Til Debt Do Us Part (Married At Midnight #4)

Chapter 28

Twenty-Eight

Dare

T he next morning, I stroll into the kitchen, with two white-coated doctors following discreetly. Talia looks up from her breakfast, which appears to be a piece of dry toast. She looks at the doctors flanking me and swallows, wiping away the crumbs and depositing the rest of the toast in the kitchen sink.

"Talia, this is Dr. Smith and Dr. Nathan. These ladies are here to give you an exam."

"What kind of exam?" She asks, pulling at the hem of her tight white dress.

Dr. Nathan sets forward, smiling professionally. She is a very diligent OB/GYN that was recommended to me for her discretion.

She gives Talia a warm smile and extends a hand, ushering Talia toward the formerly empty room. "I’m a gynecologist and obstetrician. So is my colleague. We have brought in all the necessary items to give you your first ultrasound in the privacy of your own home."

Talia’s eyebrows fly up. She glances at me nervously, but Dr. Nathan puts an arm around her, reassuring her. "Don’t worry. We will provide you with not only discretion but also top-quality care. We are just going to take a peek inside and then draw some blood. Talk about what you’re eating, what could help the baby. Just some basic things."

I follow the women to the door of the once-bare room. There is a pause, and Dr. Nathan turns around, looking me up and down.

"Talia, do you mind if Mr. Morgan is in the room?"

“I do, absolutely. He definitely can’t be in the room for any of this."

I cock my head. "What? What about the birth? I need to be there. What will people think?"

Without hesitating, Dr. Nathan’s palm stops at my chest as I stride toward the doorway. She gives me a polite smile. "Mr. Morgan, I think your fiancée would really appreciate some time to herself. We have months until she is due to give birth, so I suggest that you don’t push things today. Is that okay?"

She asks me as if I can say no. But I realize that making a fuss right now will make me look like an asshole. I scrunch up my face and shrug. "How long will you need?"

"It depends. Approximately half an hour. If you want to come back to the doorway around then, we should have some sonogram pictures for you, if you want."

I make a face. "Yeah, all right. I will find somewhere else to be while you’re doing the exam, I guess."

"Thank you." I look past her at Dr. Smith and Talia, who are currently talking quietly while Talia steps onto a scale. Dr. Nathan closes the door, and I clench my fists.

I want to be present for everything, mostly because the only way I can be absolutely sure that no one pulls the wool over my eyes is to see it myself. But seeing as how that is not an option, I turn away and head toward the kitchen. I feel a buzzing in my pocket, and I pull out my cell phone to see that Burn is calling me.

I’m not exactly sure when Burn last contacted me by phone, but I’m certainly curious. I pick up the phone.

"Burn."

"Dare. I am downstairs."

I glance toward the elevator, the phone is still pressed against my ear. "Downstairs where?"

"At your new loft apartment, apparently. The fucking doorman that you’ve installed at your building won’t let me up even though we are twins. Something about how, if you wanted me to visit, you would have put me on a guest list or something."

I purse my lips. Glancing over my shoulder toward the back of the apartment, I weigh the pros and cons of having Burn in the apartment. It’s too risky while Talia is just out of sight with the doctors attending to her. Something cold slides through my gut, and I clench my teeth.

"Dare? Are you going to be a normal human being and let me up?"

"No," I say finally. "I’ll be down in a minute. Don’t go anywhere."

I take the emergency stairs just beside the elevator, and I hit the ground floor in about a minute. Pushing out of the steel door, I see Dante, the doorman, standing beside my twin brother Burn. Dante raises an eyebrow, but I wave him off.

"He’s fine. He probably won’t be visiting again, will you, Burn?"

Burns lips thin but he gives me a cool smile. "We will see."

He pulls a white rectangle of paper from inside his suit's jacket pocket and smirks at me as he hands it over. It’s heavier than I anticipated when I take the card stock from him, glancing at it. "Save the date," it proclaims. Burn and Daisy's wedding date is listed as two months from today at the bottom.

