The Bachelor by David Dower (read along books TXT) 📖

be a she,” she countered playfully.

Since that talk they had in his parents’ house, he was a constant bother in her life. A pleasant bother, that is. The sudden shift of moods lasted for quite some time and she was thankful that he did not back off when she had cried and pushed him away in some occasions. She had asked her doctor about her irrational behaviors and she said that it was only normal for most pregnant women to have those.

There even came a time when she thought of running away when thoughts and fears of Zach leaving her came to mind. Thank God Kim and Diane were always there to shake her back to her senses if Zach wasn’t around.

Diane took her pregnancy with amusement and glee, but it was Kim who was always around aside from Zach who decided to himself to move in her place when she refused to live with him. Her friend had been her constant supporter along with Jack Carter who rushed back to New York as soon as he was done with the show.

And speaking of the show, well, it ended sooner than expected. People were scandalized of course, especially when Zach made it public that he was dating her and they were going to have a baby. It was a good thing most viewers were pleased with the unexpected turn of events and Julianne even received invitations to shows which she refused by the way. There was talk that a Bachelorette season was coming up with Chloe as Bachelorette, but it was just rumor. Nothing solid yet.

Her job as a script writer was doing great and it helped her during those months of hormonal changes. But Jack would have to find a temporary replacement once she was ready to give birth. Funny how the position left by a pregnant woman was taken by another pregnant one, right?

As for Zach’s parents, they really did put up a fuss when they learned about her pregnancy. They wanted a wedding which Zach and Julianne disagreed on due to Julianne’s decision to take things slow. They explained—in one very long dinner—that they wanted to wait and take things slow first. Mr. Astor didn’t put up a big NO, but his wife constantly brought up the idea of wedding bells whenever she got the chance. Zach would sometimes agree with her if he thought Julianne was not listening.

Everything fell into place for Julianne as soon as she was over the mood swings. She was back to her old self and Zach was the first to congratulate her when she finally told him that she loves him.

“I already know that, Jules,” he had stated with a grin.

As soon as she was back on track, they got to enjoy each other’s company, often taking walks to the park or just staying home reading or talking. He had never brought up the marriage until now and though she was glad he still wanted to put a stamp on their relationship, she still wanted to wait longer for one reason: she wanted to walk down the aisle alone without a baby. Selfish, maybe, but for once, she wanted to feel that she was walking towards the man that she loves alone with the idea that he would be hers.

“You’ve never brought up the idea of a wedding before, why now? I thought we should wait after the baby comes out?” she asked as they drove to the hospital.

“We don’t really have an anniversary date to start with. A wedding will give me a date so that I can have a reason to celebrate us every month and every year.”

Julianne had to laugh at that. “That’s your reason?”

“Don’t laugh at me, Jules. I’m damned serious. Unless you want us to settle a date for an anniversary…”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffed.

“Let’s see…” he began to think, “why don’t we set it on the day we met? On the plane?”

“I didn’t like you back then…”

“I liked you then.”

“This is a stupid topic, really—”

“Okay, the day we kissed?”

“You can’t possibly remember that—”

“July 23rd, a Tuesday,” he uttered.

Julianne gaped at him, “You remember? Are you serious?”

He shrugged. “I have a good memory.”

She chuckled, shaking her head, “This is silly. We don’t need an anniversary…”

“Mom’s going to freak out when she hears that,” he pointed out.

She sighed. “Let’s just wait until we actually get married.”

“And when is that?” he asked, stealing an anxious glance at her.

“Once our baby girl’s out.”

“Boy.”

“Girl.”

“Boy, Jules. I’m telling you, it’s going to be a boy.”

“I can’t deal with another version of you,” she chided.

“You’ll love us both,” he winked at her.

 *****

Julianne was lying down on the clinic’s bed as her doctor navigated the ultrasound probe over her abdomen.

Zach was holding her hand tightly, looking at the monitor and then back at Dr. Keaton’s face. She wanted to laugh at the look on his face. He didn’t know how to look at the monitor and he was trying to get hints from the doctor’s face.

“Well?” he asked when Dr. Keaton finally smiled and looked at them.

“Well, it seems we finally know the gender of the baby.”

This was it. This was the moment they had been bantering about. The moment that would judge if they should change all the blue things or not, and this was the moment that they would know how to name their child. Epilogue

The little boy ran around the large lawn in front of the ranch house, his white shirt full of mud, almost covering his body. His dark hair was almost white from the rays of light offered by the sun as he came toward the little girl standing outside the stable. She was wearing her riding clothes, her hand clamped on her pink helmet.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Riding,” she said in a bragging tone, her chin lifted high. “I bet you can’t ride.”

The boy frowned. “I can ride a bicycle.”

“That’s not what I meant!” she shouted. “I meant horses,” she pointed at the row of horses behind her.

