Lotus [18+]

|Silver|

|Camilo Gauthier|

As a flawed human I'm bound to have negative feelings like deep, pure jealousy and rage. The reality is that the sole presence of Ace Carlyle angers me for everything he put Lotus through but for her and the baby growing in her womb, I need to be civilized and polite; two qualities my father taught me very well but he also taught me honesty which makes it hard for me to act like I like someone.

"How are you feeling, corazón?" I asked Lotus as I placed the glass of fresh peach juice in front of her.

A deep sigh left her mouth "It's a strange feeling because I don't want it to affect us but he has the right to be close to the baby."

"Why would his presence affect us?" I walked around the wooden island to stand beside her.

Lotus shrugged "I know you don't like him because of what he did to me but I'm a firm believer that we can have this successful blended family. Emilia's siblings will be your children after all," she showed me a soft smile as her hand caressed my cheek.

"Emilia will be my child too," I declared "maybe she won't see me as her father but I'll love her as much as I'll love the children that we will have," my hands fell on her bump. "I was the first person to know about her, I've seen her grow month-to-month in your belly and I'm marrying her bewildering mother."

Lotus grinned as her cheeks turned red which makes my heart flutter "She loves your voice," the little flutters that are kicks, made me smile. "Are you going to teach her French?"

I nodded "She'll grow up speaking Spanish, French and English," I leaned down to peck her lips. "My dad is extremely excited to become a grandfather."

"Thanks to his excitement, Emilia has clothes for an entire year," my fiancée took a sip of her juice and then her phone rang with a distinctive ringtone: Clara so she immediately picked up since she's been so worried about her "Clara! Finally! Where have you been?!"

A light chuckle left my mouth before pecking her cheek and walking out of the kitchen to give her some privacy with her friend. I found myself in the breakfast room with a view of the vast backyard, Ace was sitting to my dad's right and they were chatting which is fine. Lotus knows that Emilia's father isn't of my liking but she also has very clear that I accept him since I love Emilia and Lotus took the decision to let him in her life for a reason; I trust her judgement.

"How are the eggs?" I asked, sitting across Ace.

"Perfect," he replied with a soft smile "thank you for inviting me and for letting me stay with you, it's been so long since I've seen Lotus' bump in real life and the kicks have gotten stronger, easier to feel because in the beginning I couldn't feel a thing," both Ace and my dad chuckled.

"Sometimes the little kicks wake me up in the middle of the night," I commented. "Lotus loves sleeping with her bump between us, she thinks we are cuddling the baby which is extremely endearing."

"Your mom made me do that too," my dad confessed. "Or if she wanted me to be her big spoon she would make me rest my hand on the side of her stomach all-night long."

A half-smile appeared on my lips; I wish my mom was here because some guidance would be nice right now. Don't misunderstand me, my dad is great at giving advice but the last thing in my to-do list is to bother him with a such a vain problem like hating my fiancée's ex which to some degree should be normal. And more than hating him, it scares me to have him this close because he has hurt Lotus already, what if he just bails on her and suddenly decides to not be the father he promised to be?