Chapter 21

'We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today. - Dale Carnegie. Dominic could not believe it. When had this happened? The women in his life were all ganging up to conspire against him and the revelation was so shocking that all he could do was laugh at himself. He should have been angry but he could not help but feel impressed. "Alice?" He looked up at his wife who was still perched on the arm of his seat. "Sorry darling." She said as smiled back at him. "Some things really can't be help." She said quite naughtily, cradling her now obvious pregnancy even as she winked down at him. "If it helps, blame it on the hormones." She suddenly laughed and all he could do was let out a sigh. Of course, she would say that. He suddenly laughed. She was virtually untouchable now that she was carrying his child. "I won't even bother to ask you." He turned to his mother who was seated across from him. "Though, what I am wondering is this, what are you planning to achieve with this move?" "You are stubborn as ever." The old woman told him. "Why won't you just call her and apologise first, then we can go on from there?" "You forget that she was the one who walked away! I didn't chase her away, so I have nothing to apologise for." "Well then. You leave me with no other choice." "And that is supposed to somehow scary?" "It should be." She said smiled. Her hand lifted from her lap producing a file that until had remained hidden. "I am stepping down from the board. Now, you either get your act together or there will be no company to run without Katrina." "You wouldn't." "I can and I already have." She said as she got up from her seat. "In fact you will find all the details there. Alice can explain it to you, but you understand. Now get that phone and call her. I do not care if it is going to be as your daughter or as your partner. Just make it that call!" The man huffed as he reached out for his phone to do what he had been told. "You should know mother. I do not appreciate this blackmail." "And like I told Katrina, if it keeps the family together then I really don't care what you think about it. I am an old woman Dominic and my joy is in seeing my family together." The man huffed but went ahead to do as he had been told. His mother owned the controlling shares of Maracheli industries and he didn't even want to think what she had written in this new folder. As always, he found Katrina's number on speed dial and went ahead to call her. The woman around him stood still as he made to call her, but after several rings, his call still went unanswered. Was she still that mad at him or had something happened? He gave his mother a look knowing fully well that Katrina had never been one me to ignore his calls. "She is not answering." "Then you keep trying," the old woman smiled as if she was aware of something that he was not. "If that doesn't work, you can always drive down to the capital and have a word with her. Oh, wait! You do have a chopper!" "You are not being serious!" "Why? Because the great Dominic Maracheli cannot humble himself for the sake of his only daughter?" He looked to his wife for help. "It's actually a boy." She smiled at him despite promising to keep the gender of their child a secret as punishment to him for having missed one of their sessions. He gave her look, not sure, whether to be elated by the news or to strangle her for playing with him when she knew what it was that he wanted at that particular point. "Oh that?" She suddenly feigned enlightenment and he could only huff in return. "She is probably at the clinic right now." She smiled as she finally reassured him. "How far along is she now? Six, seven months, eight months pregnant?" She patted at her belly for added effect. "Why are you two ganging up on me?" He suddenly frowned. It had been that long since he had last seen his only daughter? Had four months already gone by and he had not noticed it? Sure, his people updated him on her status every day, but it was not the same as actually seeing her and talking to her. He missed her and as the two women looked at him pitifully, he knew what it was that he had to do. He picked up the phone and dialed her cellphone again. Her cellphone went unanswered and then he tried her new home phone. That too went unanswered and he found himself worrying as he searched his directory for his son's in-law personal number. Finding it, he dialed it, and thankfully, the man picked up his call on the first ring. "Hallo?" "Ryan! Thank goodness you picked?" He breathed out not caring how it sounded to him. "Uhm...is everything okay?" "Is it?" Ryan furrowed his brows as Katrina mouthed at him from the doctor's table. "Who is it?" She asked. "Your father!" He whispered back and had the pleasure of seeing the shocked expression that was now on her face. "A moment please, let me go out and take this." He covered the mouthpiece as he directed his words to his wife and their doctor, before walking out into the corridor to speak to her worried father who even then was still rumbling. "Is Katrina okay? Why is she not picking up my calls? Ryan? Ryan!" "Sorry, I had to move away." He said as he moved out to the hallway. "Move away from what?" His father-in-law insisted. "She is seeing the doctor so-" "Is she okay?" "She is. It's just a routine check up." He smiled, pitying her old man for all his worrying. "She is okay Dominic." He reassured him again. Unlike his father, he knew that this man cared for his daughter and despite their little fight that had been dragging on for ages, these two missed even though their pride made it seem like they didn't. "Good, I tried to call her and..." "She was not available? Well she can't get to her phone right now, but I will tell her that you called." "No, don't do that." He said as he thought of how it would suddenly look. Ryan wanted to tell him that she was going to find out about it either way, but what her old man told him next had him surprised as well. "No, don't. I will come to see her myself. Have a good day Ryan." With that, the man hang up the phone and returned to his wife and his mother who was grinning at him with smiles that could only be referred to as wide. "Well?" "So you are now going to see her?" His mother completed his wife's sentence. "It seems that way." "Then, I will come with you?" He looked at her distended belly. "No...you should rest." "Really and who is going to keep Ryan busy as you get to talk to her?" "He can-" "Darling, I am sure you know that they are back together now and I need to stretch this tired legs of mine." "So I guess that is decided. His mother smiled even as his wife finished harassing him. "I will have the car brought around so that the two of you can leave right away. I will also call the housekeeper and tell her to prep the penthouse for your stay." With that, she left leaving the couple and Alice smiling quite wickedly at her husband who was at loss for what to say. "So?" Katrina looked to her husband with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "What did he say?" "Guy talk." The man smiled back at her even