Page 54 of The Virgin's Baby
Ransom seemed distracted as he mumbled, “Sounds fine to me.”
“I want our daughter to have a few pink things. I don’t want everything unisex.” I put down two swatches of material, one pale pink and one baby blue on the dresser in the large room. “I’m thinking we do stripes of each color on the far wall, then two walls in blue and one in pink.”
“Oh, honey, no,” Franco, the decorator denied me.
I looked to Ransom for some support. “Ransom, what do you think?”
“Huh?” He turned away from the window he’d been staring out to offer some vague attention to me.
I pointed at the fabric. “Do you like the idea of using pink and blue in here?”
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he hunched over a bit. “I don’t really care. Just let Franco do what he does.”
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from going off the handle. “This is our babies’ room. This is our decision to make, Ransom.”
“But I don’t care to.” He looked at the bedroom door which stood open. “Frankly, I’d like to get out of here.”
“Just go then.” I was furious.
I knew I should’ve expected him to grow a little distant after my admission of love for him since he had some huge hang-ups about women, but I hadn’t thought he’d get this distant.
Franco and I watched Ransom leave then Franco looked at me. “Oh, honey,” that was all he said.
I didn’t have to ask what he’d meant by that. I knew he felt some deep compassion for me. “Can’t we find some middle ground, Franco?”
“I don’t know. He looks like he’s out,” he commented.
“I wasn’t talking about him and me. I was talking about you and me.” I huffed then sat in the rocking chair by the window.
Ransom had the unique ability to be there for me during the hardest times with the pregnancy. And then he had the ability to shut me out so completely at other times.
Franco took the rocker opposite from me. “So, what’s the deal with you two?”
“He needed to have a baby so that he wouldn’t lose his inheritance. I needed money to pay for my last semester of college. He got what he needed, and so did I.” I rocked slowly as I tried to calm myself down.
“So, you’re in college?” Franco asked. “What’s your major?”
“Petroleum engineering.” I thought about his question. “And at the present, I’m not in any classes. I put them off when his grandfather got really sick, and we had to be in Houston. And then I put off going back to school for a while longer so I could be here for the babies.”
With a whistle he let me know he thought I was in deep. “Girl, he derailed your ass.”
Biting my lower lip, I nodded. “Yes, he did.” As I sat there thinking, I thought about why I’d let myself get derailed in the first place. “But I’m not mad about that. You see, I didn’t have any family. I’ve felt alone since my father died. With Ransom and then his grandfather, I began to feel like part of a family again. Then the triplets came to be, and I really started feeling whole again.”
“But what about you and Ransom?” Franco asked. “Are you two, you know, hitting the sheets together?”
“No.” I felt one of the babies kick. Hard. “Oh!”
Franco jumped up. “I saw that from here. Wow, what a little kicker.” He put his hand over my stomach then looked at me. “May I?”
He would’ve been the first person, other than myself, to feel one of the babies kicking. I’d given Ransom several opportunities, but he’d passed them up. “Sure.”
Franco put his hand on my stomach right where he’d seen it move. “This fabric is so soft, girl. What is it?” he asked.
“Heck if I know. Ransom bought this dress for me at the Maternity Barn, I think.” I gasped as one of the babies gave me a hard kick.
Franco’s dark eyes went wide. “Hell, girl!”
“I know.” I saw movement near the door and turned my head to see Ransom standing there.
