Summer fell in love the moment she heard the rapid heartbeat at eight weeks of gestation. As she listened to the evidence of life her body would house for nine months, she knew she made the right choice. If she had tracked Nick down back then and told him about the baby, she was
early enough in her pregnancy to have aborted it. Hadn’t he told her to do so if she’d ever became pregnant with his baby?
As the months passed and she grew, another fear began to take root. Nick would snatch away without regard what was most precious to her. That would be her punishment for keeping their baby a secret.
Summer had to convince him at the time she thought the safest thing to do was to keep the baby a secret. She needed him to understand she’d lost just about everyone that was important to her; everyone that she’d loved. Her parents had moved miles away just before she and Nick started to date. Then just as she believed he’d be a permanent fixture in her life, he moved on too. How did he expect her to handle being rejected, forced to have an abortion, or have her baby taken away? Hadn’t she lost enough?
As good as he made her feel, Summer wasn’t one bit disillusioned. She knew the man too well. Sure, he treated her like a princess and pampered her from the time her eyes opened in the morning until they closed at night. She was aware his actions were primarily for that of the baby. Countless times he told her, “I just want the baby to be safe. That’s my main concern, so let me take care of you.”
Summer believed with all her heart he’d fallen madly in love with their baby. With every opportunity he touched, kissed or talked to her belly. He’d done the one thing he’d sworn to her he would never do… give his love, his heart to another person. Summer was now certain that for this reason he would honor his threat of filing for full custody. She wished a million times she’d told him about the baby. Now in hindsight, it would have been better to be rejected than to lose her baby.
She clung to the hope that when she told him everything he’d believe her intentions were never to deceive or hurt him. All she wanted to do was to keep their baby safe, to keep their baby alive.
Chapter 19
Each evening the pair retired to Nick’s king size bed for the night. Summer watched television until she drifted off to sleep, while Nick brought documents from work to bed. She’d complain, “Do you always have to bring work stuff to bed?”
After light reading he’d turn the channel from whatever Summer had been watching to Date Line. If circumstances were different anyone looking from the outside would have guessed they were a happily married couple.
Shifting in her sleep, Summer rolled from her back onto her side. Throwing a slender arm leisurely across Nick’s midsection brought her swollen belly to rest against his side. A slow smile curved his full lips as his eyes traveled from the television to rest on Summer’s soft body cuddled next to him. Having her around all the time was more pleasant than he expected. He was never the type of man who always had to have a woman around. Yes, he appreciated the beauty of women, and all they offered to satisfy his carnal cravings. However, it wasn’t a necessity to be chained to one.
After the debacle with Veronica, he absolutely refused to bring another woman home to his bed. Other women after Veronica were always taken to luxury hotels. The acts they performed were strictly to alleviate a basic primal need, nothing more. The instant a female bed buddy questioned, “Why can’t we go to your place or my place?” She was history. Nick didn’t play those games.
By the time Summer came along Nick was just plain tired. Tired of women throwing themselves at him. Tired of women pretending to love him. Tired of women trying to take him home to meet their parents. Tired of women after a month of dating hinting at marriage and a family. What he was most tired of was sleeping and waking up in hotel beds with women he didn’t care anything about. There has to be more than this, he’d think to himself.
Summer hadn’t been anything like the others. She didn’t expect him to pamper or spoil her with expensive gifts. Her main interest was in getting to know the real Nicholas Stiles, not the wealthy businessman. She wanted to know what he was like as a child. Did he enjoy being an only child? Or did he hate it at times as much as she had growing up? Who taught him to ride a bike? What was his favorite color? What made him happy? What made him sad? Why had he decided on the corporate world and not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and become a lawyer?
Nick detested nosy women who asked too many questions and talked too much. Any other time he would’ve dismissed the prying questions. Summer’s inquiries, however, were a sincere attempt to get to know him. He found himself intrigued with her. Other women assumed his main ambition in life was to gain epic wealth and status. Whereas, Summer’s astuteness brought her to the conclusion that he wasn’t driven by wealth or status. Though he developed a number of successful businesses from the ground up, his true passion was to recreate. He’d been blessed with the ability of taking a failing company and turn it into a thriving business. After three to five years of the company performing well he would sell to the highest bidder for a lucrative profit.