by Piper Rayne
“Okay, doctor’s cleared her,” the nurse comes in. “I just need these papers signed.”
Harley signs the papers as I inspect my daughter further. “She has a cut, right?” I ask the nurse.
She glances over to me like ‘why would I ask that question?’ Harley looks over her shoulder with a similar expression.
Once they’re done, the nurse stacks the papers on the table. “You’re going home.” She touches Calista’s toes and she giggles.
“Home,” Harley says and picks up Calista in her arms.
I meet her across the room, taking them both in mine. “Have I told you how much I love you?” I say to Harley. Calista’s hand runs down my five o’clock shadow.
“I’m pretty sure it’ll never get old.”
I bend down and kiss her. “Let’s go home.”
One of Calista’s hands lands on each of our faces, pulling us apart. “No Mama. No Dada.”
We break apart and laugh at our daughter. “I see a lot of quickies in our future,” I say then wink.
“Maybe we need to take that trip to the spa.”
I look at Calista in her arms. Yeah, I’m not quite over this situation yet. “Do you think we should move her crib into our room for tonight?”
Harley shakes her head and laughs. Then we leave the hospital like we were meant to—as a family.
Epilogue
Nine months later…
Rome
“Night Daddy,” Calista says as I kiss her forehead.
“Night baby girl,” I say.
“I’m not a baby.”
I ruffle her hair. “Sorry, big girl.”
She grabs her blanket and gets comfortable in bed. Flipping on the nightlight, I shut the door and head down the hall.
We’re still above Terra and Mare because the baby won’t need too much room at first, but we’ll have to figure something out, and soon.
Harley’s on the couch, her legs stretched out in front of her on the table with a pillow underneath them. The swelling has been horrible for her.
“I’m kind of depressed she’s already over the dada name,” I admit to Harley, falling into the couch next to her, my hand landing on her stomach.
“It was like the flip of a switch,” she says, knitting something.
I pick up the long needles from her hands and put them in her yarn box. She’s picked up the habit as a hobby. They all have. All my sisters minus the twins.
“What are you doing?” She eyes me with suspicion.
“The doctor said we could try to induce labor. Doctor’s orders are doctor’s orders.” My hand falls between her legs.
“I’m about as comfortable as an elephant in a Volkswagen Beetle.” She shifts, but I fall to the ground, situating myself between her legs. “Rome,” she sighs.
She sits up a little straighter when she realizes I’m not trying to get her pants off. “What are you doing?” She notices the ring I have in my hand and shakes her head. “Now? You’re doing it now?” I laugh at her slight whine.
“I know you told me to wait until after the baby, but I can’t. I wanted to surprise you.”
“You choose a Saturday night when I’m as big as a house in yoga pants and a t-shirt with no makeup on?”
“You’re always beautiful.”
She blushes and I know I have her. I thought long and hard about this and I don’t want our baby coming into this world without us having a bigger commitment between us than live-in boyfriend and girlfriend.
“This wise woman once told me not to propose to a woman unless I loved her because love is the sticky stuff that keeps a marriage together.”
She shakes her head like she’s annoyed, but I know she loves that I remember her words.
“Sounds like a pretty intelligent woman,” she says.
“The smartest I’ve ever met. Except for her decision to let me father her children.”
Her hand slides forward and she caresses my cheek. “I bet you’re a great father.”
I wink.
“I love you and if it’s the sticky stuff we need then I feel confident we got this marriage thing in the bag.”
“Really?” she asks, a smile tipping the corners of her lips up.
“Yep. Because I love you so damn much, our sticky stuff is overflowing.”
She laughs. “Good thing I love you the same amount.”
“Then we have the sticky stuff in droves.”
Another laugh spills from her mouth. “I guess so.”
“So, what do you say? Will you marry me? I could promise you the moon, the sun, and the stars, but all I’m going to promise is to prove to you every day how much you’re the love of my life. Sure, we’re on our way to being parents of two, but we got this.” I wink again.
“How could a woman turn down a proposal like that?” She nods her head. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Joy filters through my blood leaving me with a full body buzz. I pick up the ring that I put on a necklace. I knew with her swelling that there was a chance the ring might not fit.
She looks at it after I clasp it around her neck. “It’s so beautiful, Rome, but—”
I know what she’s going to say, what about the cost? We should save that money for a place, but she’s yet to realize that she’s number one in this family. It’s going to take a long time before she believes it, so I’ll just put more ointment on all those wounds she got from growing up in foster care and sooner or later, she’ll be fully healed.
After all, she took a man who wanted to be a forever bachelor and birthed him into a baby daddy. Only an amazing woman could manage that.
I rise up on my knees to kiss her, but she clenches her stomach.
“Um,” she says, looking down.
“What?” I ask.
Water from between her legs soaks the couch.
“Don’t freak out, but it’s time.”
I stand up and go into our bedroom to grab the suitcase we packed last night. My phone vibrates inside my pocket and I pull it out on the way back down the hall.
