"If I'm the father should I not have a say over this?" Burke asked. The shock of what he had just heard could not leave his face. How could she think of doing something like this? "Maybe you can make decisions like that when you are the one who carries the baby" "Okay here's what we will do, give birth to the baby and give it to me. I'll take care of the baby" he said. If he did not know about the baby he wouldn't have cared but now that he knew he had to make sure the baby received as much love as he lacked growing up. "I won't carry this baby," she said tapping the table. "Why?" he said almost crying. "Because carrying this baby means I would devote at least a year of my life to tending to it and at least six months to get back into my shape. That's a long time" she said in a tone that suggests that he should know this and not ask her such questions. "And?" he asked confusion at what she was driving at. "And I don't have that time. No man would approach me if I am pregnant
"What?" Emma said. "Marry me, let's give the child a proper home," he said again. Emma took a step backward and then burst into laughter. "Nice prank," she said as she could not control her laughter. "I am serious" "Oh no way, it must be a prank," she said as she wiped the corners of her eyes. "I am very serious," he said again. "The child does not need to die or grow up in a broken home. We love each other and can be together" "Burke there is no way I would think of marrying a pauper like you. Love? I love you. There was never a moment like that" "So you chased me around for years and you did not like me?" he asked perplexed that he took a step back. "I only chased you around because Jessica liked you and I hated Jessica. She was always too happy even though there was nothing joyful about our situation. It also seemed like people naturally liked her. I had to put in effort so others like me and it always did not end up well" "What?" "It was always so frustrating. Remember o
Emma entered the maternity center of the hospital. She wanted to go all the way and she was going to make sure of it. The hospital was not the same one she usually went to. She changed hospitals when she heard that Dawson Delgado was hospitalized there. She might have a real chance of running into Xavier there. After a brief consultation with the doctor they set a date for the procedure and she took her leave. Since the day was just beginning she decided to wait in the lobby. She might get to see him today if she got lucky. A few minutes after she sat down she watched as Jessica came in the hospital and walked right to the elevator. She waited for the door to open before she went in. "Did she come alone?" she said loudly to herself. Her questions were soon answered when Xavier walked in a few minutes later. They came together? She felt her jaw tightened but she tried her best to ignore the situation. She stood up and brushed her skirt before she patted her head down. She walked to
"Hey papa," Xavier said as he entered the room. Jessica was sitting so close to his bedside and they were both giggling in happiness. He was kind of jealous at the sight of things but he also did not mind since it was Jessica. "Took you long enough," Dawson said as he eyed his grandson from head to toe. "The elevator ride was slow" He wanted to tell Jessica about who he encountered but he did not want to worry Dawson. "So are you here to take me home?" Dawson asked happily. "No," Xavier said taking his position on the couch. "What why? You promised to bring me back with you if I came. Are you going back on your word because I am a weak helpless old man?" "First off, Papa the emotional blackmail will not work, you are not a weak helpless man. You are old yes but weak and helpless?" Xavier started. "Xavier?" Jessica said cutting his rant off. "That's not the point""Oh yes, the main point" he shifts the upper part of his body from relying too much on the couch and sits up strai
Jessica and Xavier spent a little more time with Dawson until they both decided to go to work. The air between them was awkward because Dawson had teased them both saying he could smell love. Claiming he was old enough to recognize one when he saw it. Xavier offered to drive Jessica to work even though the air was tense. The road trip was quieter than one would think. "Your friend," Xavier said out of the blue. "My friend?" she asked turning to him. She was glad he broke the silence. It was better for them to talk to each other than to allow the air to loom heavy on their necks. "Yeah, the one at the police station that time," he said. "You mean Emma?" she said. The name alone left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth and she hated it. She had not seen what Emma did to her coming. She always regarded her as a friend so she wondered why she did that. "So that was her name?" Xavier said looming onto the road with a little morning traffic. "Did you block her?" he asked. When Emma had
The rest of the ride was with a little chat from both parties and a little silence alternating both ways until he finally dropped her off. She put some things in place before she returned home to make lunch. She concluded that since she could not take Dawson back home with her she might as well give him home-cooked meals. She made a quick lunch and then packed it. One of the things Xavier made sure to hammer on was that she should not come out without having one of the drivers take her out. "They are not for decoration. I pay them salaries every month, you should make good use of their services" in his exact words. She had Ian drive her to the hospital first. It was closer and she wanted to make sure that he ate first. By the time she entered the hospital room, she met a sleeping Dawson and a caretaker who told her that he had fallen asleep not quite long. She dropped the lunch box and the caretaker promised to ensure that Dawson ate the meal once he woke up. She left in a hurry
