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CBB: Chapter Fourteen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Fifteen
The heat when I open the door makes me sigh in relief after hurrying through the cold morning fog. Sara is waiting for me in our usual booth at the diner. The whole place smells like pancakes and coffee and it's making my mouth water."You're late," Sara chastises me as I sit down across from her and wrap my chilled hands around the cup of coffee she has waiting for me. The heat burns through my frozen fingers but I don't let go."Sorry," I mumble. "I had a hard time getting up this morning.""Late night?" she asks, sipping on her own coffee. She's gorgeous again today. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail that curls down her back. Her dark maroon shirt is long sleeved but low cut enough to display a generous amount of cleavage, but not to the point of being slutty. The haggard, frightened girl I met last time in this diner is gone."Actually, I went to bed early last night. I just didn't sleep very good." I pick up a sugar packet and play with it. "Too much on my mind."“Yo
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Sixteen
After breakfast, I wander around the city for a little while, looking at shops and doing my best not to think. The Christmas decorations are out on display and it's easy to lose myself to the green and red of the season. I don't buy anything. I'm a ghost just floating through the city, trying to figure out what to do next.I head home once I'm cold and tired. My bed welcomes me with open arms and the promise of release from my thoughts. When I lay my head down on the pillow, I smell Dante. He had just been here two days ago, and his scent still lingers all over the place. I smile as I snuggle into the pillow, imagining his hard body is what I'm holding onto.My dreams are terrible, as they often are. Dreams of my mother, dreams of the car accident, dreams of the worst futures I can imagine for myself.I wake up at what seems like dawn to my phone ringing. I answer it with sleep still in my voice. "Hello?""Cara." It was Mrs. Russo's horrible voice."Can I help you?" I ask, ready to ju
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Seventeen
The piano beckons me with black and white fingers. I sit and raise the lid without having to think about what I'm doing. I start with a simple scale and arpeggio, letting the easy motions flow. My fingers climb the keys, finding harmony and balance while my mind scrambles.My mother's killer. My mother's death resolved.Another scale cascades from my fingertips. The beauty is harsh against my reality.I see Dante's blue eyes when I close mine. How do I tell him what his mother is doing? Family is everything to people like us. I don't want to cause problems.What if Senator Norwood did kill my mother? What would I do then?My hands falter despite the ease of the scale and I have to restart the scale. It's been ten years but he still frightens me. I still have nightmares of him coming to the city and finding me. He has only grown more powerful with time and made more political friends. He ruined my life once and still has the power to do it again. I know I'm not the scared twelve-year-o
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Eighteen
A knock on my door wakes me. It's still dark outside, but this late in the year it's practically dark until noon anyway. I climb out of my cocoon of blankets and pad over to the door to find Dante waiting for me.Seeing him makes my heart do flip-flops. I'm glad my family picked him. This is a match that is good on paper and in real life.“What are you doing here?” I ask, going up on my tiptoes to kiss him. His cheek is cold and there is snow in his dark hair.“I was in the neighborhood,” he replies, holding out a Styrofoam container. “I brought you some breakfast.”I giggle, taking it in my hands. I can already smell the delicious scent of french toast inside.“You sure know how to spoil a girl,” I say, grinning as I bring the container to the table and set it down. “Thank you.”He grins. It's boyish and heartwarming. I love it. I love the way his eyes sparkle. I brush the snow from his hair, my eyes going to his. His eyes are warm and brown, wrapping me up with heat.I go up on my t
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Nineteen
“Come to our house,” Aunt Sophia says on the phone. “Your uncle wants to see you. I want to see you. I made your favorite.”“You made chicken parmigiana?” My mouth starts to water.“From scratch,” Aunt Sophia tempts me.“I'll be there,” I promise. There is little that I wouldn't do for real home cooked food. Especially food made by my aunt. That woman could have been a chef in a different life.Ethan picks me up and drives me out to the burbs. My aunt and uncle have a comfortable house with a large backyard. They own a beach house out on Cape Cod, but other than some expensive trips, they keep the extent of their wealth to themselves.Uncle Tony says that doing that and paying our fair share of taxes will keep the feds off our backs. Considering it's worked so well and that he has friends in the IRS now, I believe him.“Dinner's almost ready,” Aunt Sophia says as I walk in. “Go wash your hands. You too, Ethan.”Ethan nods a “yes, ma'am” and goes to the bathroom. He always eats with us
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Twenty
“Are you sure this is right, Ethan?” I ask, looking out my window at the creepy, abandoned looking office building. There are broken windows and several burnt out streetlights. It doesn't exactly look like a great place to discuss campaign finances.“Yes.” Ethan holds up the card and shrugs. “You want me to come in with you?”I want to say yes. But, if I'm going to head up this organization, I can't have my body guard all the time. Especially if I'm discussing slightly illegal campaign issues with a sitting senator. It's better I do this alone.“I think I should go in alone,” I say. I don't like the way my stomach twists when I say it. It's a bad omen, but it's too late to turn back now.“I'll be right out here if you need anything.”A flutter of worry bubbles up in my stomach. Ethan will be a long way away if anything goes wrong tonight. I tell myself I've had plenty of self-defense lessons. I'll be fine.I step out into the night. Old snow crunches under my feet as I leave the safet