as he refused to open up to her concerning the details of his chat with her father. "Guy talk?" she glowered back at him. "Are you kidding me right now?" She started to rise with knitted eyebrows, but a firm grip on her hand stopped her in her tracks even as the doctor pointed to the gel that was still visible on the skin of her tummy. With a resigned look, she relented and allowed the doctor to help her back onto the table. "It's nothing." he smiled amused by her failed efforts. "I am sure though, you will soon find out all about it." With a murderous glint in her eyes, Katrina turned to glare at her husband, a look that he returned with an even brighter smile of his own. His reaction irked her so much that she found herself grounding her teeth in her frustration. However, the man only laughed at her seemingly amused by her act of aversion. "You are quite adorable when you do that, you know." "And that is supposed to make me feel better?" "I surely know of another thing that could." The doctor cleared her throat and Katrina looked away in embarrassment. "I will get you for this Ryan!" She threatened even as the man tittered with laughter and the doctor cleared her throat again. "What?" Katrina turned to the obstetrician with a hint of annoyance in her eyes. "I wouldn't advice it." the doctor told her. "You are almost to your eighth month and such violent acts could easily result in early labour." "Violent acts?" her brows knitted up once again even as Ryan burst out in loud laughter. "I mean...I didn't mean...Ah I meant beating him up." "I know." The doctor smiled. "I was listening. Anyway we are done here for today. So, see you in...two weeks? Of course you can always call me or come in if you have any concern about the pregnancy. My doors will always be open to the two of you." She smiled again as Katrina dropped down her shirt and sat up from the table with the help of the doctor. "Thank you doc. Thank you for taking care of her and our little girl." Ryan said as he took up Katrina's bag and assisted her with coming down from the examination table. "We'll see you in a fortnight." he confirmed even as he moved to hold the door open as he waited on Katrina. After thanking the doctor for her care, Katrina walked out ahead of Ryan beaming at the results of the sonogram, and to celebrate, they decided to go out for dinner. There they discussed the coming labor and the delivery and the options that the doctor had outlined. To Ryan as with all other things that baby, this was a very important and necessary task that had to be done, but for Katrina, the entire process appalled her and she would have preferred it if they had laid off the entire topic and fast-forwarded to the future, to the part where the ordeal was over and done with and she was holding their newborn daughter in her arms. "A natural or ceaserian birth?" Ryan questioned her, as he looked over the sheets and ticked off the right information. "Do I have to? " She whined and he lifted an eyebrow to gaze at her. "Fine! I am not sure. I am kind of afraid of the pain that comes with the natural way and then there is the scar issue that comes with a ceaserian birth." "But I hear that the latter is not always guaranteed." "What do you mean?" her brows knitted together. "The scar?" He nodded. "If they do a bikini line cut then the scaring is sure to be minimal." "And how do you know all that?" She questioned him. "I read." He replied and Katrina wondered when. Between his painting, helping her around the house, and attending to her, it normally left the man with very little time to do anything else but sleep that is, and yet, here he was telling her how he had read it? "I am worried about being a good father so I am always trying to read up on various topics." He further explained and to put it simply, Katrina was very impressed. To think that he cared so much about being a good father? For the first time, she found herself feeling sorry for him, for the chance that he had missed with his other child. No wonder he had been working so hard to make up for it. If anything, what this was telling her was that the man was truly serious and that he was changing for the better. "What of the Natural delivery options?" "You can either go natural-" "But natural is natural?" Ryan smiled knowing fully well that she was being difficult intentionally. "Without an epidural that is or you can go with the other option." "Which is?" " A water birth?" She rolled her eyes at that as he laughed at the pun that he had just made. "But seriously a water birth." he retaliated. "Listen to this, apparently if we tick that option, I am allowed to be with you inside the tub as you give birth." "That can only happen if you are my chosen delivering partner." "But I thought that was settled?" The man suddenly grew serious unaware that he was being toyed with. "That important huh? This is going to be fun." she smiled inwardly before saying. "I do not remember asking you or even you asking me for that matter." "Really?" He gave her the stink eye and she had to struggle hard to hold in her laughter in order not to smile and give herself away. "Okay, then." He said as he went down to his knees. "Katrina Dienda Maracheli, will you do me the honour of becoming your birthing partner?" Katrina looked around and panicked. What was he doing? She fretted already regretting playing such a mean trick on the shameless man. Was he trying to get the attention of everyone within the restaurant? "Come on, get to your feet. This is embarrassing." She hissed even as she tried to pull him back to his chair to no avail. "Nope. Not until I get an answer from you." "Come on." She groaned, looking around worriedly at the attention his actions were now garnering. "Ryan..." She whined. "No. Not until you say it." "Fine!" She agreed even as she pulled him up by his jacket lapels, already regretting the move as the people in the restaurant had begun to clap and cheer them on. "Look at what you have done." She scolded and he laughed at the embarrassed look that was now burning on her face. "It's all your fault for trying to toy with me." "You knew?" She gaped back at him. "Of course I did. It is so easy to read you especially when you are trying so hard not to out yourself." "How did you know?" "You have this small dimple over here that appears when you are trying too hard to suppress your laughter." he said pointing to the small notch that was below her nose. "Not fair." Katrina pouted. "Okay, come on, I will make it up to you once we are done with this. Now where were we? Right. water birth." he said Ashe went back to the list. "Do we have to do that now?" He gave her a look. "Fine. I want an epidural and no, no water births." "Why when it is so cleansing? I hear it is also very relaxing." "Keep on playing around and I will go for that planned CS and then we will see how well you will assist me in doing that." That shut him up for the moment, but it did not stop him from making more fun of her even as they discussed the hospital bag and came up with the least of things that they still needed for the nursery.