Bound By Her Bump novel Chapter 31

Eric stretched his hand to the other side of the bed and noticed it was cold and empty. He slowly opened his eyes and Annie was nowhere to be found on her side of the bed.

Eric adjusted the duvet and made his way out of the bed. His first stop was the bathroom but Annie was not there. He was about to go downstairs to go look for her when something caught his attention. He heard someone singing; He followed the voice and traced it to their baby's bedroom where he found Annie sitting on a rocking chair beside the window.

He sighed in relief, shut the door quietly behind him and walked towards Annie who had a baby's blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

The baby's room was quite scanty except for the items Annie's mom bought a few weeks ago and the few items Annie and Eric bought just last week.

Eric found himself a chair, placed it in front of Annie and took his seat. He took her hand in his and that was only when she noticed his presence.

"Hey." She said with a sad smile.

"I was worried about you."

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep so I decided to come here." She said and he nodded in understanding.

"You know you don't have to blame yourself for anything?"

"I'm not. I just miss him or her a lot. I guess I got so fond of him."

"I do too. I miss talking to our miracle at night."

"Miracle?" She asked, confused.

"Yes. He or she will always be our miracle baby. He brought the two of us together and I will forever be grateful for that."

She smiled. "Me too, I was thinking of what to call him or her and you just gave me the right name. Baby miracle."

"Annie, I want to tell you this again. I'm never going to leave you, you're my life and the person I want to spend the rest of my life with and I'm ready whenever you want us to start trying for another baby."

"What did I do to deserve someone like you?" She asked.

"No. I'm the one who is lucky to have someone like you."

She smiled. "I love you."

"I love you more." He sealed his declaration with a kiss.

~~

Two Months Later

"I'm sorry I won't be there for the launch of your product." Eric apologized for the uncountable time.

Annie, who was still in her nightdress walked towards him, placed a kiss on his lips and adjusted his tie.

"Honestly, I feel so sad that you won't be there but it's okay. You've apologized and I accept your apology. The whole event will be captured by Emmett so you can watch it when you come back from your trip."

"Okay then. But I already made sure all our loved ones will be there even though I'm absent. Your parents, my parents, Ella, Dylan, Elaina, Jace, Jace family, I also asked for permission for Claire, Jayden and Laura to be there tonight, they will all be there to support you. And I may have extended the invitation to some of my colleagues."

"I think that's too much of a crowd for the launching, but it's fine."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips "I'll miss you"

"I'll miss you too, handsome. Make sure you call me as soon as you get there." She kissed him some more.

"Okay, it's time to go. I'm sure Julius must be waiting for you." She began chasing him out of their room.

"Besides you know I have to get ready, Ella will soon be here." She reasoned.

"Have a safe trip sweetheart. I love you." She kissed him, didn't wait for him to reply, pushed him into the car and shut the door. She waved as the car exited the mansion.

When Eric gave her the news that he wasn't going to be there for the launching of her cosmetic line, she felt bad at first because she was looking forward to his support. But she understood because he had to travel to finalize a deal.

To be honest, Annie was so excited about today. She had put in a lot of work in making her dream come true and she couldn't wait for everyone to try out her products.

Annie rushed into her bedroom and got into the nearest dress she could find and as soon as she finished applying her makeup, Ella arrived.

"Ella. You know you don't have to take me shopping. I can just make use of one of the dresses in my closet." She reasoned.

"No way." Ella rolled her eyes. "Tonight is a special night and you'll be putting on a new outfit picked by me."

"Whatever. Let's go." She said, picking up her purse.

....................

"I love this one" Annie said as her eyes never left the dress.

Ella sighed as she turned to look at the dress. Lo and behold it was just the perfect dress.

"Can she try it on?" Ella asked the sales representative.

"Sure," She said and guided Annie to the fitting room.

Ella sighed as she collapsed on a nearby chair. Shopping was really stressful but a smile found its way to her lips when she remembered all the efforts will pay off in a few hours.

Annie had been so picky about her outfit tonight. She practically rejected all the long dresses suggested by the sales rep saying she wanted something she would be comfortable with because she will be moving around a lot.

"So how do I look?" Annie said as she walked out of the fitting room and posed in front of Ella

"Wow. This is so beautiful." Ella smiled then she turned to the sales rep. "Can your best friend ever...?"

"Of course not." The sales representative replied and they all burst into laughter.

Annie looked gorgeous in her red dress which stopped right on her knee. It was an off-shoulder dress which showed the right amount of cleavage.

"We'll be taking it, Stella. Have it packaged for us." Ella said to the sales rep.

"Okay," She said and guided Annie back to the fitting room.

A few minutes later, Annie came back from the fitting room looking grumpy.

"Is anything the matter?"

"The price of that dress is ridiculous. Maybe I should go for something else."

"Don't worry." She smiled.

"Okay. I'll pay half." She suggested.

