Love Regardless: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance (12 page)

Settling back on the sofa I pulled up a fluffy blanket and turned up
the heating pad with a flick of the thermostat remote. Snuggling down
onto the couch, I watched the TV blankly, waiting. I tucked the
photograph under my face, as a constant reminder to stay awake.

*****

I woke to the small shaking hands on her shoulder. I perked up
instantly as the fluffy blanket fell off me onto the floor. The
housekeeper gave me a small smile before moving away to make
breakfast.

It was morning and I had clearly slept through Elliot returning home.
I jumped to my feet and walked over the kitchen.

“
Where’s Elliot?” I asked,
noting the kicking in my tummy that seemed relentless. The baby was
restless today. The housekeeper looked up from her oatmeal pancake
batter.

“
He’s left dear, he said to tell you
that he would see you at the court later.” I groaned and
sighed.

I had one hour before the court case would begin. I wolfed down more
pancakes than I had ever dared eat at once and made small talk with
the housekeeper before I went to take a bath and dress.

I was nervous. The butterflies in my stomach mixed with the baby’s
kicking as I took extra care to dress well, and do my hair and
make-up impeccably. I called Charlie to pick me up and snatched up
the photograph as I did, stuffing it into my handbag.

The drive to Boroughs criminal court was a long one. I text Elliot
several times to tell him I needed to talk with him, but he didn’t
answer – undoubtedly being coached by Alexander. Checking the
time,I saw that I had a mere twenty minutes before the case began due
to the traffic. Charlie saw my anxiety in the rear-view mirror.

“
I’m going as fast as I can, Miss.”
Charlie said and I gave him a calm smile, clearly trying to relax his
anxieties of displeasing me.

I made it to the court just as the doors were being closed. Slipping
inside, unsubtly due to the sizable bump before me, I slid into a
bench towards the back of the huge hall. I could see Elliot at the
front, smartly dressed, sitting in a relaxed position – but I
could see his ears turning red from stress. Alexander was next to
him, bouncing in his seat restlessly.

Ophelia was on the other side of the room, looking tastefully bored,
playing with her perfectly painted nails.

A call from the front caught my eye as I saw Judith and Henry
beckoning me forward. Ignoring the dirty looks from the security
guards I made my way to their bench, and settled in beside Judith.
She grabbed my hand straight away, full of nerves, and gave it a
squeeze.

As the case began, I watched Alexander begin his opening few lines –
I felt instantly itchy sitting behind with the audience. I wasn’t
used to this. Judith cast me a calming smile, patting my knee as
though she knew how I felt. I peeked over at Henry – he was
smiling bemused, looking at the ceiling. I remembered his birthmark
and withdrew the photo, showing it to Judith.

Without a word, Judith understood. She looked shocked as she read the
back of it. Through a small whisper I told her that it had been given
to me last night.

We both turned to watch the case. Elliot was brought up as a witness,
along with the infamous Mr. Stein. It sickened me to see how he
smiled at Ophelia and I didn’t want to think about what she was
paying him with.

I watched as the judge grew weary of the back and forth conversation
and knew that a break was coming – even the jury was wilting. I
needed the break to come soon so that I could accost Elliot and tell
him about the photograph.

I waited anxiously as Ophelia’s lawyer turned to address the
jury once more.

I had to admit things looked bad; so far it seemed that Ophelia’s
claims were more solidified than Elliot’s. Elliot himself
loosened his tie, his Adam’s apple bopping slightly out of
nerves as her lawyer spoke.

I knew from my vast experience in the courtroom that Elliot needed a
miracle to win this case and to avoid charges of arson.

That miracle came merely a minute later in the form of Carl Teller –
despite knowing this wasn’t his real name, it’s all I
could think of him as. The hint of betrayal that still remained from
months ago ached at the sight of him.

He walked up the long line towards the Judge despite the bailiffs’
approach. He whispered something swiftly to them and they let him by.

