The CEO’s Second Choice

Elena

I haven’t been feeling the best these last few weeks. A stomach bug has me in the grips of its wrath and I cannot cope. Sebastian has made an appointment for me to see our family doctor and I am currently sitting outside waiting for my turn to see her. It’s been almost 6 months since my Exeter enrollment, and I must say things are starting to look up. I am breezing through the assignments, and my professors all seem to have taken a shine to me. This is what surprised me most!

Sebastian doesn’t seem surprised at this. It is as if he sees my potential where I see nothing but faults, and I love him so much for that. After his parents’ passing, he has thrown himself into being the Dumont’s head and I barely even see him. I miss him, but we sort of have this thing between us where we would leave brief notes for the other when we know we won’t see each other for a while. It sets me at ease since he was the one who started it as well.

Our lives were slowly adjusting to being The Dumonts as Spencer and Mirabelle were, and I sort of forget that we are now the wealthiest couple in all of Europe when I’m out and about, then I see the paps and I am brought back down to reality. Remember when I used to say I hate duty? Well, I have had to adapt now and know I will have to quit uni soon enough because of it.

Sometimes the guilt of never having made peace with Mirabelle gets to me. I never gave her the grandchild she craved, and now I don’t think I ever will. Sebastian says his mother would have spoken to me in the following days, but now I would never know. She was like a mother to me, and I couldn’t even give her a stupid grandchild. Was I selfish in my decision, though? I don’t think I was.

“Mrs Dumont?” The nurse calls, and I stand up and nod. She gestures to follow her into the doctor’s office, and I do. Dr Grace sees me and smiles, “Elena, love. How are you?” She asks, and I take a deep breath to stop my nausea. “I think I have stomach flu or something. For the last two weeks or so I haven’t been able to keep anything down.” I tell her and she nods before checking my blood pressure and taking blood and urine samples. My vitals seemed fine, so she would run tests. “And it’s only been for the last few weeks that you’ve been feeling this way?” She asks me, and I nod. “The last two or so weeks, yes,” I reply and she nods, while a frown covers her brow. She looks at my file and the test she has conducted, then nods again, a smile on her face.

“Elena, you don’t have stomach flu of any kind. You’re pregnant, love.”

The moment she says these words, my entire world falls away and my heart comes to a standstill. Pregnant?! “But… how? How is that possible if I am on the pill?!” I exclaim, my voice going a higher pitch than usual, but Dr Grace only chuckles. “The pill is 99% effective, but there is the 1% that fall pregnant while on it. Other factors usually contribute to its inefficacy like stress and other medication taken while on the pill.” She explains and asks me to lie down on the hospital bed so she could conduct a 4D ultrasound.

She applies a gel to my abdomen before placing the transducer and moving it around. Then a smile spreads over her face. “I am not sure how you are not showing because from what I can see, you are at least 10 weeks along, Elena!” She exclaims as she moves the object along on my stomach and moves forward to turn dials on the machine.

That’s when I hear it; tiny thumps.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Do you hear that? It’s a heartbeat. You have a tiny human growing inside of you and that is its heartbeat.” Dr Grace says with a beaming smile and I am not sure what it is about this, but tears well up in my eyes. I haven’t looked up at the screen yet, because I know if I do, then it would make it real, it would make it so real. “There it is. Look, Elena, it’s your baby.” She eggs me on and I eventually relent.

I never understood the term ‘love at first sight’ until I laid my eyes on that screen. How? How was I feeling like this when I haven’t even met this baby before? This was an image on a screen and yet my heart felt full of love for him or her. The tears that welled up in my eyes when I heard the heartbeat were falling freely down my cheeks. Dr Grace looks down at me with a warm smile, “I know, trust me I do.” She says before she removes the transducer from my stomach and wipes the gel off.

I get up from the bed and pull my shirt down, wrapping my coat around my body. Dr Grace hands me an ultrasound image and pats my hand. “I think there are a few things we need to discuss. Come, sit down.” She says and explains the ins and outs of a 10-week old baby. Afterwards, she hands me some vitamins and folic acid as well as a script for other antenatal products to ensure a healthy growing baby.

Leaving her office, I felt as if I was in a daze. I was pregnant, and I have fallen in love with the little human inside me when before I detested the fact of falling pregnant. When I get to the Phantom, I block out the screen and remove the ultrasound image from my handbag. I gaze down at the little face and fingers and cannot believe how developed a foetus is at this stage; it was almost a whole baby! Tears fell down my cheeks again, and I found myself hugging the image to my chest. How was I not disgusted or angry at myself for this? How was I so happy and light? I had a child growing inside of me and I felt elated!

How did my mother not feel this way about me all my life? How did she resent me just because I was different and did not toe the line like Eliana? I wipe my tears away and am taken back to Sebastian’s words a few months ago when I revealed that I did not want children. “You are not Susanna Wiltshire, you will be a loving mother and pour every ounce of your love into our child, the love you never received while growing up.”

How did he know me so well? Because this is exactly how I felt! I loved my baby already and I haven’t even met him or her. Oh, gosh, is this what motherhood feels like? A constant overflowing of love?

I tell Lionel to take me to Dumont Enterprises. I needed to surprise my husband with this news, of which I think he will be even more elated than I am! A few minutes later, I was outside his building. “Good day, Mrs Dumont!” His staff greets me and I return their smiles with warm ones of my own. The receptionist, Rosy, tells me that I am more than welcome to go up and wait for him as he would be available for another 15 minutes before his next meeting. I gave her a nod and told her not to tell him I was here because I had a surprise for him before going up to my husband’s office. How would he react to this? Oh, gosh, what if he changed his mind about having children? I push the thoughts out of my head and walk out of the elevator to his office door. Rosy said he was available, so I opened his office door without knocking.

And wish I never did, because Sebastian had Isla Somersett wrapped up in his arms. He sees me and lets go of her. “No, Elena, it’s not what you think!” He shouts after me, but I am already making my way to the open elevator door. I turn around to see his face before the door closes, and as soon as it opens again, I rush out of the building.

Sebastian and Isla were entangled in what seemed like a passionate embrace as I walked in.

No tears came. I don’t know why, but I did not feel like crying. Is this what shock felt like? “Where to, Mrs Dumont?” Lionel asks me and I think of where to go next. The villa was out of the question, so was my coffee shop. These were places he would think to look for me first. A ringing broke through my shock, and I saw that it was Sebastian calling me. I kill the call and switch the phone off before I let out a breath and look at Lionel again.

“Heathrow, please. And don’t you dare tell Mr Dumont where you have taken me or I will fire you.”