I’m thinking my fish is pretty burnt.
Chapter Eighteen
BRIANNA
Moses and Chloe showed up after my neighbor. In which time Moses carried me to a cab and they rushed me to the hospital.
I panicked the whole time in my head because if I did anything to hurt Blueberry I don’t think I’ll recover. Chloe held me close and whispered it was okay while Moses kept my hand in his but all I can see is my need for independence might have cost me.
I was only in there twenty minutes when Moses’ Dad showed up to sit with me too and my Dads were on their way. God. The entire Calvary was coming. Even Jenzy.
One of my groupies had called Gabe and his voice came over a speaker phone, “Brianna? Bri? Are you there?”
“Yeah,” I sniffed to sound brave but nothing worked. “Yeah…”
He sounded rushed, “I’m leaving the office now, okay? What happened? Are you alright?”
“I fell…” I cried a little and Chloe and Jenzy sandwiched me. I guess this was Moses’ phone.
“I’m on the elevator now,” he told me as I heard the ding.
“I’m sorry,” I cried a little. I hate how vulnerable I sound. Why am I apologizing to him?
“Don’t be sorry, Love. I’m coming as fast as I can, right? Who’s all with you?”
“Jenzy and her husband, Chloe, and Moses, his dad…my dads are coming… so everyone.”
“Then you are all alone?” he teased.
I laughed through a sniffle. Thank God for his weird sense of humor. It’s like mine and I need it right now. “Yeah, no one cares about me,” I teased back.
He got here in time for someone to call me into the exam room. Jenzy and Gabe are the only two that came in with me and listened as I told the doctor everything. He sounds old. “You are just fine.” He said.
“It was a lot of stairs…” I told him.
“And baby is nestled in many, many layers. I doubt he or she even knew you fell.” I blinked back the tears as he listened to my baby’s heart, “Wanna listen?” he asked.
I nodded and he put the stethoscope on me. I adjusted the ear pieces. Almost instantly the sound I’ve come to live on filled my ears. It was just as strong and just as sweet. I smiled and Jenzy squeezed my hand. She’d tried to tell me in the waiting area that Blueberry was going to be fine, that my fall was most likely cushioned but I was too afraid.
Then I remembered Gabe and searched with my hand, “Gabriel?”
His big hand swallowed mine up in a second and I smiled, “Listen.” I took off the ear pieces and held them up. He slipped them on and boy do I wish I could see his face. I heard him suck in a breath.
He asked, “Is it that washing machine sound?” he sounded like a kid.
“Yeah,” I told him. He went quiet while he listened, and the doctor held the stethoscope in place.
“When do you find out boy or girl?” asked the doctor.
“Two weeks,” I told him. We got through the last bit of checking and all they found was a bad bruise on my arm and hip. My dads lived far enough away that by the time they made it we all met up at my apartment. That’s where the powwow happened. My loved ones formed a kind of intervention. The ring leader was Chloe.
“Okay,” she said once we all gathered in my tiny apartment. “This isn’t working. No. No, this was a sign.”
I rubbed my bump, “I’m fine. It’s not a sign.” I protested.
Moses came in, “Brianna, no one thinks you’re incapable. You’ll make a fine mom and you are so self-sufficient but circumstances like this are different. What if we weren’t coming to dinner or the neighbors weren’t home? How long would you have been stuck there if the injuries were serious?”
I sat forward, “That’s unfair, that could happen to any single woman.”
Tony snapped, “You’re pregnant. It’s not even close. You are living and breathing for two. You can’t take chances like that.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” I bitched.
Gabe sided in, “You need to move. Move in with me. Not as a romantic thing. Look at is as a logical-.”
“Hell no!” I shot at him.
“She’s not moving in with the likes of you,” Tony added.
“Everyone,” Jenzy stayed soft, “Take it easy. Brianna doesn’t need everyone ganging up. We just need to talk this over. Bri, with being blind, I really do agree with everyone else. Living alone is going to be a challenge. Your body is going to grow, shift, change and it will take a lot to gauge and learn yourself again. Pregnant women who have sight, become clumsy too but they can at least gauge.”
I shook my head, “Is no one at all on my side?”
Chris plopped down next to me. “I am,” he pet my knee. “I totally understand. However, my opinion is useless.”
“Good then you agree, I’m fine.”
Chris laughed, “Oh, no- I just felt bad for you. Wanted to offer some support.”
I shoved his hand off.
Gabe tried again, “What would be so bad about living with me? We’re having a baby together, shouldn’t we be closer? It will be just like living alone, I’m gone more than half the time with travel and work but my maid Danielle and one other house worker is there all day. Plus, the security team.”
Ray cut in, “What if you move back in with us? We still have your old room put together.”
I tried to sound less ungrateful, “That means a lot to me but I work out this way. That’s too long a commute.”
Chloe tried, “What about us? You could move in with Moses and me.”
Moses jumped that opportunity, “Absolutely! That would be perfect.” He agreed.
My face gave them a ‘come on’ look, “You guys both live in Moses’ middle of nowhere cabin, with a giant dog. There’s no room and I have a baby coming. No offense but you both also fuck like rabbits. I’m not listening to that.”
