The Footballer's Designer Baby (A BWWM Pregnancy Romance) (10 page)

“Hey! There she is! How are you feeling?” Renee asked with a huge smile on her face.

Delilah rubbed her hand over her eyes and looked around again. “I’m confused. I thought I was going to go back to my apartment and heal up there. What am I doing here?” She began to get a better look around her and noticed that her room was filled with several bouquets of flowers. Renee beamed down at her.

“Well, Cameron and mom and I wanted you here, so we brought you back here. You have been on a lot of pain medication, so you weren’t awake when it happened. Can I get you anything? Juice? Water? Are you hungry?”

Delilah was really thirsty. “Water would be nice, thank you. So, I’m a prisoner here?”

“You’re my guest,” Cameron said, walking into the room and smiling at her.

Delilah looked up at him and her heart flipped over in her chest. She smiled up at him and leaned her head back against her pillow. “Well, we did it. You’ve got your son. How’s he doing? Is he okay?” she asked, feeling sure that he must be, if the grin on his father’s face was any indication.

Renee squealed, “If you’re coming in here, then it’s my turn with the baby!” And she darted out the door.

“He’s amazing! I can’t get over it… it’s so incredible to have him here. He’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.” He walked up to Delilah and leaned over her, kissing her forehead. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem… all in nine months’ work. Almost. I wanted to apologize for going out swimming… I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No apologies!” he said, sitting in the chair beside her and reaching for her hand to hold it in his. “You would have been fine out there if you hadn’t gotten the cramp. I think it was just the stress of your experience that put you into labor. He’s fine, and you’re doing alright, so no harm, no foul, right? I’m just glad you’re okay and that you’re here.”

She felt her heart grow tight in her chest. She knew Jim was right, and she knew she had to tell Cameron that. “Cameron, my job was to carry your son and then give birth to him and be gone.

“I shouldn’t have been here the last couple of months, and I shouldn’t have spent any time with you, but that’s just how it worked out and now the job is over and it’s time for me to go. I don’t want to get in your way, and I don’t want to hinder your bonding time with your son. I just need to leave; it’s time for me to go.”

She thought her heart might break in two, but she managed to get the words out and to sound like she meant them. The truth was, though, that she wasn’t sure at all if she meant them.

She didn’t want to think about what it would be like to not be at his house, not see him, and deep in her heart she had to admit to herself that she didn’t want to let go of the baby she’d carried and given birth to that day. The image of his little face just moments after he was born was still with her.

“See… that’s just the thing, though,” Cameron said, moving closer to her.

“You aren’t in the way, not at all. Delilah, you need to stay here to heal. You went through so much, and it really brought you back down again. Mom and Renee and I can take good care of you, and there’s a nurse scheduled to come by to help you. You’ve got to stay here to heal.

“Besides, I was wondering if maybe you might nurse the baby while you’re here… you know, breast milk is best, and we want the best for that little guy. What do you think? I’ll take good care of you and you can help me take good care of the baby?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was terrified. What if she bonded with him? What if nursing him and then trying to give him up was more than she could take? But on the other hand, she could be around Cameron just a little longer, and the idea of that bittersweet torture was very tempting to her. She could spend some time with the baby, at least a little before she had to disappear forever, and a little was better than nothing, she thought.

She opened her eyes and looked at Cameron, drinking in his beautiful face and his brilliant, happy smile.

“Okay. I’ll stay until I’m healed and I’ll nurse the baby, and then when I’m better, I will go. Thank you for keeping me here a little longer, Cameron. It means a great deal to me.”

He nodded and smiled, kissed the back of her hand lightly and then left the room.

He came back a few minutes later with a tiny bundle in his arms and his mother and sister right behind him, both of them bright-eyed and wearing enormous grins. They were nothing short of giddy. Cameron leaned down and carefully handed the baby to Delilah, who felt as though somehow her heart had just exploded, and her soul had caught on fire.

There in her arms was the most perfect and beautiful little baby she had ever seen. He curled his little fingers tightly and looked up at her from big green eyes that were a mirror of her own.

His skin was caramel colored and the soft dark curls in his hair crowned his head. He blinked at her and yawned, opening his tiny mouth in a little “O”, and then closed his eyes and settled in for a nap.

She looked up at Cameron and saw that he was watching her with moist eyes and a soft smile.

“What did you name him?” she asked.

He sat beside her and reached up to touch her face, running his fingers slowly over her cheek.

“I named him Oliver, because he has olive green eyes like his mother, and every time I look at him, all I see is you, and I love that.”

Her breath caught and she turned her face from his, looking out the window for a moment, closing her eyes, trying to hold the emotion rushing through her. There was a tidal wave of happiness and excitement, sorrow and pride, heartache and love, twisting through her at the same time.

