Текст книги "Forever Us"

Автор книги: Sandi Lynn

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter 23 Ellery

I walked over to the bar and poured myself a shot of Jack. As I slammed it back, Connor stood there with Julia, staring at me.

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be drinking when you took a pain pill,” he replied as he put Julia in her swing.

“It’s fine, Connor. One shot isn’t going to kill me.”

“No, but Ashlyn could’ve and you seem to think that’s okay.”

“I’m not listening to you anymore,” I said as I tore up the stairs.

“You never do anyway!” I heard him yell.

As I glanced at the time on my phone, I noticed that Peyton and Henry were going to be over soon. After I changed into more comfortable clothing, I went into the kitchen and took out a bottle of wine. I heard the elevator doors open and Connor greeting Peyton and Henry. When they walked into the kitchen, Henry walked over to me and gave me a light kiss.

“How’s your head?”

“It’s sore, but I’m okay.” I smiled.

I stood there thinking that at least someone cared. Peyton walked over to me and put her arm around me.

“Are you and sexy man still fighting?”

“Yes. God, I’m so mad at him for keeping that from me.”

“I understand, but don’t forget you kept something from him too.”

I rolled my eyes and then flinched at the pain from the stitches. I reached up in the cabinet, grabbed four dinner plates, and then Peyton finished setting up the rest of the table. As the four of us sat down and ate our dinner, Peyton took out the recorder she had earlier. First, she looked at me and then over at Connor.

“Do you want to hear this or not?” she asked him.

“No, actually I don’t,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter what’s on there. You shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“Fuck you, Connor,” I said as I got up and threw my plate in the sink and it broke.

“Way to go, Elle!” he exclaimed.

As I was on the verge of tears, the doorman rang and said that Lou was on his way up. I opened the door just as he stepped off the elevator in the hallway.

“Hi, Lou,” I said as he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

We gathered into the living room and Connor poured everyone their drinks. Lou looked at me as he asked, “Can you tell me what happened today?”

“This is what happened today,” Peyton said as she pressed play on the recorder.

Connor handed Lou a drink and then sat down in the chair across from where I was sitting. He stared at me and he listened intently. He slowly closed his eyes when he heard Ashlyn say how she was going to destroy not only him, but me and Julia as well.

“Talk about fatal attraction. Right, Lou?” Peyton said.

When Lou finished listening to our horrific altercation, he looked at me and smiled. “That is one damn good confession and threat Ashlyn made. I’m taking that to her lawyer and then submitting it as evidence. If she isn’t advised to change her plea, then we’ll continue to press the charges of assault and battery and she’ll get added time for that. Ellery, I have a question for you and I need you to be completely honest with me. Did you physically attack her?”

“Hell, yeah, she did!” Peyton spoke up. “You should’ve seen her. She knocked her ass to the ground and then grabbed a hold of her face and wouldn’t let her go and told her she better never threaten her daughter again. Well, you heard it.”

Connor looked at me with an expression of shock. “Oh, please. I already punched her out once; did you honestly think I wouldn’t go after her when she threatened our daughter?” I said to him.

Lou sat there, nodding his head. “We’re just going to keep that information to ourselves. She doesn’t have a mark on her and you have stitches. So, once the judge and jury hear what she had to say, they won’t believe her anyway.”

He got up from the chair, and we walked him to the door.

“Thanks, Lou,” Connor said as they shook hands.

“No problem.” He smiled. “Take care of that head, Ellery. I’m asking for a postponement and this could all be over within a week.”

A feeling of relief flowed through me when I heard Lou say that. Peyton took Julia from her swing and walked over to me. “It’s almost over, sweetie. Henry and I are going to leave. He has to be at the hospital in a few hours. Go take a pain pill, down a couple shots of that shit you like, and you’ll sleep great.”

I smiled at her and took the baby as we said our goodbyes. Connor picked up the dirty glasses from the table and took them into the kitchen. He still didn’t say anything to me, even after hearing what Ashlyn had said. Taking Julia upstairs to change her, I couldn’t stop thinking about how hurt I was finding out that Connor knew Ashlyn was out of jail and how he was tracking my every move. A sick feeling emerged in my stomach as I laid Julia down in her crib. The only thing I wanted and needed was a hot bath.