Ophelia’s face seemed to purple at the sight of Carl and her
lawyer looked aghast. Elliot looked simply stunned. Approaching the
Judge, who sat forward excitedly, he withdrew an envelope from the
inside of his suit – a far smarter suit that the things which
he had posed in during his time as the moneyless intern in my firm.

And suddenly I recognized the writing on the back of the photograph
from Carl’s intern application signature. I beamed and leaned
forward when I knew what he was withdrawing from his pocket.

The Judge pulled the photograph from the envelope, glasses perched on
his nose. Elliot looked around in his seat and scanned the crowd. I
knew he was looking for me – he took in my beaming face,
confused at my joy. I nodded reassuringly.

I could see Carl whispering to the Judge, explaining, but I couldn’t
hear what he was saying. Ophelia looked panic-stricken, as she rose
out of her chair, semi-hovering between sitting and standing,
watching Carl closely.

Carl turned to walk away but stopped at the sight of her. Striding up
to her, he looked her in the eye, full of disgust.

“
You’re a disgusting woman.” Was
all he said, but he may as well have smacked Ophelia. Judith remained
impassive while watching her daughter struggle under the weight of
the insult. The only movement Judith made was to lean over and take
Henry’s hand in hers, rubbing the palm in calming circles, like
Henry did to me when we first met.

The Judge looked up and turned to Elliot.

“
Mr. Cresham, I would like to speak with
you, and your brother in my chambers.” Elliot nodded and turned
to Henry, looking worried. I stood up to let Henry out of the bench,
and Judith gave him a kiss on the cheek. The Judge looked back to
Ophelia.

“
You wait there.” He said with
distaste, before beckoning to Carl. “Come with me, Mr. Lyons.”
Mr. Lyons
– it was peculiar to call Carl this.

The three men followed the Judge in his sweeping robes. Elliot had to
link arms with Henry and rub his arms to relax him all the while they
walked.

They were gone for nearly forty minutes – I had taken two
separate bathroom breaks but other than those, I held my seat,
holding Judith’s hand firmly as we supported each other to hold
in our nerves.

“
Surely he can’t be prosecuted?”
She asked me. “You must have seen this kind of thing quite a
lot, surely.” Her voice was wavering.

“
If Carl – or Mr. Lyons – has
told the truth than I cannot see how he could be. But it is likely
that Ophelia will be charged.” I spoke quietly, aware of the
very many journalists that could be sitting around us. Judith’s
face fell and I knew she was upset at the thought of either of her
children having a criminal record. However, her face hardened quickly
as she looked to her daughter and I knew that her pity was limited. I
glanced down at my kicking bump and wondered if I could ever be so
disappointed at my own child. I rested a protective hand over my
popped-out navel.

When Carl, Elliot and Henry reappeared, the room became instantly
still again. The Judge resumed his usual position and Elliot drew up
a chair next to him and Alexander helped Henry get comfy. Henry did
not release his brother’s arm, but Elliot looked like he was
the one gripping tightest.

The Judge made a few notes before clearing his throat significantly.

His following words seemed to flow through my mind like flour through
a sieve. He had acquitted Elliot of all accusations as he explained
to the crowd that while Henry started the fire, he was deemed mental
incapable of making such decisions and thus couldn't be charged.
Judith squeezed my hand so tightly that I began to lose feeling in my
fingers.

When the crowd either cheered or booed, I hear none of it as I was
hit with a wave of relief which rendered me incapable of movement.
Ophelia was sitting now, her head held in her hands. Her lawyer was
briskly packing up his things. Judith and I stood as Elliot broke
through the crowd. He hugged me tightly, spinning me around before
turning to his mother, who had tears in her eyes.

We all looked around for Henry and saw him sitting beside Ophelia,
rubbing her hand in small circles as she looked numb. Henry’s
smile brought out one in Elliot.

He turned back to me, looking down at my bump. As if knowing the baby
was kicking, eagerly he touched my stomach lightly and laughed in
response.

In that moment in the courtroom, Down Syndrome and his sister’s
betrayal faded away and it was just Elliot and I.

