Now and Forever novel Chapter 48

"Good morning," Alexander greeted from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Morning," I greeted without looking up from the bowl of beaten eggs in my hands, "did you sleep well?" He asked and sat down on a kitchen stool by the island, "mm-hm," I hummed in response and looked over at the stove to see if the oil had heated up.

This is the truth, I actually did sleep well last night. I mean sure, I was angry at him and whatnot but I wasn't going to let that affect my sleep now was I? I think not.

He was quiet for a while, his stormy grey orbs watching each and every single one of my moves; from pouring the eggs into the pan to flipping them to putting it on a plate when it was ready.

My insides were twisting and turning under his scrutinizing gaze but I wasn't going to let him know it affected me- not even one bit!

"Do you need a ride to work?" He spoke up when I was cutting up tomatoes, "no," my answer was short, curt and best of all; unemotional. I heard him sigh before he stood up and left but not before muttering a small 'good-bye' under his breath.

Am I being unreasonable by being mad at him? Maybe. Do I care? Oh hell no..

It'd been a whole two weeks since that night and our conversations- well they weren't really conversations... but moving on.. during the weekdays he would say 'good morning' and I'd reply with a 'morning' then he'd ask if I needed a ride and my answer would always be the same: no.

Audrey had stuck to her word and replaced the furniture in his study- it didn't look exactly the same but she told him she'd given it to him as a birthday present. It was smart not gonna lie..

Since we didn't have a housekeep anymore, I would always come home before him, cook dinner, leave his in the oven and would often be asleep before he came back- or at least I'd pretend to be asleep so I don't have to talk to him.

Today's the day I've been dreading.. doctor's appointment.

"Hi Charlotte," I greeted with a smile, "Amelia, hi!" She greeted back, her voice filled with excitement, for what? I don't know..

"Did you need something?"

"Yes actually," I looked over at Alexander's office door, "is he in?" I asked and looked back at her, "no, he went for a meeting but will be back soon, do you mind waiting in his office? It's open," she suggested.

"I still have work now," I lied, "but can you please tell him to meet me at this address," I pulled out a pen and notebook from my bag and scribbled down the hospital name and Delilah's name, "at three o'clock?" I teared the paper out of the notebook and handed it to her.

"Sure.." she took it from my hand and looked at it skeptically, "are you sure you don't want to wait? Because his meeting is ending in-"

"Bye Charlotte!"

"I- oh.. umm.. okay bye..?"

***

"Four months."

"What?" Scarlett immediately looked up at my face and away from my stomach, "It's what you wanted to ask, right?" I leaned back in my seat and crossed my legs, "I'm four months pregnant," I clarified.

"Oh- I.. I'm so sorry-"

"Don't be, it's okay," I smiled and closed my laptop shut, "in fact, if you do have anymore questions, ask away."

"Really?" I nodded, "okay umm.. when will you get the baby's gender?" She asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Right now actually," I looked up at the clock and it read 2:23, "wha- but you're not even showing!" Oh but I am..

"I am," I stood up and started packing away all my things since I wasn't planning on coming back to work, "you just can't see it because it's still a little bump," I explained and finished packing away the rest of my things.

"Oh, well.. okay. I have another question-"

"Scarlett you know I love you, but I have got to go or else I'm gonna be late, bye!"

"But-"

"Bye Charlotte," I grabbed my bag and made my way out of my office, "see you tomorrow?" she yelled.

"Tomorrow's Saturday!" I yelled back and made a bee-line to the elevator.

You have got to be kidding me...

"Get in the car, Amelia."

"No thank you," I tried to sidestep Alexander but he was unfortunately bigger and faster than me, "get in," he seethed and looked down at me, straight in the eye.

Now that I think about it, this is the first time in two weeks I've actually looked at him- in the face I mean. He had a light stubble- small but boy did it make him look ten times hotter.. He also had dark dark bags under his eyes, "have you been sleeping?" I wanted to ask but decided against it.

"Thanks for the offer but-"

"I wasn't asking."

"I-" he glared down at me, daring me to say something remotely stupid- I think I might have even peed a little.. "fine," I muttered and climbed into the car.

