Chapter 22

Paris was only eight months along when her water broke, she woke in the middle of the night to , asharp pain followed by a gush of fluid and blood, thirty minutes later, on the way to the hospital, their baby girl came into the world.

Bella was too small, barely four pounds, and she didn't do well breathing on her own. She would have to stay for awhile in NICU. There she was hooked up to all sorts of machines, machines to monitor her, machines that helped her breathe, machines that gave her medicines to make her strong.
It broke Elijah's heart to watch Paris sitting beside the incubator watching their little baby, praying that she would be well and able to come home soon.

The prayers worked and two painful weeks later Paris and Elijah proudly carried tiny Bella into her nursery. It had been a long journey, those two weeks, the first days were like a roller coaster ride, one minute she was doing fine and the next alarms were sounding and nurses were surrounding her little incubator.  There had been days when they wondered if they would ever lay their little angel in a real crib.

Elijah had worked hard while Paris was in the hospital, pulling out some of the baby stuff in his family's storage room and repainting it, making a special nursery for his special daughter.

Bella thrived under the watchful eye of her mother, Elijah, and her big brothers.  She was never without someone to give her all the love any baby could ever desire.

It seemed but a blink of the eye and she was toddling around the house, the boys fought over the chance to make their baby sister laugh.  Life was everything Elijah had dreamed it would be, the pain of his loss had faded and the joy of his family overflowed in the laughter heard throughout the home.

Life stayed ideal for Elijah and his family, the children grew as children do and soon Blake entered into high school.  "Mom, Dad, we need to talk."  Elijah slowly sat down at the table where his son and wife were already sitting and waited to for the shoe to finally drop.  Life had been too easy the last years, he knew it couldn't last forever.  "What is it, Son?"  Blake looked at his parents, and slowly began.  "It's about school, I'm not saying the public school isn't good, but Dad some people approached me about a boarding school, with my straight A's they said I was a shoe in, and probably would even qualify for some scholarships to help pay the costs.  I really want to go, they have all these programs that help prepare you for college, and they are one of the top rated Private Boarding schools in the Nation!"

Paris looked over at her husband and smiled, "You can make the call on this one dear, I really don't see any reason not to let him go, except that we will miss him an awful lot!" Elijah stood up, and looked down at his son, who had begun pacing the kitchen as his parents had quietly discussed the matter between them.
" You can go son, on two conditions, you stay out of trouble, all trouble, and you keep a 3.5 grade point average.  If you can't do those things then you will have to come home to finish your education."

Blake was all grins as he hugged his dad, "Not a problem Dad, thank you both so much, you don't know how much it means to me!"  He ran out of the room crowing to his brother about leaving home for the big world, and Elijah sighed, "I suppose if we do it for Blake, we will have to do it for the rest of them too.  I'm not sure I'm ready for our kids to leave home, Paris!"  Paris tried to hide the tears as she turned back to fixing dinner, she knew she wasn't ready to let go yet.

Two years later they began preparations to send Dawson off to boarding school, as well, he desired a Military school, which surprised both his parents, and frightened Paris a bit when he announced he intended to join as soon as he graduated high school.  She was proud of her son for wanting to give back to his country, but the thought of one of her children at war kept her awake at nights.  She spent those last summer days with him as much as possible.  

A few months before Paris and Elijah received a very unexpected surprise, they were having another baby.  The pregnancy went smoothly despite their fears of delivering preterm again, and during one of her summer fishing days with Dawson the new baby decided it was time to come into the world.

The delivery was quick and Paris was released the next day, free to bring little Faith home to her family.  Dawson had left before they arrived home.  It tore out Paris' heart that she missed wishing him farewell, but a quick call confirmed that he had arrived home safely.

Paris hadn't been prepared to enter into the world of diaper changes and late night feedings, but soon neither her nor Elijah could imagine a life without Faith in it.  They knew their family was complete, and Paris had undergone surgery to make sure there were no more surprises in store for them.

Bella was growing quickly as well and was soon heading off to school, though she pleaded to go to boarding school like her big brothers her parents insisted she was much to young to be away from them for so long, and so she compromised by joining ballet classes, nothing was quite so cute as to watch her Plies in her little tutu!

Bella was just thirteen years old when Blake returned home for good from Boarding school, his little sister couldn't have been happier to have her big brother back home, she had always been so close to both her brothers.  Soon it seemed the two were inseparable again.  Blake had begun college classes, but decided to study at the local Campus so he could save money by living at home, he was determined to become a surgeon.

Chapter 21

She woke up dazed and a bit confused, but as everything came into focus she realized where she was, this couldn't be happening!  "What is going on Elijah? Why am I here?"

