G.I. BABY (16 page)

“
Hija!
Are you alright?!” the woman exclaimed, rushing towards the bed.

They crowded around Andi and the baby.

Craig felt totally out of place now.

He turned away and slowly inched his way to the door.

“Oh, he doesn’t even look like you at all! He must take after his father! Blue eyes!”

He stopped cold in his tracks.

One thing he was sure of, neither Renly nor Andi had blue eyes.

It was HIM who had blue eyes.

He slowly turned back and caught Andi shushing the Asian woman who went pale as a ghost when she spotted him. He had a fairly good idea who this woman was now.

“Frida Alonzo?”

The older woman swallowed. “Yes?”

“I’m pleased to finally meet you, Ma’am. I’m Craig Walker, your client at the Ion Tower. I’m being represented by my sister Isabella Stimson.”

The woman gave out a nervous smile. “Oh yes, of course. I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Walker.”

I just bet you are.
Fury unlike anything he’d felt before rose up inside him. But he should not direct it on Frida Alonzo.

His eyes returned to Andi.

Her arms were around the child, as if protecting it from him. As much as she tried to hide it, he saw her fear.
That’s right. Fear me, bitch. You’ve got a lot to answer for.

Just then, the doctor spoke to him. “Will you do the honor of cutting the cord, Craig?”

He looked at the doctor, not comprehending. She gazed down at her hand holding the strip of umbilical cord still attached to the baby and then he understood.

He looked at Andi again and asked her only one question. He was not capable of decent speech at the moment, as far as she was concerned. “Is he mine?”

It took her a few seconds to answer. “Yes.”

He inhaled deeply. “Make sure you put that in his papers.”

He accepted the scissors from the nurse and with slightly shaking hand, cut the cord carefully.

Then he turned around and walked out of the room.

——*****——

Craig paced the length of the hallway
, his insides rioting with combined fury and….fear.

Yes. Fear. The kind unlike anything he’d felt before. Worse than watching her labor.

That baby was his. He knew it. He hadn’t even looked at the little bundle but as sure as his next breath, he knew it was his. It was easy to do the math. But the eye-color was the dead giveaway. And the look in Andi’s eyes. He knew she couldn’t lie to him the moment he asked her point blank. She was actually trying to hide the baby from him. It was just a fluke he came to see her today. How was he supposed to know she will give birth today?

He just became a father.

God.

This, he didn’t know how to make of. He had never envisioned himself being a parent one day. And not so soon. He was still in the middle of a civil war in Syria.

He must have knocked her up that first time. He remembered coming like all of him dissolved and flowed from his cock into her. Or maybe the second time. Or that third time the morning after. Or in those few times he was so lost in her depths that protection was the farthest thing from his mind.
 

It was only one week of rare carelessness on his part but apparently that was enough to make a baby with a damn virgin, to boot!

What was he supposed to do now?

A baby.

He had no experience caring for someone on that level.

He had the loneliest childhood. Bella and her family were his only link to humanity. Everything else had been erased by the wars.

He didn’t have a nurturing bone in his body. He detested the sight of flowers for fuck’s sake. How was he supposed to take care of a child?

And the mother of his child, for that matter?

Whether he liked it or not, they were a package deal. The baby had to come with the mother.

——*****——

Craig saw Renly coming towards him.

What was the guy to Andi, he wondered now but he tried to relax on the dude. Renly was not the baby’s father. He understood now why Renly was so pissed at him, too. The guy knew he was the “asshole” who knocked her up. Renly was indirectly telling him from the get go that he was the father of Andi’s baby but he was slow to catch up.

Renly stood beside him. They quietly looked out the window at the passing vehicles on the street below.

“You haven’t held your kid, yet,” Renly finally said.

Hold the baby. Fuck, he might drop it.

“Is everything alright…with the baby?”

“Yes. He’s perfectly healthy.”

“And Andi?”

“She’s fine. She’s been sedated and would be sleeping for a while.”

He nodded.

Seconds ticked by.

“What are you gonna do now?” Renly asked.

“Arrange for their accommodation in this hospital. I’ll pay for everything, of course.”

“Alright. Let’s go to the nurse’s station then.”

He looked at Renly. “Are you—“

“Boning her? No. But I wanted to.”

He frowned. Renly raised his hands. “Can you blame me, man? She was a knock out. Still is even with the baby and all. Guess I can’t think of her that way anymore.”

“No. Not anymore. How did you meet her?”

“We’re neighbors. I’ve known her since she first came here to the States. We were classmates in high school. I live right beside their house. I’m his…how shall I put it…she said I’m her BMBF.”

“What’s that?”

Renly grinned. “Best Male Best Friend.”

“The second B had better remain best.”

Renly chuckled. “Man, how well do you know Andi?”

A week of pure, unadulterated sex, he was tempted to answer. “Not much. Yet anyway.”

Renly shook his head. “You’re in for a handful, then.”

