His Change of Heart: Unexpected Pregnancy Romance (17 page)

    He took her hand in his and kissed it gently. “I’m glad that you are the woman wearing it. Sadly, Grandma Irene passed away two years ago. She would have loved you, Ave, if she had met you. She was one feisty woman—smart, funny, determined and beautiful. She reminded me of you. She and my grandfather were together for sixty-five years before he passed away five years before. She hoped the ring would bring me the same good luck and happiness they had together. But I don’t need luck—I know we are going to have a long and happy life together.”

   “Your Grandmother sounded like a lovely and amazing woman, Will. I would have liked her too.” Avery touched the ring on her finger and turned to look at Will. “I have to ask—are you doing this because of the baby? You know you don’t have to marry me because I’m pregnant.” 

   “God, Avery, why would you even think or say something like that. I love you. I have always loved you, even before the baby. I also want what’s best for our child. I want us to be a family in every sense of the word, not just living together. I want our baby to come into the world and to a home where his parents love each other—I want to come home at the end of the day to my wife and child. I was planning on asking you to marry me at Kat’s wedding. I was carrying the ring around with me all day, but you never gave me that change. I love you, and for that very reason, I’m marrying you.” Will kissed her on the lips.

   “I love you, too,” Avery told him, her eyes filled with tears again. “More than you would ever know.” Avery reached over and put her arms around him.

   At that moment, Avery felt the baby moved—he was kicking hard, and she reached for Will’s hand and placed it on her stomach. “Do you think he knows?” she whispered to him with a huge grin on her face.

   “If he’s anything like his father, he does.” Will rubbed her stomach before bending and kissing the spot where he felt the baby kicked. “We are going to have a great life together, Ave—me, you, our baby and the three or four other children we are going to have.”

   “Yes, we are,” Avery said to him, then; “What, wait, we never decided on that many kids. Four seems like a lot, don’t you think?”

   “Not when you are having them with the woman you love. I’ve always wanted a big family, Ave. I was an only child, like you growing up—I grew up wishing I had other siblings. My parents were wonderful parents, and I had cousins to play with, but I grew up feeling very alone.”

   “I had lots of cousins on my father’s side too, but it wasn’t the same thing as having a brother or sister, and then after my parents died in that horrible accident, I felt like I had no one left. I would love to be the mother of your children, Will.” Avery kissed him again.

   “I fell in love with you the very first time I saw you. I was completely smitten,” Will told her. Then, “Don’t you have people to call, like Kat? I’m sure she will like to hear the good news. She still blames me for the break up and for you moving here.”

   “No. It can wait. I just want to enjoy this moment with you, and only you.”

    “I think you are forgetting someone,” Will rubbed her baby bump.

   “Oh, yes, and our son.”

   Avery settled back comfortably into his arms, closed her eyes and stroked his arm that was cradling her tummy.

Eighteen

  
“
A
ve, you look stunning, absolutely gorgeous. The dress fits perfectly. You are such a beautiful bride.”

   Kat came around the chair Avery was sitting on and adjusted the buttons at the back of the gown Avery was wearing. “You aren’t even showing that much. It’s unbelievable that you are six months along and you hardly have a stomach. I hope when the time comes for me to have a baby, I would carry my pregnancy as well as you do.”

   “Thank you for being here, Kat.” Avery turned and hugged her friend.

   “Are you kidding, I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world. I’m so happy for you, Ave. I truly am. I told you it would work out with Will in the end.”

   “Yes, you did, and I should have listened to you.”

   “Well, the important thing is, you are getting marrying to a man you love and who loves you.”

  Avery was in her room, with Kat, and her cousins helping her get ready for the wedding, which was taking place at the small church in an hour. Her other friends back in New York, including Jules, couldn’t get time off work because the wedding was on such short notice. After Will had proposed to her, she had called Kat with the good news the next day, and Kat had insisted right away that she helped plan the wedding. And Avery was more than happy to let Kat handle all of the necessary arrangements, including the dress.

  Kat had suggested an Oscar de la Renta bridal gown with a sweetheart invisible neckline with white silk threadwork flowers. Kat told her the gown was one of a kind, from a collection that was debuting in the fall and had faxed her images. The gown was exquisite, and Avery had decided on it right away. She had gone to a local seamstress the next day and had her measurements taken and she had called Kat with the details.

   Avery had asked Kat to be her maid of honor, and Kat had told her that she would be more than happy to do so. And with not much time left to plan a wedding, Avery and Will had decided to keep it small, with only close friends and family members. Will had suggested that they fly back to New York and got married there, but Avery, wanting to stay true to a promise she had made to herself years ago, had asked that they say their vows in the small church where she was christened as a baby, and where her parents had gotten married almost twenty years before. And Will had supported her decision. He told her it was a very special day for them, especially her and he wanted her to be a happy bride.

   Will had called his parents in Greenwich, Connecticut where they spent most of their time now with the news of his impending marriage to her. William Sr. was a hedge fund mogul who was still very much involved in the day to day operation of his vast empire. According to Kat, William Sr. had made his money investing in biotechnology and healthcare stocks, and had companies around the world.

  After congratulating them, Thea and William Sr. agreed to fly in for the wedding on Friday, along with a few other family members and Will’s closest friends, including Josh. Will had also asked Josh to be his best man. Will told her his parents, especially his mother were ecstatic that he was finally taking that big step and settling down with someone he loved.

