Fresh: A BWWM Secret Billionaire Romance (9 page)

"
W
e are going
to be parents."

I looked at him. "Yeah."

"We need to get married."

I shook my head. "Plenty of women my age have children out of wedlock. It's not shameful anymore. You can fly into DC. With that suit, it really looks like you can afford it. I'll pay for it if you can't. I..."

"You think that you would be allowed to raise my child this far away from me? You're insane. My child is going to grow up where there is fresh air. DC is not the safest or best place for a baby."

I turned to face the window with stony silence. I wasn't ready for this. It was too much in one night.

We got back to my apartment, and he parked the car.

"You don't need to park. Thanks for driving me home. Thanks for taking me to the doctor. I appreciate it." I got out and closed my door.

He followed me into my apartment building. Obstinate man.

"Good night," I said, and I unlocked my door.

He followed me into my apartment.

"Please go away. I don't have the patience for you right now."

"This isn't optional. You are going to be my wife. I already got your dad's consent to marry you."

I glared at him. "Daddy has no say in whom I choose to marry. I do."

"We can get married tomorrow. I can take you home with me."

"No." I shook my head. "You can see the baby as much as you want, but the baby is going to be raised right here in DC. It wasn't bad for me. Virginia is just fine."

His fists clenched. "My child is a Fox. Foxes have always grown up in Wisconsin."

"Your child doesn't have to be a Fox. I am more than capable of taking care of this child on my own."

"You're barely capable of taking care of yourself on your own." He gestured around the apartment. "Look around."

A tear dropped from my eye. "Please go."

"Don't cry."

My tears fell anyway. I sniffed to try to suck it back in.

"You don't need to be here. I'm fine. I will talk to you tomorrow after work."

"Tomorrow isn't going to cut it." He took my shoulders and shook me a little. "Honestly, Amelia, do you really think that you could do a better job raising a baby alone than we could together?"

I stared down at my hands. I needed a new manicure. Were the fumes that you got from nail polish bad for babies?

I felt dizzy and overwhelmed. I didn't know the first thing about babies, but here I was, on my way to having one in seven months anyway.

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. "I can't deal with this."

"You have to. This isn't optional. It isn't about you and me. It is about both of us and the baby."

I felt something snap inside of me. "Don't you think that I already know that I am going to have to take care of the baby?"

"Are you going to abort the baby?" His voice was very low. A second of silence passed between us.

"No. That baby is real to me now, and he or she has been since I saw the little body inside of mine on that ultrasound monitor."

A big breath came out of Jimmy in a whoosh. "Good."

I shook my head. "If you think I would kill my own child, you don't know me at all. You should go home."

"Not until you agree to marry me." I could see the fierce determination in the blue eyes meeting mine. "I can provide for you and the baby."

"In your home in Wisconsin." I spat the last like a curse word.

"Yes. In Wisconsin. It won't be so bad."

I wiped away the tear that I couldn't hold back. How could I be so selfish as to deprive my baby of having a father? I knew that Jimmy would fight me tooth and claw for the baby. He had already made it clear that being allowed to see the baby whenever he wanted to swing by DC would never be enough.

I didn't want to leave behind the life I had built for myself. I looked around my apartment. I had never acclimated to this little apartment fully. I had not made it into a real home for myself. Most of my stuff was in boxes anyway. I hadn't bothered to take it all out.

I sucked in a breath. "I get to come back to DC any time that I want."

"Done. You can come back when you want."

I felt like an ice cube was sliding down my spine, and I blinked back my tears.

"Okay. I'll marry you." I wiped my eyes with my forearm.

I
sat
in a car that said Just Married in roses on the back window. It was probably a safety hazard. I was wearing an off-the-rack Vera Wang wedding dress. It was not something that I would even touch normally, but then most brides normally had more than a few hours to prepare for their wedding day.

I looked at the bouquet of pink roses in my hand. Jimmy had certainly tried to make it right, to give me a wedding day that I would remember, even if it was hurried. I had my dad and a ton of my friends. They had come for the party that we threw, the reception that was completely spontaneous. It had an open bar, and people brought their friends, ones I had never met before, by the truckload. Daddy was covering the cost.

The ceremony had been quick and quiet. I knew that my baby was going to be born a little early after this ceremony. Why waste time? Jimmy certainly had not. We had a marriage license and a ceremony in what felt like a split second.

