Chapter 19: Curse of the Male Heir

ALICE

“You sure Kieran will have no problem staying with Nico for the night?” I asked Gideon while unbuttoning my coat.

“Of course not. Trust me, Kieran has no problem staying with Nico, plus he has Jenny with him,” Gideon responded, heading to the bathroom.

As decided, Kieran was going to stay the night with Nico, while Gideon and I would go back home, which we did. Gideon looked exhausted, so I was glad Kieran was willing to stay with Nico.

I knew Gideon hadn’t slept well on the hospital couch last night. Rich men like him were used to sleeping in comfortable beds. But I was glad that he’d made an effort for me.

Gideon emerged from the bathroom and strode toward me. Once he was standing a couple of feet away from me, he pulled me in for a comforting hug, taking me by surprise.

I had no idea why Gideon was hugging me, but I liked having his arms around me.

“Sit.” Gideon gently pushed me down onto the bed, but he didn’t stop until I was lying flat on the bed, looking at him with confusion.

Giving me a smile, Gideon got on top of me and nuzzled my neck, sparking pleasure in my core. I would’ve moaned if Gideon’s sudden physical affection hadn’t left me bewildered.

“Gideon, what are you doing?” I asked softly.

“Kissing you.” And to prove his point, he kissed the column of my neck.

“Yes, but why?” I inquired.

“Because I’m your husband,” he answered, kissing the spot below my ear.

“Yes, but why all of a sudden?” I queried, running my fingers through his hair.

“Can’t a husband kiss his wife?” Gideon murmured before grabbing the hem of my shirt and tugging it. “Take this off,” he demanded, pulling the shirt over my head and discarding it to the side.

Once I wore only my bra from the waist up, Gideon claimed my mouth in a passionate kiss, running his hands over my bare stomach, igniting pleasure in every cell of my body.

I had no idea why Gideon was being so touchy-feely, and I wanted to know why.

“You make me so happy,” Gideon whispered, gliding his lips down my neck.

“Gideon, you’re confusing me. Please tell me why I make you so happy,” I said breathlessly.

Without a word, Gideon grabbed his coat, which was lying at the foot of the bed. He slipped his hands inside the pocket and pulled out an envelope, which was already opened.

Removing a folded piece of paper, Gideon handed it to me, smiling from ear to ear.

I read the contents of the paper, and my eyes widened. Suddenly I knew the reason for Gideon’s happiness. He placed a kiss on my still-flat belly, right below my navel, while I stared at the word that told me what Gideon had already known.

I was pregnant.

“Is that why you’re so happy?” I questioned, a smile breaking across my face.

“Yes, because of you.” Gideon nuzzled my tummy, making me laugh at the ticklish feeling.

“Well, I’m glad I made you happy by being pregnant,” I said, feeling relieved. I felt that now things were finally working out for me; my brother had gotten his heart fixed, and now I was pregnant with Gideon’s baby.

I also had money for Nico’s education, and now I just had to apply for a decent-paying job and look for a house because this castle was my home for the next eleven months only.

“Not just happy, ecstatic. I am going to love you because now I have got you all to myself.” Gideon hastily removed my jeans and my underwear before discarding his own clothes and getting on top of me.

Gideon made sweet love to me, letting me savor every inch of him. I ran my hands leisurely over his hard, muscular body, enjoying the feel of him slowly pumping in and out of me.

Gideon making love to me forged another crack in my heart, making me fall just a little more for the man I was not supposed to fall for.

Once we were done and basking in the afterglow of our lovemaking, Gideon ran his hand all over my skin, causing goosebumps to erupt all over.

“I am going to be with you every step of the way. I will accompany you to every scan, and I will take care of you and our baby. You will not be alone, little dove. You will never be alone.” Gideon kissed my lips sweetly before eyeing my tummy with barely concealed glee.

His words brought tears to my eyes, and for once, I wished that we would be together forever and not just for a year.

I really wished there was a man like Gideon out there for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle an abusive husband.