    Will had passed the phone to her after, and Avery had talked to his parents’ briefly—just the basic pleasantries, and Thea had asked her about the baby and her due date. Avery had met Thea and William Sr. more than a few times when she was dating Will. She had gone with Will to his parents’ wedding anniversary dinner party at an upscale restaurant for the celebrations. They had reserved the entire dining room for the happy occasion, and she had spent a weekend last summer at their mansion in the Hamptons with them. William and Thea had always been both polite and warm to her the times she had spent with them. They had never made her feel unwelcome, or that she didn’t fit in with them.

  They had embraced her relationship with their son. Will had joked that his mother preferred seeing him with a hardworking, educated girl than with a rich, entitled socialite. He said his mother never fully approved of any of the women he had dated in the past, and she was more than happy when he had showed up with her.

   Thea, it seemed, unlike William Sr, wasn’t born to money. She had been a hardworking young lawyer in a small law firm in Chicago when she had met and married William Sr. So, Avery fully understood Thea’s aversion to the women Will had dated. And after the break up, Thea had still called her, inviting her out a few times, to lunch, a show at the Metropolitan and to a charity fund raising dinner she had been hosting on the Upper East Side. And Thea had respected her privacy and never pried for details about the break up, not even once.

    After he got off the phone with his parents, Will had told her that his mother was over the moon—she was excited about the baby, and couldn’t wait to be a grandmother. In fact, she was already placing orders for things for the baby. Then, he told Avery he was afraid the baby was going to be spoilt. And Avery had told him, it was okay for a child to be surrounded by people who loved him unconditionally, and besides they were the ones who would be doing the disciplining, not his parents.

   The wedding was going to be a small affair—her relatives here and Will’s family and a few close friends. They were going to have a huge dinner party in New York after, for Will’s friends and family members who couldn’t be there. And the few friends, she had there. She had already sent Jules an early invitation so that she could work around her schedule at work. Thea had offered to host the dinner at their home in Manhattan because it was bigger than Will’s penthouse and could accommodate the two hundred or so guests they planned on having. Will had offered to fly her relatives and friends in from Montana for the occasion.

  After the wedding, Avery made the decision to return back to New York with Will. He was her husband now, and with a baby on the way, they were going to be a family. It was what she had always wanted—the love of a good man. It was the happiest she had ever been too. Besides, it didn’t make sense for her to stay behind in Kalispell without Will there.

  “I have put in an offer for a house in Greenhaven,” Will told her one evening after the wedding. They were in the bedroom, and Will was helping her pack her things. “Well my agents did, but I want us to look at it first before we decide. They are sending us pictures.”

   “Honey, that’s wonderful.” Avery told him, handing him a couple of dresses. “But I trust your judgment. I’m sure it’s a beautiful house.”

   “I want us to do this together, Ave. We are a family now. And you are going to live there too. Besides, it’s your house—my gift to you and our baby.”

He patted her gently on the stomach. “I want you to be happy there. That’s why your approval is so important.”

   “Okay, I will see the house with you.” She turned around and pecked him on the lips.

     “I’m sure you will like it—it’s has a lot of green space and a huge backyard for swings and a playground. And the rooms are very spacious, especially the master bedroom.” He winked at her. “Not that we’ll need all that much space.”

   He wrapped his arms around her body. “I think you need a break.” He took the clothes she was removing from the hangers out of her hand. “Why are you packing these? You won’t need them. You can shop for new clothes when we get to New York.”

   “They are new dresses I bought. I can’t just toss them out,” she protested and allowed him to guide her to the arm chair.

   “I didn’t say you should throw them away. Leave them for your cousins or donate them to charity. You are my wife. I intend to dress you in style.”

   “Are you complaining about my taste in clothes?”

   “Absolutely not! You are one classy dresser. It was one of the things I noticed about you. I still remember the white silk blouse you were wearing.”

   “I’m sure you did. Are you sure it was the blouse you notice and not the outline of my breasts in it. I saw the way you were looking at them.”

    Will giggled and kissed her on the nose. “You are always so perceptive, honey.”

   He zipped the suitcase, and carried it to the door.

  “That’s it, then. We are all packed and ready to go. My father is sending the private jet to take us back to New York first thing in the morning.” He came and sat on the floor next to the chair. “I spoke to Ingram. He’s anxious for me to come back to work. He has a lot of high profiled cases that he’s dying to hand over to me. He said the clients only signed on because he gave them his word that I’ll be taking care of their files. I tell him I’m willing to come back, but only on my terms, and only if I will be working in New York, and I choose the cases I take.”

   “He agreed to that?”

   “He has no choice. He’s not in a position to bargain with me. Besides my focus isn’t the same anymore. I have you and this little guy to think about.” He reached in and rested his head on her tummy. “Is it me or are you getting bigger.” Then she heard him laugh. “He’s busy in there. I think he’s going to be an athlete. He has a mean kick.” He lifted her dress and circled her stomach with his hands, planting light kisses all over it.

   After, he raised his head and looked at her. “I love you, Avery Marie. I can’t wait for us to begin our lives together.”

   He covered her mouth with his, before she could reply, because he knew exactly what she was going to say to him.