As I started the bath, I poured a capful of bubbles under the stream of the hot water. Closing the bathroom door, I undressed, twisted up my hair, and lay back in the tub. If there was one person I needed the most right now, it was my mom. Tears started to fall down my face as the bullshit of the day settled inside me. I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as I sobbed into them.

“Ellery,” I heard Connor whisper as he opened the door and walked in.

He climbed into the bathtub, behind me, fully dressed, and wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he began to cry. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through today. I just wanted to shield you from the scariness of the world. I wanted to protect you, Ellery. I need you to try and understand why I did what I did and why I behaved the way that I did. I love you so damn much.”

Bringing my arms to his, he loosened his grip around me and I turned around to face him. He tilted his head as he stared at me and tried to wipe away the mascara stains from under my eyes. Bringing my hand up to his face, I gently wiped away each tear that fell from his eyes.

“Look at you; your clothes are soaking wet.” I smiled softly.

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’m holding you.” He smiled as his hand softly swept across my cheek.

“Do you forgive me?” I asked.

“Of course I forgive you. Do you forgive me?”

“Yes, I love you way too much not to.”

* * *

I sat down at my easel to start my third painting. A peaceful feeling was restored throughout my body now that Ashlyn had been found guilty and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison with no possibility of parole. Connor was more relaxed, and so was I without the trial hanging over our heads. Julia was growing so fast, we could barely keep up with her. As the sunlight beamed through the windows, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and take Julia to Central Park. I grabbed my sketchpad and headed up to the penthouse. As I stepped off the elevator, I saw Mason and Julia in the living room.

“I’m giving you the afternoon off because I’m taking Julia to Central Park.”

“Oh goody, can I come?” Mason asked as he handed me the baby.

I felt bad telling him no, but I wanted to spend some time alone with my daughter.

“Aw, Mason. I’m sorry, but I really just want to spend some time alone with Julia. Considering all the shit that went on, I feel like a horrible mom that I haven’t spent as much time with her as I should.”

“I understand, Mama.” He smiled as he kissed me on the cheek.

“I do need you to do me a favor, though. I need you to go to the spa for me,” I said as I grabbed my purse and pulled out my wallet.

“What do you need from the spa?” he asked.

“I need you to get the works done: massage, manicure, and facial.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” I said as I handed him some money. “Consider this a perk because you have done so much for Connor and me, and we appreciate it. I know it isn’t much, but it’s a start.”

“Are you kidding? It’s awesome. Thank you, doll face!” he said excitedly as he kissed me and headed towards the elevator.

As I smiled and kissed Julia on the nose, I desperately wished that Connor could join us in the park, but he had back-to-back meetings all day, plus a conference call. I put Julia in her stroller, packed her diaper bag, grabbed a blanket, my drawing pad, pencils, and bottled water. After I made sure I had everything I needed, I pushed the stroller onto the elevator and walked to Central Park.

The flowers in the Conservatory Garden were as beautiful as always. As I was pushing Julia, I looked ahead and noticed there was no one in my favorite spot. When I reached it, I spread out the blanket on the grass, kicked off my shoes, and took Julia from her stroller.

“This is my favorite place, Julia. I hope that it’ll be yours too someday.”

I laid her down on the blanket and took off her socks. She started kicking and moving her arms around while making the cutest cooing sounds. I opened up my drawing pad and began drawing the picture I had envisioned for my painting. Looking over at Julia, I started to sketch a field of flowers. A few moments later, I heard my phone ring. As I pulled it from my bag, I smiled when I saw it was Connor calling.

“Look; it’s your daddy,” I said as I showed Julia the phone. “Hello,” I answered.

“Hey, baby, I was thinking we could have lunch together.”

“That sounds nice. What time?”

“How about now? Turn around,” he said.

I turned around and watched as Connor walked towards me with a bag in his hand. Grinning from ear to ear, I hung up and set my phone down.

