I re-directed my attention on the honey-toned wood of the console and moved it farther in so it didn’t block any foot traffic.
Maybe I should have refinished it. It looked pretty shabby next to all of her carefully curated pieces.
Patches wound her way around my ankles and hopped up on the console, and then sprawled out and started licking her paws. “At least you like it.” I rubbed my thumb under her ginger and white chin. The top half of her was almost black fur, making her big green eyes stand out. She blinked at me then resumed licking.
“Just like your master. Only interested in me for a second.”
I glanced around the room and found the lights I’d brought up a few days ago. She’d added a few things to that spot and highlighted the lamps with her Kinleigh ways.
At least she seemed to like them. Maybe she’d feel the same about the console.
Her giggles rolled out again and I blew out a breath. Yeah, I couldn’t listen to that right now. Especially since I hadn’t heard that particular laugh since before…
Well, just before.
Maybe I just needed to take the hint. Obviously, she wasn’t that into me.
I could probably come to terms with that in a lifetime or two.
Seven
Mid-February
Having a baby was scary business.
Not even just the physical act of pushing one out, which I had to admit had traumatized me when I’d watched Ivy go through it. I still felt the occasional phantom pain in my hand, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ivy had broken a bone with her mega-ton squeeze during labor.
But the whole thing. Having to care for a tiny person who relied on you for everything. One who couldn’t even hold up her head on her own for long if you let your arm droop.
“There you go. That’s a love.” I adjusted my hold on the baby and barely resisted burying my nose in her russet curls. She didn’t have a ton of them yet. Just enough for Ivy to wrap her head in a festive red headband with hearts all over it and a big floppy bow. “Who’s a pretty girl? Who’s a sweet munchkin?”
Rhiannon didn’t so much as blink. She seemed fascinated by me. My face was must-see TV for the six-months-old-and-under set.
She wasn’t the only one. Her eyes were so stunningly blue I was transfixed.
Ivy and Rory had made such a beautiful child. What must it be like to look down at the precious baby you’d made from your love?
Or from extreme fondness on a plastic-wrapped mattress set in a frame on a floor covered with sawdust.
I shifted on Ivy’s sofa and bit my lower lip at the slight pressure in my lower belly. Maybe that was a good sign.
Anything else wasn’t possible. It just could not be.
“Ivy, I gotta pee,” I called out. “Too much tea.”
A total lie, but I needed to check my underwear for the sixteenth time today. On top of another twenty times yesterday and the day before that. For the first time in my life, I was hoping for an accident. I’d even worn one of my nicest pairs to tempt the karmic gods.
Please, please, please.
“Kin, just hang on a sec,” Ivy called back from the kitchen. “My food purifier isn’t working. She can’t have her bananas if they aren’t properly—oh, fuck balls!”
I scooped up the baby and raced into the kitchen, half expecting Rhiannon to start wailing. But nope, she just kept looking at me, her chubby fist in her mouth. Then she turned her head to look at her mother just as I did, following Ivy’s gaze to the congealed dripping lump of yellow on the ceiling.
“Fuck balls,” I echoed.
I wasn’t even much of a swearer. But today I was ready to unleash all the curse words until I got my damn period.
“Thank God she can’t understand that yet.” Ivy blew out a breath that ruffled the auburn hair that had come free from her topknot. “I intended to use this stupid food processor to make dinner tonight. Rory’s on his way back from LA and it was supposed to be perfect. I’d put the baby down and while dinner cooked, I’d slip on a sexy nightie and turn on the music and chill a bottle of wine. Then we’d fuck like rabbits before the dinner timer went off.” She sighed. “Now I have to go to the store and get a new processor.”