“We’ll be great parents, don’t you think? You are caring and loving, and you know all about taking care of kids. And I will learn to handle our baby from you. One day you’ll be on diaper duty, and one day I will be. What do you think?”

Gideon gently wound an arm around my tummy. The little gesture confirmed my thoughts about Gideon being an amazing father. My belly was still flat, and yet he was already protecting the life growing inside it.

“I think it will be perfect.” I kissed Gideon tenderly, pouring my happiness into that one kiss.

“Do you know that I didn’t want a baby just because I needed an heir to run my empire but because I wanted to start a family, have someone to call mine. Someone who I will look forward to seeing at the end of the day. Someone who will greet me with a smile every time I come home from work.”

“Well, I wish that you find that someone for yourself,” I said with utmost sincerity.

“I have already found that someone,” he replied, running his hand over my tummy.

***

Time passed quickly. A week passed by in a blur, and now we were bringing Nico home.

Gideon had already prepared a room for Nico in the castle, and Kieran was coming to stay with us because he offered to babysit Nico and make sure he was taking his medicines on time.

I told him it was unnecessary because I could take care of my brother, not to mention the number of maids Gideon had in the castle.

But Kieran didn’t budge, telling me that I was pregnant with his nephew or niece and that I would need to focus more on myself and the maids would not play games with Nico.

Gideon had agreed with Kieran and strictly told me to take care of myself.

Once Gideon told me that I was pregnant, it didn’t take long for him to tell the whole family.

So Gideon’s father changed the monthly family lunch to a celebratory lunch and had invited the whole Maslow family, which included all of Gideon’s uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Now here we were dressing up to go to lunch over at Mr. Maslow’s place. Gideon had given five maids strict orders regarding Nico.

All five of them would stay with Nico until we came back, and if Nico wanted to play games, they would oblige him and play with him.

I was a little reluctant to leave Nico alone with the maids when he had just come back from the hospital, but I also knew that Mr. Maslow was hosting this lunch because of me.

I couldn’t cancel because Gideon’s whole family would be there, and I would never embarrass him.

“Are you ready to go?” Gideon asked, emerging from the walk-in closet looking as if he was ready to go for a photo shoot.

“Yes, let’s go.” After grabbing my clutch from the table, I followed Gideon out of our room and toward the car.

Throughout the ride, I was a nervous wreck. Every time my hand would reach my neck, only to find no necklace there, I would be disappointed.

Right then, I was feeling the loss of the necklace so much I was cursing the fact that it had broken.

We arrived at Mr. Maslow’s estate after thirty minutes. The estate was huge, but the architecture was not of this century; it was old, very old.

However, it was beautiful, and I could easily picture a man like Mr. Maslow living here.

Gideon and I entered the house, and my eyes widened at seeing the number of people in the house, more like the number of men in the house. It was like females didn’t exist in the place.

Everywhere I looked there were males of various age and size, all dressed in shirts and slacks.

Kieran came and slapped Gideon on the back in acknowledgement. Giving me a brotherly hug, he shouted to everyone that the guest of honor was here, which didn’t help ease my anxiety one bit.

“Jenny is over there.” Kieran pointed to where Jenny sat looking as uncomfortable as I was feeling.

Giving him a grateful smile, I quickly went over to Jenny. Relief spread through her face once she saw me. Giving me a sweet smile, Jenny stood up and hugged me.

“Thank God you’re here. I was feeling so strange being in the middle of all these men. Have you ever seen this many men in one family?” she queried, gazing at the room swarming with men.

“I had no idea Gideon only had males in the family,” I remarked.

“His aunts are in the kitchen preparing lunch, and I don’t think they have any female cousins,” Jenny responded.

Just then two females came trotting down the stairs. As soon as they saw Jenny and me, their face broke out into huge grins. They jogged toward us and enveloped us in hugs.

Both the females were very pretty. The one who hugged Jenny had a cylindrical figure with wavy blonde hair and green eyes. While the one who was grinning at me had curly dark hair and blue eyes.

“Oh my God, finally, girls in the family,” the one who was hugging me shrieked excitedly.

