Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I’d tried not to wake him, but I heard his feet racing through the master suite to get to me. “Baby, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t….” I had no strength left to answer him. I threw up until I grew hoarse, and my throat was raw, and still, the nausea did not subside.
Meanwhile, Marcus was freaking out even though he was doing a very good job of hiding it. That tic in his jaw was working overtime even as he held my hair and tried soothing me with words while rubbing my back in circular motions that felt pretty good.
He lifted me and carried me back to bed, but I would’ve preferred staying on the cold marble floor, even though that probably wasn’t the best thing for me. “Won’t you tell me what’s wrong? Was it something you ate last night? Are you ill? Do we need to call the doctor?”
I started to say no when another wave hit me, and I made a mad dash for the bathroom. I heard him on the phone barking out orders before he came to hold my hair again. We did this three times, and each time, he’d get me cleaned up before taking me back to bed and holding me.
I must’ve drifted off because when I opened my eyes, there was a strange East Indian woman sitting next to me on the bed, taking my pulse. “It’s just as I thought, Mr. Devereaux, your wife is pregnant.”
“How do you know? All you did was take her pulse.”
“That’s the old way of doing it. Of course, once she wakes up, we can take blood, and I’ll have the tests done, or I’ve brought the urine test kit with me as well, whichever one you prefer.” She sounds like she knows him very well.
“All of them.”
“I thought so.” She winked at me when she realized that I was awake.
“What happened? Did I faint or something?”
“You’re awake; no, lay down, baby, don’t move.”
“You didn’t faint; you just fell asleep.”
The doctor was trying hard not to laugh as she reassured me, and I doubt Marcus realized he was petting me. My big old teddy bear was back, at least for now, and in his place was a nervous cutie pie. He asked that woman a million questions which I thankfully escaped by going into the bathroom to pee on the stick.
I was standing at the sink when I realized that there was a whole-ass doctor in my bedroom right now. What the hell? Do doctors still make house calls?
JUSTINE
“Marcus, would you please sit down? You’re making me dizzy.”
“I can’t, baby, I’m… are you sure you’re okay? You look pale. Let’s get you back to bed.” I started to argue until I saw that tic in his jaw again, so I let him lift me and carry me back to bed.
The doctor had left ten minutes ago after confirming through the urine analysis that I was indeed pregnant, but Marcus still wanted the blood test done along with a complete workup to follow if it turned out that I was not with child.
I don’t think he slept a wink for the next few nights while we waited for the results. I’d wake up in the middle of the night, and he’d be sitting up, holding me with a body pillow between my thighs.
I don’t know who told him about body pillows or pregnancy comfort in the first place, but I can already see that I’m going to have a problem on my hands. I haven’t been allowed to go to the office since the first day I threw up, and he watches me like a hawk.
I tried getting Monique to run interference, but all that pain in the ass did was make things worse. She keeps giving me these pitying looks and claiming I should just hang it up now because if I thought Marcus was acting like a caveman before, now that he knows I’m carrying his child, it’s only going to get ten times worse.
“I told you about the witness protection, and that’s when it was just you. Now his offspring is in there, girl child, please. She kissed her teeth and rolled her eyes. He’s about to make all our lives a living hell.”
She’s not lying, either. I think he told the driver not to go above ten miles per hour because the poor man looks like he’s sweating if that speedometer hits eleven. Nuts!
MARCUS
I have everything ready to take down my enemies, but there’s no way I’m leaving her long enough to see to that stuff, it’ll have to wait for later. I’ve been in the midst of guerilla warfare, swam through snake-infested waters, did a hell of a lot more hazardous shit, and none of those things struck fear in my heart, like thinking she was sick.