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She breathed in deeply for the first time in what felt to her like ages, and the stress and strain of all the weeks leading up to that moment washed away from her. “Thank you…” she gasped as she held her hand to her heart. “You’ve changed everything for us. Thank you so much.”
He nodded and looked at her kindly. “I think this is worth holding on to, just a little bit longer,” he told her with a wink.
“You reminded me so much of your father just now… in making the offer to give us another month… in what you just said, and in the way you look now. I think that he would be so proud of you, and of what you’ve done. You certainly didn’t have to do it, but you did, and it’s going to make such a difference in all of our lives. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
She rose up from her seat and walked around the desk to him. He stood up and reached for her hand, but Naomi was too overwhelmed with emotion to shake his hand. She reached her arms around him and hugged him tight, doing her best not to cry in his arms.
He hugged her back for a long moment and then let her go. “I’m glad to do it,” he told her with a grin. “I feel like there’s a good chance that we’ll be seeing quite a bit of each other in the future, and for a long time to come,” he looked over toward Malaika’s desk meaningfully, “and I protect my assets, always.”
Naomi realized that he meant that things were much more serious between him and Malaika than she had realized, and she thought to herself that if it made Malaika happy, then it made her happy, too. “I wish you all the best luck in the world, Reggie. You and Malaika.”
“I wish the same for you,” he replied, and then he walked out of the building, and Naomi nearly collapsed in her chair as tears of joy spilled over her thick eyelashes and down her dark cheeks.
Keisha hung up the phone and looked at her in surprise. “What did I miss? What just happened? Are you okay? Do we have to leave? We have to leave, don’t we…” she trailed off sadly.
Naomi shook her head. “No honey, we never have to leave. He gave us another month. We’re going to be able to buy this place, and it’s going to be ours forever. We will always be here.” She looked around her at her office, and it suddenly felt different to her; it felt like home.
She didn’t know what her future with Scott held, but it didn’t matter. Whether he was in her life or not, she was going to have financial stability, and she was going to be able to take care of herself and her baby, no matter what. She placed her hand on her belly and smiled to herself.
“We’re going to be okay, little one. We are going to be just fine. Mama has you well cared for.” And she sat back down and tried to focus on the work in front of her.
When Keisha was getting ready to leave that evening, she had shut her computer down and told Naomi goodbye, pausing by the door. “Do you want me to lock this?” she asked sweetly.
Naomi shook her head. “No, I’m just finishing up here, and then I’ll be heading out for home right behind you. Thank you, though.”
Keisha nodded and waved, and disappeared out the door. Naomi went back to work, and it was quiet in the office for about fifteen minutes, but then the door opened, startling Naomi, and she jumped as she looked over toward it.
She saw Scott standing there, in his button down shirt and his snug fitting jeans, and her heart leapt in her chest.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as a mix of happiness, unease, and sadness twisted inside of her.
He gave her a smile and let the door close, walking toward her. “I came to see you. We need to talk.”
She sighed and set her pen down on her desk. “I guess maybe we do,” she replied. She knew that he was right. He might not be engaged to Jennifer, but there were still problems that they had to work out, and they had a baby on the way. One who would need its mother and father.
He sat down opposite her and looked at her with more happiness than she had seen in him in a long time. “It’s been a busy day for me. How about you? How are you doing?” he asked, wanting to check on her before he told her all of his news.
Taking a deep breath, she told him. “Well, Jennifer came by today and we talked. She told me that the two of you are not engaged, which was a huge relief to me. I was um… I was destroyed when I read that in the newspaper and thought that it was real.”
He frowned and sadness shadowed his blue eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know it was in the paper for a while. In fact, I didn’t know it was there until Jennifer came over and showed it to me, and we talked about it. I’m really sorry that you had to go through that. I wish it hadn’t been printed at all, but I’m relieved that she came here and told you that we aren’t engaged. Not even close.” He looked at her adamantly.
Naomi nodded, and then continued. “Well, she and I had a good long talk, and we’re okay. We’ve got our own business all worked out. Then, later this afternoon, the man who owns this building came by and we made an arrangement for me to buy it from him in a month. That’s the best news I’ve had in a long time. It means I’ll be able to keep my business here and I’ll have all the financial security that I need. It’s incredible. I still can’t believe he made the offer to me that he did, but he did it, and now things for my business couldn’t be better.” She grinned as the happiness in her overtook her.
Scott grinned back at her. “I’m so happy to hear that! You have worked really hard to get this business where it is, and I know how hard you worked at my place. I’m sure you work at all of your jobs with that same kind of integrity and dedication, and now you’ll have a great payoff from it.”
She rode the wave of happiness that was coursing through her. He leaned forward in his chair and continued to speak to her, though his tone grew soft.
“I had a good day, too. First, I had a visit from Jennifer, and she and I worked out that the engagement shouldn’t happen, so she said she was going to come talk to you and tell you about that, and I’m really pleased to hear that she did. So that was a huge load off of my mind. Then, I called the newspaper, and I talked to the editor in chief about that jerk of a reporter who has been printing all of those articles about us.
I found out that you had a restraining order put on him.” He looked at her with some small surprise. “Why did you need to do that?” he asked, still wondering about the details of it.
Naomi leveled her eyes at him as she thought of it. “He was following me all over the place and taking secret photos, and eavesdropping on my conversations… it has been a mess. I saw him following my car, and I called the cops and had him pulled over. They told me I could get a restraining order, and if the guy broke it, then I could press charges against him. If he breaks it, I will press charges against him!” she stated adamantly.
Scott looked giddy. “I don’t think he’s going to be doing that, although I’m so sorry to hear that he was giving you such a hard time. This is why I was so careful about us being seen in public. It’s a totally different world for me than it is for you, and I wanted to protect you from all o
f it.
I tried to tell you about how it would be, but I guess I didn’t get it across to you, and you wound up being hurt by it anyway. It’s a rough world being a celebrity and having the press chase you all of the time. I wanted to keep you from it by keeping us a secret, but I couldn’t. Anyway, he’s not going to be following you anywhere anymore.”