Gabe got closer, “Love, just consider my place.”
“Gabriel, your condo is too big. I can’t live in that big a space and you have a really cold interior and I can’t even see it.”
“Then we buy a place. One between work and the suburbs?” He suggested.
I went speechless. “You can’t just buy a house.”
Chris jumped up, “Wait! Yes, he can! I’m a realtor, he’s a millionaire. I hear ‘enormous commission.’ I already have five places in my mind.”
I glared in the direction of his voice, “Thought you were on my side.”
“That wasn’t me. That was someone else. You can’t see so I forgive the misunderstanding.” Chris almost made me smile but no.
Moses’ Dad was sitting where Chris had been. “Honey, you can’t keep living here. You don’t have room for a baby, your street is unsafe. Being a parent means thinking past what you want and considering what you need. You and your baby need safety. I think the father might be able to offer that.”
“I’ll put it in your name,” Gabe added out of the blue. “That way if anything happens between us, you have the house. I hate the condo too. I’ll sell it.”
Chris gave a powerful, “Yes!”
Jenzy hit something and I think it was Chris.
I considered that. “What about your lifestyle?” I asked Gabe.
“I slow it down.” He said simply but we both know he can’t. “I know…” he agreed to the silent question. “I just don’t bring the life home is all.”
“I’m losing the job at … ‘Gilmore’ interactive...”
“You work for me,” he demanded. “I need a good secretary Bri, you’re the best. I have another girl that travels with me but the guy I have here in the states, he’s bloody awful. Work for me.”
I hate this ambush but I don’t see much help for it. I can feel everyone staring at me.
It broke my heart a little to give in but then I thought about how damaged I’d be if I lost Blueberry by my own hand. “Okay,” I said in a small voice. “I’ll move with you.”
People filtered out of my
apartment later and I made myself tea once the noise was gone. “Aren’t you leaving?” I asked.
Gabe’s steps drew to the kitchen. “How’d you know?”
I felt my tea jars for the labels and read the flavors with my fingertips, “I know what your walk sounds like and breathing is louder when you can’t see.”
He stopped close at my back and it made my skin sizzle. “Angry with me?” He asked.
Angry? Maybe. More than that I want touch. I wish I could ask him to hold me. I’m afraid of the sudden changes coming. It’s stoking an anxiety attack. “No,” I found a flavor and pulled down the jar. “But why on earth would a guy like you be okay with a step this big? You want me living with you?”
His smile must be wide because I feel it, “I was pretty shocked myself. I said it before I thought it through.”
I dropped the bag into a mug, “Then why are we doing it?”
“I said it without thinking. That must mean something. I’ve never lived with a woman before, aside from housekeepers. For you, its different.”
“Won’t it suck not being able to bring women home?”
He took my teakettle off the stove as it started to whistle and poured my cup, “I never brought women home ever. Not even for that.”
“Oh.”
He set it down and took both my wrists. I almost pulled away but then I let him set both my hands on his cheeks. I felt his expression with light touches. To an observer it would look like I was caressing him. Maybe I am. He breathed in deeply through his nose then let it out like I was taming him. The wild stallion. I suppose I am.
Then he spoke, “I want to rip off your clothes, turn you around, bend you over this counter and take you until your legs give out; leaving us to finish on the floor.”
Huh. I tried to swallow but my throat was dry.
“B-but you won’t?” I asked.
He shook his head, “No, but living with you will be troublesome.”
I laughed and took my hands away. At least he distracted me from the anxiety attack.
GABRIEL
House number twenty. Chris brought Brianna and me to what had to be the twentieth house. Oh, my God, this woman is picky as fuck!
I still can’t believe the argument we had four days ago in her kitchen.
“Six bedrooms!” I roared.
“Three! One for me, one for you and one for the baby!” She demanded.
I stepped closer, “I am not living in a shack! What kind of woman turns down a bigger house?”
She held her tummy and felt around in the fridge, “I want to be close. Big houses don’t merit closeness. Family should be like a den mentality. The books say I’m nesting.”
“Then I’ll build you a damned tree house! But we aren’t living in a box.”
“Three bedrooms is not a box. I’m not some chic from a romance novel that wants her rich boyfriend to merge her into fine living. You, my friend, will be merging into middle-class living.”
“No! I refuse.”
“Then I won’t move at all and we can all be happy.” She found the apple juice she’d been buying for days now in a craving rage and drank from the container.
“Fine. Compromise. Five bedrooms.”
“Three.”
“Gahhhhh!”
She went into the cabinet and found animal crackers. Apparently, her five-year-old self needs to regress. “Gabriel, you asked for a chance at family I’m giving it to you.”
I sighed, “Four bedroom, and no lower.”
“You’re such a little rich boy. What’s the other bedroom even for?”
“Socks. My belts. Maybe nothing at all. Maybe my porn. All my dirty, hot, nasty porn. Maybe it’s my wanking room.”
She laughed, “You’re so spoiled.”
“I’ll use it for a home office.”
“Deal.”
So here we are days later and this is the last house I want to look at. It’s either been too cold, too big, not enough trees, too much fresh air! I’m praying this is it.