The boy scoffed, “You can’t ride those, Anya,” he stepped away from her, afraid she might jump on him because that’s what she always did. But she didn’t. Instead, she sighed and brushed her black hair away from her face.

“Watch me,” she uttered proudly.

“You can’t ride without an adult,” he countered.

“I’m already big!”

“No, you’re not, sweetheart, you’re still my little princess,” said her dad behind her with a smile. He emerged from the stable with his own riding hat.

Anya stomped her foot on the ground. “I am! And I’ll be married soon!” she said so as she whirled around to face Zach.

Zach was almost thrown back by the statement of his little girl. “Married? To whom?”

“Philip!” she shouted.

The little boy almost paled. “No.”

Anya whirled around, her eyes in slits. “What do you mean no?”

“No, I will not marry you!”

“Why?”

“Because…you’re small and I’m big!”

“No, you’re not! You’re six! And I’m six!”

Zach noted the tears in his daughter’s eyes. He almost wanted to laugh, but this situation was serious. She couldn’t very well think that she was going to marry at this age, right? No, she wouldn’t marry. Not while he was still alive. She was his little princess and it would remain that way.

“I don’t care! I won’t marry you!” Jean Philip turned around and ran up back to the house.

“Daddy!” Anya was really crying when she faced him.

“Sweetheart, you can’t force anyone to marry you just because you want to,” he said gently, leaning his hands on his knees to level his eyes with his daughter.

She blinked. “But mommy said you forced her to marry you.”

His smile faded. “She said that?”

“She said she wanted to wait for me to grow up but you said you wanted to get married soon.”

Zach chuckled. “She wanted to marry me too.”

Confusion was on Anya’s face now.

“She said yes when I almost cried begging her to,” he joked.

“But I cried and Philip still doesn’t want to marry me.”

Zach sighed. If he was facing a boy, he would have told him to never give up. But this was different. Anya is a girl and he couldn’t just tell her to continue with her fantasies. Really, having a girl was not all bad, but there were just moments like this that Zach wished he had a boy. “Come here,” he pulled his daughter into his arms. “Why don’t we cancel riding for today? Our friends are waiting inside having breakfast.”

She thought for a while. “Okay.”

 *****

Julianne could sense something happened when Zach came inside with Anya.

“I thought you’re going riding?” she asked when her daughter ran up to her and hugged her, burying her face against her abdomen.

Zach cringed, walked up to her and whispered, “She told Philip she’s going to marry him.”

Julianne chuckled and looked down at her daughter. “Oh, my little girl…why don’t you go upstairs and change? I guess riding got cancelled?” she looked at her husband.

He nodded, his frown still on his face.

“Go on, Anya, change and come back,” Julianne told her daughter. Anya looked around, her eyes darting from one guest to another.

Since they have been married, Zach had helped Liam and his father with the business. And because of that, the Strindbergs became family. Even though Zach still avoided the hectic business, he just couldn’t leave everything to Liam and live in his ranch. Because of his connection to the Strindbergs, Julianne was forced to engage in social events. And lo and behold, she found friends who, deep in Zach’s gut, are as dangerous as his wife.

Take Cassandra Strindberg for example. She’s too much like Julianne in a lot of ways. Both of them are very carefree, and both of them are very stubborn. Angelica Bell, Cassandra’s friend who is very close to the Strindbergs and now to his wife, was another matter entirely. She is just as hard-headed, but she got this overwhelming aggressiveness as well.

They have invited their friends to spend the weekend with them in the ranch along with Chanty, Philip Strindberg’s sister and Liam’s partner. Six years ago, Chanty and Liam had been caught in a very rough situation, but that would be their story to tell.

Cassandra and Philip, little Philip’s parents, were having breakfast when Anya came in.

Angelica and her husband, Henry Bell, who had once been an NSA undercover agent, were looking at them curiously now.

“I want to see aunt Kim right now,” Anya whispered.

“Aunt Kim’s not here. She’s on a vacation with uncle Jack,” Julianne answered her.

“Aunt Diane?”

“She’s busy with Mommy’s book,” Zach answered.

Julianne gently pushed their daughter, “Go change and come back down. Don’t fight with Philip again.”

With chin high in the air, Anya finally stepped back and ran up the stairs.

With her daughter gone, Julianne finally broke into a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Zach demanded.

“She wanted to marry Philip!” she cried out. “Really, honey, our daughter is becoming more like you.”

Cass frowned from the table, “What do you mean she wanted to marry Philip? Jean Philip or my husband Philip?”

“I guess she meant our son, babe,” Philip said almost dryly. “He walked in earlier looking like he was about to die. He’s upstairs and he won’t come out of the room.”

Angelica laughed, flipping her red hair away from her face. “I can give her lessons on how to