“I know, sweetheart.”
“Thank you, all of you,” Dad said, “for embracing us so warmly. I look forward to sharing the role of grandparent with you.”
“And I with you,” she replied. “Isn’t it marvelous?”
“Indeed,” he replied, flashing me a grin.
It was pretty marvelous and exciting, and a little bit scary too. Go on vacation, come home knocked up and mated to two snow leopards. Talk about an unexpected adventure.
Chapter 18
Maverick
“Ugh, just leave me right here, and I’ll drag myself back to bed when I’m sure I’m not gonna puke anymore.”
“Nope, sorry, I’ve already texted the crew and given them a list of cookies to bake and get out into the display cases this morning,” Briar said. “I told them I’d drop in later to whip up a few of the new spring melties, but not until you and Leo are situated in the den with ginger ale, crackers, and a couple packages of dried fruit.
“Ugh, don’t talk to me about food right now, even of the dry variety, ‘cause it sure as hell isn’t coming up dry,” I whined. “Now I feel cold and gross.”
“Then let’s get you in the shower, or would you prefer a bubble bath this morning?”
“Shower, so I can resume the prone position faster. How’s Leo?”
“Still hugging the downstairs toilet and cursing my existence, he wasn’t ready to get cleaned up yet. Said he was surehe had another bout of puking to do and sent me to come check on you.”
“I think I might be done, as long as we move slowly and you promise not to mention food again.”
“You have my word,” he said as he slowly andcarefully, helped me to my feet.
I brushed my teeth while he got the water going and made sure it wouldn’t be too warm. The last time we’d gone for anything hot, I’d wound up puking all over myself and him. The lukewarm spray was perfect, and he soon had me cleaned up and downstairs in the den with my new favorite obsession, Below Deck, which happened to be one of Leo’s favorites too. As soon as Briar got him tucked in beside me, we curled up on our giant, fluffy round pillows together and settled in to watch the show. We’d fallen so in love with the first set of cushions, which we’d purchased to go with the low writing table Leo had finally given in to the temptation to order, that we’d picked up several others and distributed them all over the house. Our nest in the corner of the master bedroom was comprised of three of them, in addition to a slowly growing layer of fluffy blankets we’d selected from a local store. It was cozy, just like our nest in here, especially when we were all curled up in it together.
“Exactly how long is morning sickness supposed to last?” Leo asked.
He spooned up behind me, one hand splayed over the baby bump that became more noticeable with every passing day.
“My oldest brother had it for six months,” I groaned, “and one of my sisters had it all the way through her pregnancy, but she was carrying triplets.”
“Just kill me now.”
“I don’t have the energy,” I groaned. “Besides, I love you too much.”
“Then at least help me plan the best way to get back at Briar for doing this to us.”
“Already done,” I groaned. “We’re sticking him with all the midnight feedings.”
At least we could still muster up the energy to giggle, though it lacked the liveliness of our days up at the cabin. Five months ago felt like forever when you’d spent the bulk of it praying to the porcelain god. If morning sickness lasted as long for us as it did for my sister, I wasn’t sure how we’d survive it. Today was honestly the worst and, fortunately, only the second time I’d had to skip a day of work and stay home. If there was one positive, it was getting to spend the day with Leo.
“Ugh,” Leo grumbled two episodes in, “as nice as it is to spend the day with you, I feel like I’m letting your mom down by calling out today.”
“Dude, you are literally baking her grandchildren,” I reminded him. “She’s totally fine with it, I swear. She knew you were knocked up when she hired you, remember. Besides, there was only the one new house left for you to photograph, right?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like shoving it off to another day.”
“You’d have had to move it anyway,” I pointed out.
“Why?”
“The whole day is supposed to be overcast and cloudy,” I explained. “It was already clouding up majorly when I closed the curtain, so you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