A handful huh. He smiled, remembering Andi’s delicious handfuls. She just gave birth and he was thinking of shooting his seed inside her again.

He was fucked.

Big time.

——*****——

He leaned closer on the glass,
his throat constricting painfully. The nurse tilted the baby so he could see his face clearly.

He was enthralled.

The baby was staring right at him with this unblinking infant stare.

Those eyes. His eyes.

He was riveted. Hypnotized.

He’d never thought his eyes were nice-looking but on his little boy, they looked spectacular. Those baby blues dominated his small face like dazzling gems, shining with inner light, mesmerizing anyone who was in his line of sight.

His baby boy.

His flesh and blood.

He felt it. That place inside him, that small space occupied by the last threads of his hopes and dreams. It was expanding now, making room. For beauty. For life.
 

He was coming alive.
 

Again.

CHAPTER
11

WHEN ANDI OPENED HER EYES,
the first thing she was saw was Craig sitting there, holding the baby close to his heart.

Their baby.

It was like coming out of a magical dream, or walking into it. The sight was simply too beautiful for words.

Father and child.

Gone was the fury in his eyes. In place was utmost gentleness as he gazed at his child in nothing but
 
pure love.

Love.

She dared not move nor make a sound to catch his attention and draw his adoring gaze away from his child. The moment was too precious to end it too soon. She wished she had a camera so she could freeze it in one frame as a memory.

A lump rose in her throat coupled with a tightness in her chest. She felt a tinge of envy. Would he ever gaze at her like that? With pure love and adoration?

The traitorous thought made her squirm. What the hell?! It must be the meds messing up with her mind, inducing these unwanted, mushy feelings.

She must have made a noticeable movement for his eyes were on her now.

He stood up from the sofa and walked towards the bed. Without a word, he carefully put the baby on her chest.

Her baby took her attention away from Craig. This time, she let the mushy feelings roll all over her. She cradled him in her arms, his fresh, clean scent pleasantly invading her nostrils, calming the rioting nerves roused by his father.

“The nurse said you can start breast-feeding him as soon as your milk starts coming out. It’s important that he gets the first drops because it’s full of nutrients which are needed for his immune system. I don’t like it that they’re feeding him formula this early.”

What he just said shocked the shit out of her. She was tempted to ask “who are you” but bit her tongue when she saw the serious look in his eyes.

“I guess you’ve been reading about babies,” she mumbled softly, fighting not to smile. The dude was taking fatherhood seriously. Who knew?

“Has your milk started leaking out of your…” he looked pointedly at her chest.

“Not yet. The doc said it may come in a few days. But I can feel my boo— they’re full of…” Gosh, how weird to be talking about breastfeeding with him, even if he was the father of her baby. Aside from that week of raunchy sex, she really didn’t know anything about him.

But he had been there when she needed someone like the next air she breathed. He’d held her hand when the world felt like coming to an end inside her body. The physical upheavals she’d felt while delivering her baby was unforgettable, but she was willing to do it again for this little treasure in her arms. Well, she could have used some epidurals, which was totally useless given the speed of her delivery. Next time tough…

Next time? What the hell was she thinking? There won’t be any next time. Not in a long time. Her next child will be within a marriage and that was a galaxy away from her horizon yet.

She was sad that her first child had to be the result of her recklessness but all of that was forgotten now. Her heart was overflowing with love. In this respect, she and Craig shared something in common. Still, his continued presence was making her feel threatened.
 

It was clear, he had decided to be the father of her child. A very present father. That would mean a lot of things, like they would be seeing each other a lot from now on…and she didn’t know how to handle that.

“Uhm, Craig…?” she started, meeting his eyes.
 

He was sitting on the armchair beside the bed now. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for helping me…for bringing me to the hospital…and for being with me at the delivery room.” She owed him that courtesy, at least.

She paused, at a loss of how to phrase her next words.

“I have the feeling that wasn’t what you wanted to say,” he replied, his eyes steady on her.

She cleared her throat. “We need to be clear on…things.”

“Everything is clear to me.”
 

She didn’t like the certainty in his eyes. Too sure. Too set. That could only mean trouble.

“THIS,” she raised the baby in her arms a little, “is my baby. Mine.”

“Ours.”

“No, Craig. Mine.”

He leaned back on the chair and crossed his legs in an indolent manner, as if she was boring him with senseless talk. He sighed. “Do we have to argue about this? You’re old enough to think and act like a rational adult, right?”

That got a rise at her. “You were not supposed to come back. We had an agreement.”

He gave her a short, mocking laugh. “Well, guess what, all that’s been shot to hell now. We’re both here now and we have a child together. That’s as clear as it can get.”

She tried to control her rising temper. He was discussing their situation like he had everything figured out, without her consent, obviously.

“Listen—“

He cut her. “I’ll make it real simple for the both of us. That baby is mine, too and I have all the right to claim him, as well. I’ll be his father in every sense of the word.”