A Billionaire's Baby

Boy or girl?

Wednesday rolled around before Clarissa knew it. She had taken some time off on Wednesday morning so that she could go to her gynaecologist for her maternity check up and scan in peace instead of rushing through it during lunch. 

It will be the first ever scan. She couldn’t contain her excitement. 

She will be seeing her baby for the first time. Also, Max said he will be coming along too. She hoped he will really turn up as promised. She has not seen him since Saturday and they barely talked on the phone too. 

He only called her in the evenings and each time, their conversation lasted a few minutes before he had to answer another call or head out for another meeting. Marrying a tech billionaire meant you have to share him with a million other people, his clients, his business partners, his employees, everyone. 

She woke up really early on Wednesday, her stomach full of butterflies flitting around in a frenzy. The tiny bubbly movements of her baby paled in comparison to her nervous butterflies. She placed a gentle hand on her bump and smiled at the tiny movements inside. 

Time sure do fly at a bullet train pace. She could barely believe that she is now entering the second trimester and in a few days, she will be married. To Max. At the thought of Max, his blazing blue eyes, his sculpted good looks and his sexy tall frame, her heart skipped a beat. 

She could barely believe that she is really getting married. Sure, she has been planning her wedding to Nick for years but to marry someone she had a one-night stand with was like stuff out of a rom-com movie. Or a romance novel.

It was so surreal. 

Her father actually thought she was joking when she called him on Sunday morning to tell him about the wedding and the baby. He thought it was a belated April Fool’s joke. She had to pass her phone to Jane, Kat and Lisa before he believed her. He agreed to fly out to Hawaii on the same day as her so that they could spend some time together before the wedding. 

She is still undecided about inviting her mother though her dad did not seem to mind if her mother was going too. It’s two more days before her flight to Hawaii and she has not called her mother. 

Checking her reflection one last time, Clarissa sling her bag over her shoulder and left her apartment. She opened the Uber app and called for one. She barely slept last night so she decided to get an Uber instead of taking the subway. 

The moment she stepped out of her apartment building, she saw Max waiting outside, lounging against a silver Porsche. She quickly cancelled her Uber and walked towards him, not hiding her wide happy grin. 

“Why, how gallant! You came to pick me up…like a date,” she said, smiling up at him as she walked to him and hugged him spontaneously. 

He enveloped her in his arms and brought her close to him. She wrapped her arms around him and inhaled his masculine husky scent, her heart skipping a few beats at his warm embrace. 

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered into her ears and kissed her neck lightly. 

“So did I…” she replied and lifted her face towards him. He bent and drop a light peck on her lips before releasing her. She was disappointed by the chaste kiss and yearned for more but he had walked over to the car. 

“Come, let’s go,” he said, opening the door to the passenger side for her. She slid in easily and admired the interior of the car while he got into the driver’s seat. This was her first time sitting in a Porsche. 

“Don’t you have a driver?” she asked as he manoeuvred the car into the traffic and headed to her gynaecologist’s. 

“I have a few drivers but today, I want to personally drive you,” he replied. One of his hands took her left hand and he kissed it gently. 

“I’ll get you a driver too, I don’t want you taking the subway after today, it’s not very safe for a pregnant woman,” he said. 

She tried to protest, she has been taking the subway to work for years and being pregnant doesn’t make much of a difference. She has been careful to avoid being crushed in the crowd during rush hour since she found out about her pregnancy. 

“We can go pick out your car after this and the driver will be outside waiting for you tomorrow,” he said, ignoring her protests. 

“But I’ve to go back to work after the doctor’s,” she said. 

She only took time off, she couldn’t take the whole day off since she has already taken Friday off to fly to Hawaii and Monday off for the flight back. Since Max did not say anything about honeymoon, she assumed that there would not be one. 

“You should’ve taken the rest of this week off, what with the wedding arrangements and the flight to Hawaii this Friday, I don’t want you to overdo this,” he said.

