Page 12 of Forever His (The Donovans: Secret Son #6)

“Nope. I’m not finished, just thinking of what to say,” Dana replied as she sat up and folded her arms on the table. “You don’t want to force a baby on a man, even if the man is your husband and he loves you to pieces. And you definitely do not want to force a baby on a man like Trent Donovan.”

When Tia opened her mouth to speak, Dana shook her head to stop her.

“Nope, not done yet,” Dana continued. “With that said, this sounds like its very important to you, which means Trent’s going to give it a lot of thought before turning you down.

He loves you Tia. I can see that and so did every other woman on the West coast when he put that rock on your finger and married you.

I know there’s a time issue involved here, but you have to give him a minute to digest all of this.

You’ve had months to get it together in your mind, but you’ve only given him a few days.

My advice for you is to chill out for a while.

Maybe let this thing with the family get resolved first and then re-visit. ”

Tia recognized the logic in what Dana was saying. She’d already reprimanded herself for not telling Trent sooner.

“But what if I don’t have the time to wait? What if the tumors grow to a point where I can’t get pregnant at all?” she asked.

“Then I think, sweetie,” Dana said, extending her arm across the table so that she could touch Tia’s hand. “That you might have to accept this as God’s will. If it’s meant to be, He will make it so.”

She was right, Tia knew that. She didn’t like hearing it, but she knew it just the same. They paid for lunch and just as they were about to leave Tia wanted to make a stop in the ladies’ room. Dana went out into the lobby to make a call and said she’d wait for Tia there.

After she finished in the stall, Tia was glad the headache was starting to finally subside.

Maybe it was her talk with Dana, the release of the stress from her situation with the baby, or perhaps the big salad.

She didn’t know but she was going to go with feeling better.

Tia had just finished washing her hands when she looked into the mirror and saw the woman standing behind her.

It was a jolt because she hadn’t heard anyone come in, but Tia gave a quick smile as she reached for the paper towels and dried her hands off.

“Tia Donovan?” the woman asked.

Her face was on billboards and in magazines, so Tia wasn’t surprised when people she didn’t know, knew who she was.

“Yes,” she answered.

“I’m Katie Frankfort from Nbr NewsOne. I wanted to ask you if you knew who decided to burn down your in-laws’ house?

Was it a scorned lover, like say the one you and your husband Trent encountered some years back?

Or perhaps a business deal gone wrong? I hear stocks are dropping at Donovan Oilwell. Care to make a comment?”

The tape recorder was thrust into her face before Tia could blink or even take a breath. Was this woman kidding? No, of course she wasn’t, reporters rarely joked about getting a scoop.

“No comment,” was Tia’s reply as she dropped the towel into the trash can and attempted to walk away.

Katie from NewsOne jumped in front of her.

“The fire department has already ruled the fire an arson and your husband’s company D&D Investigations has been at the police station asking all kinds of questions.

There was a search warrant issued yesterday for a rental car company in Las Vegas.

Does Trent have a suspect? Is it someone the family knows?

Maybe a maid that Henry Donovan was sleeping with? ”

“You’re disgusting,” Tia spat.

She tried to walk around the woman.

Katie was incorrigible.

“Maybe daddy and son are sharing a woman and she became angry. Was she blackmailing them and they didn’t pay up? You can tell me, Tia. Get your side of the story out there before it all comes to light,” she continued waving that damn tape recorder in Tia’s face.

“No comment,” Tia said through clenched teeth and pushed past her.

She was out the door as fast as her feet could take her, with Katie hot on her heels.

“What’s your son going to think when he finds out his daddy and the famous Donovans are all frauds?

That their perfect rich black family persona is about to come crumbling down?

What’s he going to think about his grandfather’s infidelity and his father’s former career as a hired killer?

Maybe I should head over to the school to ask little Trevor,” she taunted.

Tia had spun around before she could think better of it.

She moved fast, knocking the tape recorder Katie had thrust upward as if she were about to really get an answer, onto the floor.

Katie looked horrified, but that lasted only a few seconds before Tia pushed her so hard she fell back against the wall. Tia got in her face.

