Locked in Marriage 2: Here Comes Baby

Chapter Six

"Twice now I've wondered why I married Colton," Kayla complained to her mother and her sister as they sat down for lunch. Colton had gotten them reservation to one of the best restaurants in the city because he felt about the family photo-shoot. "I don't think that is a great way to start marriage." She was beginning to worry more and more if she had made the right choice in staying with him or if she should have just divorced him when she had the chance.

"Don't worry dear, you guys are still working out the kinks," her mother, Jane said smiling hopefully.

"It's not us really. It's Giovanna and having her in the house all the time. She just adds all this extra tension between us," Kayla explained.

"I thought the house was big?" Ashley asked confused as she took a drink of her water.

"It is. But when she is there it seems like it shrinks to a two room apartment. It's almost like she can hear everything I say when I'm there," Kayla said.

"So just ask her to move out," Ashley said nonchalantly. Kayla stared dumbfounded at her sister.

"That would be like starting World War Three, and I already know that I would lose. Giovanna is malicious and cruel, and the worst part is, she knows it and uses it to her advantage," Kayla said shuddering at the idea of what Giovanna would do if she asked her to leave.

"Kayla dear, you cannot sit in your home and be afraid of your sister-in-law. You have to lay down the law," Jane said trying to give her daughter some advice. Kayla already knew what she had to do, she just didn't want to do it. She wanted Giovanna to move out on her own.

"Lets talk about something else, like David starting up his own firm," Kayla said trying to change the subject.

"Oh yes, I was going to talk to you about that," Ashley said excitedly as the waiter brought them their food. "David was talking about trying to get Colton to invest in his company."

"Really? He wants to work with Colton?" Kayla said, she could only imagine how that would turn out.

"Well, Colton is a billionaire and we might as well use his money in a productive way that helps out everyone in the family right?" Ashley said smiling. Kayla rolled her eyes and began cutting her meat.

"It is a smart idea Kayla, and Colton is smart. He will be able to steer David in the right direction," Jane said trying to convince her. Kayla knew it was a good idea. Colton was smart and, of course, financially gifted. He would be able to help David's career.

"I'll talk to him about it," Kayla finally said. Ashley and Jane smiled and clapped as they finished their lunch.

Colton was sitting at his desk in his large window filled office when Anna came in.

"A man named David is here. He said you would know who he was," she said.

"Yeah, he's my brother-in-law," Colton said. "Send him in." Anna nodded and turned around to go back to her phone. A few minutes later David came into the office with a beaming smile.

"How are you?" Colton said smiling as he stood up to shake David's hand. It had been awhile since he last saw David. "How was London?"

"It was great. We loved it there, but of course it was too far away for Ashley and the boys. So we've decided to move back," David explained. They sat down opposite each other, Colton behind his desk and David in the chair opposite it.

"So what are you going to be doing here then?" Colton asked twirling a pen between his fingers.

"I was hoping to talk to you about it actually," David began hesitantly. He grabbed some papers from his briefcase and put them on Colton's desk. Colton nodded for him to continue as he grabbed the papers to look through. "I was thinking of starting my own firm and since we are family, I was hoping you could financially back it until I get back up on my feet." Colton looked through the papers and nodded as he looked through them.

"I already have a design floor. Gabriella runs it," Colton said to him.

"Yes, I know. But you don't have your own architecture firm, and aren't you building and designing a bunch of new hotels?" David said smiling.

"Most of them have already been designed and Gabriella is essentially my architect," Colton said. He could see the light leaving David's eyes and realized he needed to do something that could help him out. "I mean I'm sure she needs another architect who actually knows what they are doing. I could talk to her about it." David nodded slowly and Colton could tell his attempt to help David wasn't working. "I'll have to think about the firm. Give me a couple of days to go through everything." David smiled and stood excitedly.

"Thanks Colton . This really means a lot," he said happily. Colton stood up and shook David's hand and walked him out of the office building. He said goodbye and walked back to the elevator. What was he going to do with another architect? He didn't need a firm, but it could be good for business. He knew he needed to talk to Gabriella about it. He stopped the elevator on her floor and got out. He walked swiftly to her office and burst in without knocking. She was standing by her desk talking on the phone and frowned at him. She motioned for him to come and sit down and he obliged.

"What do I owe the pleasure?" She asked as she hung up her phone an walked around her desk to her chair.

"I need to ask you something," Colton said moving his chair closer to her desk and leaning on it. She nodded for him to continue and he did, "my brother-in-law is an architect and he wants to start his own firm with the backing of my company. What do you think about that?" Gabriella stared at him for a long time before she answered him.

"I thought I was your architect. Is he replacing me?" She asked looking concerned.

"What no, I'm not replacing you. I could never replace you. I'm just asking you if it would be a good idea to invest in his firm or to hire him on here and he works under you. Or just to say no," Colton said trying to explain it better to her.

"I mean if you hired him on here, I would be his superior. Obviously," Gabriella said standing up and pacing around the room. Colton nodded at her last remark; he would never demote Gabriella. "I run everything here and sometimes all the projects we get can be overwhelming, so maybe if we had like an outside firm doing some extra work for us we could get more done." Colton nodded and leaned back in his chair while he thought about it. David is smart and knows what he is doing.

"His new firm could help out the company and we could design more hotels faster and then have them built faster," Colton said rubbing his chin. Gabriella nodded and sat on the edge of her desk in front of Colton. "I like it! Good thinking Gab, I'll call him and invite him in for a meeting tomorrow morning."