The drive to the hospital was quiet, not even the radio was on so you could imagine how awkward the was..

"Hi- oh.." Delilah's smile wiped right off her face when she saw I wasn't alone but quickly regained her composure before going on, "afternoon Mr Knight," he gave a slight nod in response, "hi Amelia, how are we feeling today?" She smiled and started setting up the ultrasound machine.

"Good, how are you?" I reciprocated the smile and took off my shoes, putting my feet up, I lied back and pulled up my shirt, presenting my not so small- but not so big either stomach, though it was ore on the smaller side.

"This is going to feel a bit cold.." I sucked in a breath when she put the cold on my stomach, "everything seems okay..." she trailed off after a few minutes of moving the wand around my stomach, all the while Alexander's quietly observing from the corner.

"Alright," she she put the wand down and snapped off her gloves, "would you like to know the gender?" I nodded yes, not bothering to see Alexander's answer- I could give a rat's ass about it anyway..

"Okay then, you're having a..."

***

"We need to talk," Alexander's voice was calm but stern at the same time, "okay, what do you want to talk about?" I let go of the door handle and looked down at feet, steering clear of having to look at him.

"Nothing happened between us that night," when I didn't say anything, he continued, "we'd gone back to her house and talked. That's it. Nothing more." We stayed quiet for a while, "what was so important you had to go to her house?" I asked in almost a whisper, afraid that if I speak up my voice would break.

When he didn't answer, I gave a slight nod and climbed out of the car, not forgetting to grab my bags from the back.

I immediately took off my heels and changed into my fluffy slippers as soon as I got into the house because my feet were killing me. I made my way into the kitchen and gathered ingredients for dinner, it was a little early but the quicker I do this the better.

"You're going to hate me," Alexander startled me.

"You don't know that-"

"Yes I do," he said and in less than five seconds his was standing right in front of me, his masculine scent invading my senses, "no, you don't. You don't get to decipher what I feel-"

"I don't-"

"Yes you do! You didn't even give me the chance-"

"I have a son," I- wha- pardon?8

"Wha-?" I blinked once. I blinked twice. Did he just say what I think he said?

"I told you were going to-"

"Hold on now," I held up my index finger, "explain."

He looked back and forth between my eyes, probably trying to read my emotion. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it he said, "his name is Lucas," he paused and looked up at me, "he's two years old." None of us said anything for a while before I spoke up,

"Is that all?" I smacked my lips and clasped my hands together causing him to dip his eyebrows in confusion, "uhh.. yes..?"

"Alright then," I side-stepped and made my way to the pantry, "are you going back to work or-"

"You don't believe me.." I heard him say, "oh I believe you," I walked out, "I just don't believe that that would take a whole-"

"What do you want me to tell you?!" He yelled, "the truth!" I screamed back.

"Fine! I was drinking, alright?! I went over to Tony's from the bar to sober up before coming home because I knew you would be disappointed in me if I came home drunk," he looked away, the anger and disappointment clearly evident on his face.

I stayed quiet and after a while I put what I was holding down on the counter and walked up to him, "hey," I whispered and put my hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at me, "you let me ignore you for two weeks straight because you thought I was going to be disappointed in you?" I whispered, "that reason is a thousand times better than what was going on in my head," I joked and his lips tugged up a little.

"Go take a shower, I'll make dinner, okay?" I say and he nods slowly, "okay," I repeat and place kiss by the corner of his lips.

***

"Amelia!" Alexander shouted from the other end of the bathroom door, "I'm in the shower!" I yelled back, lathering my body with another coat of soap.

"This is kind of important!" He knocked on the door like he was in panic, "can't it wait? I'm kind of in the middle-"

"No it can't!" I swear to god if it's not important... I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my body- still soapy and everything.

"What is so important it-" my eyes widened to the size of saucers and my hand flew straight to my mouth, "wha-" I stared at what- rather who he was holding his arms..

