Then I had an idea. “You should come with me. I’ll show you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Maybe if you see what I do, you can relax.”
“All right.”
“Let me clear up the backlog today, and you can come tomorrow. I’ll take my girls to lunch after.”
She continued to look hesitant, and I knew how worried she still was. “It’ll be fine, Tally. You’ll understand more tomorrow.”
She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip.
“Today, you can go online and order more stuff for Jujube. And whatever you need.”
She sputtered. “Jujube?”
I grinned. “I called Julianna that last night, and she giggled. I swear she did—either that, or it was my singing. But I’m going with the name, and I’m using it.” I lifted one eyebrow, teasing. “Seems to me you liked that name.”
She chuckled. “Yes, I did.”
Then she sobered. “I have to go back to Nova Scotia, Julian.”
“What?” I asked, shocked. “I thought we agreed—”
She cut me off. “I have to close the house, get our things.”
“No. I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
I narrowed my eyes, studying her. She returned my stare, hers open and honest. “I’m not staying there. But I can’t just leave the place unoccupied and abandoned. I owe June and Cathy better than that.”
I relaxed at her words. She wasn’t leaving me. She was closing up that chapter of our past. “I’ll come with you.”
“Okay,” she agreed readily.
“How long would you need?”
“A couple of days. There isn’t a lot of stuff. We lived pretty simply.”
“How did you live?” I asked curiously. “You didn’t take any money with you.”
“I had money I had saved. Cathy refused rent. I paid the utilities in cash. I worked while I could at a little place that paid me cash. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once Jules got older, but I was still taking it one step at a time.” She shrugged, looking chagrined. “My thought process was way off. I wasn’t really planning, just surviving.”
“Baby brain. Pregnancy fog.” I nodded as I spoke. “I read about it.”
A smile curled her mouth. “I see.”
“No more surviving,” I said firmly. “You’re my family. I’ll take care of you. Both of you.”
“I’m not on birth control,” she burst out.
My eyes widened in shock. I hadn’t even thought about that last night. “Tally,” I breathed out.
“I’m sure it’s all fine. I hear it’s harder to get pregnant when you’re breastfeeding…” She trailed off.
“You were on birth control when you got pregnant.”
“I missed a pill.”
“One missed pill and you got pregnant. You’re on nothing now, and we made love twice last night. Odds are pretty good—” I stopped talking and looked meaningfully at her stomach.
She looked stricken.
“Would it be awful, Tally? Another Jujube?”
“Unexpected.”
“You’ll have me this time. I’ll be right beside you every step.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. We’ll see what happens,” she murmured.
I leaned over her and kissed her. “I’ll get some condoms.”
“You do that.”
I managed to contain my grin until I was walking away. The thought of her being pregnant again didn’t upset me. Not a single bit.
Tally was surprisingly nervous the next day when we got to the office. I introduced her to Anne and showed off Jujube. If Anne was shocked about the sudden appearance of a wife and child, she kept it to herself. I did soften the shock by telling her we had been separated and I never spoke of it as it was personal. She accepted that and was warm and friendly to Tally. When we stepped into my office and shut the door, I tried to hold in my laughter as Tally glanced at my desk, horrified at the chaos.
“You need to fix that?” I asked.
“No,” she replied, her gaze never leaving the surface covered in files, coffee cups, scattered paper clips, and other items strewn around it. She was still a neat freak, our apartment more organized than it had been since the day she’d left. She was constantly puttering.
Her eyes grew round when I pressed the lever for the secret panel and it slid open.
“Hidden Justice,” I said simply.
She stepped in, and I followed with Julianna dozing in her carrier. Tally walked around the space, studying the walls, the maps and grids lined up on the panels. I sat at my desk and switched on the monitors, checking the building, my fingers flying over the keyboard as I flipped through the various areas. As usual, it was peaceful and secure.
Tally came over, glancing at the screens. “You watch everything from here?”
“I make sure everything is in its place. Damien sweeps it constantly. So does Leo.”
“So not just IT and building manager, then.”
“No. Two of the best agents I’ve worked with. I trust them implicitly. As I do all the men I use for Elite.” I went on to explain the concept behind Elite. Tally smiled.