 Elijah looked down at her and smiled, "Because we are getting married and here is where you belong!"  She jumped out of bed and almost collapsed as the room began to spin, "You're crazy, you kicked me out Elijah, you threw me out because we slept together, and now, now what, because you want to do right by your son you are throwing me a bone?"

Elijah walked over and swept Paris into his arms, "No Paris, we are getting married because I love you and don't want to spend another day without you here, and I think you feel the same way.  These months without you have been hell for everyone in this house, you belong here Paris.  I was scared and stupid and I hope someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me for what I have put you through. You don't have to say yes, yet. I'll wait, but please stay here with us."

She couldn't say yes, she wanted to, but something held her back, it was all too much.  In the end she agreed to move back in and she knew in her heart that she would forgive him. She just needed a little time to breath first.

Two short years  later she was meeting her groom for their little park wedding.  Blake and Dawson were there of course, unfortunately Elijah's father could only be there in spirit, he passed away just 4 months before the wedding.  She missed the old man, she enjoyed his company, and in every way she wouldn't be there if it hadn't been for him, didn't seem right that he wasn't there. They had bought the land and built the park in his memory, donating it to the city.

Elijah gazed into his bride's eyes, sparkling with un-shed tears, hearing the murmurs of family and friends gathered around them. It was  a far cry from his last wedding when they had run off secretly to say their vows.

  As they said the vows they each wrote for one another there didn't seem to be a dry eye in the park.   The day was beautiful, neither Elijah nor his new bride, Paris could ask for anymore, so they were shocked when they received a surprise honeymoon to Paris, France as a wedding gift from Elijah's siblings.    His siblings seemed to think that a girl conceived in Paris, named after Paris, should spend at least a few days in Paris!

They arrived in Paris two days after their marriage, after so long travelling he didn't know how he would have the energy for their wedding night, but he had every intention of finding it!  She came out of their hotel bathroom wearing nothing but her corset, and he knew right then, adrenaline was most definitely his friend!  As he lay her down on the bed, he looked down at her, amazed that she was really his, and amazed that he had almost thrown such an amazing woman away!

He loved watching her as they toured through her namesake city, the Museum delighted her, and he couldn't help smiling as her child like enthusiasm for each piece of art work bubbled out of her.

They tried to do it all while they were there, museums, wineries, outdoor cafe's.  If it was a popular cliche for Paris they made a point of doing it.  They both fell in love with the cuisine, he found, much to his surprise, he even loved frog legs when it was cooked in Paris!



He took her shopping for souvenirs, both of them making sure they had something special to give the boys when they returned home.

Two weeks into their stay things took a turn for the worse, Paris began feeling ill, and soon it seemed she couldn't hold anything down.  They ended up in a French hospital and there they found they were going to become parents again.  Neither of them could think of a better ending to their honeymoon!

Chapter 20

She knew it was wrong, you don't start an affair with your employer, Nanny 101 teaches you that much.  She hadn't intended for it to ever go where it had, she hadn't meant to fall in love with him.  Nothing prepared her for that morning when he threw her out of his house.

Maybe throw was too harsh of a word, but he couldn't get rid of her quick enough.  In the weeks and months she spent with the family, she saw Elijah hiding away, afraid of life, afraid of the pain, shutting himself off from the world, from his son.  Her only intention had been to bring him back to his son, for Blake.  The boy needed his dad, and she had talked enough to Blake's grandpa to know that Elijah needed his son.  Now she had spoiled it all, who knows what kind of damage she had done to Blake putting herself in a situation that had to end like this.

 Now here she was, out of work and humiliated.  She seriously doubted she could get a decent reference from Elijah now, nor did she feel she deserved it.  Paris didn't know what she was going to do, but whatever it was, she better get on it, her savings wouldn't last long.
In the end being a nanny was what she knew best, so she started her own daycare.  She used the last of her savings to buy a small two bedroom house and furnish it as a play haven for the children she would care for.

It was two months later when she received the final blow from her affair, she was pregnant.  She knew immediately who the father was of course, and she also knew she would never tell him. There was little she could do, so she continued on, as she battled morning sickness and fatigued she somehow muddled through each day caring for her little charges.

He didn't know anymore what he was doing.  He couldn't quit thinking of her, couldn't seem to focus on anything.  He could handle his son well enough on his own now, but somehow their life seemed incomplete, the house empty.

His sister had told him about the new Daycare in town, said she had heard it was getting glowing reports, children were well cared for, happy, and the lady in charge of it all seemed to really care about each child she accepted.