"I know you are very busy and I did not want to take up much of your time but the lady downstairs told me I must deliver it myself so here I am. I will drop this here and be out of your hair" she ranted. "It's lunchtime why would anybody be busy?" he asked as he stood up from behind his desk. "I thought you were having a meeting with Brian?" she asked as she watched him walk towards her. "He was asking me out to lunch," he said and she nodded. "Are you not going to sit? This is your first time here and you are in a hurry to leave?" he asked as he sat down on one of the chairs. She looked at him as if she was searching for extra approval before she took her seat. She sat on the same sofa as he did but she put a little space between them. "This is the lunch I brought for you," she said dropping it on the table before them. "Have you had lunch?" he asked. "Not yet, I plan to have some when I get back to the mansion" she replied. "We can share this one," he said nonchalantly as h
The word wife from Xavier's mouth was all Jessica needed to have butterflies swimming around in her stomach. She cleared her throat to hide her excitement. The lady she had seen on the deal outside of his office came in a few minutes later with a new set of cutlery. Jessica thanked her as he left the place. "Have I told you?" Xavier asked as Jessica wiped down the table with the disposable napkin she put in the lunch box. "That?" "You do make the best meals," "Better than your hotel staff?" she asked teasingly. Of course, she was not expecting him to agree. It would be a lie if he did. Those chefs were trained in the biggest and most prestigious schools in the world. All she ever did was go to a small college where she could barely learn anything. Most of what she knew she taught herself by practicing with uploaded videos on the internet. A vague recollection of her days in college flashed before her eyes. She remembered having to work part-time and then using the money she got
Hello Guys this is the final chapter. I want to first appreciate everyone who has read this book, who had supported, commented, voted and called me order when I did not update for such a long time. Thank you so much for being such a support in these times. As this work comes to an end I hope you support me in upcoming works. This free Chapter is for you."Joshua we would be late" Aletta screamed from the bottom of the stairs. "Honey are we using our government names now?" Joshua screamed back at her. "Joshua you know I do not like being late for any of these events" Aletta screamed back at him. Altetta paced back and forth at the bottom of the stairs. "You know you should not be screaming while you are this pregnant"Joshua said as he came down the stairs with his daughter in his hands. "If you had come down earlier then I would have had no reason to scream that much" she retorted and he smiled. "It was my little pumpkin here who kept me waiting" Joshua replied as he got to stand b
"I am so happy for you, this is finally happening," Aletta said holding the arms of Jeanne excited."I am excited but also nervous very nervous does anyone have calming pills?" Jeanne said slipping her hands off Aletta's hand and feeling the sweat on her palm."Calm down, it's just you and Thiago, everyone else is just like a rock. I promise you once you get on that altar every of that nervousness would be gone" Aletta continued. "Thank you," Jeanne said sarcastically."Are you nervous because its mu brother? I can help you run away from this right now" Nichole suggested and Alethea rolled her eyes. "Are all sisters this way? This was the same advice you gave Aletta the other day" Alethea said and Jeanne shook her head. "How can I leave, I have been dreaming of this day" Jeanne replied. "Then calm down even though I don't know why you would dream of marrying my brother but we all choose our battles I guess" Nichole shrugged as she sat down."Nichole" Aletta chastised because she k
"You have to get to work" Aletta said rubbing the hand of Joshua gently. They had arrived back from their honeymoon over the weekend and this Monday morning was the first time Joshua was going back to work after the wedding."Can't I just lay down here with you all day?" he said taking out her hand and pulling her down to his level."You kept saying that and prolonged the honeymoon by two weeks,""Call me a criminal for wanting to spend time with my wife, I am getting the feeling that you do not want to spend any time with me" Joshua said opening one eye and giving her a judging look. "Joshua, you know that is not true, so get up now""You are no longer my assistant, you are supposed to be begging me to stay a bit more with you""What makes you think I don't want to do that?" Aletta asked taking his dishevelled morning hair back from his face."Because you keep urging me to get back to work so quickly, it's like you can't wait to get rid of me" Joshua took his head back to the pillow
