.
Chapter 29
I signed book after book, trying my best to be polite as each person presented their copy. I signed the books as they asked — names, no names, love, best wishes — but I was a robot. It was the last day of my tour and I was itching to get back to Paris. Talking on the phone every day was all well and good, but I missed Hermione's physical presence more than I'd anticipated. Every fibre of my being wanted to be with her, not hundreds of miles away worrying about how she was doing.
And the constant questions regarding the final dedication almost brought me undone. People had noticed the ring on my finger, and I'd managed to deflect the subtle — and not so subtle — enquiries. My life as Lucius Malfoy wasn't available to the public. To these people I was Marcus Folly, and that was the role I would play in their presence. Hermione didn't exist in this world. Her privacy— and mine — was paramount. Like her in the ballet world, I truly wasn't known outside the book world, and I wanted to remain that way. My private life wasn't negotiable with these people and neither was hers.
"Thank you, Mr Folly."
I glanced up, a smile I hoped was genuine plastered on my face, and nodded. "No, thank you. You're keeping me in a job."
The woman smiled and laughed, then nodded at my left hand. "That's new since your last book."
"A good luck gift," I answered. "I wasn't sized correctly for my right hand."
"You're lucky to have such a kind friend."
"Indeed," I agreed and passed the signed book to her, hoping she'd move along.
Fortunately she did, and I glanced over at my agent. Mackenzie gave me a smug look that said, I told you so, and I rolled my eyes, hating that she'd been right. She'd wisely told me to take the ring off, but I'd refused. My promise to Hermione stood: I would wear it so no one thought I was available.
I should have listened to my agent.
My book, it seemed, was secondary to what was happening in my private life.
"Just a few more," Mackenzie told me, nodding at the line and I held back my groan.
I was exhausted. We'd crammed three bookstores into the last day, and this final one had been the most crowded. But, with only a dozen or so more books to sign, and one chapter reading to go, the light at the end of the tunnel was shining brighter. I would be back in Paris in the morning, with her, and that meant all my nervous tension would be gone.
Stretching my hands, I smiled at the next person in line, and began the process again. Sign, laugh, deflect, move them along. Repeat.
The book was amazing, Mr Folly.
Thank you.
It was definitely worth the wait, Mr Folly.
I'm glad you think so.
Are you continuing the series, Mr Folly?
No, I wasn't planning to.
Have you started your next book, Mr Folly?
No, not yet.
It went on until the last person in line finally stepped up. And her grin was as giddy as mine.
"You can sign it 'to my wall-thumping, hellcat neighbour,' Mr Folly."
I wanted to leap over the table and kiss the life out of her. Privacy be damned.
"Are you sure?" I asked, remembering the conversation we had when I first signed books for her. "I mean, if someone were to look at a remark like that, they might wonder just how well you know your favourite author."
"I didn't say you were my favourite author," she said. "Top five, maybe."
"I'm glad I made the cut."
I opened the book to the dedication page and glanced up at her. She nodded at me, and I knew she was fighting tears.
"This is for you," I said quietly. "Because of you."
"Thank you," she whispered. "I wasn't expecting that."
She'd already thanked me for the dedication, but that had been over the phone. This was different. She was as twitchy as I was to say a proper thank you.
"I know," I said, signing her book and handing it back to her. "But it's true. Every word."
She hugged it to her chest then nodded at my left hand. "Did you get married, Mr Folly?"
"Not so much married." I flexed my hand, "More of an unbreakable arrangement."
"You're lucky to have such an amazing woman to agree to that."
"Ah, well, you see she was the one who suggested it," I replied with a grin. "Which makes me amazing, I guess."
"I guess she's the lucky one then." She tapped her fingers on the book. "Thank you, Mr Folly. I truly appreciate it."
"Are you staying?" I asked in a low voice.
She shook her head then glanced at Mackenzie. This had clearly all been pre-arranged.
"I'll meet you in your hotel after. I don't want to distract you."
"Too late," I said, causing her to smile. "And I'll try not to be too long."
"Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
The Q&A after the chapter reading took far longer than anticipated and my patience was pushed to its furthest limits. Knowing she was waiting for me made me more anxious than usual, and while I tried my best to be polite, I knew I had been sharp answering questions as the time dragged on.
My agent recognised my annoyance and had pointed at two people, stating 'last questions.' And the moment those last questions were answered, I'd politely thanked everyone and was out the door quicker than lightning.
Hermione was sitting on the window seat in my room when I finally made it back to the hotel. She glanced over as I closed the door, her smile lighting up my world.
"Will you ever stop surprising me?" I asked.
"Sorry I disrupted your signing," she replied, grinning in a way that I knew she wasn't sorry at all.
"No," I said, walking over to her. "I'm glad you did. I needed the distraction from all the wet and desperate fans."
