Only With Me (With Me 2)

Thano stood there with a shocked look on his face. “You do know this isn’t healthy. If my mother thinks you’re competing with her, she won’t stop.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “I won’t either.”

“And to think when Nic first told me about you I was worried.”

With a wink, I stood and started to clean up the kitchen. “Don’t worry about this, Gabi. I’ll take care of it all.”

“Gabi!”

I jumped and turned to look at Kilyn. She had a look of pure horror on her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked in a panicked voice. Thano kept going about his business cleaning up.

“We need to enact Plan D.”

I jerked my head back in surprise. “Huh?”

Thano rushed by me and was in front of Kilyn. His hands cupping her face. “What? No! Not now, Kilyn. There are still people here.”

“Wait. What is happening? What’s Plan D?” I asked. Then it hit me. The story she told me about Plan B! She was in labor!

“I know, Thano. Do you think I want to be going into labor right now with a houseful of your Greek family!”

My stomach dropped. “W-what! You’re in labor?”

Thano and Kilyn looked at me and both said, “Shh! No one can know.”

I nodded. “Okay, well wait. What happened to Plan C?”

Thano rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story. But we need a distraction, Gabi.”

“A distraction?”

“Yes, Claire is here which is good. We’re going to use her car to head to the hospital. It will be hours before anyone figures out we’re gone.”

I frowned. “Um. It’s your baby shower. I’m pretty sure people will notice the parents of said baby are missing.”

Thano looked at me and grinned. “Gabi, you’ve been around this family long enough now to know they won’t notice we’re missing for at least an hour and a half. Especially if you throw them off.”

I wrung my hands together. Damn it. I wish Nic hadn’t had to work today. “Okay. Claire knows?”

“Yes. She was standing next to me when the first contraction hit.”

I paced back and forth. How was I going to cause a distraction? Then it hit me.

“I think I can buy y’all a few hours at least.”

Furrowing her brows, Kilyn asked, “How?”

Smiling, I walked up to them and ushered them outside. “Leave it to me. Where is your hospital bag?”

“In the car already. Thano kept panicking about it,” Kilyn said with a giggle.

“I’ll grab it, but we forgot something else. Kira.”

I waved him off. “I’ve got her. Don’t worry. As soon as Claire or I get the all clear, one of us will bring her.”

Kilyn grabbed my hand. “Thank you, Gabi. Someday, I’ll do the same for you.” My heart jumped into my throat, and I was once again reminded of how much I wanted to have a child with Nic.

I gave her a gentle grin. “Go. Go have your baby in peace!”

WALKING INTO THE kitchen, I came to an abrupt halt.

Gabi and my mother were each holding up a spatula like a weapon at each other.

“Um . . . as interesting as this is . . . what in the hell is going on?”

“She tricked me!” my mother said as a slow smirk moved over Gabi’s face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mom jerked the spatula causing batter to hit Gabi on the forehead. Her eyes widened in shock. “You threw food at me!”

“Tell me where they went! My sons get married and start hiding secrets.”

“Who are we talking about?” I asked while I looked between the two of them. “And where is everyone?”

“Everyone left after I won the cook off.”

My brows lifted. “A cook off?”

“Yep. I challenged her to see who could make the better moussaka.”

I clutched my chest. Had Gabi gone insane? “You did what?”

“We did a blind taste test and Gabi cheated. She thinks she won.”

Gasping, Gabi flung her spatula at my mother, spraying white batter all over her face. “I did not cheat, Katerina! Admit it. Everyone liked my moussaka. None of the Maria’s could tell the difference!”

My mother moaned. “Traitors! They’re all traitors.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head while asking the Lord for strength. Looking back at Gabi, I said, “I knew from the beginning you knew what you were getting into with my family, but baby. I never dreamed you’d turn into my family.”

Gabi’s phone went off. Narrowing her eye at my mother, she said, “I’m watching you!”

Her eyes dashed down to read a text. When she looked up, she was grinning. When she looked back up, a tear was rolling down her face.

“Well now sweetheart, don’t cry because you know I’m the better cook.”

“Mama!” I said as I made my way over to Gabi. Brushing the batter covered string of hair away from her face, I lifted her eyes to mine “Hey, what’s with the tears?”

“Kilyn and Thano are asking everyone to come meet there their new baby.”