I look up at Burn, my eyes narrowing on his face. He lifts his chin, flicking his hair out of his face, and smiles.

"Well? Are you going to congratulate me?"

I purse my lips, reminding myself to control my expression. I give him a pleasant smile and a raucous clap on the shoulder.

"Congratulations."

He brushes off his shoulder and gives me a little glare. "Thanks, I guess."

If I am being completely honest, I am not even listening to the words coming out of his mouth at this moment. I'm trying to figure out if I can move my wedding date closer to my twin’s as a kind of fuck you.

"I want the whole ceremony to be at the Manhattan Four Seasons. But Remy made a strong argument for having our wedding at the Morgan estate. Daisy says she doesn’t care, so I had to give in to Remy’s demands."

I look my brother up and down, trying to pretend to be unimpressed. "Is that it? Did you just drop by to taunt me with your save the date?"

Burn looks past me at the elevator, squinting. "No. In fact, I came to ask who you are holed up in here with. If it’s some sleazy hooker, that’s one thing. I can just go. But if it’s someone else, I sure would like to know who."

I half a laugh. "Don’t worry about her. It’s none of your concern."

He arches his brow. "So it is someone, then? I’m assuming that it isn’t just a prostitute. Or are you so desperate that you are trying to pull off a pretty woman?"

"You’re an idiot. You know that right?"

I sneer. “We’ve got the same DNA, so if I'm an idiot, so are you."

“Then I am going to tell Remy that you are traipsing around with some hooker, telling her that you are going to marry her. If he finds out that you have paid for a wife..."

I cut Burn off. "Remy is a true capitalist. He would probably love me more for it if that were the case. But, and I cannot emphasize this enough, it is not. I have a girlfriend upstairs, and she has never been a prostitute in her life."

"Sure." His skeptical gaze rakes over me. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Yeah, yeah. You’re just upset because I am making gains against you in this inheritance race."

"Ha. You wish. You’ll win the inheritance race over my dead fucking body."

I lean closer, licking a canine tooth. "That can certainly be arranged, brother."

Burn growls at me, but I just look at my watch and shrug. “Well, this has been fun. But I have to get back upstairs and fuck my girlfriend, so…”

I stalk over to the elevator doors, pressing the button to call the elevator down. The doors open, and I give Burn a little wave. He flips me off and I hear his threat as I disappear inside the elevator.

"You’ll never win. Just give up now. Morgan Drilling will be mine."

The doors sink shut, and I wait until the elevator starts to ascend before unleashing my fury by pounding my arm against the nearest wall five times. It doesn’t hurt the elevator, but it definitely leaves all my nerves jangling. Who does Burn think he is?

Now I will be forced to make some serious moves. Specifically, I need to marry Talia before I visit my family tomorrow to make the announcement.

I whip out my phone and start texting Rob. When I get back upstairs, I busy myself with arranging for a justice of the peace to come to the loft today. Then I look at the save-the-date card again and text Rob a picture of it, asking for him to make an almost exact copy of it with my name and Talia’s name and to put the wedding date as two weeks from today. That should take the wind out of Burn’s sails and cripple his announcement.

When I get done with that, Talia is finished with her appointment. She’s standing in the living room with the two doctors, smiling at them. Something in me tightens and I move forward, wondering why their appointment was so brief. Is there something wrong with the baby?

"What happened?” I demand. “Is everything okay?"

The three women turn around, their expressions collectively positive.

"Everything is fine." Dr. Nathan smiles and puts her hands behind her back, clasping them as she talks to me. "We were able to get several sonogram pictures and have a good look at your baby. It looks healthy. About eight and a half weeks old, in my estimation."

I release the breath that I didn’t even know I was holding in until just now. "Oh. Okay."

Talia smiles at me and offers me one of the square black-and-white photos that show her body against a grainy gray background, contrasting with the small, clear circle of her womb. The circle is a blob, with the larger blob being the one that I make out as the head. I squint and take the picture from her as she examines the first photo of the golden child. This baby is worth a giant fortune, and just seeing it makes my heartbeat speed up.

