The Billionaire's Surrogate: A BWWM Pregnancy Love Story (8 page)

“
Because
you don’t see me enough at home,” Martha said dryly.

“
Actually,
I don’t but also I need to discuss something with
you…
privately,
”
Christine said darting a glance at Max.

“
And
it couldn’t wait until-“ Martha began to say.

“
No
it couldn’t,” Christine replied curtly still darting
glances at Max as if hoping he’d take the hint and just leave.

“
Well,
I’ll leave you two to talk,” he said at last, getting it.

Christine watched until
he left the room and then lifted her shirt to show her grandmother a
bruise on her pelvis.

“
I
fell,” she said, mouth pouting exactly the same as when she was
eight years old and wanted her grandmother to kiss away her boo boos.

Martha walked closer to
examine the bruising. “Hmm, looks like it's swelling,”
she touched it gently and Christine flinched. “What happened?”

“
I
was on top of a ladder, there was a short circuit and the line that I
was working on shot sparks in the air. It startled me and I kind of
jerked backwards because I didn’t want the sparks to hurt the
baby. Then I fell, but Jermaine caught me so I didn’t hurt
myself too bad but my hip banged into the aluminum siding. Should I
go to the hospital? Will the baby be hurt?”

Martha
was still intently examining the site of injury. “Do you have
any pain? Bleeding? Cramping?” she asked Christine, pausing
after each question for Chris’ head shake.

“
Well,
usually if the baby is hurt then one of those things happens. However
lets not take chances with my great grandson. I’ll call Max to
take you to the clinic.”

“
No
need for that. I drove here all by my own damn self; I can definitely
take myself to the clinic. No reason for anyone to be in a panic.”

Martha just looked at
her granddaughter a bit sternly. “It's his child too. He has a
right to know.”

Christine sighed. “Okay
then fine. I’ll go tell him,” she said stomping grumpily
out of the room calling Max’ name.

“
I’m
here,” he said appearing as if by magic in the hallway and
startling Christine quite badly. More than was warranted she thought.

‘
Ugh
do I have a B
₁₂
deficiency or what?’
she thought
with self disgust.

“
Uh
hi,” she said to Max.

“
Hi,”
Max replied walking toward her. “Something wrong?”

“
You
could say that…er not really, it's just precautionary you
know,” she said with a nervous laugh.

Max frowned. “Chris?
Tell me what’s wrong,” he said in a tone that brooked no
opposition.

Christine sighed
wearily and then lifted her shirt again to show him the bruise. “I
fell.”

Max hurried forward,
hand outstretched as if to touch the bruise…but he stopped
just short of her skin, “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“
Like
a bitch,” Christine said. “Gra thinks we should probably
have it checked out just coz of the location and shit?”

“
Oh.
Yeah, she’s probably right. Do you feel okay though?” he
asked reaching out a hand to guide her gently into a seat like she
might break if she stood for a moment longer.

“
I’m
fine. Really. Just, you know, the pain…and the er, the baby.
Worried,” she mumbled.

“
Andrea!”
Max called and the clack of high heels on the uncarpeted corridor
could be heard hurrying toward them from the study.

“
Yes
Max?” Andrea said coming to a halt at the door. Her eyes
widened as she saw Christine…with Max’ hand still on her
shoulder with him bent solicitously toward her.

“
I
need you to call Dr. Mulholland and make an appointment for us as
soon as possible. Now would be best.”

“
Er…us?”
Andrea inquired in confusion. Clearly Max hadn’t yet made the
announcement to his staff that he was to be a father sooner rather
than later. Christine lay back in the chair waiting to hear what he
would say.

“
Yes
yes!” he replied irritably, his impatience indicating that he
wasn’t as calm as he was trying to project. “Me and
Christine.”

“
Er
isn’t your doctor’s name Benson?” Andrea inquired.

Max turned to glare at
her. “Andrea are you trying to get fired?” he ground out.

Andrea
put up her hands in surrender. “Okay okay, I’ll find this
Dr. Mulholland’s number and make the appointment,” she
said closing her mouth and regarding them for a moment as if waiting
for further explanation. When none was forthcoming, she opened her
mouth again to make some inquiry but then changed her mind and closed
it again.

“
Okay
then,” she murmured with a shrug and went clacking down the
corridor again.

“
You
should probably tell her,” Christine said.

Max
shrugged. “Not yet. It's too soon. Nobody needs to know yet but
us.”

Christine
nodded her head in understanding. After all, people lost babies all
the time. They might make some huge announcement and then not survive
the first trimester. Case in point, her falling like a fool down a
ladder. It was embarrassing but more than that, she was worried.
Worried for her baby…she hadn’t even been aware before
this morning that she regarded it as
her
baby
. Consciously, if she thought of it
at all, she just imagined a bunch of ever multiplying cells holding
her uterus hostage until they were ready to face the world. Now, all
of a sudden, she was literally sick with worry that she might have
inadvertently caused harm to her child. She’d read in the
booklets that the amniotic fluid acted as a shock absorber to cushion
the child from being hurt. She hoped to hell it was true in this
case. But gra hadn’t seemed worried so maybe she shouldn’t
worry either. Not that gra
would
tell her if she was worried. She had this whole ‘keep calm in a
crisis’ policy that was easily misleading as to the seriousness
of the situation if one paid attention to it.

“
Could
you get my grandmother please?” Christine asked Max.

“
Yes
of course,” he replied straightening up and walking to the
doorway. “Martha!” he called.

