I have a small request to make- Please immerse yourself into a sad piano piece before you start this chapter. I wrote this while I listened to some beautifully painful pieces. I hope you guys can feel the emotions this chapter brings out through the music you listen.
I present to you, the beginning of the end of this story...
xxx
"Rose, when do you want to leave? I will drop you there." Alexander spoke while he buttoned his shirt. He was not comfortable with sending her alone even though he knew Robert would protect her. He was a very well trained body guard and Alexander had no doubts about it. He was a very well trained assassin.
"I am going to shop for a few things in the morning and drop by Nana's place to pick up whatever I wanted, Alex. That's fine, I will go by myself, love." she said, and rolled on the bed to face him. She smiled looking at his neatly pressed, firm blue shirt. It fit him so well, layering every expanse of his fine chest. She felt the need to have him against her all of a sudden.
"Want a picture?" he chuckled, as he styled his hair.
"Come here..." Rose stretched out her hand towards him, waiting for him to take it. He stopped what he was doing and looked at her with a raised brow and a smirk on his face.
"Well..." he dragged, and looked at his wrist watch, "work will have to wait then..." he said, and immediately started to unbutton his shirt.
"What are you doing?" she laughed as she looked at him.
"Well, you wanted me to join you and I am not going to decline the offer for anything my sexy to be wife." He said, and like every other time, worshiped her body, mind and soul as he took her to bliss and high levels of ecstasy.
"You get back home soon and we will continue this, yeah?" he said before he left to work. Rose stayed on the bed with that everlasting smile on her face, trying to get herself back from the heaven Alexander had taken her to.
xxx
"Robert, could you please stop the car for a few minutes in front of David's Pharmacy, please? I've got to pick up something." She said, with high hopes and happiness building inside her. She was due few weeks already now and so badly wanted it to be what she thought it to be. She and Alexander with their baby...The mere thought brought immense pleasure and she didn't want anything else in her life other than this. She deliberately hid this from him when she said she wanted to shop for a few things that morning when they were together. She wanted to be sure before she revealed it to him. It all was in place and at last they would start a family together...if the pregnancy test showed a positive result, that is. So with fingers crossed, she had sat in the car all the way till here.
"Do you want me to get you something, ma'am? I can go instead of you, or I will have to accompany you to the Pharmacy." Robert said, in his ever professional tone.
"You can join me, Robert. But I don't think you would want to go up to the pharmacy asking for it." she smiled and opened the door. Robert scrunched his eyebrows but immediately tucked his gun into his back pocket and got out of the car, closely watching his surroundings. He stood next to Rose when the store keeper at the pharmacy came to attend her.
"Good day ma'am, how are you doing today?" the tall lanky man with glasses greeted her.
"Hey, I'm good thanks. Um... can I have a few pregnancy test kits please? Let them be four kits of different brands."
As soon as the words left her mouth Robert turned his head towards her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. He clearly would never have thought of that.
"I'm not sure yet, Rob." She stated, as she watched the man pick up a few boxes from the corner of the store. He cleared his throat and turned his head back.
"There you go Miss. That would be $35 all together." He said and printed a receipt for her once she paid for her items.
"Thank you, have a good day." Rose said, and turned back to head towards the car with the paper bag in her hand.
Once they got into the car, Rose kept her wallet down next to her and opened the paper bag to look into its contents. She picked up a box and looked at it before she turned it backwards.
"Please head to my grandmother's place, Rob; the old house near the church."
"Yes, ma'am." He said, and headed towards their destination.
She looked at him and shook her head slightly with a smile on her face.
Why were they all so uptight? Don't they ever get tired of being so fierce and serious all the time...She thought and looked back to the kit in her hand as she dragged her eyes thorough each and every word with great attention.
After a few minutes, her phone went off and she immediately knew who it was. She had completely forgotten to call Alexander and inform him about her whereabouts. She immediately picked up the call and kept it to her ear.
"I'm sorry, Love." she said, and kept the kit inside the paper cover with the rest of them and looked out of the window. It was then she realised how dark and gloomy the sky looked with heavy dark grey clouds swallowing up that small patch of blue sky that was left, threatening to break lose any minute. She watched the clouds completely unaware of Alexander on the phone.
"Rose...are you okay, do you want me to come?" He asked, sounding disturbed.
"Alex! I'm sorry. Calm down. No you don't have to come. I was just looking at the... at the sky here. It's gotten all cloudy and dark all of a sudden. Well, it was not very sunny when I left home but I've never seen these clouds so thick and dark..." she trailed off as she looked at the clouds.
