Skyla nods my way. “Thank you, Gage,” she says it low. “I think I’ll take the boys home now. Sage told me off. She said you should have let me burn.” Her eyes widen as if she were amused, but I can see the pain in them.
Chloe barks out a laugh. “She’s a little charmer, isn’t she? Wise beyond her spiritual years. We’ve become fast friends in the time I’ve known her. I must say, I see a little spark of myself in her.”
Skyla grunts, “And that sums up nicely all that’s wrong with her.”
Chloe lifts a finger. “Before I forget. Lex is coming over tomorrow to do a maternity shoot for us.” She looks to Skyla, that dark smile bleeding over her lips, and I can feel the zinger coming. “We’ll need the boys, of course. It’s a family shoot. I’ll have a picture framed for you. And feel free to do the same. I would love to have a picture of you and Logan in my home.”
“My home, Chloe,” Skyla reminds her. “You are living in my home.”
“Yes, I’m living your life, Skyla. Your old life. And now it is my life. Your Celestial mother once said things had a way of righting themselves, and that’s exactly what’s happened.” She wraps her arms around me tightly, her vindictive eyes never leaving Skyla’s. “Everything is so damn right.”
Logan growls, “You sold out.” He says the words directly to Chloe and I can feel her flinch. “You sold your people for less than a song. A cheap thrill. You don’t have his love, Chloe. I am stymied by a lot of things. Unsure of half of what I know, but I am certain of this, you have no place in Gage Oliver’s heart. You’ve sold out Celestra to the devil. Deep down, you know that.”
Chloe slaps a hand to her belly. “Gage is the father of my child. Please don’t start with this bull again. What Gage and I have was not only destined to be by the most exquisite power of all”—she nods toward Candace a few feet in front of us as she laughs with Demetri and Dudley—“this is real. And yes, Logan, this is love.” She presses her dark eyes to Skyla. “I think this is the perfect time for us all to shake off the past and move on. You’re happy with Logan—carrying his child. Don’t let my husband’s ghost be the third person in your relationship. The only reason his feelings got mixed up for you is because, way back when—Logan asked him to fake a relationship with you. Gage told me everything.” I told her no such thing. “Sometimes in this life we let things go too far with the wrong people. It happens every day. It fills our courtrooms with couples trying to rid themselves of marriages that never fit to begin with. I say we’re both lucky that this didn’t drag out another thirty years. And now, you have your precious bundle coming and we have ours. Let’s live in peace. I’m offering you an olive branch, Skyla.” Her tone seems sincere, as about sincere as Chloe can be. “In fact, since we’re going to be co-parenting for a very long time, I’d like to start over with you. What do you say?” She extends a hand toward Skyla. “My name is Chloe Oliver. Nice to meet you.”
Skyla glances down at Chloe’s hand as if it were a snake.
“Like I said, Gage, I’ll be taking the boys home. Fun party. Cool hat. We’ll see you around.”
Skyla and Logan take off and scoop the boys up on their way over to Candace. I watch as they walk off with Dudley and they all disappear in a bright blue fog.
“That went well.” Chloe relaxes over me, her enormous frame exhaling away with delight. I’m sure it went exactly how she wanted. And sadly, it’s exactly how I wanted it to go as well. I can’t have them comfortable. The constant irritation is necessary if Skyla is ever going to form a pearl strong enough to assist her people.
“Don’t worry, Chloe.” I give her a little squeeze. “It went far better than you think.” And it’s affirmation that Chloe Bishop is the only woman for me outside of Skyla. And it can never be Skyla on planet earth again.
* * *
The next morning, Chloe is buzzing with glee. She’s donned a pair of maternity jeans and a white T-shirt that’s lifted above her bare belly as she sits in the living room barefoot. Logan dropped the boys off about ten minutes ago after they took them to breakfast. No fanfare. No Skyla. Said they’d be back to pick them up in two hours. He wished me good luck with the pictures and then took off.
Lexy Bakova has turned the living room into a virtual studio with a giant white spotlight and white plastic sails that stretch near the ceiling to control the shadows. The boys are both wearing bright orange sweaters and sweats, and Chloe hasn’t stopped bitching about it yet.
“I swear she does this to punish me,” she grunts to Lex as the two of them struggle to dress the boys in a pair of white matching T-shirts and jeans—the exact attire she’s commanded me to wear and I’ve dutifully donned.
I guess this is the part where I should say that I now know what it’s like to be married to a demanding shrew. But honestly, Chloe has been patient with me. Her love just might be enough for the both of us in this desolate equation. She’s tiptoed around me like a time bomb. She’s put up with far more celibacy than should be expected in any marriage, and she’s kept the house tidy, fed me three solid meals—it’s sort of like prison in that respect.
Lexy offers Barron a brisk slap to the bottom after she gets his jeans on and Barron donkey kicks her in the face so I don’t address it. At this point, the boys are pretty good at taking care of themselves. Chloe wouldn’t dare strike the boys, playfully or not. She knows I’ve got a hard line and that they are it.
“All right, honey.” Chloe flicks her fingers my way. “Come, come.” She pats the spot on the white quilt next to her, and I land hard on the floor as the boys topple over me.
“Careful.” Chloe turns her enormous belly—and it’s just that overnight. “Mommy has a baby in her tummy.”
I remember that with Skyla. One minute it was just a tiny hump, and then she burst into life as if she had a beach ball stretched under her flesh.
What I wouldn’t do to go back there. Hell, maybe I will for the fun of it. A little light driving in the night when I can’t sleep. And I can never sleep anymore, even if it was a superfluous deal to begin with.
Nathan pauses to look at me. “Mommy has a babies.” He pluralizes it and this alarms me mildly, but then the boys haven’t exactly perfected the King’s English, so I’m not too worried about having another set of twins just yet.
Barron smacks into my chest like a freight train, nearly taking my chin out in the process. “Mommy has Uncle Loggie’s babies. Uncle Loggie has a babies, too.”
“Great,” I say it flat as Lex snaps up a couple hundred pictures, documenting the moment.
“All right, boys”—Lex waves to get their attention—“look at the camera and smile.”
“Say baby!” Chloe chimes, and the boys echo her about sixteen times.
The boys grow wild and unstable as they swim from Chloe to me, their feet eventually ending up in our faces.
“These are gold!” Lexy sings from behind the lens, her finger never leaving the trigger. “Keep it going.”
