Chapter 54 My Pregnancy?
After the call with Amelia, Rebecca went back to her phone, though she wouldn't ever voice it out but she wasn't used to the room being this quiet before.
She checked the time again and it was just a few minutes past 7.
The faint sound of the front door opening made her heart lift. Derek was home. She settled well on the bed, before going back to her phone not wanting to seem desperate or starved of his presence.
Just then the room door was opened and Derek stepped into the room.
"Hey," he said softly, a small smile on his face, closing the door behind him.
Rebecca straightened a little, smiling in return. "Hey," she replied. "You're back. Welcome."
"Thank you. How are you doing?"
"I'm good. How are you and how was the rest of your day?"
"It went very well," he answered honestly, loosening his tie slightly as he walked closer to the bed. "Busy, but productive."
"That’s good," Rebecca said, returning his smile.
He stood there for a moment, as if he wanted to say more, then nodded to himself. "I’ll just freshen up," he said. "I won’t take long."
“Okay,” Rebecca replied.
Derek walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Rebecca leaned back again, listening to the sound of running water. She was still thinking about everything that had happened earlier at the office when there was a gentle knock on the bedroom door, she stood up before walking over to the door when she opened it, one of the kitchen staff was there.
"Dinner is ready ma'am," the woman said politely. "Mr. Edwards is already waiting at the dining table."
Rebecca nodded. "Thank you. Please tell him we’ll be downstairs shortly."
"Yes, ma’am," the staff replied before leaving, Rebecca closed the door back before going back to the bed to sit down.
A few minutes later, Derek came out of the bathroom, looking refreshed. His hair was slightly damp, and he had changed into more comfortable clothes, a grey sweatpant and a T-shirt.
"Dinner is ready," Rebecca told him. "And your grandfather is waiting for us." She added, watching him walk over to the walk-in closet to drop the towel he had been using to clean his head.
"Alright," Derek said. "Let’s go."
They walked together to the dining room. The long table was neatly set, the plates already arranged, Mr. Edwards was already seated at the head of the table, waiting for them.
As Rebecca moved to take a seat, Derek stepped forward and pulled out the chair for her.
She paused, surprised, before she looked up at him, he had never done such for her before.
"Thank you," she said quietly before sitting down.
Derek gave her a brief smile before taking his own seat beside her.
Once they began eating, Mr. Edwards looked at Derek. "So, how was your day?" he asked.
"It went very well," Derek replied. "Mr. Collins finally agreed to partner with us." His grandfather knew how hard he had worked for Mr. Collins to partner with their company.
Mr. Edwards raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That’s good news. What changed his mind?"
Derek glanced at Rebecca before answering. "Rebecca helped a lot. If not for her, the deal might not have gone through."
Mr. Edwards turned to Rebecca with clear surprise on his face. "Is that so?"
Rebecca felt her cheeks warm. She lowered her eyes slightly, suddenly shy under the attention. "I just helped where I could," she said softly.
Mr. Edwards smiled. "You did well dear." He said warmly before going back to his food.
As they continued eating, Derek kept placing more food on Rebecca’s plate, making sure she ate enough. He poured her water, asked if she was comfortable, and watched her closely while she ate.
Mr. Edwards noticed everything but decided not to comment as he continued eating with a smile on his face.
While Rebecca noticed also.
In her mind, she couldn’t help wondering what was going on. 'Is he acting like this because I carried snacks to his office?' she thought. 'Or because of the contract?'
Dinner passed with casual conversation. Derek’s grandfather asked questions about business, Derek answered, and Rebecca listened, chiming in only occasionally. Derek continued his small gestures of care, which made Rebecca feel a strange warmth. She didn’t understand why it affected her so much.
After dinner, they excused themselves and returned to their bedroom. Derek sat on the couch while Rebecca settled on the bed, her thoughts still unsettled, she wanted to know why he suddenly changed, why was he acting the way he had been acting since he returned from work. After a moment, she decided to ask everything that had been bothering her.
"Derek," she began carefully, "is the way you acted today because of the contract? Or because I brought lunch to your office?" She asked, looking at him.
He looked at her, surprised by the question, then shook his head. "No," he said calmly. "It wasn’t because of that. I acted that way because my grandfather was there." He wasn't about to tell her he wants her as his wife in a legal sense.
Rebecca studied his face. "So it was just for him?" She asked trying to remove the slight hurt from her voice, she had thought it was because he cared.
"Yes," Derek replied. "I wanted him to see that I take care of you."
She nodded slowly before turning back to her phone, though something still felt off.
After a short silence, Derek spoke again. "When do you think we should tell my grandfather about your pregnancy?"
Rebecca froze for a moment. She turned to look at him. “My pregnancy?” she asked, still caught off guard.
“Yeah. I mean, when are we to announce it? We don't want someone else finding out about it when we haven't made the announcement,” he said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I understand,” Rebecca said, sighing in relief. "But we need to make it believable. We just got married. There’s no way we can say I’m already pregnant. It won’t make sense."
"That’s true," Derek said, nodding thoughtfully.
Rebecca frowned slightly. She knew Derek was very intelligent, so why was he asking something like that without thinking it through himself? The question made her suspicious.
Her thoughts drifted to Vanessa, how she was trying to get close to Mr. Edwards, and all the things she had done in the past. Should she tell Derek everything? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know if it was the right time.
'I’ll ask Amelia later,' she decided.
“So, I was thinking. We should go for our honeymoon next week. We shouldn't wait for two weeks anymore. That way, when we announce the pregnancy, it'll be more believable,” Derek said after a while.
Rebecca nodded. “Yeah. Sounds like a good plan.”
They continued talking quietly about small things, the mood calm and relaxed. Eventually, Rebecca felt tired.
"I think I’ll sleep now," she said softly.
"That’s fine," Derek replied.
She lay down and pulled the blanket over herself, her mind still full of questions. Before long, she closed her eyes, deciding to rest and leave her worries for another day.