Derek spent the rest of his morning working out in the gym until his muscles were sore and begging for mercy. It was the only way to successfully obliterate his encounter with Rachel from his mind permanently. Feeling invigorated afterward, he took a shower, got dressed, and took his favorite Lamborghini for a spin.While in the car, he put a phone call through to Cassie but she didn’t respond, so he scrolled through his contact list and found another woman who might be available for him. His call was answered on the second ring.“Hi, Derek!” The woman on the other end of the line said with a high-pitched voice that showed how excited she was to receive his call.“What’s up, Gwen. How are you doing?” He said casually.“How are you doing, babe? I thought you’d forgotten all about me.”Derek chuckled. “You know that’s not possible. I’ve been very busy.”“That’s what you always say,” said Gwen sulkily.“All right, let me make it up to you. Where are you right now?”“At home.”“Why don’t
Six weeks later…Rachel blew out a shaky breath as she walked into the reception area of the office building. She had been psyching herself up for weeks before this meeting, still, she wasn’t ready for it but she couldn’t postpone it any longer.“Hello, how may I help you?” Asked the pretty blond receptionist with a bright smile.“Uh, hi,” said Rachel, uncertainly. Her heart was pouncing wildly in her chest and her palms were sweaty. “I’m here to see Derek Fraser,” she said, trying to match the receptionist’s dazzling smile.“Do you have an appointment?”“Um, no, but it’s very important that I see him today.”“I’m sorry, Miss, but that won’t be possible. You can only see Mr. Fraser if you have an appointment with him. If you give me your name and contact details, I can send them to his personal secretary and she might set up an appointment for you.”Rachel tried to hide her frustration but she knew it would be impossible to see Derek without getting past this receptionist first. It ha
When they finally reached the 16th floor and the elevator doors opened, Rachel quickly staggered out of it and gulped in air through her mouth while holding unto a pillar in the hallway for some balance.“Rachel, you’re as white as paper,” said Derek, his voice filled with concern for her. “Should I call a doctor or an ambulance?”“No,” she said weakly. “I need to sit down.”He put an arm around her and gently led her toward his office. “Please, get me some water for her to drink,” he said to his secretary as he passed by her desk.“Uh, sure,” said the secretary who couldn’t understand what was going on with her boss and the sickly lady.He led her to the Chester couch in his office and helped her to settle down. The secretary came in just then with a tray containing a jug of water and a tumbler. She poured the water into the glass and offered it to Rachel.“Thank you,” said Rachel, accepting the tumbler of water and taking a few sips. “I feel better, thanks,” she said with a shaky sm
“We are saying the same thing, my friend,” said Jonah, sympathetically.“Damn! This can’t be happening to me. I am always so careful. I let my guard down once, and boom, I’m being accused of pregnancy.”“ ‘Accused of pregnancy?’ Are you serious? You make it sound like a crime,” laughed Jonah.“This isn’t funny, Jonah. This is my life we are talking about here. My reputation is at stake. What if she goes to the press with this?”“As I said, getting a woman pregnant isn’t a crime, Derek. I’ve done it twice and I’m not in jail right now.”“You are married.”“And you could be too.”“Never! I’ve told you many times already that I will never get married. I will never give up my freedom and sanity for a piece of paper that will have me giving half of my fortune to some woman if she eventually decides to leave me.”“Marriage is more than just a piece of paper, Derek. It’s a union of heart, body, and souls,” said Jonah, seriously.“Miss me with that BS, Jonah. I’m not interested and that’s tha
When Rob saw her, he gasped in shock. “Oh my gosh, Rachel. What happened to you?”Her hair was disheveled, her hair was a mess, her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were bloodshot from crying non-stop. Her oversized T-shirt was rumpled and stained with drops of chocolate ice cream and her legs were unshaven.Her apartment looked like a war zone; magazines everywhere, furniture askew, dirty plates and cutlery everywhere, floors littered with snack wrappers, and the whole place stank.“Geez, Rachel. What’s this? Are you doing drugs?”She ignored his question and continued her slow walk back to her bedroom where she landed heavily on the bed, exhausted from the short walk.Rob was not surprised to see that her bedroom was even in worse shape than her living room. “Are you going to tell me what is going on, or do I have to squeeze it out of you?”“I messed up, Rob,” she said softly and her chin began to wobble. She couldn’t believe that she still had any tears left in her eyes, b
As they had expected, their mother threw a fit when she heard the news of Rachel’s pregnancy. She had only recently come to terms with the news of Rob’s sexuality and now this was happening. Why?“How could you let that happen, Rachel?” Asked Rosemary Lane with a horrified expression. “I thought you were a sensible young woman, how could you do this to me?”“This isn’t about you, Mom,” said Rob, rolling his eyes.“How could you embarrass me like this?” Rosemary continued, ignoring her son’s comment. “What have I ever done to deserve this?”“I’m sorry, Mom. It wasn’t intentional,” said Rachel. “It just happened.”“What do you mean by ‘it just happened’ as if it was an accident? Were you walking down the street and just stumbled on the pregnancy? Was that how it happened? Did someone just throw it at you? Or you accidentally had sex and got pregnant? What part of this wasn’t intentional?”Rachel sighed but said nothing. If it were up to her, she wouldn’t have informed her mother about t