"Mom don't cry again, you might get a serious headache at this rate," Aletta said rubbing the back of her mother while in a hug. The entire wedding was over already and the whole family was seeing the couple off as they were going directly to the airport for their honeymoon. "Come on, at this rate they might miss their flight" Leon said trying to pull Eunice off her daughter. She had been bawling the entire ceremony, if someone saw her they would think it was a sad occasion. "My daughter," Eunice said as she finally pulled away and took a step back. "I am so happy and so proud of you because you managed or find love for yourself even after everything" Eunice sniffled and smiled. "Thank you, Mom," Aletta said with a smile. "You better get going now" Jessica said stepping forward."We are on our way now" Joshua said pulling open the door and gesturing for Aletta to get in."Call us when you get there" Jessica called after the shut door."Do not call us" Xavier said as if he was giv
"I was always unsure about how I felt about you, You were always around me, taking care of me and I felt anxious whenever you were out of sight. A little secret that was the reason I always made you work overtime even when it was not necessary" Joshua said and there was a burst of small laughter across the room.They were both standing in from of the priest and altar but they had decided to take their custom written vows there. Joshua cleared his throat and looked up from his paper to stare at Aletta whose eyes never left his face. He flashed a small warm mile to her and she returned it."I never realized my feelings for you until you made that drunken confession that night that caused us to go into a relationship. I had always thought about marriage but for me, it was the only way for me to make children that would take over the company one day, being with you makes me so excited to think of waking up every morning with you by my side, I think of planting kisses on your lips and spend
"Are you feeling nervous?" Alethea asked Aletta who was sitting in the waiting room with her shaky hands. "Yes I am, who wouldn't be?" Aletta asked as she closed her eyes to steady her breath. "I mean you are very right, who would like to marry my annoying brother, as much as I would like to call you my sister in law I can help you escape if you wish to" Jeanne chimed in. "Thank you so much for the suggestion, I am nervous about this and not rethinking my decision. I can't wait to be married to him" Aletta said as her eyes shot open. "Ew" Jeanne said as she gaged. " What do you see in him?" she added as she picked at her nails. "Everything I want to see" Aletta added. "Jeanne stop trying to put ideas in her head" Jessica cautioned coming towards them. "What did I do?" Jeanne whined."I heard what you said" Jessica replied giving Jeanne a warning look. Jesica knew that her daughter was playing around but she did not want Aletta taking any of the words to heart. "I know I have s
"Mom's boyfriend would be here soon," Alethea said as she dropped the dish in her hand to the table. "I can not believe that I am being made to meet my mom's boyfriend at her age" "What I can not believe is that she can't order out but is making us to make food for him"Alethea whined as she moved back to the kitchen."What is even more crazy is that she is in a relationship again" Aletta exclaimed as she moved behind Alethea. "Don't get me wrong I guess I am glad she is finding love again" "Same here, if she is happy then there is no issue. Love is in the air" Aleteha added coming back to the table "So why don't you have anyone to share the love with?" Aletta asked. They were making the last trip from the kitchen to the table. "Says you? Who told you that I do not have someone to share this love with?" Alethea said dragging out her sentence and a weird smile climbing her face."Alethea you are hiding something from me" Aletta said going to clutch her sister's hand. "Spill now" sh
Aletta and Joshua tried to reach Anette and Richard but it was as if they had fallen off the radar. "At least we tried" Aletta said as she set down the phone to the table. "Happy now?" Joshua asked and she nodded. "I guess I have to get going now" she said taking up her phone from the table."Where to? You just got here" Joshua was sad because they had finalized her resignation and she had not been around him like he wanted her to be. He was happy regardless that she was doing what she loved. "I have to go finalize things with HR on hiring your new assistant and then I have to go shopping with your mom and sister" Aletta explained. "Can we at least have dinner together?" Joshua asked and started expressing shock when he saw the expression on her face. "We can not? I barely see you anymore these days" he whined like a child who was cheated of having any ice cream. "I am having dinner with my family, mom is introducing her boyfriend to us today and honestly, I love spending time wi
"Did you hear about Anette?" Aletta asked as she pushed the jar of pickles into the hands of Joshua. They had picked a date for the wedding and it was in three weeks. They were having one of the date nights where they stayed back home and cooked for each other. "What happened to her?" Joshua asked. Anette shook her head in bewilderment, how could this man be so oblivious to everything happening around him?"Have you seen her in a while?" Aletta asked. She wanted to know how much he did not know. "Well, since that day she came to our house, I did not think much of it when I did not see her again," Joshua said truthfully before taking off the lid of the jar. "But you know she called off her wedding and left the country so abruptly with Richard?" Aletta asked hoping that he at least knew about that fact. Yes, Anette did hurt them all but it would be too mean to not care about her when she had sincerely apologized."Maybe they did not want the wedding again?" Joshua asked shrugging. Al