“Listen carefully,” Tia said. “Because I’m only going to tell you this one time. You stay the hell away from my family or I will make you regret it.”

“What are you going to do, Tia? Have hubby Trent hunt me down and take care of me?”

“No, bitch! I’m going to take care of you myself,” Tia told her and was about to smack her or punch her or, she didn’t really know what she was about to do.

It’s a good thing Apollo was there and pulled her away. Katie breathed a sigh of relief but continued to run her mouth.

“I think that was assault, Mrs. Donovan,” Katie said as she bent down to pick up her tape recorder.

“No, ma’am, “Apollo told Katie. “That was you harassing Mrs. Donovan and I’m a witness to that. Do you have a witness to your so called assault?”

Katie looked around, only to see that they were alone in the walkway that led to the bathrooms.

Apollo touched Tia’s elbow and said, “Let’s go.”

“I’m not finished with this story,” Katie yelled from behind them. “Just because you won’t talk doesn’t mean I won’t get the answers.”

She was right, Tia knew as they met up with Dana in the lobby.

“What the hell happened to you?” Dana asked.

Tia could only shake her head.

The headache was back.

Trent

She was later than usual getting home and Trent was concerned. He’d talked to Apollo who had assured him that Tia was okay, that she and Dana had decided to do some shopping before coming home.

“Do you have your eyes on her?” Trent had asked the guard.

“Yes. I do.”

“Good. Don’t let her out of your sight,” he said before hanging up.

Trent was beyond irritated. He’d spoken to Sam earlier and had come up with zero information about Dev and Bailey.

If the two of them were sleeping together they were keeping it a close secret.

That made sense, Trent thought, because if he wasn’t happy about them being together, nobody else in the family was going to be either.

They all thought Dev was a bit on the strange side.

Strange and dangerous. They had absolutely no idea how close they were to being right.

Yet Dev was accepted because of his relationship with Trent.

Now, Trent wasn’t so sure introducing the man to his family was such a good idea.

The fire chief had also called him with the final report from the fire.

It was definitely arson. Kerosene used as an accelerant had been poured all over the upstairs bedrooms, while gas leaked from the stove was ignited with a match.

Total devastation had been the result. Just what Roslyn wanted.

The police had her picture and so did the fire chief, but so far nobody had seen or heard from her.

She’d set that fire and simply walked away.

After bath time with Trevor and reading him two books, Trent sat with his son until he knew the little boy was asleep. Then he continued to sit there staring down at him, similar to the way he had the night before.

They’d spend most of the day together. After Trevor’s time in school, Trent picked him up with Potter in tow and they’d gone to the park.

While Potter slept on the blanket Trent and Trevor had played with his remote control plane and then had snacks while sitting under a huge tree which provided a generous amount of shade.

When they came home they’d ordered pizza for dinner and watched Harry Potter the movie…

again. Trevor loved that movie even though Trent was totally sure he understood all of it.

The DVD case was badly worn as a result of the many times they’d watched it.

Being with Trevor had been like an anchor to Trent, and he’d enjoyed his time with him today.

“I think he’s asleep now,” she whispered.

Trent turned to see Tia standing in the doorway. Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, he stood and walked out of Trevor’s room.

“He was tired but still fought sleep,” Trent told her with a small smile. “Adam used to do the same thing. My mother used to get so frustrated with him.”

Tia smiled in return. “I know that feeling,” she said.

Trent hugged her close to him then, right there in the hallway.

“I missed you today,” he told her.

“Well, I missed you too,” Tia said and wasn’t surprised when Trent looked at her funny as they pulled out of the embrace.

“Did something happen? Have you seen the doctor again? Is that why you’re so late coming home?” he asked.

She was shaking her head before he could finish.

“No. Nothing like that. Let’s go in our bedroom so we don’t wake Trevor,” she whispered and took his hand to guide him down the hall.

Trent followed without saying a word but the moment he closed their door, he stopped and pulled her to him. “Tell me what happened today.”

Tia sighed.

“I did something that I shouldn’t have, but I don’t regret it,” she began.

He didn’t know what to think so instead of saying anything he simply waited.