Chapter 101

“Dinner is served,” Will called out to Emma and Sabrina. Emma waved Sabrina away as she was still on the phone. Sabrina smiled and walked out.
“She’s still on the phone,” Sabrina smirked at Will who was very bothered. “Are you okay?”
“How does Alex deal with you?”
“Usually by pushing me on the bed and shoving his di…”
“All right! Forget I asked. Let’s just sit down.” Will pulled out a chair for Sabrina. She was surprised by the gesture, but remembered that even though he was an asshat, he had proper upbringing. Being a gentleman didn’t equal being a good partner. It meant he knew how to go through the motions.
“Thanks,” she said as she took her seat. The table was small, round and sat four people. It had been set modestly with Emma’s plates and silverware. A single, long tapered candle was situated in the center in a simple, sliver candle holder. A humble arrange of flowers sat on either side. Sabrina didn’t want to admit it, but she was impressed. This was supposed to be an intimate dinner between them.
“I know you don’t like me,” Will began.
“Really? What makes you think that?” Sabrina innocently batted her eyelashes at him.
“It might have to do something with that fact that it looks like you’re plotting my murder whenever you see me.”
“Well, yeah. That’s true,” she smiled at him. “That might have something to do with that fact that you’ve hurt my best friend in the entire world to the point that she felt she had to move an hour away from me. That you caused her endless nights of despair… that you caused her so much pain and heartache…”
“I know,” he hung his head. “But that isn’t me anymore. I want to do things the right way.”
“It’s not me you need to convince. If she forgives you, and you act right, you’ll never have anything to fear from me.”
“What’s… um,” he looked down, rubbing the back of his head. “what’s her relationship with Spencer?”
“Stop that,” Sabrina swatted him. “Insecure doesn’t look good on you. But to answer your question… it is none of your fucking business.”
“Where is Mrs. Stewart?” Chef Ty huffed. “Dinner is ready to be served.”
Emma emerged from her room, her face unreadable.
“Wonderful!” Ty clasped his hands together. Will stood and pulled out a chair for Emma. She sat down without looking at him. “Tonight’s meal has been specifically curated by Mr. Stewart. As this is for the mother of his child, and for the child’s godmother I assume,” he motioned at Sabrina. “I took extra care with every dish. Not only is everything amazingly flavorful, but you will also find that each dish will feel comforting and nourishing. You will be starting off with Xiaolongbao or, as you would call them, soup dumplings. I wanted the appetizer to be a perfect introduction to our entrée, congee. Congee is a traditional breakfast dish, but it is very nutritious and soothing. It will fill you up with making you feel stuffed. And for dessert, I have provided the simple, yet always satisfying mango sticky rice. Everything has been perfectly portioned. Please enjoy.”
Sabrina and Emma looked at each other, trying very hard to not drool over the impressive spread of delicious. Everything smelled exquisite, and Emma couldn’t wait to eat it all. She took a bite and couldn’t stifle the moan that left her mouth.
“Oh my God,” she said.
“This is amazing,” Sabrina gushed.
“Thanks, man,” Will said to the chef. “I appreciate you coming out here on such short notice.
“Anything for you, my man. I owe you. I owe you everything.”
“Come on, don’t be like that,” Will blushed, and Emma almost choked on her food at the sight.
“Mrs. Stewart, you are a lucky woman indeed. This man, right here. I owe him everything,” he repeated.” I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for…”
“Thanks again, Ty,” Will interrupted. “I know you have another engagement. You should go.”
“Well,” Ty addressed Emma. “Modest as always, I see. I do indeed have other engagements, but I will always make time for Will’s family. Please call me whenever you’d like a gourmet meal. Take care.”
After Ty left, Sabrina and Emma turned on Will.
“So?” Sabrina asked.
“So what?”
“What was Chef Ty talking about? What did you do for him?”
“Nothing. He’s really dramatic and makes a big deal out of small things.”
“Will…”
“It’s nothing,” he insisted. “Really. We shouldn’t be talking about him anyway. I need to know about the baby.”
“Hmm,” Emma huffed. Sabrina kicked her underneath the table and shot her a look. Answer him, Sabrina’s eyes said. “What about the baby?”
“I’ve missed the entire pregnancy. I don’t know what you need, when you’re due, if you had a baby shower…”
“I don’t need anything,” Emma’s answer was clipped. “Between Sabrina and Spencer, everything has been taken care of. The baby will be coming any day now.”
“Oh,” Will was crestfallen. “How about your go bag?”
“Sabrina took care of it.” Emma took a few more bites of food. “Like I said she and Spencer took care of everything. We don’t need you.” That was harsher than she intended. Sabrina kicked her under the table again.
“I have a question,” Will said. His child was coming to the world, and other than helping to create it, hadn’t contributed a single thing to the pregnancy. Spencer, however, was doing all of the things he should have been doing. “When were you going to tell me that I fathered a child?” His tone was serious, and his gaze was deadly.
Sabrina choked on her bite of food. Oh shit, she thought. She was curious to see that Emma’s answer to that would be. Despite what her and will had gone through, Sabrina had always disagreed with Emma’s decision to hide the pregnancy from him.
Emma stared at him, taken aback by his question. The truth was, she didn’t have an answer. She had convinced herself that she would never see William Stewart again.
“I…” she stammered. “I…”
“You just said the baby is coming any day. I doubt that telling me was priority these last couple of weeks. That makes sense. But in the beginning… right when you found out… why did you keep this from me?”
Sabrina wanted to disappear. This was a conversation they needed to have privately. She didn’t need to be present for this, but also, she wanted to be close to protect her friend.
“I wanted to protect my child…”
“Our child,” he corrected.
“My child,” she corrected again. “from your world. What could you possibly want with me or my baby after you abandoned me for Grace? I couldn’t trust you! I was alone and pregnant…”
“I didn’t know you were pregnant! I signed those papers because it’s what I thought you wanted!”
“What I wanted, was for you to believe me! To trust me! But you chose to believe others over me!”
“I was afraid, Emma.”
“Afraid of what? Happiness?” she yelled.
“Yes! The last time I allowed myself happiness, my heart got ripped out of my chest and shattered. I wanted to try and be happy with you. But you said it was too late. You wanted me to leave, so I did what I thought was the only good thing I could give you. A life without me.”
“Well, you were right about one thing! My life without has been great! I’m a successful architect, my dad is doing great and I’m having a baby.”
“Our baby.”
“My baby!” Emma yelled. “This is my baby!”
“Em,” Sabrina soothed. “Calm down. This isn’t good for you.” God, I wish the ground would just swallow me up.
“So, you were never going to tell me?”
“No! I wasn’t!” Her hands fell to her mouth. She had never admitted that out loud.
Will felt an icy stab in his chest. Jealously, anger, pain, betrayal all swirled within him. But the worst is that he knew he had no one to blame but himself.
“Will,” she squeaked. “I wasn’t going to tell you. I was afraid. You hurt me so much. To protect myself I thought it was best to never see you again.”
“You’ll never know how much I regret that.”
“I wanted to hate you… but I…” she gasped. A sharp pain shot through her belly. She grabbed the edge of the table for support.
“What is it?” Sabrina and Will shot up and said in unison.
Another stab of pain shot through Emma, taking her breath away.
“I think… I think I’m having contractions.”