“What about the sex?” I ask, unable to take my eyes off the sonogram image.

My gaze slides to Talia, who is gazing at the picture and clasping her hands around her abdomen. "Did you find out already?"

She shakes her head. "Not yet. Dr. Nathan says that we have to wait a little while until the baby is eleven weeks old. ”

My heart hammers. I struggle to keep a neutral expression because I am not sure what emotion will burst free if I allow myself to react.

"I want to know."

I hand the little photo back to Talia, who grasps it thankfully. She can’t tear her eyes away from it. I can see that Talia is creating life right now as we stand here, and that’s pretty impressive.

"Talia," I say, she looks up and I give her a serious look. "Do you want to know the sex?"

She nods, looking at Dr. Nathan. Dr. Nathan gives us both a long look.

“Good things come to those that wait.” Dr. Nathan smiles at us and says, "Congratulations on your healthy baby, though.”

Talia reaches out and grips my arm, beaming at the doctor. I’m not sure whether she is acting for the doctor's benefit or not, but I think that she’s too overwhelmed to fake any emotions right now.

“Thanks,” Talia says, sniffling. “You were very helpful.”

Talia blots out her eyes again, and I feel a bit like a robot. Perhaps I should feel something, some stirring in my chest, but all life is a strange numbness.

I’m stiff as I address the medical professionals. "If that’s all, doctors. You’ll excuse us. We have a meeting with the justice of the peace that we should get ready for."

"You’re getting married today?" Dr. Nathan asks. "Wow, it seems like all kinds of congratulations are in order."

Talia screws up her face and looks at me. "We are?"

"Thank you, doctors." I jerk my head toward the elevator and they are quick enough to leave. Once the doors shut behind them and I hear the elevator grind to life, I arch a brow.

"Burn stopped by to give me this." Fishing the save-the-date out of my pocket, I hand it to her. She takes it and frowns, but doesn’t say whatever she is thinking.

"But what does that have to do with us?"

"I am in a race against the clock to beat my brother when it comes to starting a family. If he sets his wedding date for two months from now, I have to do everything in my power to beat that. So we will be married by the justice of the peace right now with a wedding ceremony to follow in the coming weeks."

She nods slowly, absorbing my information. "I see. Gosh, it’s all just going by so quickly. I only accepted your proposal on Friday and yet here we are, getting married on Monday. It’s a lot to take in."

"Yeah, well. If I have to, I will do nearly anything if it puts a crimp in Burn’s style. I already texted Rob about how we need to go all out with the wedding ceremony in only two weeks’ time. He is frantically getting all the arrangements made."

Talia is looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Is this a normal thing to do for people in your family? Not planning your own wedding but to have it planned for you?"

I shrug and check my watch. "Who knows? I’m not really interested in how other people go about planning a wedding. If it’s not obvious, I am as emotionally invested in this wedding as I am in who the upcoming contestants on The Bachelor will be. That is to say, I don’t care at all."

"Not even for show?"

"Sure. But that can be arranged by Rob. Trust me, he will ensure that every last detail of our sham wedding is perfect. Now, if you are ready, I think we should be expecting the justice of the peace to walk through those doors at any moment."

Right as I say that, I hear the elevator humming to life, the car rising to our floor. Talia licks her lips and straightens her dress, her lips twisting.

"Should I change?" She looks down at her dress, her expression disapproving. "I’m not really in wedding attire."

"Why would you need to do that?" I ask. I start walking toward the elevator. "I’m having the justice sign a non-disclosure agreement. You’re fine the way you are. We're just going to do this as quickly as possible. No muss, no fuss. We’re just saying the right words so that the justice will fill out a form, more or less."

Her lips twist but she just shrugs. "Okay. Whatever you say."

"That’s a good girl," I say with a smirk. "Now let’s go greet the justice."