One year later…Derek stretched his long legs and reclined in his seat as his private jet gunned through the clouds, on its way back to the United States. He’d spent the last four days in Santorini, Greece, celebrating his 32nd birthday with his friends and a bunch of exotic girls. It was supposed to be a seven-day holiday, but by the third day which was the day after his birthday, he had begun to grow restless. He missed his job and just eating, drinking, and having sex with random girls was beginning to bore him.His friends had begged him to complete the one-week holiday with them, but he had refused. One more day of playing would totally drive him crazy and he couldn’t stand it anymore. The entire holiday and the trip back home had all been paid for, so he told his friends to have fun on his behalf while he returned to his base to regain his sanity.Now on his way back home, he felt relieved and excited at the same time. There was a small tech start-up that was pitching for seed f
He hung up the call just as the jet began its downward approach to the airport. Derek decided that he was going to wait until he got to his office before he began his online search for Rachel. This new discovery made him feel like a jerk whenever he remembered how he had spoken so rudely to Rachel the last time they met. He still hadn’t had time to process his thoughts, and his brain felt scrambled.Back in his office, he instructed his secretary to hold all his calls and cancel all of his scheduled appointments. He needed to track down Rachel today and form his next course of action thereafter.“Is everything ok?” Asked Diane, from his office doorway.“Yeah, sure,” he replied without looking at her.“The team from Bond Tech will be here in an hour. They weren’t supposed to come in today but you said –““What part of ‘cancel all of my appointments’ do you not understand, Diane?” He asked sternly. He was eager to begin his personal assignment but his nosey secretary was getting in the
“This can’t be happening,” Derek muttered incredulously after a frightened Elaine came to announce to him that Rachel had been abducted at knife-point by Sam. “Oh, God! What have I done?” Yasmin wailed. “Calm down, Mom. I’ll call the security guys at the gate right away,” said Derek briskly. “He can’t have gone very far with her, so we can still find them.” “We should call the police too,” Elaine suggested. “What’s their emergency number here?” “Where the heck is that ambulance?” Yasmin demanded irritably. “Javier has slipped into unconsciousness. He needs to be taken to the hospital immediately.” As they scrambled around the house to make phone calls from different phones, Zoe who was now awake, walked across the room and placed her favorite stuffed toy, Binky, on Javier’s chest. “Don’t be scared, Binky is going to help you,” she whispered to the unconscious chef. Just then, they heard the wails of an ambulance siren as it sped through the driveway. “Finally!” Said Yasmin, thr
A loud crash woke Rachel up and her eyes flew open with alarm. She could tell instantly that something was wrong.“What was that?” Derek asked groggily.“You heard it too? It sounded like something breaking,” she said and began to get out of bed.“No, you stay here and I’ll go and check it out,” said Derek, getting out of bed.“You go to the kitchen and I’ll go and check on Zoe and Elaine.”They quickly put on their dressing robes and ran out of the room to investigate the strange noise and make sure that the other occupants of the house were ok.Rachel was relieved when she was that both Elaine and Zoe were still asleep in their room and they hadn’t been disturbed by the crash that woke her up. She quietly closed their bedroom door and moved to Yasmin’s door, but as she raised her hand to knock on it, Derek showed up with a barely conscious Javier leaning on him. The chef’s head was bloody and he looked dazed.“Oh, my God! What happened to him?” Rachel asked, hurrying over to the hal
Once they were done with lunch, there was unanimous agreement that everyone should take a stroll to the beach to walk off that hefty meal.“I don’t think I’m going to eat anything else today because that was a loaded lunch,” said Rachel, suppressing a belch.“Yeah, maybe,” said Derek with a smile.They were walking hand-in-hand past the tall palm trees that lined the property and went all the way to the beach. There were some large rocks on the other end of the beach and it looked like a nice hideout where they could get a little bit of intimacy away from the rest of the group.“How about we go over there and check out what’s behind that rock?” She asked, pointing toward the distance. “Just you and me.”“Sure, why not?”“We’re going back inside,” Elaine announced. “Zoe is long overdue for her nap and she’s getting restless.”“Aww, poor baby,” said Rachel, bending down to stroke Zoe’s blonde curls.“No nap,” she said drowsily while yawning and rubbing her eyes. However, she didn’t resi
