‘I’m so happy.’
‘Really? Can’t say I’d noticed.’
‘You’d better get used to a whole new regime, Mia Austin. I’ve been doing loads of research.’
‘O God, please tell me that I’m at least allowed some chocolate to celebrate?’ I groaned.
‘I may let you have a small piece. You know what else I may let you have?’
‘Please, tell me it’s coffee, I so miss my coffee.’
‘No,’ he laughed and leaned down to whisper in my ear. ‘I’d like to give you an orgasm or two as it’s been so long.’
‘You’re not serious?’ I gasped. ‘Is that on the allowable list?’
‘Yes, but there’ll be no kink involved until my son or daughter is born. I’ve decided orgasms for you only until after the six week scan, then gentle love making only.’
‘I can live with that. Please, can we go home and play now?’
‘We’re letting Lexi, Doug and our families know the good news first, then we can do it.’
‘Phone calls before ejaculation? You’ve changed, Gabe Austin.’
‘Well, as I’m going to be a father I figured I need to be a bit more mature and responsible. Coming can wait, sharing this can’t. So who are we telling first?’
‘Lexi then Mum, then Robert and Sofia and then everyone else please.’
‘God, I’m so happy. I love you, Mia.’
‘I love you too, Gabe.’
‘Mia? Where are you?’ Gabe called.
‘Throwing up again,’ I yelled. He came running into the bathroom to find me on my knees, my hair bunched into a ponytail in my fist as I hung over the toilet bowel.
‘Shit baby, why didn’t you call me?’ he asked as he took charge of my hair for me.
‘It’s just morning sickness Gabe, millions of women go through it.’
‘Well, I want to go through it with you.’
‘You’re very sweet, but you can’t be around me twenty-four-seven for everything. Besides, the bottom of this toilet bowl is one of my best friends now. We’ve become very well acquainted over the last few weeks,’ I advised with a smile. I was four weeks in now and the sickness was out of control.
‘I was cooking you some scrambled eggs and bacon, or do you want some ginger biscuits instead?’
‘No thanks, bacon and eggs would be lovely. Just not sure how long I’ll keep them down. Can I smell burning?’
‘Shit, the bacon,’ he uttered and leapt to his feet and raced out. I laughed, it was nice to know that Mr. Control Freak was sometimes as fallible as the rest of us. I made it to the bathroom door before I had to spin around and hug my new friend again.
‘Gabe stop it,’ I giggled as he blew raspberries on my bare stomach. I wasn’t showing yet, but I was only five weeks.
‘Your mum can be very bossy sometimes, you know,’ he announced through a cupped hand to my navel. ‘I’m warning you know so that you know to comply with everything she tells you, if you don’t want to get into trouble all the time.’
‘You’d better warn him or her that their Dad is also very bossy and has sulks when he’s ignored and that they’re never likely to play in a playground because of “the risk” factor,’ I laughed. He turned to face me with a look of mortification.
‘Have you seen the statistics on playground accidents and germs?’
‘Gabe,’ I giggled. ‘You so need to chill out. I ran around in playgrounds and fields, climbed trees and swam in brooks and it never did me any harm. It’s all part of growing up. You can’t wrap our child up in cotton wool all its life.’
‘I would if I could,’ he replied giving my stomach another kiss before he moved back up next to me and tugged the sheet over us.
‘I know you would and I adore you for being so caring and protective, but you need to relax a bit. So, what’s for breakfast? I’m starving.’
‘You’re eating like a horse,’ he grinned.
‘I know, I’m just so hungry all the time.’
‘What would you like?’
‘I’d love some French toast with maple syrup and some peanut butter on toast and another pineapple, you’d better get a few in for the rest of the week when you do the shopping … O and some figs too.’
‘You and your peanut butter and pineapple cravings,’ he laughed and kissed me.
‘Will you just do as you’re bloody told,’ he sighed. I ignored him and grabbed a hard hat and shrugged on a yellow vest. ‘I don’t want you coming inside in case you trip over, or something falls on you. They’re removing internal walls, Mia.’
‘I’ll be fine. I have my hat and you can hold my hand. I’m a twenty-one year old who’s six weeks pregnant Gabe, not a ninety-three year old with brittle bones. Stop whinging, I have to be at Greyson’s for a staff meeting in an hour, you’re wasting time.’
