Harlem admired his faith. She had to trust it. “M-Maybe we need to see another specialist or . . .”
Damian tensed. “We can do this. We just have to be patient.”
“Dame . . . we’ve been trying for a year. Is that not patient?” She knew it was hard for him to watch all of their friends start their families and felt inadequate for not giving him the one thing he craved. Damian loved kids. He volunteered a lot of his time to underserved children. There wasn’t an organization or group home in the Chicagoland area that hadn’t received a donation from Damian Fox. He was especially partial to the one he grew up in, Maryville Academy.
Damian was fighting hard to contain his own frustrations and pulled away slightly. “Look, we’re both disappointed and emotional. It’s late. Let’s just go to sleep and figure out our next move tomorrow.”
Harlem didn’t want to argue. Instead, she allowed Damian to take her by the hand and lead her toward the bed. Once they were settled underneath the covers, he cocooned her within the strong embrace of his arms.
Damian’s chest felt tight. As if his heart was going to explode into a million jagged pieces. Still, he had to keep it together and took comfort in being able to hold Harlem in his arms.
Harlem could handle almost anything, but this was a hard blow. She felt like such a failure. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the accelerated beat of his heart.
He wanted a child, and Harlem wanted to give him one. What she couldn’t reconcile was why she secretly felt at least partially relieved at the negative pregnancy test.
Chapter 17
It had been a few days, and things between Harlem and Damian had been strained.
Damian kissed a sleeping Harlem on the forehead before leaving for work. He had a couple of stops to make on his way into the office. Neither of them had received much sleep over the last several nights. Their days were filled with tiptoeing around each other to not say the wrong thing.
That was even more tiring.
Damian walked into the restaurant where he was meeting Carter. He immediately spotted him and went over toward his table.
Carter’s smile was wide but slipped just a little at the sight of Damian’s bloodshot eyes. “You look like shit.”
Exhausted, Damian sat down. “I feel worse than that.” Almost as soon as he was seated, a server came over to take their order. “I’ll just have coffee, strong and black, please.”
Carter ordered a hearty breakfast and a cup of coffee too. Once their server left, Carter got right down to it. “I thought you’d still be flying high after closing that multi-million dollar deal the other night. What’s up? What’s going on?”
“Another negative test.” Damian rolled his head around his shoulders. “I thought for sure we were pregnant.”
“Damn, man. I’m sorry.”
“She had all the symptoms.” Damian sighed. “I just . . . never thought having a baby would be this difficult. Back in the day, I remember all too well being terrified of a positive pregnancy test.”
“Back in the day?” Carter laughed. “What are you talking about? Some of us are still in the game. I’m still terrified.”
“Maaaaan. You are getting too old for that shit. How old was Joy? Twenty-four? Twenty-five?”
Carter smirked. “Twenty-two.”
“If you had just one grown woman, maybe Harlem wouldn’t mind it so much when we hang out.” Damian chuckled but it was half-hearted. “Seriously, everyone around us are starting families. Don’t you want that too?”
“Nope. Not ever. I’ll leave that to you and the guys.”
“You do realize you’re the Godfather to Nate and Spencer’s kids, right? And when Harlem and I finally have children, you’ll be the Godfather to ours too.”
“Yeah, so?”
“If something were to happen to any of us, YOU would have to take up parental responsibilities.”
Carter laughed out loud. “First, I’m a co-Godfather. Before that happy honor is bestowed upon me, it would fall to you, Nate, or Spencer. Therefore, it’ll never happen.”
“Actually, I never planned to make you a co-Godfather. If Harlem and I ever have children and anything were to happen to me, I want you to look after my kids and her.”
All jokes aside, Carter was stunned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
Damian shrugged as if he hadn’t just dropped a nuclear bomb. “It makes perfect sense. Nobody knows me like you do, not even Nate or Spencer. That matters to me for whoever is raising my children. And Harlem . . . she can sometimes get too caught up in her head. You would make sure she had balance.”
Carter couldn’t fathom that scenario. He did not have the patience that Damian had. He would end up going to prison for choking the shit out of her. “I know damn well you haven’t discussed this with Harlem.”
“Not yet.”
“I hate to tell you this, but Harlem and I only have one thing in common, and that’s you.”
“Maybe.” If they weren’t already in love, Damian thought Carter and Harlem would be a perfect match. He sighed. “If I remember correctly, you spotted Harlem first. I just beat you to the punch.”
“That was a blessing for all of us,” Carter said. Harlem was hands down one of