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Twenty-One
I stumble out of the building and out into the cold. I hate the cold, but at least I'm free.My clothing is torn beyond saving and I'm bleeding from my lip and at least one cut above my eye. I'm fairly sure the back of my head is bleeding, but I don't dare stop to try and find out. I have to get away from him. At least all he did was hit me.“Cara?” Ethan calls, closing the car door behind him and hurrying across the snow. I must look like a disaster for him to have left the car. I certainly feel like a disaster. He catches me just as my legs give out. He's so warm, but all I can think about is how I'm getting blood on his suit.He cradles me close and runs to the car. I didn't know he was that strong, but I feel safe now that I have Ethan here. Ethan won't let Mr. Norwood hurt me. He would have stopped Mr. Norwood if he had known.“You need a doctor,” Ethan says quietly, his eyes going to the gash above my eye. Worry darkens his face as he tucks me into the car and pulls the remnants
Family Doctor's Baby CBB: Chapter Twenty-Two
I wake in my own bed, and for a moment, I'm sure that the whole night was just a bad dream. Then I hear Dante yelling in the other room and I frown. The frown sends a streak of pain across my face and I sigh, knowing that it wasn't just a nightmare.I sit up slowly. Luckily, all the x-rays came back negative. They seemed strangely concerned with having me cover my torso with the lead apron, but I had been to tired to care. A minor concussion, fourteen stitches on my face and twelve on the back of my head, and a full suite of bruises. The emotional trauma was just as bad. My pride is bruised as much as my body.I see a voicemail on my phone.“Ms. Savio. This is the doctor from last night. I need to speak with you when you get a chance. Please call me at this number.”I frown a little. I hope they didn't find anything else wrong with my labs and tests after I left. I'd call them once I had some food.I slither out of bed, trying to move as little as possible. I go to the living room to
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Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Thirty-Three
JacksonHis mouth twitched like he wanted to smile at her. She raised her hand and tried to appear like this wasn’t breaking her heart. If anyone was looking, they would think she was here for moral support and that nothing was wrong.“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen for joining me today. First, I’d like to address the vicious rumors going around that I am involved with a woman other than my fiancée. I want to state expressly that this is a bald-faced lie.” He paused and smiled around the room. “And I have proof.”Emma couldn’t help but gasp. So did several reporters.“If you’ll please turn your attention to the screen here,” Jackson said, motioning to a flat screen TV near him. He clicked a small button and the screen came to life. “This is security footage from a small sailboat in the dock. It was overlooked at first, but as with many good things, it warranted a second look.”Emma wondered if he meant something more by that statement, but didn’t have time to ponder it as the securit
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Thirty-Two
JacksonJackson went back up to his apartment, got in the shower, and cried.He hadn’t cried since he was five years old and his pet turtle died. He hadn’t cried like this when his parents died. He didn’t know that it was possible for a grown man to feel this much hurt inside.He had screwed up. Big time.Why hadn’t he just told her? He could have come home from the party and told her then. He could have mentioned it the next day. It would have been so easy.He wanted to say it was to protect her. He wanted to believe it was because he was keeping her calm for the baby.But that was a lie.He was doing it to protect himself. He was afraid she would leave him. That she wouldn’t smile up at him like he was the best thing in the world. That she wouldn’t tease him or make him laugh because she would finally see his true nature.And he had made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. By not telling her, he had ruined things. He had broken their trust.He should have told her that he loved her the m
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Thirty-One
EmmaEmma didn’t know it was possible to cry this much. She didn’t know that she had this many tears inside of her. She didn’t know that it was possible to feel this much pain from just one lie.He kissed another woman.He didn’t love her.She was obviously nothing to him.She sat on her couch in her tiny apartment, mindlessly eating a pint of ice cream that she stole from his fridge, and cried.The worst part was that she didn’t even feel like she had the right to cry. It was in the contract that they could see other people. Their relationship was never meant to be about love. They were a business relationship. It was always supposed to be a way to keep the bad boy’s business happy. She was only ever supposed to be the good girl image.Yet, it still hurt. It hurt more than she ever thought possible.He had cheated on her. Just because she had suspected this day might come didn’t make it easier. When they had first started this arrangement, she thought she could handle it. She had tho
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Thirty