‘Don’t you dare let go of my hand and I’ve been telling you to wear flat shoes for weeks and you’re still in damn heels,’ he muttered as he gripped me tightly. I stuck my tongue out at him and got a roll of the eyes. We stepped inside to find all the original tiled hall floors had been protected with plasterboard walkways and the door to Robert’s lounge was open. Except it was no longer his lounge. I gasped as we stepped into it, the separating wall to the kitchen had gone. There were roof support poles in place, holding up the floor above and you could see all the way down through the extension bi-fold doors to the garden.
‘It’s massive,’ I exclaimed. We carefully picked our way across the remaining rubble and into where the kitchen had been, it had all been removed and we were standing in an empty shell. ‘So talk me through the plans.’
‘Ok, oak flooring throughout, no hard stone for Junior to bang his head on.’
‘Her head on.’
‘His head on,’ he grinned. I rolled my eyes this time. ‘Comfy sofa’s and a big TV in Dad’s old section, dining table here where the kitchen was and the kitchen running down both side walls up to the bi-fold door with an island in the middle. That way I can be cooking while Junior’s doing his homework at the table and you have your feet up in the lounge, pregnant with number two, and I can keep an eye on you all,’ he said proudly. I shook my head. If he thought I was going through all this again he had another think coming. We were going to be a one baby household. Period.
‘Whatever.’
‘So now you’re here I’ll show you some last minute plans I never ran past you.’
‘Excuse me?’ I uttered. ‘What happened to us being a team?’
‘You’ll approve,’ he smiled.
‘A sex dungeon where the wine cellar is?’ I gasped.
‘No,’ he laughed. ‘Give up on the sex dungeon. It’s the utility and Games room.’ He led me through to the Games room and I looked at him shocked to see there were more joists holding up the ceiling where the wall to the downstairs toilet had been. ‘Look,’ he said as he pointed through. ‘It was too big a space for a utility and toilet so we’ve reconfigured it to use the far side for a cloakroom with wet room and the utility, so now half of the space, with a larger window, can be your home office. We’ll put sliding glass doors in to shut it off from the playroom.’
‘Playroom?’ My interested peaked again.
‘Junior’s playroom,’ he laughed.
‘And you think a baby or toddler is going to appreciate a pane of glass between him or her and their mother?’ I raised a questioning eyebrow and he frowned. ‘Nice to see Cocky Austin doesn’t have all the answers,’ I laughed.
‘Damn it. I thought you could work and be able to keep an eye on them at the same time.’
‘We need to revisit the “them” situation, but you could always frost a portion of the bottom of the glass, so it’s not clear and makes it more obvious to save any accidents.’
‘I married a genius,’ he beamed.
‘It’s such a lovely idea, but what about your Games room? You loved it, I loved it. We had lots of amazing sexy games of pool in here.’
‘As Director I may have to do some h
ome entertaining, so with the exception of some seriously prized bottles, Dad’s leaving the contents of his wine cellar and I think I need to keep it. That massive safe was already in the property when Dad purchased it. I’m going to have it removed and I can put the Games room down there, make it a proper boy’s den with a roulette table and card table, that fits on top of the pool table. We can install a small safe upstairs in my study.’
‘A boy’s den? So I’m not invited? Maybe I want a beauty parlour for the girls.’
‘I could build one into the gym and dance studio extension?’
‘I was joking.’
‘I’m not. I’ll need you to look pretty on my arm at company functions.’ He laughed as I gasped and punched his arm.
‘And to think sex was on the menu tonight.’
‘Was?’
‘Yes, was. Right, I have to go, once I’ve had the meeting I have to sack Ryan for stealing from the till, then I have a load of paperwork to do.’
‘Please don’t overdo it. I’m going to stay and have a swim while I’m here.’
‘I won’t. I’m too tired late afternoon to overdo anything so I’ll be back in time for an afternoon nap. It all looks amazing, well done.’ I pursed my lips for a kiss and he insisted on walking me to my car.
‘See you back home, baby.’