It’s a message from Harley in the family group text.
Harley: My water just broke. Juno can you come over whenever you get time and watch Calista since she’s sleeping? Everyone else we’ll let you know as soon as we have news at the hospital.
“You’re playing with fire,” I say to her, dropping her suitcase by the door and moving to help her up.
“We told them we’d let them know and if we only message Juno, it’ll upset everyone else. It’s easier this way.”
I take her in my arms. “How do you know my family better than me?”
She shrugs and then paces for the next ten minutes before Juno knocks on the door.
“About time, what the hell?” I ask.
“Sorry, I ran over here.” She heaves a breath. Thankfully she lives close which is why she was chosen as the Bailey babysitter for Calista. “You guys picked quite a night to have this one born.”
I’m halfway out the door, but Harley stops. “Why? What happened?”
“Savannah’s house flooded.” She cringes. “A pipe or something burst while she was out of town and since no one was over there…”
“Oh, no. What’s going to happen?” Harley asks.
“Yeah, we’ll figure that out after we get you to the hospital. You know with doctors who can deliver our baby.” I tug on her arm, but her feet stay firm.
“Not sure. She’ll probably have to go live with Holly and Austin for a little while, I guess.”
“Okay great,” I say, tugging on the sleeve of Harley’s jacket.
Her lips tip down. “I feel horrible for her.”
“Yeah, I know.” Juno sits down on the arm of the chair.
“Okay, let’s go.” This time I actually put my arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the room.
“Bye guys, good luck!” Juno says.
I shut the door behind us.
“You can relax, you know. I was in labor with Calista for a lon
g time.”
I’m still pissed I missed that one, but I’ve let it go. Well, I’m getting there.
“Hold up.” I open up our door again. “First of all, lock the damn door, my daughter is sleeping down the hall. Second, be a good little sister and get that stain out.”
She glances at the couch and rears back. “No way.” She walks over, slams the door in my face and I hear the lock click a second later.
At least she did one thing I asked.
I guide Harley down the stairs and into my truck, speeding to Memorial just like when we got the call about Calista all those months ago.
Twelve hours later, baby Bailey makes his appearance into the world. Meaning Calista got to wait in the waiting room and will be the first to see her brother.
I head out to the waiting room and Calista runs to me with two balloons on strings. One says, ‘It’s a Boy’ and ‘Congratulations.’ She’s in her ‘Today, I became a big sister’ t-shirt.
I catch her and bring her to me.
“Baby,” she says.
“Yes, you have a brother.”
She smiles excitedly. “Let me see!”
All my family stands, but I put my hand up in the air. “I’ll be right back. We just want to share this moment with Calista if you don’t mind.”
My siblings and Liam shake their heads, smile, and sit back down.
Calista walks with her hand in mine, staring into each room we pass. “Mommy?” she asks when we walk by one room.
“Not yet.”
We arrive at the room and Harley’s on the bed nursing Dion.
We decided to stick with the Greek Mythology names and, after consulting Selene, decided on Dion after Dionysius, the god of wine, festivals, and parties. Seemed fitting given that he is my child.
Harley looks up at the two of us and smiles. “Hey sweetie, want to see your brother?”
“What is he doing?” Calista stares at her with disgust.
“He’s eating.”
“Your boobie?”
I pick her up to bring her closer to the bed. This is not the Hallmark moment we thought we were going to have with her. Sitting her on the bed, she crawls down to the end of the bed.
“He gets milk from me.”
“Like cows?”
“Yeah, like cows,” Harley says, sneaking peeks at me with a ‘what the fuck’ look.
“How does he get milk?” She gets up on her knees and stares down but still keeps her distance.
“My body makes it,” Harley says.
“How come I have fridge milk?” Calista asks.
Harley laughs and looks over at me. Yeah, moment over.
“Because you’re a big girl.” I ruffled her hair. “Don’t you want to say hi to the baby?” I change the topic.
“He’s little,” she says with no enthusiasm. “Can I go play with Uncle Denver?”
Harley’s lips dip and I shake my head. “Guess I’ll get our family,” I say with a sigh.
“Yeah, I think he’s done nursing.” Harley hands me the baby and covers herself up. He’s so small, but at the same time, I feel like I’m holding the weight of the world in my hands.
“See, look at him.” I hold him out toward Calista.
She nods and looks away, slips off the bed, and walks out of the room.
“Hold up, sweetie.”
I place Dion in the bassinet and three minutes later our circus of a family stomps down the hall. They’re loud and boisterous and make a scene everywhere they go.
They file into our room, taking up every nook and cranny and while they all take turns with the baby, I situate myself on the bed with Harley watching my annoying family love on our son. She squeezes my hand watching Denver teaching Calista thumb wars.
“We heard the news, Sav. We’re so sorry,” Harley says.
Savannah sits down in the chair next to the bed. “The place is going to take months to redo.”