"No way It's all on me." She winked at Annie. "Come on." She got up from where she was seated and pulled Annie along with her. "We still need to look for a pair of matching heels."

"You seem very excited about all of this. Is there anything I should know?" Annie asked curiously.

"Oh, you sure don't know how excited I am for tonight." She giggled.

Annie finally settled for a pair of black gorgeous heels which design matched her dress. After that, they stopped by a restaurant to have lunch then they left for her mansion.

"I miss Eric." Annie pouted as she plopped down on one of the couches in the living room.

"He's not even gone for up to six hours and you're cranky." Ella teased.

After Claire left, a bunch of teenagers approached Annie. They were six in number and were all beautifully dressed.

"Hi." They greeted shyly.

"Oh hi," Annie smiled.

"We want to thank you for inviting us. It's really an honour to be part of something this huge. We love you so much and we truly admire you." The shortest of all the girls said and Annie recognized them.

"Oh my God, it's you guys." She exclaimed and started pulling them into a hug one after the other.

"Thank you all for supporting me." She said to them. Annie wanted to give a few invites to some of her loyal fans. She noticed the six of them and had sent them private messages inviting them to the launch of her product.

"You're welcome. We admire you and we are proud of you."

"Thank you. You girls are amazing too and there's nothing you can't do once you set your mind to it. It can be pretty challenging but you just need to focus, keep pushing and never give up."

The girls nodded.

"Come over here let's take some pictures." She directed the girls towards her and called the photographer's attention. One of the girls also gave her phone to the photographer to take a shot and they also took selfies with Annie.

"Ok girls as a gift from me, you all will be getting my eye shadow vintage collection and any lip kit of your choice." They all squealed and gave Annie a joint hug.

"Look at my beautiful baby. I'm so proud of you sweetheart." Angela said as she hugged Annie.

"Thank you, mom." She returned the hug.

"Congratulations Honey. We're so proud of you." David, her Step Dad said.

"Thanks, Dad." She smiled and pulled him into a hug.

Annie joined the crowd and interacted with a lot of people. She was happy everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, but she was secretly missing the love of her life, only if he was here to share this moment with her.

"Annie Bear. It's time to make your speech." Ella announced and Annie made her way to the stage. The audience gathered around the stage.

Annie's speech lasted for about six minutes. She told them what inspired her to start her cosmetic line, the challenges involved. She assured them about the quality of her products and finally, she encouraged everyone to never give up on their dreams no matter how big it might be or how ridiculous it might sound.

"Finally, I want to thank my family for their support. Laura, Claire, Jayden, you guys are the best teenage siblings in the world." She said then blew a kiss to them across the stage.

"I want to thank my best friend, Emmanuella. Honestly, I can't imagine my life without you in it. Thanks for being there for me and please give a kiss to Dylan for me. I appreciate you guys' support." She said and the audience chuckled, some clapped a bit.

"I want to thank everyone in this hall for making time out of your busy schedule to come to support me today. It means a lot to me and I love you all. I want to thank every member of the Ivan James family and finally, I want to thank someone very special to me. He couldn't make it because...." She started to say but stopped because of the loud cheering of the audience and huge smiles on their faces. She wanted to continue her speech but the cheers only increased. Some people from the audience started pointing for her to look behind her. She did and was surprised to see the love of her life.

Annie was very happy, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Squeezing the bouquet of roses Eric was holding. Then she gave him a long passionate kiss which earned a loud cheer from the crowd.

She turned off the microphone that was attached to her dress before she spoke. "I don't know how you did it but thanks for making time to be here. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, babe. He handed her the roses. I'm happy I made it too. I won't want to miss this for anything in the world."

"Thank you." She said and then turned on the microphone to continue her speech.

"As I was saying before I was surprisingly interrupted, I want to thank this gorgeous man beside me for being my pillar of support." She turned to him and said, "Thank you, honey." Then she gave him a kiss on his lips which made the crowd go crazy.

The waiters and waitresses made their way through the crowd and distributed a glass of wine to everyone to make a toast.

Annie smiled as she looked through her crowd. They were all focused on getting themselves a glass of wine. Her Mom, Step Dad, Ella, Dylan, Eric's parents, Laura, Jayden, Claire, Elaina and Jace stood at the very front. They were all smiling at her and suddenly she saw Ella take out her phone from her purse and set it on 'was it a picture or video mode?' Annie could not tell. Claire, Annie's younger sister also brought out her camera but it seemed she was recording and not taking pictures.

Suddenly, there was silence in the Audience. Everyone was focused on the stage where she was standing. Some had smiles on their faces and for a while, Annie thought she saw tears in some people's eyes. The press were at alert, recording everything and she noticed some people in the audience taking out their phones to take pictures or so.

Annie heard soft steps coming towards her and she assumed it was the waiter who was to give her a glass of wine so she would make the toast. She turned to collect the wine and was surprised by what she saw.