Alicia had completely forgotten about the woman Russell had last tried to set his daughter up with. “She seemed as amused by the prospect as you did.”
Danica patted her wife’s knee. Today, Alicia wore a black Givenchy pussy bow blouse and a matching pencil skirt.I’m still not used to wearing such high-class designers, let alone to work.Since marrying her wife, Alicia had one day to go shopping for her new work wardrobe. She hoped things would calm down soon so she could find clothes closer to her tastes.
“He took his toys and went to DC when I presented him with your doctor’s report.” Danica considered her briefcase, left flopped at her feet. “He wants grandchildren almost more than he wants me alive. He’s probably dithering between hating that I married you and grateful I could’ve at least hired a surrogate if I couldn’t give birth to a child on my own.”
“That’s so archaic.”
“That’s my family.” Danica could only laugh. “You’re talking about a man who had an arranged marriage in the early ‘90s.”
Alicia instinctively clutched her abdomen. The doctor’s note may have been fake, but this conversation gave her unhappy thoughts. “Promise me we’re not doing that to our children.”
“Absolutely not. See how well it went for me?” Her hand stiffened on Alicia’s knee. “Besides, we’ll cross the bridge of our children making terrible life choices when we get to it.”
“Could be sooner rather than later.”
She perked up at that. “Have something you want to share, my love?”
Alicia scratched the collar fitting snug beneath the other collar of her blouse. “Too soon to say. It’s only been a couple of weeks.” She didn’t even want to look at the app tracking things on her phone. The word menstruation no longer held any meaning, sort of likeforkorantidisestablishmentarianism.
They rode in silence the rest of the way home. Danica was glued to her phone while Alicia rehearsed what she would say to her parents.
“Thank you,” she said to the driver, bounding out of the limo as soon as it was safe. Danica followed behind, her bodyguard only a pace behind her. The doorman hurried to his post to let Misses Moreau into the lobby of their secure building. Alicia stopped by the front desk, manned by a young man in a navy-blue suit, and asked if the Colberts had arrived yet.
“Not that I’ve seen, ma’am.” The young man nodded to Danica as she went on ahead to the elevator. “I’ll let you know as soon as I have some information.”
“Do so, please.” Alicia caught up with her wife, who held the elevator door open.
“Not here, I take it?”
Sighing, Alicia took the opportunity to touch up her makeup in the floor-to-ceiling mirror inside their personal elevator. “No. Gives me time to spruce the place up a bit.”
Not that there was much to spruce up, really. Lissa the maid had cleaned the already spotless penthouse by the time the Moreaus came home. No, what Alicia meant by sprucing up her own damn home was personalizing it. She had been sobusy since moving in that she had no time to add any personal touches… like her family photos. She rushed into their bedroom now, grabbing a small box of items that survived the apartment fire not so long ago. Inside were photos of her graduations, her brother’s birthday party, an old photo of her parents’ wedding, and her favorite, a picture from over fifteen years ago when she was twelve and her brother a slobbering infant.
These photos were surreptitiously added to a mahogany table stretched behind a leather couch.So much leather in this living room. As soon as Alicia had the time, she was doing some real redecorating. Her wife couldn’t mutter“leather!”at the interior designer and be done with it. Alicia wanted a plush piece of seating to use occasionally.
“Wow, it looks like I did this at the last minute.” The scent of pot roast wafted in from the chef’s kitchen only a few yards away. “These frames also look super cheap compared to everything else.” No time to fix that now.
Danica was on her phone again, arranging drinks at La Mariposa for her meeting at four. They both looked at their matching Patek Philippe watches. If the Colberts didn’t show up within half an hour, they’d have to wait to meet the new daughter-in-law at dinner.She’ll be late for that.Alicia had planned for that by saying dinner would be at seven when Danica had told her she would be home by six.
A voice interrupted any thoughts they may have had.
“Mrs. Moreau,” came the voice of the man downstairs. “Your parents have arrived. Should I send them up?”
Alicia opened the app connecting her to the concierge in the lobby. “Yes, please,” she said into her phone. “Make sure they’re escorted. They might get lost. Thank you.” She put her phone away. “Are you ready?” she asked her wife.
She looked between her and the phone screen. “Hm? Oh, yes. Let’s get this over with.”
“Get this…” Alicia shot her a dire glare. “Pretend to be interested, would you?”
“What?” The elevator beyond the front door dinged. “I am interested. I’m also interested in making it to my meeting on time.”
Fuck your damn meeting. Alicia went to intercept her family at the front door.
She didn’t know what to expect from her parents and little brother. Were they back in her old apartment, inviting them over to hang out or to meet a new boyfriend, things would have been very different. For one, they would have been relaxed from the start. Her father, Dennis, particularly, would have been more jocular than he was today. Linda? She would have fussed in the kitchen and given Danica every hard time possible, trying to figure out what she did for a living. Terrence would at least have felt like he was at home.
The Colberts were a bit more reserved than usual.
Alicia’s marriage had been a shock to everyone. When they found out who she married, they were even more shocked. On one hand, they wanted to meet the woman who gave them so much money and married their daughter. On the other hand, these were wholesome blue-collar people who thought fancy meant having dinner at the lobster shack on a Friday night.To be fair, so did I until a few weeks ago.
