Page 64 of The Virgin's Baby
“Why in the hell would you do such a stupid thing, Aspen?” She let me go to look at my face. Seeing that I wasn’t anywhere near finished crying, she got up and came back with a box of tissues. “Here, clean yourself up, and let’s get to the bottom of this.”
It took me a few minutes to get it all out before I could take a second to blow my nose then wipe away the tears. “His grandfather is making Ransom marry me before the babies are born.”
“Good.” She went to get us a couple of bottles of water from the fridge. “He should marry you. You guys have this lifelong plan to raise these kids together. You also have this insane chemistry that you both seem to be trying to ignore. Trust me, one day, one of you will have a weak moment and BAM! It’ll be sexy time!”
“That happened early this morning,” I enlightened her. “And at the end, he asked me to marry him. Can you believe the nerve of that man?”
Her head fell to one side as her jaw dropped. She nearly dropped the bottles of water she held. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“No, I’m not.” I took one of the bottles of water out of her limp hand before it fell to the floor. “Ransom had the audacity to come into my bedroom this morning, slip into my bed while I was still asleep. He began kissing me and fondling me, and it made me so wet and horny for him that I immediately gave in. And it was so much better than I’d ever even dreamt it would be.”
Margo fell into the chair as she seemed awe-struck for some weird reason. “Yeah, I bet you were really surprised with how great it was.”
“I was.” I took a drink of the water before adding, “I felt so connected to him, Margo. Like I never knew I could feel. Even more connected to him than the babies I’m carrying. Like he and I were one person. But I’d been wrong. He’d taken my virginity only to get me to do what his grandfather demanded—to get married.”
“What a bastard,” she said, but it was said in a sarcastic tone. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Do you think that maybe your hormones are just all riled up, and that you’re not in your right mind at this time?”
“No, I do not think that, Margo.” Now it was me who threw hands in the air. “How can I be the only person to see this? Look, let me spell it all out for you. Ransom doesn’t want to marry me. His grandfather’s threat of cutting him and his children out of the will is what has him asking me to marry him. I think I deserve better than that. Don’t you?”
“Here’s what I think.” She put the unopened water on the table in between us. “Ransom has his issues. You told me a little about him seeing his mom with other women.”
“Please remember never to let Ransom know I did that, Margo. It would really bother him if he knew I’d told a soul about a thing he’s kept to himself forever.” I leaned back, praying that little secret would never escape her lips again.
“Of course, Aspen.” She sighed then went on, “So, Ransom has this intuitive grandfather. He’s raised Ransom since he was fifteen. He knows that man inside and out, I would bet. He knows that Ransom has this hang up. He knows if he doesn’t force things, then Ransom will be one lonely man for the rest of his life. And he loves his grandson so much that he’ll make these demands, basically blackmailing him to do what’s pretty normal for men his age to do.”
“Precisely.” I was glad to see that she was on the same page I was.
“And you don’t see how Ransom needs these little pushes?” she asked.
I laughed. “These are not little pushes, Margo. These are shoves. Big, hard shoves that his grandfather gives him. And what’s to stop him from doing it time and time again? Say in a few years Lucius wants us to have more grandkids for him and changes the will again to get what he wants?”
“I thought you said you loved his grandfather,” she said as her brows raised. “Do you not trust this man?”
I didn’t know what to say. I loved Lucius, not necessarily the way he used that money of his to get his way, but the man himself was pretty lovable.
“He’s misguided, I guess,” is all I could come up with. “Basically, I’m upset with Ransom for not standing his ground. His grandfather told him if we weren’t married before the babies come, then we’re all out of the will. And Ransom hurried to ask me to marry him.”
Margo chewed her lower lip while she thought. “He hurried, huh?”
“Yes, he told me all about it the very next morning and said we should get wedding rings and get to doing it already. Of course, I asked him if he loved me. And he couldn’t tell me that he did. So, I told him that I wasn’t going to marry a man who doesn’t love me.” I slammed my fist on the sofa beside me. “Why do those men have to complicate everything?”
“I don’t know,” she answered my rhetorical question. “Maybe because they’re rich and have been used to getting their way their whole life.”
Looking at my stomach as one of the triplets kicked, I began to realize something. They would be just like the rest of the Whitakers if I didn’t start changing things right now.
When my cell rang, and I saw it was Ransom, I sent it straight to voicemail. “I’ve gotta play hardball with these men. I know they probably never expected someone as young and as inexperienced as me to come into their world and turn it upside down. Being a mom has changed me. Making love to Ransom had as well. I feel powerful, like I can make the rules which we all have to live by.”
“You’re crazy, Aspen.” Margo shook her head. “You can’t make that old man do anything. I’ve got two sets of grandparents. You better believe there are no people on this planet who are more stubborn than old folks.”
“What about a mother who only wants what’s best for her kids?” I asked.
Margo nodded. “They can be pretty stubborn too. Sometimes they can be so stubborn that they don’t see what’sreallyright for their kids. Like marrying their father because you love him, and he loves you, and ignoring the fact that anyone else is involved in any way.”
Easy for her to say; she isn’t living my life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ransom
