Chasing The Vengeful Villainous Heiress-Chapter 145: Don’t make yourself responsible

"I think something strange is happening to my body," Valerie said.

"How strange?" Tiana asked, paying keen interest as she was up to something.

"Well, my breasts seem to have gotten bigger." She said with a little flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. "And I haven’t seen my period either. I missed it last month, and this month seems to be delayed quite a lot as well. Is... Is there something wrong with me?"

Tiana stared at her, blinked twice, and then laughed.

"Well, I’ll be damned." She said.

"What? Is it serious? Is there really something wrong with me?" She asked but Tiana simply placed her hand on her shoulders and said,

"There’s one more thing love does. It doesn’t just sacrifice, heal, bring together, or, forgive. Love... Love brings to life." She said, looking intently at Valerie. "And I believe, at this point in time, your love has brought forth a new life."

"What are you talking about?" Valerie asked, a little confused with Tiana’s riddles.

"Valerie, sweetie, I believe you’re pregnant." She said, and Valerie’s eyes widened.

"What?!"

Silence followed, and Tiana’s laughter came after.

"I don’t understand." Valerie said. "I’m pregnant?"

"Wow, this is wonderful news." She said, clamping Valerie’s hand in hers. "With this, you’ll finally be able to make the family that you ever so wished for. Your own family."

"But..." Valerie paused. ’I already got that family.’

In her own terms, having a family did not necessarily mean she, Max, and a baby of their own. In fact, it was what she already had. With Grampa Leo, Mariam, Tiana, and Max, she got the family treatment she never got and was able to feel warmth.

They were her family.

Having a baby was also good news, but... How true was that?

"Um, are you sure?" Valerie asked and Tiana tilted her head, thinking.

"Well, you could always visit the hos..." She paused and immediately changed her words. "What about this? I’ll get you a pregnancy test strip. You can find it out yourself." She said, and Valerie nodded. "But it’ll be better if you meet a professional, so you can track the date of your pregnancy and know when to expect the baby."

Valerie looked at her belly. Was this for real? Was she really pregnant?

"Hm, you don’t seem excited." Tiana said, and Valerie raised her head. "I thought you would be very excited about this news. At least, you looked like you would."

"I am but... " She shook her head. "With the current situation, the unknown dangers, and things like yesterday happening out of the blue, I don’t think having a baby now would be the best choice."

"I understand where you’re coming from but... It’s a blessing." Tiana said and smiled warmly. "Don’t think about the troubles and don’t think about the dangers either. This child, it’ll be a blessing to you. Trust me." She said, and Valerie nodded.

"I guess I’ll think of it in a brighter light." She said.

"But whoa, I’m going to be a grandma already." Tiana said, suddenly displaying her excitement. "I mean, I’m not that old, am I? Wait, do I have grey hair already? I don’t think so. I...."

She kept yapping and yapping at how she would be the coolest grandma and shower the baby with a lot of toys and gifts.

Valerie chuckled and once again looked at her stomach.

’A baby.’ she thought and closed her eyes. ’I always wondered what it would feel like to have a baby in my stomach.’ she smiled softly. ’I guess Max succeeded in putting a baby in. I mean, we were all over each other like rutting rabbits. It would be a surprise if I didn’t conceive.’

Then, she got a call from Max. She stared at the screen as it rang, staring at the caller ID of her husband and wondering what his reaction would be like once he discovered she was pregnant.

’We both want kids so he’ll probably be excited. But...’ the smile on her face gradually fell into a saddened expression. ’With all that’s going on, will he really be excited?’

"What are you waiting for?" Tiana asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Answer it already."

"Ah, yes." She answered the call before it stopped ringing.

"Hey, wife. Were you asleep?" He asked but she shook her head and answered,

"Not really." She said. "I was just lost in thoughts." This made Max grow silent and she wondered if the connection had broken.

"Valerie," Max finally spoke. "Please don’t think." He said. "I’ll do all I can to protect you and keep you safe so leave it to me. Trust me, okay?"

"Don’t worry, I trust you." She said. "And I wasn’t thinking about the dangers. It was something else."

