Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Twenty Five

“Are you certain?”, Austin asked after staring at her for a moment, and she felt guilty for lying to him, but if this was the only way he could pay attention to her, then so be it

“Yes. I'm about six, seven weeks along”, she said the first thing that came to her mind, the dates had to be around the time they started being intimate after his accident. She expected to see some sort of reverse reaction from him, but it never came. He withdrew from her and pocketed his hands, to her disappointment.

“What's wrong?”, she asked not to give away her disappointment. “Aren't you happy that we're going to have a baby?”

“Of course I am Mira”, he tried not to show that he wasn't exactly thrilled. His thoughts were colliding on the whole matter. He was aware they've been sleeping together occasionally these past few weeks, but it didn't mean anything to him, it was just sex. Each time he ended up drunk at night, she just happened to be there to curve his sexual desires, and he thought she'll be clever enough to be some kind of contraceptive.

“It's just that I wasn't expecting this, you know?”

“We're going to start our own family”, she reached out to him, and he folded his arms across his chest

“I feel like we should have talked about this first”, he was running out of things to say. “What about your modeling career? It's going to be put on hold because of this baby”.

“It doesn't matter, surely it would be such a bad thing to be missing in action for a couple of months to live my own life and raise a baby, right?”

“I guess not”, he gave a short smile and put out both his hands at her, and she placed hers in his. “I didn't mean to seem ungratefulto ”, he tried his best to sound enthusiastic. “I'm just shocked to say the least”

“I was expecting that”, she laughed nervously. Her heart skipped a beat as he pressed his lips against hers and engulfed her in a warm hug, her body relaxing under his touch.

“Thank you”, he whispered against her ear and as much as the lie was already weighting down on her, she didn't regret lying to him. This would bring them closer to each other. Her lips turned up in a sly smile.

“You're welcome”

Austin checked his wrist watch again as he waited patiently for them. Abigail was bringing Emily over for the weekend, and she was an hour late. He puffed aloud as he rested his face on his fisted hand on the armrest of the sofa and waited. He was about to check on his wrist watch again but the sound of the doorbell ringing bought him quickly up on his feet.

He pulled the door open. His lips turned into a smile as he saw the most important people in his life, with Emily sleeping soundly in Abigail's arms.

“I'm sorry I'm late. I lost track of time”, she explained as she got inside, and he took Emily in his arms.

“It's okay”, he reassured softly as he took her by the hand. “Come, let's go put her to bed”, they walked up the stairs to Emily's room and they both tucked her in

“Sweet dreams pumpkin”, she watched as he kissed her forehead and a smile played involuntarily on her lips. He closed the door behind them, and she ran her hand through her hair and sighed in exhaustion as they descended the stairs.

“Long day?”

“You have no idea. My back is killing me”, she let out a laugh before she looked around.

“Where's Mira?”, there was no sign of her anywhere

“She's away for a couple of days due to a direct booking. She wanted to get it over and done with before she starts showing”, his last statement made her eyebrows knit in confusion.