“What are you gonna do?” I ask. “Stay at Austin and Holly’s?”
I catch the two behind her look at one another. They’ll do it because she’s family, but I know with their wedding approaching they probably want the privacy.
“No. I would never intrude.”
“She’s going to stay with Liam.” G’Ma D appears out of the circle of family members. “You don’t mind, right Liam?”
He glances at Savannah with narrowed eyes and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “No.” But if I had to guess, he does.
“I am not moving in with Liam,” Savannah says to us not bothering to look around.
“What’s the big deal? Denver lives there. You guys can be like Three’s Company,” Kingston says.
“Reverse Three’s Company,” Denver adds. “Come on Sav. It’ll be fun and there’s nowhere half decent to rent in town. What are your options?”
I look at Liam whose face is growing redder the longer the conversation continues. His eyes dart to Savannah every time she should be answering the question.
She looks over her shoulder and their eyes meet. Harley squeezes my hand one more time in case I’m not witnessing it. Oh, I’m right here babe. Something’s off.
“Would it be a problem?” she asks him.
“No,” he croaks out.
“Perfect. I don’t know why you people can’t think of these things yourself.” G’Ma D holds out her hands. “Now give me the baby.”
I kiss Harley on the temple, wondering how I was able to get the first girl to keep my feet grounded to love me.
She looks up at me and we don’t need to say any words, it’s all in our eyes. That sticky stuff between us multiplies every day.
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Chapter One
“YOU’RE FIRED!” Enzo Mancini’s voice booms through his glass door all the way to the other side of the office.
Seconds later the phone on my desk rings and I pick it up.
“And… she’s gone,” my co-worker and friend, Jake, says with a chuckle.
“I give her credit. She lasted two weeks longer than I gave her.”
He sighs. “Damn it. This means Mae won the pool again. Put your drinking cap on, we’re going out tonight.”
From the corner of my eye I spot my boss, Shelby, speed walking through the open floor plan in her heels, ordering everyone back to work like we’re a bunch of fourth graders. She’s officially the one in charge of all the admin staff, but we each work side-by-side with one of the senior advertising executives, so in essence we all have two bosses. Lucky us.
“Shelby’s on the move,” I say in a low voice into the receiver.
“She looks semi frantic this time around,” Jake comments, him having more of a front row seat than I do at this end of the office.
While I get the privilege of counting our co-worker Milo’s trips to the bathroom because of his weak bladder, Jake gets blessed with staring at Enzo Mancini whenever he wants. Life is so unfair.
I lean back in my office chair, tapping my pen to the desk. “Sorry, you’ll have to navigate Mae all by yourself. I’ve got plans.” I glance at the time on my computer screen. “Damn, I better go if I’m going to make it.”
“Where are you going?” he asks.
Enzo’s door must open because I can hear his now calmer voice more clearly. “Explain something to me Shelby…” The door to his office closes preventing me from overhearing anything else.
“I’ll tell you after,” I say.
“Secrets won’t win you any friends, Annie.” He tsks.
I open my bottom drawer, grabbi
ng my purse.
“Oh, shit.” Jake hangs up and I look across the office to see a bunch of the assistants on the move, all disappearing in different directions. A few head to the break room, a few to the bathroom, and the rest sprinkle over to my side of the office.
I double check my desk to be sure I haven’t left anything I’ll need this weekend and look up to find Shelby and Mr. Mancini’s former assistant walking toward me.
“Mr. Mancini is a difficult man to please. Don’t take it too hard, but this ends your employment with Jacobson and Earl.” Shelby walks by with her arm around the assistant’s shoulders.
“I thought this was an apprentice position? Shouldn’t he have worked with me?” The poor girl has no idea how screwed she was when she hired on as Lorenzo Mancini’s assistant.
“Mr. Mancini does things differently than our other ad execs. If you need a reference, please have them contact me.” Shelby shoots me a sympathetic smile as she walks by my desk.
I smile at her, hoisting my purse on my shoulder and grabbing my rain jacket from the coat hanger outside Mr. Beardsman’s office. I’m hurrying because I’m scheduled to leave early today, and everyone knows that someone will have to cover for Mr. Mancini’s assistant being gone. It’s not like Enzo Mancini can get his own coffee let alone use the big, bad copy machine. Perish the thought.
I know for a fact that the presentation for Coddles Diapers is this afternoon and if he lands the account, he could very well be named partner by the end of the year. No way will he prepare alone for something so huge.
I knock on Mr. Beardsman’s door.
“Come in.” Mr. Beardsman hangs up the phone and swivels in my direction, his usual smile on his face.
“Do you need anything else before I leave?” I tie my rain jacket at my waist.
“No, I’m right behind you. Can you believe my Scarlett is in her first play?” He stares down at the picture of his daughter on his desk, beaming like a proud father.
“Tell her I said break a leg, though I know she’ll do great. Oh, I should have gotten you flowers to give her for after.” Damn it, I meant to run to the florist during my break this morning.