Marriage (Red, White &) Blues (Unexpectedly Married #2)

Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

B lake didn’t drive us home. He drove us to the office, where he introduced me to every worker we passed and his colleagues in the finance department. Then he dropped the little “I’m done for good” bomb.

After several “Won’t you reconsider?’s I helped him clear out his office. He had framed photos of us in Europe, and the one from our wedding. Almost as importantly, he collected files that he needed and called all his current clients to tell them that he was leaving Parker Holdings to start his own firm.

Not one of those clients said they were renewing their contracts with Parker.

Yikes! Robert and Brock were having a really bad day. Ask me if I cared.

Then we went home.

It was harder to break the news to all the wonderful employees, especially Maisie and Dee. I loved them. Blake loved them.

“Maisie, Dee…” Blake called. “Can we talk to you for a second?” He led me to the sofa and helped me down. Yes, I could do it myself, but the idea of hurting these women made me feel sick to my stomach and so I was glad to have his assistance.

Dee walked out of the kitchen wearing her signature white chef’s jacket and wiping her hands on a red-and-white striped kitchen towel. Maisie descended the stairs stopping next to Dee and her face hardened when she looked at me. I swore she saw through me and that this was it.

“What’s going on?” Maisie asked.

“Listen,” Blake started, and sighed. He loved these women. They’d been his family for years. But the fact remained that they had homes and families here in Vermont. “We had some news come to light last night.”

“News?” Dee asked, and she straightened her stance, as if ready to fight.

“Raymond Hill didn’t set Glory up. My mother hired Candice to do it.”

Maisie threw her hand over her mouth while Dee’s eyes turned hard. “I’ve got a cousin in Jersey,” Dee said and I thought she might’ve only been half -kidding.

“No need to whack my mother, Dee…” he replied, but then he amended, “At least I don’t think…” I choked out a laugh. “No, no… I was told yesterday matricide is bad. Matricide is off the table.”

Despite the news, the women smiled indulgently at him, holding onto their laughter. That was one of the best parts of Blake, the way he made people feel better.

“Here’s the thing: Glory and I left everything to do with the Parkers today. We’re walking away.”

“You’re moving,” Maisie said, looking between my husband and me.

“We’re moving,” he agreed. “To Michigan. We have friends and Glory’s mom back there. With the baby coming, it just makes sense.”

“How long?” she asked.

“Well, we have a little bit of time. I have to find property to build on and get the house going. I want us to be settled before the baby comes.”

“Before? You only have, like, twenty weeks.”

“People can accomplish anything if you throw enough money at the problem.”

“I guess,” she replied and I could hear her heart breaking.

“You’ll still get your retirement—that was set up when you started here—and you’ll both receive hefty severance packages. You won’t have to worry about healthcare. I’ll take care of that, too. I see no changes to the plan you’re on.”

And that was something that I never stopped to think about. My husband paid for a healthcare plan for his employees. I loved this man.

“Okay,” Dee said and I swore she looked ready to cry. Dee. Our Dee. That woman was sweet, awesome, but tough as nails. Dee didn’t cry. She did today as she turned around to walk back into the kitchen.

Our Maisie, on the other hand, she hugged me first, kissing my cheek, and then hugged Blake like a mother saying goodbye to her child.

“Excuse me,” I said, running upstairs throwing myself onto the bed. Pressing my face to my pillow, I sobbed and sobbed. Eventually, Blake made his way into the bedroom with Georgie and Miranda on his heels.

“You okay?” he asked. He walked over, dropping down on the edge of the mattress, pulling me onto his lap.

“It’s just the hormones,” I lied.

“It’s not. It’s my Glory’s soft heart showing. I’ll miss them too, but this is what’s right for our family.”

“It is. I know it is. That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Since we have some time on our hands, I thought we might make another trip back to Michigan—try to find the perfect land to build on—and we’ll hire the designer who is supposed to turn the nursery into Wonderland to stage this house. Do you think she’d come to our new place to give us Wonderland?”

“If we paid for expenses.”

“Good. Then let’s get packed.” Blake pressed in to kiss me. “I love you, Glory. You are my only priority. You and” —he rubbed my belly— “the baby. Everyone else can?—”

“Suck salt,” I offered and he chuckled.