“How did you know I was here?”

Before sitting down on the blanket, he kicked off his shoes and took off his socks. “I talked to Mason. I tried to call you earlier and it went straight to voicemail, so I called him and asked him to put you on the phone, and he told that me you and Julia were here,” he said as he sat down and kissed me.

“I thought you had back-to-back meetings and a conference call today?”

Connor picked up Julia and started playing with her. “I did. I had a couple of meetings already, but when I found out that my wife and daughter were in Central Park, I wanted to spend the day with them, so I cancelled the rest of my meetings.”

“I’m so happy you’re here with us.” I smiled as I stroked his cheek. “What’s in the bag?”

“Open it and find out.”

I picked up the bag and looked inside. “Aw, you brought us hot dogs.”

“I know how much you love them here.” He smiled.

As I took the hot dogs from the bag, Connor put Julia in her stroller.

“There’s something I need to discuss with you,” he said.

“Okay. What’s up?”

“I don’t want you to be mad that I didn’t discuss this with you first because it just sort of happened suddenly.”

As I gave him a worried look, he smiled and cupped my chin in his hand. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.”

I let out a sigh of relief as he began to tell me what he did. “I’ve invested in Vinnie’s art gallery in Chicago. I’m now his partner.”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“His partner pulled out at the last minute and left him with a half-finished gallery and not enough funds to complete it and get it ready for the opening. He called me and asked if I would be interested in investing in the gallery and being his partner. I had my business attorney draw up the legal papers and he’s coming to the office tomorrow to sign them.”

As I sat there and stared at him, I needed to tell him something that I’d been thinking about for a while.

“Can I be totally honest with you about something?”

“Of course, baby. What is it?”

“I thought you already owned the art gallery and that you didn’t want to tell me.”

The look on his face was dumbfounded. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I had.”

“Well, you were wrong. I had nothing to do with that gallery until this morning. I can’t believe you would think that I wouldn’t tell you something like that.”

“Really?” I said as I cocked my head and pursed my lips.

“Right. Point taken,” he said while nodding his head.

After we ate our hot dogs and Julia had fallen asleep, Connor and I lay down on the blanket. I snuggled up against him as he put his arm around me, and we looked up at the sky.

“This is a perfect day,” he said as he kissed my head.

“Every day is perfect when we’re together.” I smiled.

“I’ll never forget the day I found you lying here, in the rain. You were so sick, and I was so scared. You broke my heart that day, baby.”

“How?” I whispered.

“By telling me you were lying here so that no one would know you were crying. You have no idea how that killed me inside to hear you say that.”

I lifted up my head and looked at him. “I’m sorry. My life was so different then. You saved me from myself.”

He looked down at me and his lips brushed against mine. “We saved each other.”

Even though I wanted to stay in this spot forever, our heartfelt moment was soon interrupted by Julia’s cry. We both smiled as we got up and Connor took her from the stroller.

“I think it’s time we head home,” I said as I started packing up.

“I think you’re right.”

After kissing Julia on both cheeks, Connor put her in the stroller and pulled out his phone.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

“Denny. I’m telling him to come pick us up.”

“Tell Denny I said hi!” I smiled as I took the stroller and started walking.

“Ellery Rose Black! Come back here with that baby!” he said rather loudly.

I turned my head and looked at him with a big smile on my face. “Have fun in the limo by yourself, Mr. Black! My baby and I are walking home.”

Before long, Connor was right behind me. “You are so stubborn.”

“I know, and that’s one of the reasons why you love me.”

“Just one of a million, baby. Just one of a million,” he said as he put his arm around me.

Chapter 24 Connor

Ellery had been working hard on her paintings. The opening was next month and she still had two more pictures to paint. Mason had gone to California for a week with Landon, so I helped out as much as I could with Julia so Ellery wouldn’t worry about taking care of her. I had given Claire the day off to take her husband to the doctor, and Peyton was out of town with Henry. I had planned to stay home and work, but my attention was needed at the office. I tried to call my family for help, forgetting they were all out of town as well. Ellery had just left for the studio and Phil called, stating that I needed to be at the office for a meeting regarding the new Chicago building, and today was the only day it could be done. I looked at Julia as she sat in her bouncy seat.

