The Russian Billionaire’s Secret(60)

Before I'd left the states, I guess those nights with John had left me pregnant. He spent a couple weeks getting me settled in, helping me find a house, but he had another assignment and left me. Then I found out I was pregnant.

I kept writing him all these letters. Telling him about the baby, how she moved, it was a girl. I'd just found out at my last doctor's appointment. How the dog was growing and how big he was now. That I missed him.

I realized when he was gone, how much I'd fallen in love with him in the time I'd spent with him. John wasn't even his real name and I wasn't sure how to contact him when he'd left. So instead I settled for all these letters I wrote him and kept in a box on my dresser in my room.

I'd been taking cooking classes, and my neighbor had helped me learn how to do laundry. After ruining two loads, she'd found me crying in the yard and had stopped to ask me if I was okay. I'd told her what happened and she'd happily spent an hour teaching me how. She even showed me how to hang it in the yard to dry to help it smell fresh.

The community I lived in had almost no crime, and everyone was for the most part kind to each other. I was a newcomer, but they didn't treat me like I didn't belong. No one asked me where the father was, which I appreciated.

But I kept having these dreams of John showing up on my front porch, sweeping me off my feet, and us getting married and living happily ever after. I guess a baby and a new life wasn't the worst thing I could have gotten out of the situation. I was alive. I was free. That's what I had wanted, and yet I wasn't happy because John was missing from the picture.

I wasn't supposed to call them back in the states unless my identity had been compromised and then I only had a number for my handler, who was a woman. It appeared like I'd never see John again, and it broke my heart a little bit.

Sitting on the front porch I filled out his letter, and then heard the dog barking. He jumped off the porch and ran to the end of the gate barking at someone who stood there.

Getting up to see who it was, I waddled more than I walked. When I saw John standing there, I froze, completely shocked to see him. He let himself inside the gate and the look on his face when he saw my pregnant belly was priceless. If I hadn't been so surprised to see him, I probably would have laughed.

“Sofie?” He whispered to me as he got closer and looked questioningly at my belly, then caught himself and called me by my new name. “Natalie?”

“Hi John,” I whispered and then laughed softly. “Or whatever your real name is.”

“Devon. Devon Kline. And I'm sorry it took so long for me to come back,” he told me and then pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I kissed him back, almost forgetting he'd been gone for so long.

“Why did it take you so long?” I asked him, realizing that I hadn't ever expected to see him again.

“I had to finish what I started, all the court dates, finishing up the paperwork. Giving you time to adjust to make sure you'd settle in without me before they'd let me go to find you. I'm here to stay, if you'll have me,” Jo-- No, Devon told me, looking almost lost as he put a hand on my belly with a look of awe on his face.

“It's yours you know,” I told him and he nodded at me, he never thought otherwise and I appreciated that. I was glad I didn't have to defend that or explain anything. “Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?”

“I wasn't sure I was going too,” he admitted and looked guilty. “But then I couldn't stop thinking about you. I missed you; no other women seemed as interesting as you. I mean how many women would attack a man in bunny slippers? I could go my whole life and that one memory will stick in my brain that leads up to a night of sex. Bunny slippers have a whole new meaning. You had them on the entire time we had sex.”

I laughed, I had forgotten that. What an odd detail for him to remember. “I felt like you broke my heart when you left and I never heard from you again.”

“I'm so sorry princess; I didn't mean to ignore you. If they'd have let me contact you I would have.” He touched my cheek gently and for the first time, him calling me princess had me sighing in relief instead of irritation.

It's amazing how separation makes what is really there between you two so glaringly obvious when you aren't there to smother it.

“I wrote you an entire box full of letters, I didn't think I'd ever be able to send them to you, but I guess you can have them now. I love you Jo-- Devon. I'm glad you are here, I hope this time it's for good because I don't know if I can handle watching you leave again and not come back,” I told him, feeling a little protective of myself... and my heart.

Devon hugged me tightly and then put his arm around my shoulders and walked me inside since it started to rain. It rained a lot in Ireland, but I was getting used to it. The dog rushed past both of us and almost knocked Devon down.

“He's allowed in the house?” Devon asked me, sounding a little surprised.

“Not only in the house, but he sleeps on the end of my bed too,” I told him grinning.

“I guess I'll find a way to live with that,” he told me and then took my hand. “I can't promise you that we won't fight, or have disagreements, I'm a controlling ass at times. I'm used to getting my way and I don't always communicate as well as I should when I should. But I promise to be faithful. I promise to protect you as best as I can and I'll live here with you, if that is what you want. Just say yes.”