“Thank you, doctor.” Gray said with a nod.
“You are welcome. I will meet you back in my office.”
He waited until the door had closed behind her before he pulled up a stool and faced her. “Is it too much?”
Shelby struggled up against the pillows and placed her hands on her stomach. “Twins,” She shook her head. “I am going to have to rethink my apartment.”
“Or we could consider living together.” He said lightly.
She looked at him with a frown. “We do not want to do that.”
“Why not?” he got to his feet. “It will mean that I am there to help you out whenever you need the help. I told you that I want to be there in every possible way, and I mean it. Jane, my realtor found an excellent five-bedroom house two miles from my apartment in an exclusive neighborhood.” He paced away from the cot and paced back. “It would make things easier. You would have a suite for yourself and we wouldn’t be in each other’s way. Think about it, Shelby. You are carrying twins and you will need all the help you can get. I have an excellent housekeeper and I could hire more staff to help out. You could set up a room for your designs and as the pregnancy progresses, you could work from that location.”
“What about your social life?” she struggled to get up and he strode forward to help her. “You are not the type of man to go without female companionship for long periods.”
“You don’t know me that well.” He pointed out.
“You are right, I only know what I read and my own experience. I would not want to get in your way.”
“And I am telling you that you would not be.” He turned his back to allow her to slip on back the thick grey sweater dress she had worn.
“You may turn around now.” She told him in amusement. “You have seen me naked several times Gray, that’s kind of how the pregnancy happened.”
“I was showing you that I can be the gentleman.” He walked over to her and took her hands in his. “I want to be part of this, as much as I can Shelby. I do not want you to face it all by yourself.”
“And when we start to get on each other’s nerves?”
“We retire to our suites.” He squeezed her hands. “Please think about it.”
*****
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Monica argued. “The guy wants to play a huge part in all this and as he pointed out, girl you are carrying twins. You are going to need all the help you can get.”
“Mon is right.” Barbara told her as she popped pretzels into her mouth. “I don’t have children and doubt that I ever will, but I know how hard it is to be on your own and pregnant. My sister, Lola is living proof of that. She had three from three different guys and she is struggling like hell. If I have to babysit those unruly brats one more time, I am going to strangle them! My point is this: let the man play his part. There are so many brothers out there who are not doing crap and he wants to be the daddy he is supposed to be. Count yourself very lucky.”
“What about us being in close contact with each other?” Shelby asked as she reached for some of the pretzels. It had been three days since Gray had suggested the co-habiting to her and she had yet to call him back with the answer. “What if things start up again?”
“What if they do?” Monica asked impatiently. “The man is downright gorgeous! He is wealthy beyond means and you said yourself that he knows what to do in bed. It’s win, win, win as far as I am concerned.”
“And when he decides that it is over?”
“How will it be over? You are carrying two children for him. Not one but two. You are going to be bonded for the rest of your lives.”
“He has not offered marriage.” Shelby pointed out.
“Would you have accepted?”
“I don’t know.” Shelby said truthfully. “I would not want him to offer marriage just because I am carrying his child.” She closed her eyes. “I am going to descend lower in my mother’s eyes. Shacking up with the guy I am pregnant for.”
“So what?” Barbara asked. “Has she called you since the time you went over there?”
“No.” Shelby said with a sigh. “I picked up the phone to call her several times and lost the nerve.”
“So don’t call her. The doctor said no stress and honey, whether you like it or not, that woman is pure stress. She will come around eventually and if she doesn’t – there is nothing you can do about it. Take the offer and go live in that big ass house with that gorgeous man. You never know what can come from all this.”
*****
“I cannot believe that I would see the day when you would be living with a woman, willingly.” Benjamin remarked as he prowled around the large living room. “I am still in shock about the twin business by the way.”
“So am I. Well, what do you think?” Gray asked. They had explored the top floor and viewed the bedroom suites as well as the large ultra-modern kitchen.
“I think it is very big and homey.” Benjamin patted his jacket pocket for cigarettes and remembered that he was trying to quit and had thrown out the ones he had. “But my opinion means dick. What is the baby mama saying?”
“She has not gotten back to me yet.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “I really want this Ben.”
“I can see that and hope for your sake that she says yes. There is no reason why she should not though.” He looked at his nephew quizzically. “Do you know what you are doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You and this female will be shacking up in close quarters to each other. I hate to point out the obvious man, but it is bound to be some sort of physical thing happening between you two. Will you be able to handle that?”
He shrugged. “I will cross that bridge if and when it comes.”
“It will come, trust me. But as you said that is for when the time comes. I like the layout of the place and the backyard is large enough to run around.” He walked over to the large bay window and gazed out at the palm trees swinging in the stiff breeze. “You could build a treehouse.”
“I am hopeless with a hammer.” Gray pointed out as he came over to join his uncle at the window.
“I know a thing or two about carpentry.” Benjamin murmured. “I am on board, in case you were wondering.”
“I was not,” Gray clasped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go check out the basement. This place comes with a wine cellar.”
“Cool.”
*****
“I want to see the place.” Shelby said briskly when he answered the phone.
“Does that mean- “
“it means that I have thought the hell out of it for the past three days and wrote down the pros and cons.”
“And?”
“The pros outweighs the cons by far. The bottom line is – I am going to need the help and you would be right there. And as you said, if we get on each other’s nerves, we can always retire to our part of the house. There is just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want to contribute to the living expenses.”
“There is no need for that- “