I sat at my office desk and rubbed my eyes feeling beyond tired. Ryan had naturally been rather unhappy when I’d let him go, but Doug and other members of staff had witnessed him pilfering and their statements tied up with the missing amounts from the till. Jackson had been waiting outside my door and when he heard Ryan call me a “fucking bitch” he’d marched in and taken hold of him by the scruff of the neck and marched him out. I gathered all the staff on duty together, before we opened for the afternoon and evening, to advise them that stealing wouldn’t be tolerated and if they were experiencing financial problems they were to come and see me first. Lexi hung back as I dismissed them all to get back to work.
‘You ok?’
‘Just great,’ I smiled. ‘I puke several times a day, pee constantly, I’m knackered and I’m pretty sure I’m starting to develop wind. I’ve never farted in front of Gabe and I really don’t want to start now.’
‘O come on,’ she laughed as she plonked herself in the chair opposite and put her feet up on my desk. I raised an eyebrow and she just pulled a face at me and left them there. ‘Two and a bit years and you’ve never farted in front of him?’
‘No,’ I uttered, mortified. ‘It’s so unladylike.’
‘So what do you do when you need to fart?’
‘Hold it in and leave the room,’ I giggled.
‘You have some serious anal control,’ she laughed. ‘I don’t, if I need to blow, I blow.’
‘Don’t I know it. Litmus.’
‘What?’
‘Shit, I was supposed to be keeping that a secret for the reunion as you wouldn’t tell me mine.’
‘What secret?’ she demanded.
‘You weren’t just known as Potty Clarke at Rowleys, you were known as Litmus Lexi, your farts were so rancid they turned the litmus paper in the room a different colour.’
‘You evil cow,’ she gasped.
‘Do you deny the accusations as laid down by the court, Miss Clarke?’
‘Well no, I fart like a trouper, but I resent being kept in the dark that everyone else knew.’
‘Lex, you caused an entire floors dorm evacuation one night. The rumbling was so loud Kipper Kendall thought it was an earthquake and instigated crisis level two.’
‘That was me?’
‘Yes,’ I chuckled. ‘I didn’t have the heart to tell you.’
‘I could rapidly go off you.’
‘Never,’ I replied as I shoved some Jelly Belly’s in my palm and picked at them. I saw Lexi reach for her back pocket and grabbed my ruler and pointed it at her. ‘Don’t even think about reaching for the list. I’m sick to bloody death of “the list.” I haven’t had anything deliciously bad for me since the minute he got back from New York, with the exception of my French toast and my peanut butter.’
‘Holy shit. Pregnancy cranky hormones have kicked in early,’ she giggled. ‘I’m too scared to ask you to share. So when’s the scan?’
‘Friday.’
‘Everything going ok?’
‘I guess,’ I shrugged.
‘Spill.’
‘Spill what?’
‘You’re hiding something.’
‘I’m getting a lot of stabbing pains in my right side, but with my endometriosis I don’t know whether that’s considered normal or not. They warned me all the scar tissue would be stretching and tearing, but it really hurts and I’m still spotting.’
‘Go back and see Dr. Walker right now if you’re worried.’
‘What’s the point? She’ll have to book me in for a scan as it’s not exactly an emergency and I’m having one in two days.’
‘What’s Gabe’s opinion?’ she asked. I quickly looked away and reached for more Jelly Belly’s. ‘Mia. Seriously? You haven’t told him?’
‘I’ve down played it. You see how he worries Lexi, what’s the point upsetting him if it turns out that everything’s perfectly normal. Besides, you’re a fine one to talk about not being honest.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Why are you letting Doug think that you’re still seeing Sam?’ I fixed her with a firm questioning stare. Sam hadn’t confessed to her about his antics at New Year, so I’d sat down and told her that I’d bumped into him there. She was really upset, not at me, but she’d told him where to stick it, agreeing that if he’d been upfront she might not have taken it so personally. It also made her realise how badly she’d treated Doug by cheating on him and brought all her feelings for him back.
‘I don’t want him pitying me. He’s all serious with Sarah and I’m still bloody single.’
‘I know, I can’t believe they’re house hunting,’ I nodded as I shovelled some more beans in.
‘They’re what?’ she gasped. I stopped mid chew and looked up at her.