I pulled a petal out of one of my roses and watched it flutter to the floor of the car, next to my silver YSL high heels.

Jimmy joined me in the car, and the chauffeur took us away. There was nobody waiting at the curbside. It was just us. We left the alcohol-fueled party behind us.

"Are you happy?" Jimmy touched my chin, and he made me turn my face towards him. "You don't look so great under all that makeup."

Thanks for noticing, Jimmy. "I'm fine." I gave him a fake smile. "It's the happiest day of my life." And if that last sentence had a touch of bitterness in it, so be it.

He let go of my chin, and I turned my face to look out the window. Somehow, it felt like moving to Wisconsin was a prison sentence.

We got into a private jet, but it wasn't my dad's Cessna CJ13.

"Whose plane is this?"

Jimmy cleared his throat. "It's mine."

"Ready, Mister Fox? And Mrs. Fox, are you okay?"

There was a pilot with silver hair who had just walked to our seats. "I just did my pre-flight checklist. We should be good to go very soon."

"Ready. Thank you, Captain Jones." The captain touched his hat, and he settled into the cockpit to fly us to Jimmy's home in Wisconsin.

"How can you afford a jet? You're a Wisconsin farmer. A Cheesehead."

Jimmy looked at me. "That's not all I am. There is a reason why your dad wanted me to be his successor, you know. I am a successful businessman."

I looked around at the leather seats and the mahogany trim of the interior cabin. "Okay."

I leaned back in my chair, and I closed my eyes. I felt Jimmy's arm come around me, and I was too sleepy to protest the intimacy. I just lay my head on his shoulder. I was tired enough to fall asleep right now. I had had a very momentous day. First the wedding, and now the revelation that Jimmy had as much money as Daddy. It was a lot of information to take in, and I was absolutely exhausted from the day that I had had.

I
woke
up on Jimmy's chest when I felt the plane landing. I blinked a few times. I looked at his white shirt.

"Oh my god, I've gotten my makeup on your shirt."

"Don't worry about it." He kissed my makeup-less forehead. "It'll come out in the wash."

I looked at him, stunned. I didn't know that he still felt affectionate about me. Maybe the arm around my shoulders was a hint.

My mouth compressed in a firm line. I shrugged my shoulders. He took the hint and unwrapped himself from me.

"We're going home."

He followed me out of the plane. I walked down the steps to the runway. There was a bit of chilly wind. It was substantially warmer two months later, but the cold breeze was enough to make me shiver.

"Here. Take my coat." He shrugged his off.

I didn't protest. I was just wearing my white wedding gown. I was going to freeze to death without anything else on. He looked so fine there in his suit.

That was the kind of thinking that had landed me here in the first place. Knocked up. Locked up.

I walked to the exit of the private airfield, and I saw a limo.

"Where's your truck?"

He looked sheepish. "I got us car service. I thought you might appreciate it."

I smiled. "I do. Thank you." I touched his arm, then I ducked inside of the car. I felt rather than saw him get in the car behind me.

It pulled out of the lot, and I looked out of the windows. Most of the snow was gone now, but there were still little bits by the edges of the road where the snowplows had heaped the snow earlier.

We got there faster, this time. I watched the wooden house with its battered paint job and the old barn come closer and closer. My new home.

We whizzed by it.

"Hey! Hey!" I banged on the dividing glass. The chauffeur lowered it. "You passed the house."

"No, he didn't." Jimmy's voice was quiet and embarrassed behind me. "That's not my home."

I turned around. "I'm pretty sure it is. That’s where I stayed last time. Did you think that I suddenly forgot or something?”

"It's the old house. It's our guesthouse, and the barn is my office when I want to get away from my headquarters."

I had never really gotten out of the house to look at the barn. As we kept driving, we got to a very large, circular driveway. I was speechless as I saw the white mansion at the end of it. It had huge columns and blue shutters around every window.

The lights were on inside.

"That's your house?" There was a little heat in my voice. "Why did you make me stay in the other one?"

"Do you remember that Andrew used to live here?"

I thought back to our conversation. "He did. He said that he knew you." I blinked. "You guys played euchre together."

"That's right. We were close when he lived here. I saw him every week.“ Jimmy pulled at his collar a little bit. "He told me what you said...I guess I got a little annoyed."

"A little annoyed? So you put me into a hovel instead of your actual house?"

My body felt hot enough to melt all of the remaining snow.