He knew he needed just a bit of quiet time, and so he decided to try it out.  He really hated leaving Blake with a stranger, but he was weeks behind on his latest book and the publisher was calling daily wanting to know when it would be finished. As he stood outside the modest home where he was prepared to leave his son for the day, he soothed his conscience by telling himself it was just temporary, until the book was finished.

Nothing could have prepared him for seeing her, he should have known, somehow, he should have made the connection, new daycare, fabulous caregiver, who else could it have been, but still he was dumbfounded when she answered the door.

 It wasn't until she had turned to let him in that he noticed the bump, she was pregnant!
He left Blake with her, he was too shocked to do anything else and went home, but he got little writing done that day.  When was she going to tell him?  Was she planning on ever telling him?  He had a right to know if she was pregnant with his baby!  Whose to say it was his though, maybe she had other men.

As soon as the thought came in his head he knew it was wrong, she just wasn't like that.  He didn't know what to do, he knew what he wanted to do, but could he, would she even consider it after the way he treated her?

She felt like the air had been sucked out of the room, she wasn't sure how she was suppose to carry on with her day, everything around her had grown darker.  How could he have that affect on her still, after all he had put her through!  She tried to shake it off and carry on, but the rest of the day was a bust, she just couldn't get back in the game, couldn't focus on anything.  How was she going to face him when he picked Blake up?

It turned out she needn't have worried about it, he sent over a relative to pick up Blake it was all very professional and impersonal, and left her feeling chilled.  She didn't get much sleep that night,  her dreams haunted by images of Elijah and Blake, images that she had no right to even dream of.

Elijah didn't return with Blake and soon routine set in and she was able to breath and even live a bit.  She was nine months pregnant when the phone call came.  "  Please don't hang up, I know I have no right to ever talk to you again Paris, I know what happened, what I did, it was wrong.  I want to make this all right, can we just talk? Please, Paris, I made a mistake."

She wasn't sure what to say, for weeks she had dreamed of this, and now it was happening, and she didn't know how she felt. " I don't know Elijah, you were never suppose to find out, what we did, it was a mistake. I don't want anything from you."  Except your never ending love, she thought in the back of her mind.  " Paris, please just meet me for dinner so we can talk, and then if you want me to leave you alone, I can respect that, I won't like it, but I can respect it."

She wasn't strong enough to say no twice to him, "Meet me at the Cafe on the corner of Main street, Saturday at 3?"  Afternoon was good, it wasn't romantic, it was casual she thought, and since it was only Monday, it gave her a few days to gather her thoughts before she had to face him. " I'll be there Paris, and I'm sorry, for everything."

She stood in her kitchen with the phone in her head, the dial tone had long since changed to a busy signal.
This can't be happening, this can't be real, played a continuous loop in her head.  A ripping pain through her midsection pulled her out of her dreams, doubling her over in agony.

Elijah waited at the Cafe until the sun had long set, and the last of the patrons had left.  "Sir, we are closing, I'm really sorry."  He knew he shouldn't have expected it, he didn't deserve her, but still the sting of being stood up burned in his heart.  Head hung low he began to make his way home.

He didn't know how he ended up outside her house, he had drove around town until the sun began rising again and somehow his bike had brought him there without his knowledge, he noticed the windows were all dark.  "I should go home,"  maybe saying out loud would be enough to stop his feet from taking him up the walkway,

 "She doesn't want to see me."  Still it wasn't enough to stop him from knocking on her door.  "She's sleeping, I should just leave."

As he turned to go a taxi pulled up to the curb and he watched her carefully getting out. " Elijah? What are you doing here?  I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stand you up,  I started having contractions and,"  Elijah slowly took in what he was seeing, she had the baby, his baby was there in her arms.

"It's a boy, I had a boy, his name is Dawson, I hope you like the name, but I guess it probably doesn't matter if you don't like it, I mean you don't ever have to see him again."  She babbled on as she walked up to the house and into the nursery, continued without taking a breath as she laid the baby in a crib.

She turned around he grabbed her and pulled her too him, pressing his lips against hers, not gently, but not rough, firm and purposeful, slowly claiming her mouth with his.  " Paris, would you just shut up for a minute.  Since I met you, you have been pushing things the way you think they ought to be, but not this time, this time, things are going to go the way I want them.  I love you Paris, I loved you before that night, I knew it then, and I know it now.  I threw you away because I was scared of losing you, I thought it would be easier, but I was wrong.  Please come home with me and Blake, he should be with his little brother, and you should be with me."

She fainted, he had never pegged her for a fainter, but that is exactly what she did, and he saw his chance.

When she came too she was tucked safely in his bed, their son nestled in a bassinet next to her.