Beau and I used condoms...until we didn’t, but I was on birth control, so it wouldn’t have mattered…
“Positive, just like I suspected.”
Ernest beamed like he was getting a new grandbaby. I, on the other hand, was stuck on one word.
“Positive.”
Trudy nodded slowly. “All three test turned positive immediately.”
“But, but...this…his…how…positive?”
They giggled at my shock, but I felt my world was imploding.
“Honey, we’ve suspected for a little while. You are always asleep, you get winded easily, and you’re hungry like a teenage boy. I'm glad that you aren’t getting morning sickness, at least not yet.”
“But, I can’t…”
“You can and you will. It’s time to stop hiding. You have a reason to fight.”
My hands trembled, the room seemed stuffy, and my mouth went dry. Every emotion I could name tagged me from different angles. I’m happy it’s Beau’s. I’m terrified it’s Beau’s. I want to be a mommy. I’m scared to be a mommy. I’m happy I’m pregnant. I'm sad about the circumstances. But one thing was solid, my stomach.
“I think I need something to eat.”
Their laughter echoed in the kitchen before they jumped into planning my very near future.
I shake the memory away to focus on the present. I have control over my emotions now and only feel protective. I run a hand over my still flat stomach. Deep in there is a small child I created with Beau. I don’t know how he’ll feel about it, but I want to keep this child safe. The best way to do that is to sever all ties with the Chesterfields pronto. I will tell Beau, just not now. I don’t believe in keeping a child away from his or her father unless that father is Wes. Beau is a good man, I just can’t tell him yet. He’ll insist on protecting me when I’m the one trying to protect him. I say a quick prayer that this plan will work. I need my child to be free.
* * *
Celeste
“Celeste? Are you ready?” Trudy called me from the other side of the door.
I take a deep breath and swing it open. “As ready as anyone who has to face the devil.”
Trudy takes in my cream-colored, body-contouring dress she bought and insisted I wear. It is midi-length with three-fourth length lace sleeves, and a modest neckline. I straightened my layered curls, giving my mid-back length hair body and bounce. I paired the dress with the gold accessories—all borrowed from Trudy—except for the shoes. The shoes are also money I’ll owe Trudy when I’m done. Everything is designer, so I can fit in at the country club dinner. That was Trudy’s concern. I need to look like I belong. I only needed to be there long enough to get the paper signed and get out. I didn’t care if my entire outfit came from Target.
I turned carefully in the gold Louboutin pumps. Once Trudy was on the designer kick, I told her to choose more affordable designers like Michael Kors or Badgley Mischka, but when she came back talking about how the red bottom instantly told people the kind of money I spend on shoes, she knew I had to have them.
“You look damn good, and you have a glow from your pregnancy. Just let people think it’s a good moisturizer.”
She squirts me with an expensive perfume that smells divine and pulls me to the door. Ernest is there talking to one of the new cops on his force; he moved here from Los Angeles and opted to play a small-town hero as opposed to a big city pig. He laughs at something Ernest says, and I must admit he’s dead sexy—movie star gorgeous.
In fact…
“Celeste, this is Brett Yeager, he will be your bodyguard for the night.”
“Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look like that guy—”
He throws his head back with an exaggerated eye roll. “If one more person says I look like the guy from Sons of Anarchy, I’m going to scream.”
“I was going to say the guy from King Arthur.” He nods thoughtfully until he realizes both were played by Charlie Hunnam.
His blue-green eyes sparkle with amusement. “I see what you did there.”
“Maybe you should accept the fact that you favor him and capitalize on it. Try to be his body-double or something.”
“Hey. Hey. Hey! Stop giving my new recruit alternate career ideas.”