"It always does in that area, Rose. Are you sure you're fine? I asked you to call me as soon as you left the shop." He sounded concerned.
"I'm fine, Alex, I'm really sorry about not calling you to keep you updated. I got carried away with what I was doing."
"That's alright love. I understand. Did you get whatever you were looking for?" he asked.
"Yes, yes I did." She smiled as she looked out of the window. She wished with all her heart for this to be positive. She wanted a baby and knew Alexander would love the thought of having a small version of him running around the house.
"What did you buy?"
That question caught her off guard.
"Umm, I got a few pants and shirts..." she looked at Robert, knowing very well that he was listening to her. What else could he do when the car was so silent?
"Alright, I've got a meeting in a few minutes, Rose. Drop me a message when you reach your grandmother's place and call me before you leave, yeah? And don't make it too long. Get back home soon so I can continue what I started this morning."
She chuckled, and replied. "Okay, Sir."
"I love you, Roseanne." He said, softly after a few seconds.
"I love you more, Alex."
After a few minutes, they reached the house and Robert parked the car towards the side of the house; on the vacant piece of land next to it.
Before Rose said anything or got out of the car, Robert spoke.
"You make sir a very happy man, ma'am. I know you know that already, but what you have not witnessed is his change after he found you. I hope you protect him this way, and I know a man would not like to hear that sentence and would rather step in front to shield his woman but sometimes, a man needs a shield too. I wish you all the best for the test...and...yeah, that's it. I spoke too much already." He said and straightened his head.
Rose had a big smile on her face and was happy that she heard him talk so much. But what made her happier was the way he cared for Alexander.
"Thanks, Robert. I shall keep each and every word in my mind." She spoke softly and turned in front as she looked out the glass.
"Sinister looking clouds..."
"I'm here ma'am." Was all he said, and Rose knew that he would protect her no matter what and she need not fear anything when Robert was on his duty.
"I'll get back soon, Robert. But if it gets too cold and if you want to drink some water, please don't hesitate to come in, yeah?"
"Sure, ma'am."
Rose was already inside the house with her bag on her left shoulder, and she immediately pulled out the paper bag out of it and walked towards the toilet after she placed the bag on the couch. She missed the small place, her little home, but at the same time this house reminded her terribly of the lonely days she spent. She pushed away the thoughts and concentrated on the more exciting things that were ahead of her; waiting for her. She just couldn't wait to see what the tests showed.
She got into the toilet with a small container and collected a small amount of urine enough for four test kits and got out once she finished her job. She opened the boxes and placed them in a row on the dining table. She carefully followed the instructions and when she was done, she waited in front of the table, eyes on the four strips, sweaty hands clasped together against her chest, and her heart wildly thumped in its own rhythm.
"Oh, God...Please let it be positive...please God..." she whispered.
After a few excruciatingly painful minutes that felt like hours, a second line appeared and at the same time, tears formed in her eyes, wetting her cheeks and she clutched onto the table for support.
"Thank you, God..." she whispered, and heard the sky rumble. She kept her eyes trained on the second line and kept her hand on her stomach as she slowly ran her hand through it, feeling their little bundle of happiness growing inside her. As she stood there, feeling both nervous and excited about the baby, she heard heavy droplets of rain pelting against the windows of the house.
"Welcome, My little peanut..." she whispered, and chuckled once she realised what she was doing. Her head was collecting and making plans for the baby inside her already. She immediately walked into her room to pick up what she had come for and couldn't wait to lock the house and get into the car to go back home; to Alexander. With that big smile, lightening up her entire face, she picked up the little metal box in which she had bits of Alexander and kissed it, not caring about the dust on it. She kept it against her chest, and whispered.
"Thank you, Alex. Thank you."
She carefully packed all the photo frames in an empty bag and once she was done, she walked out, holding the metal box against her chest.
She got out of the room, towards the hall, but what she saw ahead of her sent violent shivers down her spine and she dropped her little metal box on the floor, spilling its contents and also the bag of photo frames. In front of her, stood the man she had grown to fear, the man who had completely disappeared without a trace. In front of her, he stood, with wet hair stuck to his forehead. He was looking at the pregnancy strips that she had left on the table with a wicked smile on his face. When she dropped the content in her hand, he looked up at her and narrowed his eyes, with that eerie smile still etched on his face.
"Congratulations Rose." He said
She waited for a few seconds, not able to believe this was happening. The rain was still heavy, beating wildly against the windows. And there was no sign of Robert. For the first time, in that entire day, she was sure that something wrong was going to happen, something terribly sinister.
"Brian..."
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Hello my loves,
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Until the next time,
RLJ