A Baby for Tina

"Actually, it's not costing me a dime. The owner is a close friend."

"He must be a very close friend if he's letting you stay here for free. I'm assuming it's a 'he'; if you tell me the owner's a woman, I'm going to be worried!" she giggled.

"It is a 'he'," Brad smiled. "And you're right, he is a very close friend. He's so close, in fact, that he's standing next to you, holding your hand."

She stopped dead in her tracks, mid-step, and slowly turned to look at him. "You own this?" she gasped. He simply smiled at her. "But I don't understand. The house, the boat, the helicopter...it's all yours?"

"And the island," he nodded. He put his arms around her lower back and held her, giving her an amused expression. "Do you remember what you said my brother said about me? You said he called me 'a beach bum surfer who's never done an honest day's work in his life'. Well, I've never surfed, but I'm afraid he was pretty spot on with the rest of it."

"But how...what... Did you win the lottery or something? You're obviously a millionaire if you own all this, and I know you didn't become a millionaire by laying on the beach, working on your tan all day."

"Billionaire, actually," he smiled. "And I've never broken the law. Well, unless you count speeding, of course." He gave her the name of a popular website and asked if she was familiar with it.

"Of course," she snorted. "That's like asking me if I've ever heard of McDonald's!"

"I created it," he said simply. "Well, some friends and I. Difference is, I kept my face and my name out of the spotlight, and my friends now probably wish they had done the same. Several years ago when we had our IPO, all of us became billionaires, literally overnight. But my brother and I came from modest means, which is why I live in a fairly modest house and drive a fairly modest car, instead of living in Beverly Hills or Malibu and driving a Ferrari. This island...it's my one indulgence. It's the one place in the world I come to when I need to relax and need to get away.

"Tina, please forgive me for never sharing this with you. I hope you'll understand that I had to know you love me, not my money. The only way I could do that was to not tell you about all this until I was sure."

"No, no, I understand," she assured him. "I would have probably done the same. I'm glad you did, in fact. I would have probably questioned myself whether I really loved you, or if deep down, I loved your money and toys. So...when Tim called you a beach bum who had never done an honest day's work..."

He nodded. "This is what he was referring to. From my brother's point of view, I was a slacker who took it easy and came down to my private island to lie on the beach and play in the sand for days or weeks at a time. He didn't understand that I worked hard to get where I am. Yeah, okay, maybe compared to him, I didn't work hard. I never risked my life, for one thing, and for another, I worked in an air-conditioned office. But he watched me get rich overnight, and I think he thought I found some genie in a bottle who just snapped his fingers and all of a sudden I was loaded. And for what it's worth, please don't ever think I was stingy and refused to share with my brother. I offered him half of everything, but you know Tim: he was all about making it on his own, and he wouldn't take a penny.

"I'm not involved with the website anymore. I cashed out a few years ago and sold my interest to my partners. Now I control several corporations that do philanthropy work. Basically, I work fulltime trying to give away a couple of billion dollars, while keeping my own name and identity a secret because I value my privacy."

"This is...I don't know what to say." She felt overwhelmed, and stumbled to a chair. "You...you're the wealthiest person I know, and I had no idea. You can have anything you want!"

"Almost anything," he sighed. "True, I can buy anything I want. But some things can't be bought: a family and someone to love, for instance. You can't buy your way out of loneliness, not for any amount of money. I know. I've spent years and millions of dollars trying, and it doesn't work."

"What are you saying?"

"This island is the most precious thing in the world to me, and Tina, you are the most precious person in my world. I brought you here this weekend because I can't imagine a more perfect or more beautiful place to bring you to ask you to be my wife and to be the mother of my children," he smiled, and got down on one knee.

"So...Tina Miller, will you marry me?"

She nearly hyperventilated with excitement. "Yes! Absolutely yes!"

She grabbed his face and covered it with kisses. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the master bedroom, making love to her well into the night.

That more or less set the pace for the entire weekend: make love, get something to eat and drink, rest or nap for a while, rinse, and repeat. They made love in every room of the house, on the terraces, on the beach, in the helicopter, on the boat, and in the lagoon. On the last night on the island, they lay cuddled together naked and under the stars.

"So," she giggled. "Do I get a ring?"

"As soon as we get back to the mainland. You pick any ring you like and I'll buy it for you."

"No," she cooed. "You pick one for me."

"Tina, there's something else I want to ask you, too."

"Yes?"

"In a few months, I'm pulling the trigger on a new philanthropy project, just as soon as my attorneys finish drawing up the paperwork and securing suitable land. It's going to be called the 'Tim Miller Memorial Biomedical Research Foundation', and it's going to start with a one hundred million dollar endowment, over and above what it costs to build it. All we need before we break ground is a Research Director to run it and staff it with the best professionals in the world. You told me a long time ago that medical research is where your heart is. The position's yours, if you want it."

She said nothing for a long time, and in the pitch darkness, he thought she had fallen asleep, until he felt her tears fall softly on his chest.

"If this weekend is a dream," she said quietly, "I don't ever want to wake up."

She climbed on top of him in the darkness and they made love once more, before falling asleep in each other's arms with nothing but the warm Caribbean breezes for their blanket.

=======

FOUR YEARS LATER...

"Unnnngggghhhh!" Tina screamed through clenched teeth, bearing down, before collapsing back into the bed, exhausted. Brad mopped her brow with a cool washcloth and kissed her.

"You're doing fine," the masked obstetrician between her legs said. "You know, this is a first for me: I've delivered a lot of babies in my career, but this is the first time I've ever delivered a friend's baby."

"Glad I...aaah...could be your first," she replied with good-natured sarcasm.

"Well, leave it to my beautiful wife to be a showoff," Brad smiled. "Call a press conference to announce a new treatment for breast cancer, and a viable plan to eradicate tuberculosis worldwide in the next few years, and then go into labor in the middle of it, on national television? Tsk."

"You know," the OB quipped, "that's another first for me: I've never delivered a foundation director's baby, either!"

"Well, you know me...oooofff! This baby felt a lot better going in than it does coming out."

"Alright, here we go...one more big push and we're home free..."

"Aaaaaaaggggghhhhh!" she cried. A moment later, the room was filled with the wail of a pair of lungs taking their first breath.

"Congratulations," the OB said as she clipped the cord, cleaned up the baby, and did a quick APGAR assessment. "It's a boy." The doctor passed the newborn off to a nurse, who wrapped it up and placed the newborn in Tina's arms.

"So, have you picked out a name yet?"

Tina and Brad looked at each other and smiled. He nodded confidently.

"Yes, we have. We're going to name him Tim."