’d chosen the army over a life with her. She’d done her best to reason with him. She’d told him that the army wasn’t the right choice. His family had a thriving business that he could join. But nothing she’d said had sunk into his thick skull. Finally, enraged, disappointed, she’d taken off the engagement ring he’d given her and flung it on the ground at his feet. When he bent down to retrieve it, she took off running. She hailed a cab at the first corner that she rounded. They hadn’t lain eyes on each other until that day a few weeks ago.

It was too late for regrets now. He was not a part of her life anymore, and even though he’d come back home on US soil, she couldn’t allow him to have a home in her heart,
because things had changed. She hadn’t meant to blurt out the fact that she was pregnant in such a way. But how could she have explained anything? This wasn’t her child. She was only lending her womb to someone so that they could have a baby, but she was getting some benefits out of it, too. She didn’t want him to think she was such a loser that she had to resort to surrogacy to float over the sea of debt which threatened to engulf her.

She hadn’t wanted him to know about her predicament.

The look on his face when she
blurted out that she was pregnant told her that he wouldn’t be back. Not every man could take on another man’s burden and make it his own.

Meg coughed, which roused Selene back to the present, again. She needed to stick with what was happening here and now. She sat next to
the older woman. “Meg? Is everything all right?”

“Oh! Sorry. My mind is going haywire.” Meg chuckled. “Warren and I have been discussing the changes we’ll have to undergo when the baby comes. He travels a lot, and
I usually go with him…but now I’ll stay behind. The baby will need me.”

“Yes, that’s true.
” Selene smiled. “Have you started thinking about names, yet?”

Meg glanced around at the Carnival pink gypsum walls, and then at the Spanish-white tiled floor, as if searching for answers there.
“We’ve discussed a few possibilities.” She fumbled with the clasp of her handbag that she’d placed beside her on the chair. “So…is everything all right then?”

Something wasn’
t right. Selene’s mind searched for answers to explain Meg’s behavior. “Yes, the baby is fine. I’ve another checkup soon. Will I see you there?”

“Yes
…yes, of course.” Meg glanced at her watch and grimaced. “Oh, my dear, I forgot that I have an appointment at the salon.” She rose to her feet.

“Are you all right, Meg?”

“Of course, I am.” Meg glanced at her watch again. “I better get going.” She hustled towards the door.

“Meg?”

Meg stopped in mid-stride. “Yes?”

“You forgot this.”

Meg pivoted slowly around, and her eyes widened when she saw what Selene held out to her.

“Thank you.”
Ears reddening, two spots of color appearing high on her cheeks, she took the handbag she’d forgotten on the chair. “I’m so scatterbrained sometimes.” She chuckled nervously.

Selene saw her out
.

Something’s up with Meg
.
I wonder what it is?

Still, she couldn’t waste time thinking about Meg
. She had bigger worries. Selene returned to the kitchen table where she’d set up her laptop. She began typing out her résumé for the job openings she’d earmarked. The sooner she got a job, the better it would be. Work would keep her mind off the impending birth. Selene looked forward to resuming her life after the baby was born. Maybe when she had a job, she might even be able to afford to go to a salon and pamper herself for a few hours. A new haircut? Perhaps, a massage?

She could hardly wait to get back on her own two feet again
.

****

Triston surveyed his bedroom. He’d put his nervous energy to good use by making his room completely spotless. The bed had hospital corners, the floor didn’t have a single dust bunny, and his closet was completely organized in military fashion. All that organizing hadn’t done a single thing to ease his thoughts. It was time go for a run. That was something that always helped to ease his stress.

Ever since he’d come ba
ck from Selene’s apartment, he’d been unable to concentrate on anything else. She’d moved on. That thought filled him with dread. But it was something that he should’ve anticipated. After all, he was the one who’d left her. They’d had no contact in the past six years. It was unconceivable that she would’ve waited for him for that long.

He reminded himself that it was important to put the past behind him.

After getting out of his house, Triston began to run. He would run for a while and get the nervous energy out of his system. He was slowly healing, figuring out how to get his shattered life back together. He’d survived for three years in the desert dodging bul
lets; he would survive this, too.

After he reached the
park, he entered the gate and picked up pace. The sheer exhilaration of the physical exercise drove all thoughts from his mind. He enjoyed the cool wind on his sweaty body, but as the minutes slipped by, his thoughts drifted back to Selene. No matter how hard he ran, Triston couldn’t escape the thought that he’d made the wrong choice with Selene. He should’ve persuaded her to wait for him, convinced her to marry him. If he’d pushed harder, she would’ve listened to him because she’d loved him. If there was one thing he was sure about, it was that she’d loved him with the same passion with which he loved her.

But now, it was too late. She was with someone else, and she was happy.

After an hour’s run, Triston made his way back home. He took a shower, changed his clothes, and opened the fridge to consider
the possibilities for dinner. He had a wide variety of TV dinners stored there.

The doorbell rang.

“Mom?” He was disappointed to see that she hadn’t come bearing culinary gifts. “No
Mexican?” He planted a kiss on her cheek.

She sashayed inside.

“You’re a grown man, Triston. It’s time you braved your way into the kitchen and learnt to fend for yourself. I simply came to drop this off.”

He took the package, and shook it against his ear. “What is it?”

“Don’t,” his mother warned.

“Hmm. So, it’s fragile.” Triston began to tear the wrapping.

His mother placed a hand on his, to stop what he was doing. “I think it’s best you opened it when you’re alone.”

“Okay, I will.” Now he was even more curious about the contents in the package.

“I must go soon.” She surveyed the living room. “Your dad and I are meeting for a dinner date.”

It gladdened his heart to see that his parents still
took time out for each other. Despite their hectic work schedules, they made sure they enjoyed each other’s company. Someday, Triston hoped to share such a life with someone.

But not with just any someone.

Only with Selene.

He pushed her image away. She wasn’t the one for him anymore. He had to move on.

He placed the package carefully on the counter. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Nothing, darling.
” Lisa spun around and looked at him directly in his eyes. “Tell me, did you go to see Selene?”

So that’s
why she’s here
.

Triston
hadn’t told her that he’d gone to see Selene. Knowing his mother, he was better off telling her now. She was like a badger with a cause.

“I did.”

“And?”

“She’s pregnant.”

Lisa’s mouth fell opened. She looked as surprised by the news as he’d been. “Pregnant? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure
. She told me herself.” He wasn’t an imbecile who couldn’t understand simple English.

“Who’s the father of the baby?”

“I didn’t ask.”

Lisa
raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t ask who the father of the baby was? Did you see him? Was he there?”