I think it is, though because even I like this place. From the moment she stepped out of the cab she relied on my arm with a smile. “I like the sounds here. So many birds…” she said.
Chris checked his watch as he spoke, “We’re only fifteen minutes from your offices. This isn’t a suburb but it’s on the outside of the city. Right on the border really; so more nature.”
She whispered to me, “Are there lots of trees then?”
I looked around, “Yes. Two very large ones right at the entrance of the driveway and behind the house are many more. To your right is a really tall willow.”
“What!?” Her eyes lit up from behind, “I love those! There’s a willow?”
Chris went by and gave me a high five. This is already a victory considering she didn’t like anything at all about the other houses or properties.
“What’s it look like…” she asked me.
Funny how I never grow tired of drawing images in her mind. I enjoy describing things so she can see them. “This one looks a little like a Thomas Kinkaid house. Two stories but there’s also a basement. It’s finished but that’s where Danny will stay.”
She nodded, “Good, I love Danny.”
I took a breath because if she was against Danielle remaining as a live-in maid I’d throw myself from a cliff side.
“So try to see this, right? There’s a long front porch held up by six white pillars.”
She shook my upper sleeves, “Garden? I know I can’t see them but I love how they smell.”
She’s finally telling me what she wants. This too is a break-through. I’ve been guessing till now. She never tells me what she wants out of fear I’ll buy it. She knows I’m doing this no matter what so she’s giving in. This means I get to spoil her. I get to see what makes her happy.
“Yeah, there’s a garden lining the front and sides. There’s also a stone wall dividing the wall along the first story. It’s a firewall. It forms into a chimney that makes a line, up the second story wall and develops into a chimney.”
“So it has fireplaces?” She sounds nervous.
Chris came up alongside us, “There are glass doors over them inside, however, there are gates you can get that go around so baby can’t touch.” He clarified. “Or mommy.”
She relaxed.
We made our way across the lawn and into the house. “This is just the foyer,” I told her. “It’s short. About…twelve steps… the first room is on your left. The dining room.”
She felt along the wall to where it opened into the room.
I led her around, “This room is a pastel yellow. The far wall has blue flower wallpaper. Hardwood floors. Table and chairs…drop down light from the ceiling looks like a set of four small lamps with shades.”
She stopped at the edge of the table and put her hand out carefully. She checked the air until she found the chandelier. “There…okay.” She started to sound excited again.
I let her feel her way back to the hall but I stay close at her back. She has to feel that she can manipulate her own way or this house is as pointless as the others.
We went further down the hall and Chris explained, “You’ll feel the entrance to the stairway on your left again.”
Her brows rose, “They’re wide.” She felt the banister, “and solid.”
Chris stood at her side, “There are baby gates for stairs. My brother has them in his house too. You can put one at the top and one at the bottom.”
She nodded, “Could a baby fit through all these rungs?” she ran her fingers across them.
Chris shook his head as he checked, “I doubt it. Unless it’s spineless. Which if it is…please don’t invite us over.”
She laughed then followed us further down, “This is the living room?” she asked.
“Yes.” I told her, “When you first walk in there’s a window wall with a seat running along the bottom. A couch is in front but there’s a walkway between it and the window seat. Hardwood floors again.
Stone fireplace this way,” I took her hand and she followed me. I set her hand over the wall and she felt it all over; down to the opening and along the sides.
She smiled, “It’s so big.”
“That’s what she said,” Chris murmured.
I laughed and Brianna pointed in his direction, “I should’ve seen that one. The pregnancy is making me slow.”
We explored the guest bathroom, the closets and on the way to the kitchen, I stopped her from behind. Holding her shoulders, “Hold it.” I made her walk backward. “Best part is to your right.”
Brianna frowned but let me guide her back. She found two narrow doors with glass panes. “What is it?” She found the skinny knobs and opened them. “I feel a stuffed chair,” she kept moving, “Sofa over here,” she went to the other side. “Another stuffed chair… is this like an office or a sitting room? A Den?”
I wrapped my hand around her waist and made her move toward the wall. She put her hand out and gasped. “No way!” she said.
“Library.” I grinned.
“Ugh!” she felt the entire wall of shelves, “Why the fuck can’t I see?”
“So we fill it up with audiobooks. Big deal.”
“I don’t have enough to fill this wall.” She pouted, “I need to up my collection.”
“Then Roisin Black needs to put out more books,” I teased. “But this is a tiny room so you can nest to your heart’s content.”
We made our way to the kitchen and there she really went postal. I actually love it. I wish she went as fangirl over me as she does this kitchen.
“I love it!” She felt the walls, “Brick, right? I love brick! The floors feel like stone! Are these old time cabinets? Gabe, the kitchen itself is narrow, isn’t that cool? That means less tripping and tighter space means I’ll be able to find stuff. What color are the hutch and the cabinets?”
I looked around. “Like a rusty dark green. Yes, the kitchen is pretty narrow. Stove, oven, counter tops to the one side, more counters and the dishwasher on the other. At the end is where the hutch is and in front of that is a really small table and chairs. The windows in here are high.”
The Co-Parent (The Relationship Quo Series Book 3) Page 19