It felt like it was pulling her down, and she might not be able to surface for air. She feared she wouldn’t be able to open her eyes without sobbing and having her heart break out loud, right there in front of everyone.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself as much as she could, and she looked down at little Oliver lying peacefully in her arms. Then, she looked up and saw Renee, Maryanne and Cameron looking at her with such tenderness and happiness. That feeling of family and of belonging filled her to overflowing, only slightly tinged with the nagging reality that she’d have to give it all up in six weeks. She sighed and kissed the baby, then handed him to his father and said that she needed to rest, and they left her alone.

She dreamed, and when she woke up she found that she was living in her dream. There she was in the big beautiful house, Renee and Maryanne were there taking care of her and helping her take care of Oliver. 

Cameron came home every chance he got, playing with the baby and spending as much of his time as he could with her. Delilah soaked in every precious moment of it, and day by day she healed. Cameron was fascinated with Delilah breastfeeding Oliver and he loved to be there as often as he could to see them bonding, and the natural beauty of it.

After she was standing and walking enough to get around, Cameron helped her from her bed one day and walked her into his room, and then into the adjoining nursery, and she saw Oliver’s room for the first time. It was different than she thought it would be.

There was a mural that wrapped around all of the walls, and the stadium that Cameron played in was on one wall, filled with cheering crowds, confetti and his dad and three other men standing out in front grinning and holding footballs.

But on  the wall next to it was the ocean, stretching off to the horizon, and it was teeming with fish, boats and sea creatures, like whales and mermaids, scuba divers and undersea  realms. Beside that was a wall of windows overlooking the ocean and beach behind the house.

The wall coming up to the stadium was an open and sunny football field, but simply done, like it might have been a field that neighborhood kids would play in, like part of a park.

She turned in a circle looking at it all and looked at his crib and furniture, his toys and the rocking chair in the corner. She turned to look at Cameron and grinned at him.

“It’s wonderful! I love it!” she said, happiness and sadness interlocked within her.

Cameron walked toward her and stood in front of her. “I’m glad you like it.”

He said it quietly, lifting his hand to her cheek and brushing his fingers over her skin. She turned her face slightly in toward the palm of his hand and for a single moment, she let herself soak in the feeling of him being so close to her, and she brushed the side of her lips against his hand and closed her eyes.

He felt the draw toward her pull him like gravity and he could not hold himself back any longer. Looking at her there, her face in the palm of his hand, he felt like he was holding his whole life, right in that moment, and Aaron’s voice echoed through his head. “You better get in there… do it now or you’ll regret it later.”

He turned her face up to meet his and he gently pressed his lips to hers, feeling their softness and warmth. She drew in her breath and felt her insides spin as his arms closed around her and pulled her in to him, holding her close.

His mouth was tentative on hers at first, barely touching, but then he opened her lips with his and tasted her, moving his tongue over hers and drinking her in.

Delilah let herself fall into the moment, and she reached her arms up to hold him, pressing him closer to her, and returning his kiss, reveling in the warmth that spread from his mouth all throughout her body, heating her up and making her heart beat faster. He kissed her deeply and gently, letting all of his inhibitions melt away as the sweetness of her kiss filled him with serenity and love.

At long last, he lifted his head and looked down at her, gazing into her eyes in wonder, breathless, and unable to speak. She looked back at him, feeling the same way for a long moment, cocooned in the comfort of his arms and the heat of his kiss.

Then reality reached for her from some dark place and began to claw and rip at her, reminding her that no matter how good she had it right now, no matter how perfect it seemed with him, it was going to end all too soon. 

The closer she got to him and Oliver, the more she let herself care for Maryanne and Renee, the more it would break her heart when she had to leave in all too short a time.

She pulled herself away from Cameron and looked down, steadying herself and trying to clear her head.

“Cameron, you can’t do that… we can’t… it’s too hard on me. It makes this so much more difficult. Please don’t make it harder than it has to be.”

She tried to ignore the hurt and confusion in his eyes. She sighed and headed back to her room, where she could try to push it all back out of her heart again, however impossible that might be for her to do.

Every time she saw Cameron after that, he was careful with her, watching her with an ache in his eyes, and still coming close to her, but not close enough to touch her. He was torn with confusion; he was so drawn to her, and he was sure that she felt the same for him.

But she kept pulling away, kept putting a little more distance between them.  The more distance there was between them, the more he wanted her, the more he ached for her, and the more confused he became.

He wasn’t the only one. Delilah was sitting on the couch one Sunday afternoon, holding Oliver in her arms while he slept, and watching Cameron play his game. He and his team had managed to go all season without a loss, though there was a close call for two of their games, in which they only won by a field goal, but in all their other games, they’d ruled the league, and no one was better on the field that year than Cameron.

She sat there beside Maryanne and Renee, watching the game, watching Cameron, and she was startled when Maryanne touched her cheek and smiled at her. She looked up at her in and blinked. “What is it?” she asked.

“Why are you crying, sweet girl? What’s this tear for?” Maryanne said softly as she wiped it away and brushed her fingers over Delilah’s cheek.

“Was I crying? I didn’t even realize it. It’s nothing. Just the crazy baby hormones that have taken over my body.”