The Love Triangle (BWWM Romance) (40 page)

The people at work were giving him a hard time about all his early evenings and late starts, but there was really nothing that could be said. He decided to give another week of vacation to everyone in the company. His wife had changed him in more ways than one. Leandra had changed him for the better as well, creating an unbreakable bond, but it was Dahlia that had showed him that life could be more than money. It was liberating, but some of his family and friends were not as happy about the changes.

One person in particular was more than a little green to see him happy. Stacy had seen him walking into work after noon, whistling. He had never been that way with her. She overheard him on the phone to his wife and the orders he would make to send her flowers, just because. It made her sick to see how different he was with his wife than he had been her, in less time than they had been together. While it was never dating, they had made love many times over the years. She missed her fuckbuddy and the only one to blame for her cold beds and unsatisfying lovers was Dahlia.

To make matters worse, Charles had announced they had adopted a little girl. A small part of her broke inside and when she saw the happy couple together for a lunch date, Stacy was beside herself. Dahlia was nice to her, though Stacy knew that she knew who she was. It was the flick of her eye over her that drove her mad, as if she wasn’t worried about her. She should be! Stacy thought to herself.

It was another late day for Charles and she saw that it was almost one o’ clock. There was a glow about him that she knew well. They had just been together and by the look on his face, he was satisfied. He used to look at her that way, practically glowing afterwards with a smile on his face. It was just another dig at her that he couldn’t be bothered to go to the meeting she told him about. Instead he had to go off his wife before coming in.

“Afternoon, Charles. We were expecting you at the meeting an hour ago. I already pushed it back to this time because you couldn’t make it in at nine.”

Charles smile cracked a little and he moved towards his office. He knew that she would follow and it almost took him off of his high. He refused to let that happen though, telling himself that she would get over this phase she was going through. Charles was not blind to her jealousy, but that day it was just right from the gate. Remembering why he never wanted more than a fling with her, he set his briefcase down on the desk.

“Sorry, Stacy, things just came up at the last minute. Everything was handled either way though right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good. I have been thinking about taking the family to an island somewhere, like a little vacation. I need to know that things will be handled here if I'm away. I'm planning on moving you up and having you take care of things if I start to do it more often. Leandra is getting old enough to fly.”

When she said the word family, she actually cringed. It was just too much to hear him gushing about them and their baby girl. “Of course, sir.”

Her face was tighter as well, though she was far longer to recover. “So what about the Stanley’s case?”

“Um, sorry?”

“You know about the meeting. What happened with the contract? Did we get it at the price point we wanted?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

She stood in front of him for a minute, not sure what to say. It was like he had dismissed her, opening his briefcase to pull out some papers. Stacy nodded and walked away. Her pale complexion had turned rosy on her cheeks and neck. It was just another insult to injury and she started to wonder how she could get revenge on the happy couple. Their happiness was directly linked to her anger and Charles was not helping the situation when he started to whistle as she left. He was already thinking about her again.

Stacy glared at him many times throughout the afternoon and when he left his office to get something out of his car, she went into his office. She wasn’t sure what to do, but as she looked around the large office, she spotted his jacket. Writing her number on a small piece of paper, she slid it into his jacket with a dark red kiss mark. Spraying some of her perfume on his jacket, she moved over to his briefcase, flipping through it. There was a small inside pocket that she thought needed something in it and she slid her panties down quickly. She was thankful for the shades he had got that made it hard to see in through the large pane of glass.

Hearing Charles speaking to the receptionist that had just been hired in, she stuffed her wet panties into the pocket and moved out of the room. “Stacy, did you need something?”

“No, sir. I was just dropping off the projections for the contract you asked about earlier.”

“Okay, thanks. You can take the rest of the day off if you like, get home early and all. I'm sure there are better things to do than reports. Go ahead, it’s Friday, Stacy, and I really appreciate you taking over for me.”

She was a little stunned, but she shut her mouth and thanked him. He had been so much more generous since meeting that woman and though it was thoughtful, it actually just made her more upset. There was no guilt as she left for the day. Stacy tried to imagine the bitch’s face when she found her soggy panties in her husband’s briefcase. If only she could be a fly on the wall for that moment.

Chapter 19

Dahlia spent the day with her mother-in-law. Caroline was more than happy to welcome Leandra into their family. Charle's whole family had been really good about accepting her and his mother was fast becoming one of her favorite people. She reminded her of the one she had lost and like Charles, she was great with Leandra. Unlike Charles, she didn’t have any fear having raised several of her own, so Leandra took to her almost immediately.

Caroline bounced her on her knee and cooed at her. “I know she was adopted, but she almost looks like me in a way.”

“Yes she does. I must say, I always wanted a little girl, but all that were in my cards were boys. I don’t mind it because boys have their sweet moments as well, but I always wanted a little girl to teach to do her hair and all that girly stuff. Silly isn’t it?”

“Not at all. Your son wants a son of his own. We have been talking about maybe looking into adopting a little boy about the same age. Then she would have a brother and Charles would get a little boy to take fishing. He says he won’t push golf and sports, but you know he will.”

“Why don’t you wait and see what you are having first?”

Dahlia looked at her strangely. “Oh Caroline. I can’t have children. Didn’t Charles tell you?”