“What?”

“Suck salt. It’s an old saying. My dad said it all the time. He got it from his grandmother.”

“Right, well, everyone else can suck salt.”

Because Blake was used to keeping busy and didn’t currently have a job—he was still in the process of setting up his freelance business and getting the new contracts signed—I let him take the lead on the move.

He contacted the designer to get that ball rolling. He set up the meeting with the realtor, who gushed a little too much for my liking about working with a Parker. Then we hopped a jet. That was the day I found out how much a private jet cost. Really. We could’ve rented once again, but in the midst of moving—and he didn’t talk to me about this first—Blake bought us a GD (you know what that GD stands for) plane. Because of all our traveling and the baby, and our furry children. It took me a hot minute to cool down from that.

“Gloria, we’re loaded and you’ll be happy once you get used to the idea.”

He was probably right. But in my Gloria Kowalski mindset he not only bought us a private jet, but the pilots, flight attendants and maintenance crew to go with it.

“Do you know how many?—”

Blake covered my mouth with his hand. “Once we’re settled, we’ll start working on the charitable organizations. I know who I married, sweetheart.” And he did know me so well.

We waited inside until the driver texted us that he’d arrived.

Snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the outside world. I shivered before even left the warmth of the terminal.

“Maybe we could get our friends to move to Guam. They’d love it,” I offered with a hopeful smile.

“I’m sure they would, but my guess is if they haven’t decided to live tropical yet, it’s because they don’t want to.”

“They just don’t know any better. If we tell them how we’re moving there, too, everyone will be happy.”

“You certainly think a lot of us and our influence.”

I harrumphed. “What? They love us. They want to be near us.”

“ Okay .” He placated me while helping me inside the back seat of the Uber. An hour later, we pulled into the drive of my house. Ant kept the property up for us in our absence. He and my husband made arrangements back when he’d showed to collect Georgie and Miranda.

We crashed in the warmth of the fireplace crackling and snuggled. We ordered takeout and snuggled some more. If snuggling were an Olympic sport, Blake and I were in the running for the gold medal. At least in the pairs competition.

The next afternoon, after stopping at Macy’s to find a proper Michigan winter parka, gloves, and boots that would cover my growing belly and pregnancy swollen feet, I felt the Subaru slow and then stop. Yes, felt it. Blake, for some reason, blindfolded the pregnant lady. He helped me from the car and my boots sunk down in a good two feet of snow.

“You know falling is bad for the baby, right?” I asked, unimpressed with our adventure so far.

“I won’t let you fall, sweetheart. I’m too invested now.”

I marched because walking was out of the question. Marching made more sense, just not for the five hundred hours Blake had me doing it. That might’ve been an exaggeration, but not by much. Then he tore the blindfold from my eyes and I looked around at an expanse of white surrounded by trees on three sides and the fourth, the lake. As in Huron.

“Where are we?” I asked, shivering yet exhilarated at the same time.

“Our new home—I mean, if you like it.”

“Our new home? How far?—”

“You’re closer to Pen and Sierra here than you are up in Beverly Hills. Twenty minutes from Pen’s place and thirty from Sierra and Georgie would have plenty of room to run. We have fifteen acres. Our own beach. Picture it: summertime, you and me, naked and getting freaky without the fear of cameras.”

“You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?”

“Ah, Glory… What doesn’t kill us makes us?—”

“ Angry ,” I finished for him.

“You’re no good at this game.”

“I didn’t know we were playing a game,” I pushed, chuckling while bending down. I scooped up a handful of snow, crunching it into a ball, and threw it at his chest. “But now we are,” I finished as I ran.

“Oh, you’re in for it now,” he warned as he slung snowballs at me. The man had skills and a very good arm.

We laughed so loud, birds shot up from the trees in the distance. We laughed so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath because the icy air burned my lungs and I plopped down into the snow. He caught up to me, dropping down next to me. He rolled over on top of me and we kissed. My favorite romance novel kisses. He made me feel wonderful.

“What do you think?” he finally asked, cheeks flushed from Gloria and not from the cold, or, not totally from the cold.

