Riding the Storm - Brenda Jackson [59]
Oh, she understood now why he had kept his distance so many years ago but still, it had been a bitter pill for a young girl to swallow. A part of her had built up an immunity against ever being rejected by him again. But now she was a woman and she wanted what any other woman would want—a man to love her. And that man had offered to marry her and give her the baby she wanted. How blessed could a woman be?
Her feeling of euphoria quickly disintegrated when she remembered she had thrown his words of love back in his face. She had a feeling that Storm was a man who wouldn’t take rejection well. What if he never wanted to see her again?
She quickly slipped into her skirt, thinking she had to work fast to correct the mistake she’d made or she would lose him completely. And the first thing she had to do was to cancel her plans to get inseminated. The only man she wanted to father her child was Storm.
She turned when she heard a knock at the door. “Come in.” She smiled apologetically when Dr. Susan Millstone walked in. Before the doctor could say anything she quickly said, “I’ve changed my mind.”
After closing the door behind her, Dr. Millstone tilted her head and looked at her. “You’ve changed your mind?”
“Yes. I’ve decided not to go through with the artificial insemination procedure after all.”
The doctor leaned against the closed door. “May I ask the reason you’ve changed your mind?”
Jayla smiled. “Yes. The man that I love wants to marry me and give me his child, and I want that, too, more than anything.” And I hope and pray I haven’t lost him, she thought.
Dr. Millstone chuckled as she shook her head. “What you’ve just said will make what I have to tell you a little easier.”
Jayla raised a brow. “Oh?”
“I just went over the results of your physical and it seems you’re already pregnant.”
The news was so shocking that Jayla dropped into a nearby chair. She looked back up at the doctor, not believing what she’d been told. “I’m pregnant?”
The doctor chuckled again. “Yes. You’re almost a month along.”
Jayla shook her head, as if trying to keep it from spinning. She was almost a month pregnant! “New Orleans,” she said softly, as a smile touched her lips.
“Excuse me?”
She met Dr. Millstone’s grin. “I said New Orleans. I got pregnant in New Orleans. But how is that possible when we were careful?”
A smiled played at the corner of Dr. Millstone’s mouth. “I deliver a lot of babies whose parents thought they were careful, too. No birth control is one hundred percent.”
Jayla chuckled. “Evidently not.”
“So, can I assume that you’re happy with the news?”
Jayla jumped up as the feeling of euphoria took control of her again. “Yes, I’m happy! I am ecstatic!” she said, laughing joyously. She just hoped and prayed that Storm would be happy and ecstatic, as well, when she told him that she loved him and was having his baby.
Eleven
E veryone who was somebody in Atlanta had turned out for the Kids’ World charity benefit. There were politicians, CEOs of major corporations, celebrities and well-known sports figures, all of whom considered Atlanta home.
There was also a sheikh in attendance, the very handsome Prince Jamal Ari Yasir, who was dressed in his native Middle Eastern attire and causing quite a stir among the ladies, single or otherwise. Jayla smiled, knowing the stir was a waste of time and effort since it was well known that Prince Yasir was happily married to the former Delaney Westmoreland, Storm’s sister.
Jayla glanced across the room at the group of men standing together laughing and talking. Although Storm hadn’t arrived yet, it didn’t take much to recognize the men as Westmorelands. Their kinship was clearly evident in their facial features, their height as well as their sex appeal.
She began wondering if perhaps Storm had changed his mind about