She snorted a laugh. "How many women handed you their phone numbers?"
"A few blokes today, no women though," I told her, grinning stupidly. "Perhaps they sensed a mad woman had shown up to surprise me and it wasn't safe to do so."
"I saw the way some of those women were looking at you. I'm pretty sure they wanted to eat you alive."
"They'd be severely disappointed then. There's only one woman who gets to do that."
She scrambled off the window seat and launched herself at me.
"I missed you," she said into my neck as I lifted her off the floor, hugging her tightly. "I missed you so much."
I breathed her in, the light scent of her shampoo, her perfume, her skin, filling me with joy.
"I missed you more."
"Not possible," she murmured between kisses to my neck. "You wouldn't have video sex with me so I had to satisfy myself."
I laughed, lowering her back to the floor then cupping her face in my palms. "Video sex wouldn't have satisfied either of us."
The first face-to-face call we'd had she suggested she was more than willing to do more than just talk. I'd responded in the negative, explaining gently I wasn't truly comfortable with such things, despite my words to the contrary. She'd been disappointed, but she'd also understood. She'd made me laugh, telling me my gentlemanly manners were far too sensitive for such debauchery, but perhaps she could leave me with some very salacious thoughts I could put to good use.
"Can we rectify that now?" she asked, her hands already unfastening my belt.
"I would have had you naked on the table in the bookshop," I told her. "If I wasn't so gentlemanly."
"Well, right now, I don't want you to be gentlemanly." She worked the button on my jeans open and slid the zipper down. "Right now I want to ride you until I don't know my own name."
I stopped her momentarily with a kiss. The madness of her always kicked an extra thump into my heart.
"I'll be sure to remind you, Hellcat, when we're done."
Our clothes left a trail on the floor as we stumbled through the suite, and I was on my back in the middle of the bed in a blink. She crawled over me, kissing every inch of my chest while she slid along my already hard cock. She was wet, and I wondered what she'd been thinking about. My thought was rhetorical; I knew exactly what she'd been thinking about. The same thing I had.
And the fact we both wanted this before anything else was perfect.
My hands roamed her back, her hips, her thighs, taking every inch of her in, as if the past two weeks had been two years. I hadn't thought it possible to feel like a part of me had been missing, like something was unbalanced in my life. Watching her now, I knew it was the truth. She was the Yang to my Yin. Chaos and madness, energy and beauty, she'd pulled me into her world and showed me that life was meant to be embraced and enjoyed even in the darkest moments. My name may have meant 'light,' but she had been the one who had pulled me out of the last remnants of my dark life and into this one.
And this feeling — of finally being out of the dark — was the feeling I'd desperately chased in the months after discovering my ex-wife's cheating, before I eventually gave up and felt so alone. I had resigned myself to that life, to being alone. To being lonely. I'd been grieving unknowingly, then Hermione came along and had opened my eyes to being loved again, just as I was. Yes, she had changed aspects of me, and I had done the same for her, but she expected nothing of me more than I already was.
She took me in her hand, shifting her hips to position me. My eyes drifted down, watching as I slowly disappeared inside her. I squeezed her thighs, groaning at the tight warmth of her body. Sex hadn't been the sole reason I'd missed her, but right then, I couldn't think of what those other reasons were.
"Two weeks was too long," she breathed, her hands pressing into my chest.
"Yeah," I agreed, not looking away from the place we were joined. "Far too long."
She began to move, hard and fast, and every instinct in me wanted to slow her down. I'd assumed our reunion would be slow and drawn out, but she definitely had made her own assumptions.
I groaned, my eyes rolling closed for a beat and I shivered beneath her. She was needy and frantic, and I felt like I was about to explode in her already.
"Lucius," she moaned, groping for my hand and dragging it between us.
I pressed my thumb against her clit, pulling a sharp gasp from her, and her movements sped up. She tensed and then her legs squeezed hard against me. Her head dropped back and she called out to the gods, before collapsing onto my chest. I planted my feet on the bed and in three, four, five thrusts I was coming, thanking the gods myself.
We both were breathing hard, and I was about to voice my apologies for not lasting longer when she spoke.
"Fuck. I needed that."
I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her. "We've never been that quick. I feel I should apologise."
"We can take our time later," she said, lifting her head to look at me. "That was exactly what I wanted."
"Well, in that case, you're welcome."
Hermione giggled and snuggled against me once more. We were quiet for a while, both simply enjoying the moment of being together. I dragged my hands slowly up and down her back — her scent, her warmth, the soft feel of her sprawled over me — I felt whole again now that she was here.
And now that my mind had cleared, something occurred to me.
"Why aren't you on stage right now?"
She kissed my chest and I slipped out of her when she shifted off me. She grimaced then grinned.
"Two weeks was indeed a long time for you," she said, rolling off the bed and squirming slightly. "Give me a minute, I have an end-of-book-tour gift for you."
