Somehow, Ava was not surprised to find herself in this situation. In fact, it felt like on a subconscious level, she had been hoping that Derek would find out that he had a daughter from her this way.He had not yet pieced the puzzle together, but was instead, smiling and looking at her uncertainly, probably wondering why she was acting strangely.Ava willed herself to smile … do something … say something, but all she could manage was to open her mouth and close it several times like a fish out of the water, totally at a loss as to what to say.“Well, fancy meeting you here, Ava. What are you doing here, if I may ask?” Derek asked.“Hello,” Harper said to Derek before her mother could answer the question, choosing that moment to greet him, and he smiled warmly down at her and told her hello in return.“Um, well … I …” Ava stammered, her face flushing. Harper came to the rescue in the next second.“This is my mom. Mom, this is Barry’s Dad. He has many nice cars.” She introduced Derek t
Ava braced herself for whatever his reaction would be, ready to defend herself if the need arose, although she knew that Derek wasn’t that sort of person. The last thing she expected was for tears to gather in his eyes. He blinked the tears back rapidly and stared at her with a very hurt look that made her feel guilty. “Why didn’t you tell me, Ava?” He asked. “I … I …” “Would you ever have told me?” “Of course, I would have! I wanted to tell you earlier today. That was why I asked to see you privately, but I guess I lost my nerve. It’s not exactly an easy thing to say.” Ava replied. “You were afraid I would not want her. You were afraid that I would reject her.” Derek stated. “Yes, I was. You can't blame me. You know how adamant you were about me not getting pregnant. Look, this is not a topic we can discuss here. We’re beginning to get a lot of curious looks from small, inquisitive eyes.” Ava told him. They were having this conversation in whispers because they did not want the
Derek could not stop smiling. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would suddenly get a daughter out of nowhere, but that was exactly what had happened less than an hour ago, and he was ecstatic about it.What was even better was the fact that his beautiful daughter was birthed by the woman he loved. Yes, he loved Ava, and maybe it was high time he stopped deceiving himself and trying to deny his feelings.There was no point in doing that. He couldn’t wait to start to make up for lost time where Harper was concerned. Also, he couldn’t help but wonder if things would have been different had he known that Ava was pregnant with his baby before she left.Yes, things would have been different, because he wouldn’t just have allowed her to leave with his child. Hell, he wouldn't have divorced her in the first place because it would have meant choosing between her and Denise and there was no way he would have chosen Denise over her.One of the reasons why he had finally decided
EIGHT PLUS YEARS AGO As much as he didn’t want to, Derek still thought about Denise once in a while and he also thought about the kind of life they would have had if she was the one he got married to. He absolutely hated having such thoughts, especially because of the way things ended between them. Due to the way she left, a normal person would have gotten over Denise easily, but apparently, he wasn’t normal. A week after Ava informed him that she was pregnant, he had to travel to another state. Each day, Ava made sure to call him and check up on him, telling him how much she missed him and how she couldn’t wait for him to return. And then on the eighth day after he left, he did not receive her call. He did not think too much of it and figured that maybe she overslept that day. So busy was he that day that he did not think anything of it until the next day, when she still didn’t call. By the time it was afternoon, he put a call through to her, but it went unanswered. He called he
He rushed over to her immediately, his heart pounding harder than it had ever pounded in his life.He lifted her head up and checked for a pulse, calling her name over and over as though that was going to make her get up, laugh, and tell him that it was all a prank.He did find a pulse, although it was a very faint one, and when he found it, he sagged with relief, reached for his phone, and called his driver who had dropped him off immediately. “There’s an emergency. Please get the car ready and keep the engine running. We have to get to the hospital as fast as we can.” He told the man, not bothering to listen to his response.It would be much faster for the man to drive them to the hospital than for him to wait for an ambulance to arrive, he reckoned. He was also in no frame of mind to drive right then.Already, he had lifted Ava up in his arms and was headed as fast as he could down the stairs, still dressed in his suit.The driver had the car ready as instructed and was already wa
“What do you mean by she was the one who told you to stay back? Why would she want to be in the house all alone?” Derek asked the woman.“We were all at the party together, sir. She wasn’t feeling too well and asked the driver to take her home. I offered to come home with her, or at least send someone along with her, but she vehemently refused and asked us to stay back since she was capable of looking after herself. If we had known that it was this bad …” The woman trailed off, wringing her hands worriedly.“Alright, alright. That’s fine.” Derek told her.Not long after, he went home to have a much needed shower and rest. Then later in the evening, he went back to the hospital to see how Ava was faring.She had been stabilized, which was such a big relief to him and everyone. She spent a total of ten days in the hospital before she was discharged. By this time, she had found out about the loss of the baby and was inconsolable. Now that she was better, Derek too was feeling the sadnes
Derek took a deep breath and slowly let it out before replying.“Ava, I don’t think that that’s a good idea … at least not now. First of all, it’s way too early to start trying for a baby so soon after the miscarriage. Also, I don’t want to have kids right now, and even if I do want them later on, I’ll most likely adopt them.”“You were happy when I told you that I was pregnant. You wanted the baby that we lost.”“Yes, I did, but remember that we both had no choice really. We did not plan the pregnancy. It just happened, and then it almost took your life. ”“It wasn’t the baby’s fault. These things happen to women more often than you think, and it doesn’t mean that I can't carry a baby to full term. I’ll just be closely monitored this time around.” Ava insisted. “I don’t want a baby,” Derek told her very firmly and watched the hurt enter her eyes.However, he meant what he said and he now realized that it was better to tell her how he felt and what he wanted, rather than to give her
I think we have made a dreadful mistake, Ava. We certainly didn’t think this through before we decided to get married.” Derek told her uneasily.“I didn’t make a mistake, Derek. I wanted to marry you because I loved you, and I still do, so I married you happily. If you think the marriage is a mistake, please speak for yourself.” Ava replied, holding her head high, but she could not keep her chin from trembling and tears from filling her eyes.“I just meant that we clearly want different things, and we did not discuss any of this beforehand.”“I know, but it’s fine. You were optimistic that we could work things out after we got married, but now that we are, you're refusing even to try. It's okay though. Marriage is about compromise. I’m willing to compromise with you and accept your terms. You’re right. Several children who are already in this world need a loving home and we can provide them with that. We’ll start with the adoption process once you're ready.” Ava replied.Derek was dum