“It’s beautiful. Let’s make an offer.”

The privacy made sense for us. His eyes went unfocused as he held me. “I’m going to get you pregnant,” he said.

I bit my lip. “Honey, I’m already pregnant. You can’t really get me pregnant again.”

“I mean after this one comes. I want us to share this with a family that we create.”

Rolling us over so I lay on top of him, I bent in to peck his nose. “How about we enjoy this one for a little while before you go knocking me up again?”

“Works for me. Glory B! I’m glad I married you!”

I hooted. He hadn’t shouted that since he first talked me into coming to Vermont.

The pregnancy progressed nicely. We made an appointment with my OB for her to see me again. I was far enough along to find out the sex of our baby—no, you’ll just have to wait to find out, like everyone else.

To say my best friends were happy to hear of us moving back was an understatement. Pen and Sierra immediately started planning a baby shower. My mother took to spending her weekends planning with them. The home building moved along even through the dead of winter. It turned out that contractors liked making money in the winter, too, and what they were getting from us made for happy holidays, whatever holidays they celebrated.

On the day of the baby shower, the sunshine fooled us all because although it shone brightly, it was still as cold as Scrooge’s heart pre-spirit visits outside. But we weren’t too far from the big melt, and that made my heart happy.

Spring was springing. Now, in Michigan, spring varied between beautiful short sleeved days to blizzards that left us buried for two weeks, and everything in between. It just made us enjoy our swampy summers even more.

But I walked inside Pen’s large Georgian home. She led me to the chair of honor in the living room and I sat, my belly protruding into the next ZIP code. Given we were still creating Wonderland for our little bundle of joy, the gifts reflected that. I saw our crib—hear me out, I never registered for the crib because the price tag on that custom piece— hoo boy , how could I ask anyone to pony up that cash? It was too much. Yet the teacup crib sat in the corner of the room filled with other gifts. Despite the cold outside, I wore a pink, short-sleeved, satin and chiffon dress with pretty roses on the bodice. I loved it. I felt beautiful. I felt objectively like a mother today. Given our Wonderland nursery, Pen and Sierra threw me a Wonderland shower.

My mother walked in from the kitchen with— “ Maisie ?” I cried. She smiled, moving in to hug me.

“Did you think I’d miss this?”

“But didn’t you have to?—”

My words got cut off by Dee. “These stuffed mushrooms are on point.”

“ Dee ?” I squealed, crying harder.

“You both showed….” I wiped at my eyes. “I can’t believe you both showed.”

“It’s not that big a deal,” Maisie said. “Clinton” —Maisie’s husband— “said congratulations . He’s at the house.”

“But coming all the way from Vermont.”

“Vermont? Oh—that’s right. Dee and I are part of your shower gift.”

I narrowed my eyes now, not understanding. “What do you mean?”

“Did you really think we’d let you and Blake make a big move with a baby on the way and not have anyone you can trust in your corner? It’ll take months to find trustworthy staff for the new place.”

“It will. I suppose you’re right. And you’re here to help with that?”

She bobbed her head. “Dee and I refused our severance packages, opting for employment in Michigan. You don’t get to raise that baby without me.”

“ Or me ,” Dee garbled around a mushroom.

“You… You moved here?” I asked, still not understanding.

Maisie laughed. “Yes, we moved here. You need us, but we need you, too. The last of my kids moved away three years ago. All I had was Blake, and then you.”

“My wife loves Michigan,” Dee said. “We have family near Grand Rapids.”

Blubbering mess, party of one, right here.

As more guests showed up for the party, I greeted them and continued to cry. Then the last person to show… Pen answered a knock on the door and a frozen Murielle stood there holding a big, wrapped box.

“Murielle? You invited Murielle?” I shot from the chair to hug her. “This is the best day. You all… you made the trip… the day…”

“Oh sugar, when these nice women called me up, I swear I squealed like a stuck pig for a good five minutes after. No way I’d miss your shower.”

“We’ve decided to keep her,” Pen said and keep her ?

“Like you decided to forego the whole childhood thing and adopt a full-grown adult?”

“ Blake ,” Sierra called. “You’re up.”

