My assistant has already made himself scarce, but the legal team is standing uncertainly behind the table, looking everywhere but at us. “I need some privacy to talk to my wife,and I believe we’re done here,” I say, running my hand up and down Nessa’s hair.
“There are a couple of minor discussion points to resolve, but I’ll email you.” Conrad glances at Nessa with compassion written all over his face.
I wait for them to leave, closing the door behind them, before I scoop my traumatized wife into my arms and reclaim my seat at the head of the table. I situate Nessa on my lap and hug her close, dotting kisses into her hair and whispering how much I love her and how sorry I am while she cries inconsolably.
I will fucking kill Ember for this. How dare she pull this bullshit. How dare she hurt my wife.
“How did she get those photos of you, Jackson?” Nessa asks a few minutes later, lifting her head and swiping at her eyes.
“It was when we were in Barcelona last month for the race,” I confirm. “She told reception I’d locked myself out of my hotel room, and they gave her a key.” I draw a brave breath, knowing Nessa is going to haul me over the coals for not admitting this the second I came home. “I didn’t know she’d taken pictures, but I woke in the middle of the night to find her naked in my bed with her hand on my cock.”
“What the actual fuck?!” Nessa shouts, scrambling off my lap and backing up a few paces.
Pain spears me straight through the heart. “I know I should have told you the instant I came home, but you’ve been very emotional lately, and I didn’t want to upset you. Not when I thought I’d handled it and made it go away.”
“Did you sleep with her?” she asks as fresh tears stream down her face.
What. The. Fuck?! “No!” I climb to my feet and walk toward my retreating wife. “Of course, I fucking didn’t! How could you even think that, Nessa?” Before she can put any more space between us, I haul her back into my arms, keeping a firm hold ofmy wife so she can’t run away. “I have been one hundred percent devoted and faithful to you. I love you, babe.” I brush my lips softly against hers. “I love our family. I would never betray you or the kids. Never.” My heart hurts. I can’t believe she thought I could do something like this. “You don’t trust me.”
“I do, Jackson.” She clings to me tighter. “I trust you, and I believe you. I shouldn’t have doubted you, but that’s what happens when you keep secrets, and my hormones are going haywire, and Ren?—”
My shoulders stiffen. “Ren what?”
“He saw the pictures,” she whispers. “And he…”
“He believes it?” The pain in my chest is so severe I wonder if I’m having a coronary. My relationship with my son is a little fractured right now, but him believing this guts me.
“I’m sorry.” She winds her arms around me. “I’m sorry for not believing you, but you know I don’t trust easily. I just?—”
“You don’t need to apologize. This fuckup is on me, but I thought we were over this, Nessa.” I cup her cheeks in my hands. “I know I damaged our relationship when we first met, but that was over twenty years ago, Nessa. Haven’t I loved you good enough? Haven’t I told you enough you’re my world? What more can I do to convince you you’re my soulmate, babe? Because I don’t want anyone else. I’ve never wanted anyone else. Only you, and that will not change. Not now. Not ever.”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurts.
My knees buckle, and I sway on my feet, almost taking both of us to the floor. “What?” I whisper, unsure if I’m hearing things.
“We’re having a baby.” She chews on the corner of her lip, and worry lines furrow her brow. “Can we go to your office and talk?” she asks, and I nod as if in slow motion.
I don’t even recall the walk from the conference room to my large office such is the confusion in my head. Nessa leads meby the hand, pushes me down onto the couch in my office, and retrieves two bottles of water from the mini refrigerator.
“Say something,” she pleads, shoving a bottle into my hand.
“You’re really pregnant?” I ask, still in a bit of a daze.
“Yes.” She uncaps her water.
“How?” We tried for years for a third child, but nothing happened. We weren’t too upset. We have two great kids, and we count our blessings because Nessa had trouble conceiving both times. We figured we were lucky and gave up trying to push our luck. But we’ve never used contraception. Didn’t think there was a need for it. I make regular love to my wife, have done for years, and I’ve never impregnated her again—until now.
“Well, you love putting your cock inside me, and your little swimmers are clearly still very virile because you knocked me up good, Lauder.”
“How far along are you?”
“Fourteen weeks.” She knocks back her water, eyeing me carefully. “I thought I was in perimenopause. I thought that’s why I had put on weight and gained a little stomach.” She palms her tiny belly, and warmth floods my chest. Our baby is growing in there. “I didn’t think for a second I could be pregnant.”
I drop to my knees in front of her and place one hand over hers on her tummy. “It’s a miracle baby.” I lean in and kiss her. “Today has been such a shitty day, but I don’t give a fuck about that bitch. Nothing and no one can take this joy away.”
Nessa’s eyes widen as more water wells in them. “You’re happy?”
“Sweetheart.” I get to my feet, lift my wife in my arms, and plonk back down in the chair with her on my lap. “Happy doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel. I’m over the moon. This is the best news ever. Did you think it wasn’t?”