"Something else?" He asked but she did not want to disclose it yet and decided to change the topic.

"Ah, your mother’s here with me." She said, and Max’s eyes widened.

"She’s with you at Stewart’s?" He asked. "How did...?" He placed his hand on his forehead and sighed. "She must’ve sneaked in."

"She’s dressed as a maid." Valerie said, chuckling to herself and glancing at Tiana who had a displeased frown.

She mounted the words,

’Why would you drag me into this?’ and Valerie chuckled.

"She’s in my room right now but I doubt anyone saw her." Valerie said. "She’ll find a way to sneak out when she wants to leave so don’t worry."

"Well, it has nothing to do with me." Max said. "If she gets her cover blown and exposed to the world that she’s alive, she’ll have herself to blame and all the pressure will be on her."

"I’m certain she knows that. But you know mother, she likes taking risks." She lowered her head. "Plus, she was just too worried to only speak from the phone and had to come see me. So, I’m partly responsible."

"Don’t make yourself responsible. It was her decision."

"I know, I know."

A little silence followed as both tried to calm their emotions and not start spewing unnecessary words. Then, Max remembered something.

"Mariam told me you would be attending the board meeting at Ross tomorrow." He said, and Valerie thought he was going to advise her from going, but to her surprise, he said, "I’ll pick up something for you to wear on my way home. We’ll talk about the rest when I’m back." He said and she nodded, smiling brightly.

"Alright, Hubby. I’ll wait for you at home so come home soon."

Hearing her call him hubby, Max blushed but he covered his to hide it and smiled.

"I miss you, wifey."

"I miss you too."

"I’ll come home as soon as I’m done." He said and kissed the screen of his phone. She equally did the same and cut the call.

Max looked at his phone for a while before raising his gaze to stare coldly at the members gathered at the meeting table.

He glanced from one end to another, seeing their shocked and dismayed expressions, and then glanced at Tom, who was standing bright next to him.

"So, are you done arguing?" He asked, placing his phone on the table.

Earlier, a meeting was called in, but instead of speaking of useful and time-worth matters, they started arguing as to which decision would be best.

And in that moment, he thought to himself,

’I want to go home to my wife.’

They were still bickering and not even trying to hide their desire to be picked as the best, even in his presence so he decided to treat them as invisible walls as well.

He picked up his phone and called Valerie.

The moment he spoke the word, ’Hey, wife. Were you asleep?’ they all quieted down to watch their cold boss act sweet and affectionate on the phone with his wife.

There were already rumors that he was unbelievably sweet and caring to his wife, smiling like an angel in her presence and doing whatever she wanted but they couldn’t believe it unless they saw it for themselves.

Now, listening to his conversation and seeing his smile warmly and even blush, they had no choice but to believe it.

But it was still quite a shocker.

"Now that the noise has died down," he said, dropping his elbow on the table and interlocking his fingers in front of his face, "... Can we finally ’start’ this meeting?"

"Ahem!" Tom cleared his throat. "Forgive their rudeness, Sir. They just don’t want to see their projects come second."

"Then instead of bickering as to which side is the best," Max began, resting his back on his chair and folding his arms. "Why don’t the two parties work together, find a way to combine their ideas and make this worthwhile?"

"Ah, that’s a pretty good idea."

"I didn’t think we could do it like that."

"But can we really work together? We’re like oil and water."

Max listened to them and cleared his throat, causing them to quiet down once more.

"And make sure to be snappy about it." He said, staring coldly at them that it made them shiver. "I need to go shopping for my wife. If you delay and I get home late," his glare intensified as he added. "You’re all dead."

They gulped.

"Well, get to it."

They all scurried away, going ahead to work on the project and Max sighed.

"Sir," Tom called. "Don’t push yourself too hard."

"What’s this? When did you become chummy?" Max asked, and Tom immediately walked away, not wanting to take his boss’s nonsense again. ’Hm, I feel like Valerie wanted to tell me something. Well, she’ll probably say it once I get home. Can the time fly any faster?’