“Listen, Julia. Daddy is going to take you to the office and I need you to be extra good. Okay?”

As she smiled at me, she screeched. She thought it was funny that I asked her to be extra good. I put her in her car seat, grabbed the diaper bag, and stepped into the elevator. Today was Denny’s day off, so I would have to drive the Range Rover to work. I stopped by Ellery’s studio to let her know that I was taking Julia with me. As I walked through the door, she turned around and looked at me.

“Hey, honey, what’s up?” she asked as she walked over and kissed me.

“I’m taking Julia to the office. I have a few things that I need to do.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes, by myself. Do you think I’m not capable of spending the day with my daughter alone?”

“No, I think you’re capable. Good luck, sweetie.” She smiled as she bent down and kissed Julia’s head.

I put my hand on the knob, turned it, and opened the door. Turning around and looking at her, I said, “Was that good luck for me or for Julia?” I asked in confusion.

“It was for both of you.” She laughed.

As I put Julia in the back and buckled the car seat, she started to cry. Shit, I thought to myself, and I was already running late for the meeting. She had just eaten so I knew she wasn’t hungry, and I had just changed her diaper before we left. I reached in the diaper bag and pulled out her pacifier. Ellery wasn’t too keen on her having it, but this was an emergency. When I put it in her mouth, she stopped crying. I let out a sigh of relief as I climbed in the driver’s side and headed to the office. Traffic was horrible, and Julia started crying again. I looked in the rearview mirror and her pacifier had fallen out of her mouth. Her screams grew louder as I tried to reach back and grab it. After I finally found it, I put it back in her mouth, but she didn’t want it. She spit it out and started screaming. I didn’t want to call Ellery because I didn’t want her to worry, so I dialed the next best person: Mason.

“Hel—Connor, why is the princess crying like that?”

“Mason, I need your help. I’m taking Julia to the office.”

“By yourself?” he interrupted.

“Yes. I’m stuck in traffic, and she won’t stop screaming. She won’t take the pacifier either.”

“You gave her the pacifier? Does Ellery know this?”

“No, and you’re not going to tell her either. Help me; I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you have any classical music with you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Look in the diaper bag. There may be a CD in there.”

Reaching in the back, I grabbed a hold of the diaper bag and, as I was bringing it up to the front, items started falling out onto the floor. Julia was still screaming, and I was about to have a nervous breakdown.

“There’s no fucking CD in here!” I screamed into the phone.

“Connor, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do until you get to the office.”

After hanging up, I looked at my phone and had an idea. Still stuck in traffic, I downloaded some classical music onto my phone. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” was the first song on the list. I hit play and turned the volume up as loud as it would go. I held the phone towards the back and closer to Julia. She didn’t stop crying right away, but the noise was becoming softer. As traffic started moving, Julia fell asleep, and I felt like I could breathe again. Finally, we arrived at Black Enterprises. I pulled into the parking garage and parked in my spot. As I looked behind me, I saw that Julia was still asleep, and I needed her to stay that way. I carefully opened the door and started picking up all the things from the diaper bag that fell on the floor. As I gently unbuckled the car seat, Julia’s eyes opened, and I froze. Grabbing the pacifier that was sitting next to her, I put in her mouth and her eyes slowly closed. I started to sweat at the thought of her screaming bloody murder again.

Stepping off the back elevator that led to my office, I was instantly surrounded by a flock of women who wanted to see Julia. When I walked down the hallway to my office, I realized that Valerie wasn’t sitting at her desk. Shit, her vacation started today, I remembered as I was counting on her to keep an eye on Julia. Opening the door to my office, I set the car seat on my desk, while I gathered some files for the meeting.

“Whoa, Connor! Why is Julia here?” Phil asked in shock.

“Because I didn’t have anyone to watch her, Phil,” I replied with irritation.

“Don’t you have a manny or nanny or whatever?”

“He’s on vacation, and Ellery is working on her paintings.”

“You can’t bring a baby to a meeting,” he said.