JacksonJackson sat at his desk, head in his hands. He didn’t know how to fix this one. He had screwed up. It wasn’t really his fault, but now that it was happening, he could see a million different ways he could have prevented this.‘If onlys’ whispered through his mind. He could have pushed the woman away sooner. He should have never been alone. He should have told Emma right away.That was the one that hurt the most. He should have come straight home and told her that a strange woman had kissed him. She would have forgiven him then. She would have understood.He sighed. Now it was too late. He’d kept the kiss to himself. For the first twenty-four hours, he thought he was safe. There were no news stories, no leaks. He had thought that it really was just an over-eager business student.And then came the phone calls. Nearly the instant it hit the tabloids, he was deluged by phone calls.Now there was a note from his housekeeper that Emma had moved all of her things out.He ran his han
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Twenty-Nine
EmmaEmma groaned, finally giving up on her nap. Exhaustion still tugged on her, but her phone simply wouldn’t stop buzzing or chiming. Unfortunately, it was on the kitchen table and a good ten steps away from the couch she currently was very comfortable on.The chime went off again. She thought about just leaving it there, but it was plugged in. The chimes would never stop since it would never run out of battery. Besides, that many text messages, emails, and phone calls had to be something important.With a groan, she threw her feet to the floor and sat up from the couch. She just wanted to nap today. This being pregnant thing was harder than she expected. She remembered her friend Grace’s pregnancy being easy. The only thing Grace had was an aversion to the smell of cooked chicken. Emma seemed to have an aversion to everything.She stood up and walked zombie like to the kitchen table. She picked up her phone and started making some ginger tea while she checked what was making her ph
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jackson“I don’t have to go,” Jackson told the beautiful woman laying in bed.Emma rolled over and hugged the bowl closer to her chest.“And what are you going to do if you stay here? Sit and watch me throw up?” she asked, motioning to the bowl.Morning sickness had hit her hard. He’d been surprised to learn that it really should be called All Day sickness as it didn’t occur just in the morning. It actually seemed to be worse for Emma right before bed.“I don’t like leaving you,” he said, softly. He sat on the edge of the bed and caressed her hair. She hummed slightly, leaning into him.“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “Honestly, I just want to lay in bed, drink the ginger tea you got me, and watch horrible, trashy TV. There’s a new episode.”Jackson rolled his eyes and then narrowed them. “You aren’t hyping the morning sickness so you can stay home and watch the new episode are you?”“Me?” Emma’s eyes got big and innocent as she held up a hand to her chest. “I would never.”“You so woul
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Twenty-Seven
He looked down at the picture again. He was a father.“What are you thinking, Jackson?” Emma asked. He looked up to see her biting her lip and looking like she was about to cry. “Please, tell me what you’re thinking.”“I’m thinking you are the most beautiful woman in the entire world,” he told her. He stood up and put his arms around her. She was shaking. “I’m thinking that I am the luckiest man in the world.”A shudder of relief went through her and she collapsed into him, tucking her face into his shoulder. He rubbed her back.“I was so afraid...” Her words came out muffled, but he understood them.“Why?” he asked, pulling her back.She shrugged. “I don’t know. Your reputation?”“It’s in our contract.”“Yeah, but so are sales taxes and membership fees. Just because it’s in a contract doesn’t mean that it’s something you want,” she replied.He took her chin in his hand, making sure that she looked up at him. She was so beautiful it made his heart catch. If he had felt protective befo
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Twenty-Six
JacksonJackson woke feeling more rested than he had in months. He lay in bed for a moment, his eyes closed and body still, enjoying the lack of exhaustion. He wasn’t sure what had woken him, but it wasn’t his alarm. It wasn’t a need to move or a desire to get the day started.It was that he just wasn’t tired anymore.He peeked open one eye to see the world bathed in sunlight. It was strange that he’d slept so late. Usually, he was up and running by dawn. There was too much for him to do in the world to lay around sleeping all day.Yet, he had relaxed today. He looked over to see Emma curled up beside him. Her chest rose and fell with easy, deep breaths that told him she was still fast asleep. He smiled, watching her for a moment.When she was here, he felt at peace. There was no need to push for the next thing. He still wanted to excel, of course, but the need for better stopped when she was around. She was the best. He was content.It was a strange feeling. Usually, when he woke up
Family Doctor's Baby BBA: Chapter Twenty-Five
Emma“You must be Emma. It’s so wonderful to meet you. You look just like your pictures in the magazines.”Emma stood at the door of Jackson’s apartment and suddenly wished very much that she didn’t have to do this. But, she didn’t really have much of a choice. This had to happen.“Yes, I’m Emma,” she said, forcing herself to smile as she opened the door a little wider. “Please come in. Your name is Becca, right?”“That’s me, Becca the wedding planner,” the woman chirped. Becca wasn’t much older than Emma, but was several inches shorter. She had beautiful blonde hair in beautiful wavy curls down her back. The woman looked like she just stepped out of a beauty salon.She wore a light pink dress that looked like 1950’s vintage. Her makeup was perfect. Her hair was perfect.Even though Emma wore nice slacks, a button-up dark blue silk shirt, and light makeup, she felt incredibly unprepared. Becca just looked so put together.“Now, I have some samples of other weddings so that I can get y