The contractions began at four in the morning, and were crippling. I
couldn’t speak through the pain and I simply threw my hand
across the bed, hitting Elliot on the back.

He woke with a start, immediately irritated that I disrupted his
sleep – until he read my expression and leaped into action.

“
It’s too soon.” I whined
through the pain as Elliot helped me get to my feet, wrapping my
dressing gown around me.

“
I know Clar.” I was only just over
seven months – the court case was still a fresh relief to us
without the worry of labor. “But it might not be labor, it
could be something else, so we have to go to the hospital.”

He held my hand the entire way down the elevator and into the
underground parking lot. He beeped the keys of the R8 and reclined my
chair for me before I got in. The pain grew sharper still and I
exhaled loudly, through my teeth.

The drive to the hospital could not be more than a quarter of an
hour, but at this time of night it took even less. Elliot called
ahead to say we’re coming and to tell them that he wanted their
best private room prepared, in case I had to stay in overnight.

Every time his hand lifted from the gear stick I squeezed his hand
softly, as if to remind me that he was there. I was instantly
comforted and appeased, despite the pain.

I gripped my bump with a strong intensity – as if holding it
tightly would keep the baby in there for as long as possible. The
thought of giving birth made butterflies join the contractions and
for a moment I was certain that I was going to be sick.

The bright lights of the approaching hospital eased this somewhat as
I kept squeezing my kicking bump.

Calm down, my darling, nearly there. Just hang on.

Elliot parked as close to the door as he could get without stopping
and held my hand gingerly as I got out of the car. I was lucky I
stood when I did because as if from the release of pressure on my
stomach, I felt the odd sensation of my water break.

I gave Elliot a horrified face as I looked down. There was blood in
my water – a lot.

Wasting no more time Elliot sat me back down onto his precious car
seat and ran to get a wheelchair from by the door.

Once inside, I was taken to a private room and treated as royalty as
the nurses and doctors checked me out. They looked at all of my
vitals and monitored my contractions as Elliot got a coffee from the
machine down the hall and grabbed me a bottle of water.

The doctor’s conclude that there was no reason for me to be in
labor so soon, but that the baby was most certainly coming –
just under two months early. I anxiously asked the nurses if this
would impact the baby hugely and they smiled kindly and told me not
to worry.

It was after this point that the long wait began for my contractions
to become increasingly more frequented and for my dilation to rise in
centimeters.

In the morning, Elliot called Judith at my request and I was grateful
to see her face enter room around midday. She smiled and kissed both
my cheeks before hugging Elliot.

She toke a hold of my hands and looked at me lovingly.

“
I know how bad this hurts my love.”
She said and toke the bottle of water from Elliot and popped a straw
from her bag in and held it to me.
I
loved this woman
, I thought as I toke a
healthy gulp.

It was nearly another twelve hours before I was able to begin
pushing. Elliot stayed by my head, holding out water to me and
letting me squeeze his hand until he bruised.

It appeared that when the baby did decide to come, it decided to come
quickly, as the labor began too quickly for an epidural to be used –
so I was working pain-relief free.

It was nearly three hours of panicked tears and screaming, before it
came to an end. The sensations during birth were endless as I felt an
amount of blood expel from my body in gush, just after the baby was
born.

The main sensation I felt was
overwhelmed
,
as the doctors turned to Elliot to ask him to cut the umbilical cord.
I was sure they must have told me the sex, but everything was a blur
as the voices around me merge into one.

But then I was handed the bundle and everything
was still again.
My bundle.

I knew Elliot was talking to me, but right now all
I could register was myself and the pink bundle in my lap.
Pink
.

Her face was soft and covered in blood and afterbirth, but none of
that mattered to me – what mattered to me was her ten fingers
she was wriggling as she cried out and her ten toes she didn't seem
perfectly aware of yet. Her eyes were large – so large for a
baby and were the same icy blue as Elliot’s. I could tell her
features were different, and I knew that was something I would care
about soon, but now wasn’t the time.