"I'm happy with the gift you just gave me."
"Of course you are." She leaned down and kissed me. "Your achievement should be celebrated though."
I squeezed the back of her thigh then watched, smiling, as she disappeared into the bathroom. My spine popped as I stretched out, arching my back and lifting my arms over my head. I was relaxed and sated, and could easily roll over and fall into a deep sleep. But I also wondered what mad gift she'd brought me.
Sitting up, I shoved the pillow behind my lower back and pulled the sheet over my legs and hips. The toilet flushed, then water pulled through the taps before she wandered back out of the bathroom. She smiled then walked out of the room.
I frowned, calling, "Is everything alright?"
"Fine," she called back. "You distracted me and I left your gift out here."
She came back half a minute later, holding a gift bag. She climbed into the bed beside me, pulling the sheet around her.
"This is for you."
I took the offered gift bag, still puzzled. "You could have given me this when I arrived back in Paris tomorrow."
"I could have," she agreed. "But I wanted to see you here. I wanted to watch you work."
I stared at her for a few beats. I knew better than to question her madness, but I was still confused as to why she wasn't performing right then.
"This doesn't answer my question," I said, opening the bag and pulling out what appeared to be a picture frame. "Why aren't you on stage…"
I trailed off when I turned the frame over. My breath caught and my heart stumbled.
I love my Daddy.
The words on the frame surrounded an image I was not expecting. I swallowed thickly, running my fingertips across the grainy, black and white picture.
"I can't dance right now," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. "Because I'm pregnant."
The entire world stopped.
My heart picked up, beating so fast I was certain it would push through my chest, and my skin felt so flushed, goosebumps raising and forcing a shiver along my spine.
"You're… pregnant?"
She nodded and my mouth was on hers before she could say another word. She squeaked in shock, falling against me as I wrapped my arms tightly around her.
"You're pregnant," I whispered against her lips.
"Yeah," she pulled back to look at me; her eyes were filled with tears, but her smile lit up her face. "I'm pregnant."
I pulled her over me to straddle my lap, spreading my hands over her stomach. She was pregnant.
"How?"
"I don't know," she said, covering my hands with hers. "I guess my ovaries decided almost two years without a period was long enough, and you did your thing at the right time."
I nodded. That made sense, and with her POI she'd have had no idea. Which led to another question.
"How did you know?"
"I didn't understand why I was so exhausted all the time. I dance the same amount of hours every day, and even though I kept telling myself I'd had two lazy weeks in Bora Bora, I knew something else was wrong. I know I should have told you, but I didn't want to scare you into thinking I was seriously ill." She picked up the picture frame, smiling at the image. "I came home to see my doctor and she asked if there was any possibility I might be pregnant. I thought it was absurd that I would be, but she did a test anyway. To say we were both shocked is an understatement."
I tapped on the picture. "And she did this to check everything was alright?"
"Yes. And also to see how far along I was, and apparently I'm about fourteen weeks."
She laughed at the shocked expression on my face.
"You were pregnant before we travelled?" I asked, then, slightly panicked, added, "Hermione, did I hurt you?"
"Hurt me?" She frowned quizzically before laughing. "No, you didn't."
"Are you certain?"
She touched my cheek gently. "Lucius, you didn't hurt me. We've had sex countless times in the last fourteen weeks, and I'm perfectly alright. So is our baby." She lifted my hand to her lips, "I'm sorry you weren't there for the tests. It wasn't at all what I was expecting."
"You have no reason to apologise," I assured her. "This is…" I shook my head and stared at my hands on her belly. "This is most unexpected."
"You do want this, right?"
I glanced up and saw a tiny flicker of panic in her eyes.
"Of course I want this. This is definitely unexpected, but not unwanted." I took the frame from her and smiled at it. "Not unwanted at all."
"I have another appointment in a few weeks," she explained. "You can come and hear our baby's heartbeat."
I leaned the frame against the bedside lamp, lingering my gaze over it. She was pregnant. She was carrying our child. All the research and planning I had been doing was now irrelevant. By some miracle we'd managed to create a new life without the assistance we both assumed we would need.
"You're pregnant," I said again, tugging at the sheet, wrapping my wife and child in our own little cocoon.
"I am." She held my face in her hands, tearing up again. "And you're my one percent."
"One percent?"
"I've been told since my diagnosis I only had the smallest chance of conceiving naturally. One percent." She sighed and slipped one hand over my heart. "My crazy neighbour told me I would find you. She said you would come into my life and change everything. And you have. You love me like no one else has ever loved me. You put up with my madness, and you have changed your calm life for me. And now, you've given me the one thing I never thought I'd have." She tipped her forehead to mine and took a deep, contented breath. "You're my miracle, Lucius Malfoy. You're my one percent."