“And best of all, they’re not older than us!” the other one said.

“Hi, I’m Chloe, and this is Maddie,” Chloe said to me.

“Nice to meet you, Chloe and Maddie. I’m Alice, Gideon’s wife.”

“And I’m Jenny. I came with Kieran,” Jenny said.

“Aah, you’re the girlfriend Kieran can’t stop talking about,” Maddie stated, causing Jenny to blush.

“And you are the guest of honor. I’m glad to finally meet you. Come, let’s go to my room. There’s still plenty of time until lunch.” Chloe spotted Gideon sitting with a few guys.

“Hey, Gideon, I’m taking your wife and Kieran’s girlfriend to my room. Don’t assemble a search party,” she said before taking my hand and leading me up the stairs.

“You live here?” I asked Chloe.

“No,” she answered.

“Then how come you are taking us to your room?” I queried.

“Oh, this is my room when I visit Uncle Brian,” she answered.

“Who?” Jenny asked.

“Uncle Brian, Kieran’s father,” Chloe responded, opening the door to her room and letting us all in before shutting the door.

“Sit anywhere you like.” Jenny and I sat on the bed, right across from Chloe and Maddie.

“So, how did you like the family full of men?” Maddie asked.

“Uncomfortable,” Jenny answered.

“You have no idea how happy we are that you two are here. It gets so boring here with all the men and no other females. It’s just Maddie and me,” Chloe commented.

“But it must be nice having so many men to protect you,” I stated.

“Uh, no, it isn’t. Chloe and I can never have boyfriends. One time I was dating this guy, and my brothers found out. They literally beat the guy to a pulp and grounded me for three months.

“Now, I’m not allowed to go to any club, and if I want to go to a club, I must go to that boring one near my house and have to take my brothers along,” Maddie said, resentment dripping from her words.

“I agree. Having a male-dominated family is anything but fun. The guys all treat you like you’re made of expensive china. I liked Lizzie. At least she had the guts to stand up to all of them and be true to the love of her life,” Chloe stated.

“Yeah, but look what happened. She got kicked out of the family. Now people are forbidden to even say her name,” Maddie responded.

“Yes, but at least she got out. If I have a guy that truly loves me, I’ll run away with him,” Chloe said.

“Hey, you can’t leave me all alone here. You’re all I have,” Maddie replied.

Jenny and I gave each other puzzled glances, asking the same question: who was Lizzie? And where was she? What was her history with the Maslow family?

Gideon never told me about Lizzie before. Well, he’d never told me about anyone before, and I had a feeling that if I asked about Lizzie, Gideon would not be very forthcoming.

“Oh, we’re so horrible.” Maddie slapped her forehead. “Congratulations on the baby. You’ll be giving birth to another Maslow boy,” she said.

“It could be a girl,” I responded.

“I wish, but this family is cursed. The women of this family always, and I mean ninety-nine percent of the time, give birth to boys.

“Girls are a rarity. In this generation, we only have Chloe, Lizzie, and me as girls. The rest are boys, and since Lizzie is gone, it’s just us two,” Maddie stated.

“Wow, and you guys believe in this?” Jenny asked.

“It’s hard not to, since ninety-five percent of our ancestors are males. The females are only the wives and the rare daughters,” Chloe replied.

Well, I didn’t believe this family was cursed. And since I was a temporary woman in the Maslow family, I believed I would give birth to a girl. Chloe and Maddie talking about the family being male-dominated made me wish that my baby was a girl.

“Who is Lizzie?” Jenny questioned.

“Oohh, we can’t tell you who she was related to because, since the day Lizzie got kicked out of the family, everybody said that Lizzie was never part of the family and no one should associate her with the family, especially to the ones she was actually related to, but we can tell you that she was our cousin and was a total badass,” Chloe answered.

This family was so weird and had so many secrets. There was a mysterious woman on the seventh floor of the castle. There was an empty archive aisle regarding that same woman, and now there was this Lizzie woman.

Just how many secrets did this family have? And would I be able to figure them all out in less than a year?

I hoped so.