Christine
smiled; it looked like Max was not ready to leave her alone even for
the few minutes it’d take to get to the kitchen and back. A
wave of cold washed over her as she remembered why he didn’t
want to do that.
What if the baby was
hurt and she was just sitting here?
Maybe she should have gone to the hospital right away instead of
seeking out her grandmother like she was wont to do in any situation.

“
How
are you and me going to be wed when my grandmother’s your
housekeeper? Don’t you find that extremely super awkward?”

Max
shrugged. “It's up to her what she wants to do. I was thinking
you could both just move in and she could continue to run the house
as sort of matriarch of the family or something,” he said very
absentmindedly, still keeping an eye on the door for Martha while
gently running his hand up and down her back in a gesture she
supposed he meant to be soothing. She wasn’t sure if it was
having the desired effect though. Oh it was doing
something
to her alright; making soft parts softer and melting hard parts of
her but she wasn’t really paying attention to that now.

“
You’ve
really thought about it huh?” she said through a haze of what
she didn’t want to think of as lust.

“
I’ve
thought about it enough to know that we probably can’t keep the
status quo after the wedding. I also know your grandmother loves her
house because I’ve offered repeatedly to move her into a suite
of rooms here but she always refuses. Even though you would have gone
to a much better run public school if you were in this neighborhood.”

“
Hey!
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the school I went to,”
she protested.

“
Oh
yeah? Didn’t you have a weapons check at the door?” he
asked with a slightly superior raised eyebrow.

“
Welcome
to America bitch.”

Max snorted and opened
his mouth to reply when Martha walked in. “What seems to be the
problem?” she asked.

“
Nothing;
Chris wants you,” Max said sweeping his hand in her direction.

Christine grinned
nervously at Martha. “Hey,” she said with a small wave.
Martha walked toward her and put her hand on her forehead, pulling
her head forward to rest on Martha’s stomach.

“
Poor
baby, you’re scared out of your wits aren’t you? Don’t
worry, everything will be alright,” she said as she smoothed
Christine’s hair over and over. Christine buried her head in
her grandmother’s softness and exhaled.

*****

The doctor did an
ultrasound so they could see that the little bundle of cells was
currently busy exploring its environment and looking not at all moved
that its host had had an accident but a few hours before.

“
I
mean of course you have to take better care and I would strongly
advise if possible, that you avoid ladders and other risky activities
especially for the next three months but otherwise, I think you’re
doing well. And the baby is doing well.”

“
Right.
Thank you Dr. Mulholland,” Christine said. She realized her
hand was enveloped by Max’ and they were clinging tightly to
each other as the doctor gave the verdict. She couldn’t hate
though. This had been more nerve wracking than she’d imagined.

“
My
nerves are wracked,” she said to him as they walked to
reception to set up their next appointment.

“
Mmmhmm,”
Max replied absentmindedly. Christine peered curiously at him,
wondering at the sudden distance but didn’t say anything
because they were at reception and he was busy scheduling their next
appointment.

“
I’ll
call Stevens to come around to the entrance,” she told him as
she lifted her phone to her ear. It was a testament to how worried
he’d been that he’d had Stevens drive them to the
appointment. He usually enjoyed driving and usually only used Stevens
for official company business. But today, he’d sat in the back
holding Christine’s hand and making jokes about the poor kid
having no chance to grow up as a girl’s girl, what with her
tomboy of a mom and a dad in the car business.

“
Don’t
stereotype us,” she’d protested making him laugh.

Maybe
he’d sat in the back to calm
her
down and not because he was anxious….Christine didn’t
like to think about how much they were behaving like they were a
couple or something. It was just…misleading and they should
stop. If they were to have a marriage of convenience, there should be
rules and regulations. He couldn’t just run his hands down her
back and make her feel things and then hold her hand as if he cared
for her. That wasn’t…what they agreed.

Christine walked toward
the clinic doorway to wait for the car there. When she saw the black
Bentley rounding the corner she walked toward it without waiting to
see if Max was with her. They needed to stop the whole ‘joined
at the hip’ vibe that she was beginning to get; before it
became a problem. Stevens came around to open the door for her,
studying her curiously as if he wanted to ask what all that was about
but not sure about their boundaries. She hadn’t interacted much
with him in the past. He was just the driver who was usually
downstairs in the garage with the cars; polishing them or maintaining
them or whatever it was he did. They might exchange cordial nods if
they ran into each other but that was it. She smiled tentatively at
him, not wanting him to think…she didn’t know what she
didn’t want him to think. Man, this pregnancy thing really
seemed to be playing havoc with her emotional stability she thought.

Max came and slipped
into the car, saying nothing about her leaving him at the reception
by himself.

“
Next
appointment is next month on the ninth,” he informed her.

She nodded her head,
raising her phone to punch the information into her calendar as Max
continued to study her.

“
Are
you okay?” he asked.

“
I
am great,” she replied not knowing why she suddenly had a lump
in her throat and a great desire to just…bawl into Max’
shoulder.

“
God,
I hate pregnancy hormones,” she said instead.

“
Are
you already feeling those?” Max asked curiously.

Christine shrugged.
“It’s a roller coaster in here baby,” she said. Max
laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders, rubbing gently at it
in an absent minded manner. His thoughts seemed to be preoccupying
him quite a bit.

“
What
are you thinking about?” she asked.

He widened his lips in
what she supposed he took for a smile and looked her in the eye.
“Well if you must know, I was wondering what would be the best
way to ask you to move in with me?”

Christine stared at
him, “Is that really necessary?”

“
Maybe
not
necessary
per se but it's something I would really appreciate if you could find
it in your heart to do so.”