“There you are!” She exclaimed when she found him standing by the pool, staring off into the distance. “Are you ok?”“Yes,” he said and smiled at her. “I have never felt this much peace in my life.”“Aww, I’m glad you feel that way,” she said, embracing him.“Come on, let’s go inside and see what Elaine and Zoe are up to. The island manager will be sending in our private chef later today. In the meantime, I’m sure we can make do with whatever is in the kitchen for now.”“I don’t think anyone is hungry yet. This place is too good for you to think about eating.”“Zoe may not agree with you,” he said with a grin. “My daughter is a certified foodie.”“She got it from her momma,” said Rachel.“I’m not going to argue with that,” said Derek and he received an elbow jab in the ribs from his wife.They found Zoe and her nanny in the cinema room watching Moana. Derek and Rachel were immediately captivated by the exciting animation movie, and they too sat down to watch it. When it was over, they
One month later, Rachel walked down the aisle created in front of Alfred’s gloriously beautiful flower garden, holding a bouquet of white irises that looked like a cluster of clouds over green stems. Her ivory Vera Wang wedding dress was an off-shoulder creation that featured lots of tulles, crystals, and a full skirt that made her look like a Disney princess. Rob struggled not to cry as he walked his little sister down the aisle in his spotless three-piece suit.“I almost can’t believe this is happening,” Rachel whispered excitedly to him.“It’s happening, darling,” he replied in a whisper too. “Your fairy tale happy ending is finally happening and I cannot even begin to tell you just how happy I am for you.”“You’ve told me a gazillion times already and that’s enough,” she said with a chuckle.When they reached where Derek was waiting in front of the minister, Rob hugged his sister tightly and whispered, “I love you.”“I love you more,” Rachel whispered back with misty eyes.After R
Just as Derek had predicted, Alfred was beyond ecstatic when they informed him of Rachel’s wish to be married at Rickman Manor.“What an honor!” He exclaimed happily. “What joy!”“Stop being so dramatic, Uncle Alfred. It’s just a wedding,” said Derek.“Uh-huh, Derek. It’s not a wedding, it’s the wedding,” said Taylor and he got a high five from Rob who yelled, “Dang right, it is!”Everyone laughed. They were sitting at a long dining table that had been set up by the hotel in the banquet hall where they’d had Derek’s birthday party last night. It was the only place that could contain the large family consisting of Rachel’s folks, Jonah and his family, and Uncle Alfred. Diane and the other guests had checked out of the hotel earlier after having breakfast in their rooms.This late breakfast was for family only and that included Elaine who was sitting beside Zoe and making sure the toddler was cared for while the adults joked and chatted playfully.“I am so happy for you two,” said Rosem
Derek went down on one knee in front of Rachel and opened the ring box. Inside it was a dazzling 24 karat gold ring with a large princess-cut white diamond in the middle and tiny crystals encircling the band. It was gloriously beautiful!“Rachel Lane, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Derek asked her with stars in his eyes. “Will you marry me?”“Yes!” She replied instantly without hesitation, sinking to her knees and hugging him fiercely. “Yes, yes, and yes!”The room erupted in a joyous cheer, applauding the touching scene.“That’s not how it’s done,” Derek laughed through his happy tears. “You’re supposed to stick out your hand and let me put the ring on your finger.”“Who cares about how it’s done? This is how we do it,” she replied happily. “Now put that ginormous ring where it belongs.”She stretched out her left hand and he slipped the ring on her finger, sending their guests into another round of celebration.“I wish Zoe was here to witness this,” he said.“Bedtime
Yasmin chuckled. “Rachel is a genius,” she said. “She’s the real deal, Derek. She’s a keeper.”“I still can’t believe that you’re here,” he said in wonder. “I feel as if I am dreaming.”“So do I,” she admitted. “Derek, I am so sorry for everything. I am sorry I didn’t give you a chance to get to know me but instead allowed your father to drive a wedge between us. I am not trying to paint your father as the bad guy because if I’m being honest, I also share in the blame. I am so sorry for abandoning you and letting you mourn my fake death while I lived my best life somewhere else.”“I didn’t have time to mourn you,” he confessed. “I was so angry at you and I drowned myself in work.”“I am so sorry,” she said again, crying openly. “I am so, so sorry, Derek. Can you ever forgive me?”Seeing his mother cry and express so much remorse broke something inside of him. It was as if she had smashed the block of ice that had held his heart in a death grip for years, into tiny pieces. Tears rolled
“No, what’s the point? I know why she has been doing it and I’m not sure she’ll have anything new to share with Yasmin anymore.”“Today’s episode is definitely something worth sharing.”Derek chuckled. “Maybe.”“Have you thought about reaching out to Yasmin?”“What for?”“I don’t know, just for the sake of it. Alfred already confirmed everything she told us, so that means she wasn’t lying.”He sighed.“Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive her?” Rachel asked softly.Derek lifted an eyebrow. “For what?”“For abandoning you,” she replied.He sighed again and looked away. When the elevator reached the first floor and swung open, he took her hand in his and led her out of it. Cheryl was beaming like the sun when she saw them together and she waved at Rachel as they left.“I think Cheryl is my number one fan here,” she remarked as Frank and Mark escorted them to the parking lot.“Nope. She’s number two,” said Derek.“Who’s number one?” She asked.“Me,” he said with a grin and follo