He’s up ?

Blake popped his head out of the den. “I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Meet my first official employee of Blake Parker Financial. Surprise !” Then he popped back into the den leaving me dumbfounded. And then, because this was the new me for the time being, I burst into tears.

By the end of the party, my baby’s new nursery was hooked up, my real baby had to make room for my food baby, and my head hurt from all of the crying. Our designer, who’d also been invited, cried tears of joy over each new piece of furniture right along with me. Ant helped Blake load the truck they’d rented to haul our gifts to the new house. They’d weathered the shower in Ant’s den watching some game.

The Vermont house sold faster than a jackrabbit in a fuckin’ contest , as Murielle would say, madding us bank off of the sale. We moved it to an early retirement fund for my mom and Carl so they could travel. Carl refused to take money from us outright—we tried.

We moved into our new Michigan house three weeks before the big event. I’d woken up in a mood. Everything felt off. I swelled more than I thought seemed normal.

“ Blake ,” I called as I fell backward onto the bed, too dizzy to stand. He walked into our room.

“What—” He rushed to my side, dropping down next to me. “What’s wrong? Baby, you look off.”

“I don’t feel well.”

He pushed on the swollen skin around my ankle and the skin didn’t indent. He stood right away, pulling his phone from his pocket, pressing a number, and then rattled off our address. “My wife is thirty-six weeks pregnant, and she’s swollen all over. She’s dizzy. This isn’t right.”

He paced the floor.

“Please hurry,” he said before hanging up. Then, after shoving his phone back in his pocket, he walked over to me. “Come on, Glory. We need to get you to the front room.”

“Did you call an ambulance?”

“Baby, you need help. I’m worried your blood pressure is off again. If you go by ambulance, you’ll have medical help and will get seen right away.”

“You’re Blake Parker. They’ll see me right away, anyway.”

“But my finance skills won’t help you in a medical emergency. Their medic training will.”

He won. Of course, he did.

They admitted me right away. My IV held all sorts of medications, making me feel sort of loopy.

The next thing I knew, my room flooded with worried friends. Pen and Ant, my mother and Carl, Sierra, Murielle—you want the tea? We moved her into my old house. I didn’t have the heart to sell it because of my dad, and she got to save on rent, only paying for utilities going to the place. And then Pete strode in. Pete —I know! Sierra kept a close eye on the man, even as she stayed to the opposite side of the room from him the whole time. Jupiter showed too. She didn’t up and leave the family like Blake and I but her showing up today was a big up yours to the Vermont Parker Clan.

Pete smiled at Jupiter because he was a good guy and she had the Parker looks. But that smile paled in comparison to the longing he threw Sierra’s way about every ten minutes. That man had it bad for my best friend.

Come hell or high water, I’d figure out why she put the stop on Pierra.

The nurses tried to push our friends out, but when you were a Parker, even in a hospital suite, you kind of got to have your way. Well, until my blood pressure shot up again for no apparent reason. Then everyone, with the exception of Blake, had to wait in the waiting room.

They rolled me into a maternity OR and injected medication into my spine. Blake wore a paper scrub hat, booties, and a long-sleeved hospital gown thing. They instructed him to stay by my head and not look over the blue curtain.

I shot him the you better look over that curtain eyes because I wanted to see what was going on. Blake needed to be my eyes. He held my hand as the anesthesiologist made small talk with us to keep us calm, I supposed, but I wasn’t worried. The doctors assured us that my blood pressure should start to move back to normal once the baby was out.

Maybe four minutes after slicing me open, we heard a baby cry. I lifted my head, given that remained the only body part they allowed me to lift, aside from my arms, and I watched as the nurse walked my little one over to get checked and weighed.

He walked our baby over to us. “Mr. and Mrs. Parker, meet your baby girl.” The nurse set our daughter into my husband’s arms and I swore that no other moment in the history of humankind meant more to me than this moment right here.

Later in the day, after my stint in recovery, Blake and I got to introduce our baby girl to our family.

“Everyone,” Blake said, “meet Maria Penelope Sierra Jupiter Elizabeth Parker.”

And just like that, the room collectively fell in love.