"Is that..?" I looked up from the sleeping figure to a panicked looking Alexander, "I found him by the doorstep in a car seat," he whispered, his face pale like he's just seen a ghost, "what-"

"Mommy?" I froze. Alexander froze. We both slowly looked down to the little boy fluttering his eyes open. He first looked around before his grey orbs landed on me, "where is my mommy?" He furrowed his little eyebrows and clutched his stuffed teddy bear harder.

I looked up at Alexander for help but he was in little dilemma of his own, "Lucas sweetheart," I cleared my throat and made my was over to them, "mommy said she had to go somewhere-"

"Where is my mommy?" He asked again, his voice wobbling a little bit, "Lucas-"

"Mommy?" He called and looked around the room and when he didn't see any sign of his mother he looked back at me, his lip quivered and his eyes welled up with tears, "oh please don't cry.." I cooed and stretched my arms out after securing my towel but it was no use, he was crying- no, he was screaming.

I took him from Alexander and started patting his back, trying to calm him down as much as I could but it was no use- he was screaming his lungs out. "Help me!" I mouthed to very pale and distressed looking Alexander. He's no use at this point...

"Hey.. shhh.." I continued patting his back, racking my brain for something to do, "do you want pasta?" I made a lame attempt of trying to bribe him, "NO!" He screamed and continued crying, "that's okay," god I want to cry...

"Toys! How about toys? Do you want toys?" his screaming slowly but fortunately went down, "can we.. umm.. can we get a mingo?" He lifted his head off my shoulder and sniffled, his eyes and nose all red and puffy from crying.

"Sure!" What the hell is a 'mingo'?

"Otay!" He wiggled out of my hold and marched to the door but when he didn't see me following, "mingo?" he furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, probably wondering why I wasn't following him.

It was hard to believe he wasn't crying just less than a minute ago...

"I have to put some clothes on first, baby," he turned around and walked back to me, looking up at Alexander like he was an alien of some sort.

Okay, what the hell is going on??

***

"Mingo!" Lucas exclaimed and excitedly pointed to a basket filled with pink stuffed toys. A 'mingo' is a flamingo? Makes so much sense...

"Milia, mingo!" He wiggled his hand out of mine and ran to the basket, pointing excitedly at the pink fluffy stuffed toy, "yay!" I quickly shuffled to where he was and picked out one, handing it over to him and picked up the teddy bear he'd dropped out of excitement.

"Tank you!" He squealed and hugged the toy, "aww no problem," I wonder how long it's gonna take him to remember his mom..

I picked out a few bath toys, a towel, two pairs of clothes and pajamas, a packet of diapers, two sippy cups and two plates before going over to the counter and paying.

Is he going to stay here for long?? Ughh I have so many questions!!!

"But Mingo's going to get wet Lucas," reasoning with a two year old is like talking to brick wall..

"But Mingo.."

"Please? For me?" I pleaded, "otay.." he muttered softly before putting the stuffed toy on the toilet lid and climbing into the bathtub- with my help of course.

I squirted some shampoo on his head and added a little bit of water, careful not to get some into his eyes.

Some observations I've made from our very short time together were; he had curly black hair- like Alexander, piercing grey orbs- like Alexander and a cute little nose that I'd noticed he'd inherited from his mom. He was so freakin' cute!!!

"Milia?" He called, "yeah?"

"Where's my mommy?" He asked, looking up at me with his big adorable eyes, "I don't know," I confessed and his face dropped but he fortunately didn't start crying like earlier.

"Are you tired?" I asked when he yawned, he nodded and that's when I noticed his eyes getting droopy.

Oh poor baby... why would his mom abandon him just like that?

"You're tired and frustrated, let's go to bed," I took the files out of Alexander's hand and tugged on his arm, "no I still have work-"

"And it'll still be there tomorrow," he sighed but nonetheless did what I said.

"I'm only doing this because I want-" he stopped mid sentence when he saw Lucas sleeping on the bed, "I have to go read some documents," he said and before I knew it, he disappeared.

I sighed and climbed into bed, too tired to go after him. Lucas stirred in his sleep and whimpered but stopped when I patted his back- this went on for a whole thirty minutes.

What a long night this is gonna be...

All I want to know- what I mostly want to know is why? Why now after three whole years?