‘You knew, right? Tell me you knew that?’ One look at her face told me that she didn’t. ‘O my God, I’m so sorry. I’ve turned into bloody Doug blurting out secrets. I thought it was common knowledge.’
‘Why wouldn’t he have told me himself?’ she whispered.
‘It’s not like you’re on the best of terms, Lexi. You hardly ever come over when we have Doug and Sarah over at ours, and you both try and avoid working together. I’m amazed you both turned up for today’s staff meeting.’ I watched her remove her feet off the table and rub her hands across her face. ‘You need to tell him. Now.’
‘Tell him what?’ she sighed.
‘That you’re still in love with him. This is serious Lexi, he’s about to find a house with her, this could be your last chance.’
‘But I’m not ready and I don’t know if he still loves me, in fact I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even like me anymore.’
‘Don’t make me pregnancy hormone your arse, Lexi Clarke,’ I scolded with a slap of my ruler on the desk. ‘The girl who says she isn’t ready is the same one who dated someone for nearly two years, and secretly went monogamous for him when he wasn’t for her. You have more than enough capacity in your heart to be ready to love and be loved, and I’m not standing for it anymore. Go and find him and tell him. He’ll either confess his feelings for you and you can ride off into the sunset, or he’ll tell you to sod off. Either way, you’ll know.’
‘Mia,’ she sighed.
‘Don’t make me upset Lex, you’re making me upset. You’ve just made a pregnant emotional woman cry,’ I blubbed. ‘And I have no tissues.’
‘Shit,’ she uttered and ran out of the room in search of some. I sat back in my chair and chuckled to myself. I was going to milk everything I could to get her to sort this out once and for all. I quickly pretended to cry again as she returned with a box for me.
‘Thank you,’ I sniffed.
‘Shit, I’m sorry, don’t cry. It’s not good for either of you. Here, have more sugar,’ she shoved the jar in my direction and I nodded, pouted, and took some more. ‘What can I do?’
‘Make me happy again. I feel all nurturing and about family values, family units are so important. So is love. Love is key. You need to love and be loved Lexi Clarke, go forth to Doug and confess your feelings.’
‘Mia bloody Austin. You little fake,’ she uttered as she put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
‘What?’ I pouted and made my blue eyes water a little.
‘Giving me all that puke inducing crap. You’re laying it on. Wow, using your unborn child as part of an emotional blackmail scheme. That’s low. That’s very low.’
‘Just go and bloody tell him, will you,’ I sighed as I stood up and hugged her. ‘I want you to be happy. Doug made you so happy.’
‘Whatever. Faker.’
‘Well, I’m not faking the need to pee again. I have a bit more paperwork to do then I’m heading home. Want a lift?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ she sighed. I headed off to the toilets and went to see Luke behind the bar.
‘Have you still got my tab running, Luke?’
‘Sure Mrs. Austin, what are you after. A Baileys or Vodka Cranberry?’
‘Ermmm no, I’m driving. Do you have any of that Apple and Raspberry J2O?’
‘Not here sorry, it’s on order, I think we’re out.’
‘O,’ I sighed, disappointed. I had a real thing for that at the moment. It was lovely and sweet and Gabe couldn’t moan too much if he found out, as it did have some fruit in it.
‘There may be a stray box in the store room. I can go and check for you.’
‘It’s ok, I’ll go, I’m heading back to my office anyway.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I am, thanks Luke.’ I headed past my office, the staffroom and toilets and down to the storeroom and stepped in and patted the wall down trying to find the light switch. ‘God damn it,’ I muttered. ‘Bloody contractors not putting it by the door. If I trip over something I’ll bloody sue.’ I took a few tentative steps forward and had to let go of the door behind me and suddenly was in pitch darkness. ‘Great!’ I mumbled. I shuffled along the wall and cursed as I stubbed my toe on something and leaned down to feel a crate. I pushed it out of the way and reached up for the wall again and sighed with relief as I found the switch and the light came on. I had a look around and found a stray box of them, hidden behind the Orange and Passion fruit ones at the back of the storeroom and grabbed a bottle with a big grin on my face. I was about to make my way out when I heard the door open and close.
Infinite Love (The Austin Series) Page 31