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Sondra put a comforting hand on his forearm. His revelations were earth-shattering to him, and though she had already known, she could still sympathize with his position. After his full support and complete faith in her, she could be generous. “Why don’t you both take a break from each other for a bit to calm down and reassess? You don’t want to say anything you’ll regret to each other.”
Jake scoffed. “I won’t regret telling her to go away and not come back.”
She put her finger on his lips before he could say anything else. “Wait until you aren’t so raw, love.”
After a moment, he nodded. Jake didn’t quite look at his mother when he spoke to her again. “You need to leave now, Mother. I can’t promise I’ll get over this, or that I’ll even try, but every second I have to look at you makes it that more certain I won’t.”
With a small sob, Whitney reached for her son. “Please, Wallace, you have to understand my position.”
“I understand you’re a narrow-minded bigot with a small definition of who is good enough for your family name. You don’t respect the woman I love, and you don’t give a damn about our child. I know everything I need to right now. Get out.” He barked the last two words so harshly she jumped and scrambled for the front door.
Sondra gasped when Whitney slapped her as she stormed by. Cradling her stinging cheek, she glared at the woman.
“This is all your fault, but he’ll soon realize he’s been a target for money. As soon as a DNA test reveals that bastard isn’t a Jacobi, you’ll be out of his life.” Whitney crowed with satisfaction.
“There won’t be a DNA test.” Jake was suddenly behind her, his arm slipping around her waist. “This is my baby and my woman. You’re the one who will be out of my life if you can’t find a way to get past your own prejudices, Mother.”
With a huff, she stomped across the threshold, her heels tapping on the marble flooring as she moved farther down the hallway.
Sondra turned to Jake cautiously, not sure how to proceed. Gloating that she had been right held no appeal, but neither did minimizing the horror that was his mother. In the end, she just folded him into her arms in a tight hug. “I love you, Jake.”
He held her, his embrace almost crushing for a long moment. When he lifted his head, he stared deep into her eyes. “I love you too, Sondra, and I want you to marry me.”
She stilled at the unexpected proposal. “What?”
Looking earnest, he reached into his pocket. “You know I should be at the Nagato meeting right now?”
Reflexively, she glanced at the clock and gasped. “My god, Jake, he’s been waiting for you almost an hour.”
He nodded. “He can keep waiting.”
She shook her head. “But why? Why would you risk your merger?”
“I was sitting in my office thinking about you when I realized I had been an ass. We parted badly yesterday, and I didn’t have a chance to give you what I had planned to last night.” He opened his palm to reveal a small velvet box.
Sondra wanted to tell him to stop when he opened the clamshell style, but her vocal cords were paralyzed. Only a strangled gasp escaped her at the sight of the huge solitaire diamond on its snowy white bed of velvet. “Jake, it’s too much. Too soon…”
He kept holding out the box, his palm never wavering. “Do you love me?”
She looked away from the diamond to meet his gaze. “You know I do.”
“Do you believe I love you?”
She nodded without hesitation.
“Then what’s the problem? Why wait, Sondra?”
She nibbled on her lip. “Everyone will think it’s only because of the baby. Your people will be horrified.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe some of them will, but if they don’t accept you, they aren’t my people.” Taking a step closer, he kept the ring extended while putting his other hand on her shoulder. “I was an ass yesterday, love. I’m sorry.”
She nodded. “I know, but it’s true. Your social circle isn’t mine. I don’t belong in your world.”
“You are my world.” Moving his hand from her shoulder, he cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “The rest of it can go to hell. WWJ can crumble to the ground. My mother can disappear from my life. The Nagato merger can disintegrate, and I won’t care as long as you’re with me. You are the only thing in this world I can’t live without, Sondra.”
Tears blurred her vision, and no amount of blinking would keep some of them from falling. A few streaked down her cheeks, and she reached up to wipe them away, but somehow found herself reaching for the ring box instead. It was warm in her hands, but she didn’t take it out of its bed. “You might be sorry if I accept this. Someday, you might wake up and realize you made a mistake.”
“Love isn’t a mistake, Sondra. I think I loved you from the moment I saw you, and definitely by the time I’d made love to you.” He grinned, looking unrepentant. “I was thrilled to find out you were pregnant. It was another way to keep you. Didn’t you realize how desperate I was to be with you?”
She tilted her head slightly. “Well, I do sort of remember threats of legal consequences if I didn’t give thirty days’ notice.”
He nodded, looking a bit sheepish. “I was grasping for straws at that point. I could sense you slipping away from me, and it was killing me. I will never regret having you or holding onto you, Sondra. Unless you think you’ll be sorry for agreeing, or you don’t really love me, then say yes and be my wife.”
Was it her own hesitation holding her back? Sondra considered it, but almost immediately discarded the idea. She knew instinctively that she loved Jake and always would. It might have taken her too long to reach that epiphany, but now that she had, she was going to cling to him as tightly as she could. “Yes, oh, yes, Jake.” Her hands trembled when she tried to extract the ring.
He liberated it from the case and slid it on her finger. “A perfect fit.”
She nodded, overcome by the simple sign of the rightness of their union. They were clearly meant to be.
EPILOGUE
They were married twenty-four hours later at a small chapel in Las Vegas. It wasn’t an attempt to avoid scandal that prompted the private ceremony with only Dani and Mae as their witnesses. They simply couldn’t stand not to be married for even another day.
Two months later, they found out their little boy was actually a little girl, but that was fine. They were thrilled and set about designing a disgustingly frilly pink explosion for their princess.
There were articles in the various papers, some especially unflatterin
g about him marrying down, or speculating about how a black woman with a humble background had captured a billionaire’s attention. They ignored the speculation, which intensified a bit later when her pregnancy was obvious to everyone. There was nastiness and shared looks of satisfaction from those who had speculated she was expecting.
It stung, but was little more than a blip on their radar. They were too involved with each other and living their life together to care what other people thought.
Three weeks before her due date, and after twenty hours of natural childbirth, Sondra pushed an eight-pound baby girl into the world. She screamed for a second before calming down when Jake held her for the first time.
“She’s going to be a Daddy’s girl,” said Sondra with a tired smile.
He shook his head, almost cooing his response as his gaze never wavered from Sasha Elizabeth Jacobi. “No, she’s going to be just like her mother and have me wrapped around her finger in no time.”
Sondra smiled again when Sasha took her father’s finger in her tiny fist. Her pale brown shade was a perfect mix of both their skin tones. She had curly black hair like Sondra, and Jake’s lighter shade of brown eyes. She was a harmonious blend of the best of both of them, and she already loved her fiercely. “Don’t worry, because I’ll be right there with you, completely bent to her will.”
They shared an indulgent chuckle that was interrupted by a tentative knock at the door. Sondra stiffened with surprise at the sight of Whitney Jacobi—a much different Whitney than she remembered. The artful blonde dye job was gone, and the natural streaks of gray in her dark hair were more flattering.
She was dressed simply, looking like anyone off the street rather than the fashion plate she had been before. The older woman also looked nervous as she took a couple of steps into the room. “Hello, Sondra. Jake.”
Her husband stiffened in obvious surprise at the use of his nickname. “Mother.” His tone was cautious, bordering on cold.
She winced. “I hope you’ll allow me to see your child?”