"Hey, that's my family's old house. It's not a hovel. It's in perfectly livable condition."

"That wasn't your neighbor's Wi-Fi that one time. It was yours. You had your own Wi-Fi, but you cut me off from the rest of the world. For what? For revenge because I didn't want to come to Wisconsin and marry a farmer?"

Tears of rage were welling up inside of me. My volume was getting louder and louder, and I could see the chauffeur's concerned face in the rearview mirror.

"Shh. Let's discuss it inside."

I wiped away a tear, and I got out of the limo. I followed Jimmy into the house. I could smell chicken and carrots. I sniffed.

"What's that?"

"My mom wanted to meet you."

I blinked. There was a lovely middle-aged woman. She had blonde hair perfectly coiffed. Her skin looked was wrinkle-free. But her smile was genuine.

"Welcome, sweetheart." She gave me a hug. "I'm so glad to meet you. My little Jimmy here told me all about you. I'm so glad that you accepted his proposal. I guess he had to marry you too fast for me to be able to get to DC in time. I'm so glad to meet you anyway."

"Mom, I told you that I'm James now. I'm not a little boy anymore."

I blinked. "I'm so pleased to meet you," I said automatically. "Jimmy said that you lived in Chicago."

"Yes, not too far from Milwaukee. And Jimmy, I know perfectly well what your name is. I named you, after all, and don't you forget that. And don't roll your eyes. It's not polite. You aren’t too old to spank.“

I smiled. Looked like his mother was not afraid to put Jimmy into his place. I liked her sass.

"I am so sorry that you couldn't make it to our wedding, but I am glad that you are here now."

"Come in and eat. You must be starving. You've had a big day."

On the table was a long ficelle.

"How did you know that this is my favorite kind of bread?"

"Oh, is it? It's mine, too. When I lived here, I sent Jimmy's father into Madison to the nearest bakery to get it for me. It's only about a half hour away. Nothing fills you up like bread in your stomach."

I blinked. I knew about satiety charts that said otherwise. Fish was the best thing to fill you up, but I shut up. I wouldn't say anything to contradict this lovely woman, a bit of warmth in a home that I expected to have none. I hadn't had a mother for a long time, and I would take this loving treatment for as long as it lasted. I liked her already, and I couldn't wait for our baby to become her grandchild. I was sure that she would spoil the baby rotten. I smiled.

"Did you know that I am pregnant?" I worried a little that she would be sniffy about premarital sex. Jimmy hadn’t ended up a virgin at his age by being raised by people who thought that casual sex was great.

"Yes. Jimmy told me. Honestly, what was he thinking, letting a lovely girl like you get away." She shook her head. "After watching him take home all those barracudas, I am so glad that he has found a lovely girl like you."

I smiled at her. "I think that we are going to be good friends."

"Of course we are." She sniffed. "As if I would ever let my son marry someone I wouldn't like."

I liked her. She was feisty.

"Sit down and eat."

I ate the chicken noodle soup. It wasn't anything that I hadn't had before, but the depth and richness of the flavor were on another level.

"Oh my gosh, why is this so good?"

"This is literally farm to table, sweetheart." His mom put her hand on my shoulder. "We rent out our acreage to farmers, and they grow crops here. It's good to see the place looked after when we're out of town. Jimmy travels constantly."

I looked at him. "Does he?"

"Oh yes, his business interests are far-ranging. You can't eat money, you know. Agriculture addresses one of humanity's most basic needs, and I know that he is always telling me that he's in one time zone or another. It's easier to talk to him when he's in Beijing than in Western Europe, though."

"Oh?" I looked at him. He had a lot of explaining to do.

"Yes. In Beijing, I'll call him early in the morning, and his time it'll be a reasonable hour at night. When he's in France, it's just impossible to get in touch. He will tell me, "I am busy, Mom." That'll be it." She blinked. "But don't worry. I will leave you two lovebirds alone. I know what it is like to be a newlywed." She winked at me.

I felt heat rising in my cheeks. She had no idea that Jimmy and I were on the outs. She knew that I had left, but she obviously was on my side.

I looked down at my plate. My soup had vanished. I ate the last bite of bread in my hand.

"Thank you so much for putting together dinner, Mrs. Fox. I highly appreciate it."

"Call me Diana, darling. Mrs. Fox applies to both of us now."

I winced. "It does. I'll go upstairs and get ready for bed. Good night.”