"Glad I could help," she said smiling. "So will I be overseeing the management of this company?" Colton could see the gleam in her eye; she did deserve a raise.

"I'll see what I can do," he said smiling at her as he stood up. He left her office and began dialing David's number.

"Hello?" David said on the other line.

"Hey, it's Colton. Would you be able to come in tomorrow morning for a meeting?" He asked as he walked into the elevator.

"Yes! I will be there for 9! He said excitedly.

"Good, see you then," Colton said before hanging up and walking back into his office.

When Colton arrived home later that night he could tell someone had been cooking. It smelt delicious; the aroma of steak sauce was swimming around him and his mouth began to water when he smelt the garlic potatoes.

"Oh my God, this smells delicious," he said has he walked into the kitchen. Kayla was standing behind the stove mashing the potatoes and smiled as he came in. She knew if she cooked one of his favorite meals she would be able to convince him to invest in David's firm.

"I knew you would love it," she said smiling as she walked around the counter to give him a kiss.

"Is it just is for dinner?" Colton asked looking around for his sister and his brother.

"Yup, Byron hasn't been here since this afternoon and your sister left early this morning and I haven't seen or talked to her since," she said staring down at the potatoes in the pot as she continued to mash them. Colton could see the little gleam in her eyes as she said the last part.

"That's great. It's been awhile since the two of us have had dinner," he said loosening his tie and pulling plates down from the cabinets. Colton silently set up the table, poured wine and lit the candles in the middle of the table.

"Well this is romantic," Kayla said surprised as she walked in a few minutes later with both of their plates.

"Anything for you, babe," Colton said staring lovingly at his wife. She put the plates down and they both sat.

"Are you excited for school on Monday?" Colton asked as he began to cut his meat.

"Yes! I cannot wait to go back," she said excitedly. Colton knew how much she missed the classes and the routine, and he also knew she couldn't wait to get away from his sister. "So I wanted to talk to you about something." Colton nodded as he wiped his face with his napkin.

"So that's why you made me one of my favorite meals. You're buttering me up for something," Colton said jokingly. Kayla smiled at him and punched him in the arm. He laughed and motioned for her to continue.

"Ashley mentioned to me today that David wants to start his own firm," Kayla started as she looked up at him. Colton smiled and nodded and she continued, "And I was wondering if you would think about financially investing in his company."

"Are we talking business at the dinner table?" Colton asked jokingly. Kayla punched him again. "I've already decided to invest I just have to tell him tomorrow." Colton continued to cut his meat and not look at Kayla.

"Wait. What? You already knew?" She asked confused and surprised.

"Yeah David came to the office today for a meeting and asked and I told him I would think about it," Colton said shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

"And I went through this big dinner so you would say yes and you already have! You could have let me know," Kayla said jokingly. Colton just smiled at her and continued to eat. They continued to eat their dinner in silence stealing little glances at each other. When they finished they brought the dishes to the kitchen and began to clean up.

"Woo, smells good in here," Giovanna said in her shrilly voice as she came into the kitchen holding a black bag.

"Kayla made dinner for me," Colton said beaming at her and kissed her cheek. "What's in the bag?"

"Sushi," she said simply lifting the bag onto the counter.

"Oh that's nice," Kayla said looking in the bag and grabbing the container. She opened the container and went to grab a roll when a flood of nausea hit her. She immediately dropped the roll and put her hand to her mouth.

"You okay babe?" Colton asked looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just gotta go to the bathroom," Kayla said as she grabbed her stomach and walked to the bathroom. Kayla quickly ran to the bathroom and made it just in time to throw up in the toilet. Kayla could hear someone walking around the room and tried to shut the door.

"I'm fine Colton. Don't worry," she managed to sputter out before another batch of vomit came.

"Are you sure your okay?" Giovanna asked as she walked into the bathroom, shut the door, and rubbed her back. Kayla was shocked at her kindness.

"Yeah I'm fine," Kayla said sitting down and wiping her face. Giovanna grabbed a face cloth and gave it to Kayla to wash her face. Kayla smiled weakly and washed her face.

"Why do you think you got sick?" Giovanna asked. Kayla could tell there was something else behind the question but she couldn't figure it out.

"I don't know," she said holding the face cloth to the back of her neck.

"You're pregnant," Giovanna said simply as she got up to leave.

"What? No? How would you know?" Kayla asked confused and scared.

"You've been incredibly irritable the past few days and you just puked after smelling seafood," Giovanna said raising her eyebrows. Giovanna walked out and left Kayla to her thoughts. Pregnant? How could she be pregnant? She and Colton couldn't raise a baby together right now. Her head began to swirl and she threw up again. Kayla leaned up against the wall and closed her eyes. Colton walked in a few minutes later, still in his suit, and stared down at her.

"Are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know I guess something didn't agree with me," Kayla said trying to avoid his eyes. She attempted to stand up but her body was too weak so Colton bent down and picked her up and carried her up to their room. He gently put her on the bed and she got undressed slowly before getting into bed. Colton took his suit off and changed and climbed in beside her.

"I'm just going to kiss your forehead instead of your mouth if that's okay," Colton said smiling and kissing her forehead. Kayla smiled weakly and closed her eyes as his lips lingered on her skin. He lay there staring at her and she rolled over into his body and pulled his arm over her body. Colton fell asleep immediately and Kayla lay there, eyes wide open, thinking about her potential pregnancy. Her stomach gurgled and she instinctively held onto it. Tears began streaming down her face and she closed her eyes to try and sleep.