“He told me what the doctors said about it, but you know they are not always right. I would bet money that you are pregnant. You have that look about you, dear.”

“Surely it couldn’t be. You really think so?”

Caroline nodded. “Leandra will have a baby brother or sister soon enough. Just wait and see. I'm usually never wrong about these type of things.”

Dahlia wanted to believe her that maybe the doctors had fudged something up and she really could be pregnant. Her heart raced at the idea and it was all she could think about the rest of the outing with Caroline. After lunch, she asked if Dahlia wanted to go to the drug store and just get a test. “Is it that obvious?”

“Honey, you are vibrating over there. I will take Leandra and you go take it in the bathroom. Set your mind at ease, dear, you will feel so much better.”

She agreed and ran in to the small store down from the restaurant that she had been spying through the window. Her hands shook and her heart pounded in her chest as she paid the cashier and took her small bag into the bathroom. Dahlia nearly dropped the tester as she pulled it out of the box and the next five minutes to wait felt like a million.

Dahlia looked at the stick several times, blinking her eyes as if she did not really believe it. She had heard about false positives and told herself not to get too worked up over it. By the time she was out of the store and holding her daughter again, she had already called to get an appointment for later that evening. Caroline wasn’t too smug about it, but she had the look of a woman who knew she was right. She agreed to take Leandra for the afternoon and Dahlia told her she would pick her up after the visit.

Too excited to keep it all in anymore, she drove down to Charles’ office and walked into his office while he was on the phone. She smiled at him and sat down. Her nose flared and there was a strong perfume smell in the office. It made her pause for a moment, but her mind was too busy thinking about how he was going to react. Was it too soon? Should she even tell him before she really knew for sure?

She thought so and as soon as he hung up, she blurted it out in one excited sentence. “Baby, we're pregnant.”

There was a moment of silence and then he recovered. “What? What do you mean?”

“Your mother told me that I looked it and then the next thing I know, I'm taking a test and it is coming back positive.”

Charles was up and hugging her, swinging her around in a circle before setting her down. The two kissed and it was a few moments before his need was taking over. His hands moved to her rear, pulling her in tighter. “Stop it. That is what got us here.”

“I know. Isn’t it great?”

She smiled, absolutely beaming. “Well of course. I was afraid that you were going to think it was too soon. Leandra is so young still. That is going to mean twice as many diapers as before.”

His smiled dulled for a second, unable to get over it. “Are you sure?”

“Nothing is sure yet or ever, Charles. I'm going in later to get a proper test done.”

“Do you want me to come?”

“If you want to.”

Stacy walked in suddenly, plastering a smile on her face. “Well there are the two love-birds. Boss, we have Carlos on the phone about the contract. Do you want me to have him call you back?”

“No, Stacy. I was leaving.” She gave him a kiss. “I can see you are busy, love. I will see you when you get home. I think there will be a reason to celebrate.”

Stacy tried to ignore the couple in love, but it was kind of hard to see him touching Dahlia as he had touched her before. She wondered what there was going to be to celebrate. Her mind was full of ideas, but she didn’t have time to wonder before he blurted out the good news. “I'm going to be a father again, Stacy.”

“Congrats, Charles. I never knew you wanted kids and now you have a second one on the way.”

He didn’t miss the edge to her voice, but he tried to ignore it. Charles felt bad that he had hurt her. He never realized she cared that much, she certainly didn’t for all those years. Dahlia had said it was because women wanted what they couldn’t have. He wasn’t sure, but he did know that she made him nervous when she was around. There had been a couple of times she had tried to get him to have an affair, but he really did only have eyes for his wife. He couldn’t think of anyone else he would want to spend the rest of his life with and Charles would never do anything to hurt her. “Life changes, Stacy. Sometimes you never see it coming. You’ll see. You will find your soul mate too and then it will all just click. I had to wait thirty-five years for mine, so you still have a few more years till you catch up.”

“I guess you may be right. I just never really liked kids. They are a bit too needy for me.”

That was more of the answers he was used to. Stacy was selfish to a fault, but there wasn’t much that he could do about it. He couldn’t do anything back then and he certainly hadn’t wanted to put the effort in to change her. She had been great in bed, but there had never been much more of a connection than that. They looked at things far too differently to ever see a future between the two of them.

“Right, well I'm going to call Carlos back. Thanks for all your help.”

“Anything for you, sir.”

Her eyes gave him an idea of the anything, but he didn’t comment back. It was like if he said anything, it would either piss her off or encourage her, so he had taken the silent approach. Charles was being nicer to her, trying to keep in mind how awkward it must be for her to still work there, especially with Dahlia coming in. He was starting to realize that it affected her more than he had originally thought.

Watching her leave, he had a feeling that he would regret the relationship in the end. She was never that nice and she had been uncharacteristically so that day. It made him wonder what she had up her sleeve.

***

Dahlia waited for the doctor and it was the same results as the one she had bought at the store. She was pregnant and though she was elated, she had a lot of questions about what that meant. The doctor was just as astonished as she was that she was pregnant, but it was clear she couldn’t have been happier. “What about all the toxins that were in my body, do they linger? I mean, I guess I'm asking if the poison from before can harm this baby?”