Glaring at his stupidity, I calmly said, “Have you forgotten that Black Enterprises is my company and I can do whatever the hell I want? If I want to bring my daughter to the meeting, then I’ll damn well do it!”

Phil sighed and walked out of the office. “The meeting starts in five minutes,” he said.

Julia opened her eyes. I grabbed my files and the car seat and headed to the boardroom.

Upon entering the room with fifteen men and women, all eyes glared at me when I walked in. “Sorry I’m late, but as you can see, I have my daughter with me today and if any one of you has a problem with it, the door is right over there. Are we clear?”

While I stood and looked at the people in the room, there was silence. “Very good. Now let’s proceed.”

* * *

As I changed Julia’s diaper, I looked up and saw Ellery standing in the doorway of the nursery with a smile on her face.

“Hey, baby, how long have you been standing there?” I asked.

“Long enough to hear that little conversation the two of you were having.”

“That was a private conversation between me and my daughter.” I smiled.

She walked into the nursery, gave me a kiss, and picked up Julia from the changing table.

“How did it go today with your daddy?” Ellery asked her as she held her in the air.

“Things went fine. I don’t know why you have a hard time believing that I can’t handle my daughter by myself,” I said as I threw the diaper away.

“What’s that, Julia? You screamed all the way to the office, and daddy was having a meltdown?”

Damn it. She must have talked to Mason. “That’s not how it went down, Ellery.”

“That’s not what I heard, Connor.” She grinned at me.

“Why would Mason tell you that I called him?”

“What’s that, Julia? Daddy gave you the pacifier?” She glared at me.

“Can’t I do anything without someone telling you everything?”

“Mason didn’t tell me, well, not technically. I was on the phone with him when you called, and I made him put it on three-way so I could listen.”

“Ellery Rose! That’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Oh, please. I found it amusing and as much as I wanted to come rescue you, I knew you’d figure out what to do.”

“Thank you for the confidence,” I said as I put my hands on her hips and softly kissed her on the lips.

“After all, you are the CEO of a billion-dollar company. You’ve dealt with worse. I wasn’t worried that one little baby would be the thing to break you. I’ll admit that I was a little worried about something else.”

“What were you worried about?”

“There’s nothing sexier than a man with a baby, and I could see those vultures at your office taking advantage of that.”

Smiling at her, I took Julia from her arms and laid her down in her crib.

“What are you doing?” Ellery laughed as I picked her up.

“There’s only one vulture I want taking advantage of me, and I want it right now.”

“Connor, what about Julia?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s safe in her crib, and if she starts to cry, then we’ll stop. But, I want to make love to you now. I don’t want to wait another second.”

Before laying her down on the bed, my fingers tugged at the bottom of her shirt, lifting it over her head. As my mouth smashed into hers, she reached her arms back and unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor. After my hand cupped her breast and tugged at the hardness of her nipple, I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around me as I laid her gently on the bed. I wanted to devour her as I took her breast in my mouth. Her fingers were quickly unbuttoning my pants as I was unbuttoning hers. I stood up and took them down as fast as I could. I ripped my shirt from me and threw it on the floor as she sat up and took her pants off, throwing them across the room. She looked at me with a seductive smile and laid down on her stomach.

“Christ, Ellery, you have me so hard.”

“Then put that erection to good use, Mr. Black.”

A growl came from the back of my throat, and I swore I almost came right then and there when she said that. I dipped my finger inside her to make sure she was ready for me, and sure enough, she was more than ready. Hovering over her, I slowly pushed myself inside and began thrusting in and out of her when, suddenly, Julia began to cry.

“Don’t you dare stop, Connor!” she exclaimed.

“I won’t, but—”

“There are no ‘buts’! You cannot and will not stop! I’m so close. Oh God. Oh God!” Ellery screamed as her body tightened and released itself, causing me to explode inside her.

We lay there as our hearts raced and we tried to catch our breath. All of a sudden, it was quiet. Ellery turned her head and looked at me.

“Of course she stops crying now.” She laughed.

That’s my daughter. My love, my life, and my little angel.