He asked if Jane had managed to arrange everything. 

“We have finalised our guest list and John has made the necessary arrangements. He is finalising the guest list on your side for you I heard,” she said.

The wedding arrangements were rushed but with Jane’s efficiency, the wedding planner and Max’s three assistants working on all the arrangements with the resort in Hawaii, everything was coming together almost perfectly. In fact, the only thing the bride and groom needed to do was to show up. 

Jane had even taken her shopping for her bridal gown and she had chosen a designer V-backed gown encrusted with diamonds with a short train and a beautiful lace veil. It costs $20,000 and Jane swiped the limitless card without batting an eyelash. After that, Jane dragged her to a few other boutiques till she had bought her a whole new wardrobe of gorgeous designer maternity clothes and at least 10 different sets of sexy, lacy inner wear. “You may be preggers but you can still be a sexy mama for the papa,” Jane had said suggestively. 

“That’s good. Here, I was supposed to give you this on Saturday but the impromptu wedding plans distracted me,” he took out a small velvet box and handed it to her. 

She opened it. 

Nestled inside is the most gorgeous engagement ring she had ever seen. It was of a vintage design with intricate detailing, a brilliant blue sapphire set in burnished gold with tiny diamonds surrounding it. 

“It was my grandmother’s and have been handed down from generation to generation, so now it’s yours,” he said. 

She removed it from the bed of velvet and slid it on the fourth finger of her left hand. It fitted perfectly. She held it up to show him. 

“Did you resize it?” she asked.

He looked slightly surprised. “Looks like I don’t need to,” he said. “It looks good on you,” he added.

Though she would have preferred that he personally put it on her finger for her instead of handing her the box so matter-of-factly but the fact that he had given her a family heirloom was enough to warm her heart. 

Besides, he had repeatedly said their marriage was for the baby’s sake, not for romance. She should not be expecting any romantic gestures from him. Then a thought occurred to her. 

“I suppose this is only temporarily mine? I mean, you did say our marriage will be only for a maximum of five years…IF we divorce, I have to return this?” she asked. 

He didn’t reply her for a while and drove in silence. It stretched on for an eternity before he sighed. 

“Yes, you probably have to return this upon our divorce. My younger brother might want to give it to his wife if he ever gets married,” he said finally.

What’s with the Forest brothers and their reluctance to get married and stay married, in the case of her and Max, she wondered. 

They drew up to the doctor’s office presently and all talks about the ring has to be put on hold. It was time to see baby for the first time. 

Max took one of her hands and walked in with her. All eyes turned towards them and naturally, all of the mothers-to-be were drawn to Max’s dashing good looks. Even the receptionist blushed when he spoke to her, giving her Clarissa’s name and appointment time. 

He walked with her, still holding her hand, when her name was called. 

“So, here’s the baby…here’s the head…the measurement is about 6 inches long…your baby is growing really well at 16 weeks gestation,” the ultrasound technician said as she moved the probe around her bump. 

She pointed to the screen showing the unmistakable shape for a baby, its tiny head, body and limbs. She pointed to a tiny pulsing spot. “That’s the heart, looks like its going strong and healthy,” she said.

Clarissa teared. The baby looks so perfect. She is actually growing a tiny human inside her. Her heart swelled with love for the tiny being within her. Max, who was still holding her hand, squeezed it. She looked at him and he was staring at the screen in awe and wonder. 

“Do we know it’s a girl or boy by now?” he asked the technician without looking away from the screen. 

“No! No! I don’t want to know yet!” Clarissa interrupted before the technician replied. She turned to Max. “Can we keep it a secret? I’d rather find out when the baby is born,” she said.

He considered her request. “Would you mind if I find out first? I would rather know ahead, I don’t like surprises,” he said.

She shrugged. He can find out first but he better not reveal it to her. “You must promise not to tell me in any way, not even when we are discussing names,” she said.

He agreed. So, she turned away while the technician whispered the s*x of the baby into Max’s ears.