Love & Secrets (Unedited)

Chapter Thirteen

Rosemary

  Henry started helping extra around the office lately claiming he doesn't want me to overwork myself with being almost halfway through my pregnancy. Being four months I'm not big enough to wear I'm unable to do my job so he does annoy me. I'm trying not to hurt his feelings but Rome has caught onto my attitude I've had and wants to have a meeting. So here we are during lunch hour having a meeting.

  "Henry I need you to stay focused on your job more than Rosemary's. I appreciate you looking out for her but if she needs help she will ask." Rome speaks  and Henry looks at me. "Have I been a bother?" He asks me and I hesitate but slowly nod. "Henry I love that you care so much for me but I enjoy my space when working.... I focus better and I'm pregnant not dying. Please stop." He just nods. "I'm sorry."

  "Now that that's settled, the wedding. We need to get the finer details confirmed so we can get the chairs and tables set up. They want the tall bar like set up so people can still walk around to enjoy the paintings and old sculptures from many years ago." We continue to talk about the wedding taking place in two months here. Once lunch time is over we go back to work.

A lady with two kids comes in and pays then walks around with her children. One holding her hand and one strapped into a baby carrier against her chest. I watch as she tends to the toddler and my hands go to my belly as I think about Rome and I being parents soon. "We have five months until we're in her shoes." Time says startling me as he wraps his arms around me, kissing my cheek. "I know.." I trail off then I pull away from him. "What happened to staying lowkey?" I ask and give him a look.

"You were spotted with Ruby at Rockets. Someone in the diner took a photo of y'all touching your belly." He says and shows me the photo. How dare they take a photo of such a precious moment for us. I groan and he rubs my shoulder. "It'll be alright. We'll get through it."

"I really don't want them stalking our child Rome. Seriously what happens when they're born?" I ask and he sighs. "We will protect them for as long as we can." It really sucks having his kid when he's part of one of the richest families in the world. Each family member of his owns at least one thing whether it was from the ground up or passed down. Rome being one who made his own riches. Any article you read says he refused his families money and worked as soon as he was able to. He saved every penny and bought his own paints and brushes and canvases. He promoted himself when I reached college and hit it off from there after doing a live painting at a talent show. He made a name for himself.

"We will talk more later about this. Don't forget we have your doctor appointment today at the obgyn." I nod and he kisses my cheek before heading to the back again. I glance over at the mother and her two kids. I envy her. Taking care of two on her own at this moment. I'm scared of how I'll be as a mother. I've only ever had to care for myself.

—

Today I'll be given an ultrasound to check on baby. This time Rome will be by my side. I know he seen the baby after the Charley incident but I was barely awake for it.

I'm laying on the bed and Rome is at the side, holding my hand. "Are we finding out the gender today?" Dr.Kenya asks us. "No."    "Yes." We say at the same time. We look at eachother. "I really want to wait." I tell Rome. "I want to know ... but if you want to wait we will wait. What's five more months right?" He kisses my forehead and I look at the doctor. "We'll find out today." Rome grips my hand and I look at him again. "Are you sure? I don't want you to feel forced. I can wait, truly."

  "The next baby can be a surprise." I smile and he chuckles. "Next baby? We haven't even had our first one!"

  "They need a sibling." I smile and he laughs again but kisses me. "Of course, anything for you." He kisses my lips quickly before looking at doctor Kenya. "We're ready doc, sorry." He smiles and we look at the screen. She places the wand against my belly after adding the gel. She first finds the heartbeat to which we listen to for a moment. Then she searches around and shows the legs. "Here's the feet, toes all accounted for. The legs ... bottom... ah here we are." She says and we look , waiting for her to tell us.

  "Congratulations! It's a boy!" She announces finally and Rome kisses my hand. "A boy.. we're going to have a son!" His excitement over the top. I smile at him, all I can think of is how much of a great dad he will be.

—

We get home and head inside. "Ugh I'm ready to eat." I groan and rub my belly. "Luckily Marley is here preparing dinner already. I called earlier while you used the restroom after the appointment. Told her to make one of your favorites,  so dinner would be done more or less when we arrived." He takes hold of my hand. We walk into the kitchen and I smell the yummy food. It's chicken alfredo with garlic knots.

  "Oh Marley you're so amazing." I compliment her and she smiles at me. "You haven't even tried it." She hands me a plate as I sit on a bar stool. "I don't have to, everything you make is perfectly delicious!" My mouth waters as I grab my fork and scoop some noddles up. I eat the fork full and moan as the flavors overwhelm my tastebuds. "So good Marley, so good."

  "Did you not eat enough for lunch?" Rome asks me with a humorous expression on his face as he watches me. Marley places a plate in front of him and I just glare at him. "You know I eat for two. Your son is always hungry." I pout and he chuckles. "You're adorable. Enjoy your food baby." He kisses my forehead before digging into his own food.

"A boy huh?" Marley smiles at us as she cleans. "Yes we found out today." Rome says. "Congratulations Sir."

"Marley I told you to call me Rome, we don't have the be that professional." She blushes. "My apologies." She finishes up and says bye before she leaves. Chef Marley only comes to cook for us when Rome asks her to. Other than that we normally cook for ourselves. Personally her cooking is so amazing I'll allow her to cook all the time.

"You know you made her blush." I smirk at him and he rolls his eyes. "Did I? I only care about your cheeks blushing." He boops my nose. I glare at him and he winks at me.

"How's the wedding planning coming along?" I ask as I finish up my food. "It's great. Got the finale headcount, twenty five people including them will be there. They've already given the first payment so I had Henry preorder the tables and chairs they wanted. You'll help me with minor decorations, they luckily don't want much change. Just a few flowers here and there. They want to keep it looking like a gallery. They did ask if I can paint them and hang it on the wall for the evening. They said they will pay extra." He says as he finishes his food as well.

"That's nice. I'm glad you're getting business, not that you weren't before. But this might be good for you. Word will spread and you'll get more wedding requests." I suggest and he hums. "I would love it but I don't want people thinking my gallery is a wedding venue and I'll have so many weddings books and no time for my regulars to roam through."

"Understandable. How about we open a second place?"
"I've been wanting to but with the baby coming along I don't want to lose time with you. I want to be home. When I opened my first gallery I was pretty busy the first few months." Rome gets up from the stool and grabs both of our plates.

"Oh.. well how about we allow one to two weddings a month? Keep it limited but at least all your customers are getting what they want. Everyone is happy." He thinks on what I say and nods. "I think we can manage that. It will be put on hold when you're closer to having the baby though. That's our priority." He smiles and walks back over to me after washing our dishes.

Rome hold my face in his hands and kisses me deeply. When he pulls back I smile. "What was that for?"
"For you being an amazing girlfriend. You're so supportive."

  "Well you're always here for me so." I go to kiss him but the door bell rings. "At this time?" I ask and Rome shrugs. "Maybe it's one of my sisters." He suggests and we walk over to the door.

  Rome opens it and there stands a woman holding a child.