Chapter 16 Immy, Jenner, and Tobias
IMMY, JENNER, AND TOBIAS
Christmas Eve
“Gray said just to check on her and to be quiet in case she’s asleep,” Immy said to Cat. “Not to invade the bedroom with a bunch of cookies to decorate.”
“But it’s Christmas Eve and Maeve will be sad if she misses out,” Cat told her, holding a tray of cookies along with a bowl of icing. Immy had her own tray filled with decorations for the cookies.
She might have already eaten some of those decorations and her tummy was feeling a little bit icky.
Immy loved anything sweet, but she wasn’t very good at balancing her sugar cravings out with other food.
Generally, Tobias kept an eye on what she was eating.
But he was in the gym this morning with Abe and Sampson, and Jenner had disappeared into their bedroom, saying that he’d had a burst of inspiration.
So Immy had been left with just Cat and Bernard supervising her. Bernard had frowned at her when she’d eaten that second handful of M&Ms. But that had just meant that she’d snuck the third and fourth mouthfuls behind his back.
Immy wasn’t an amateur at this sort of thing.
“Come on, we need to keep Maeve company,” Cat said as she attempted to open the door. But neither of them had a spare hand.
“Uh-oh,” Immy said. “How are we supposed to get into the bedroom?”
“How about I get the door?” Maeve said.
Immy turned to find Maeve standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a cute Christmas nightie with candy canes all over it.
“Maeve! You’re up!” Immy cried. “Oh no, I don’t think you’re supposed to be out of bed. Gray won’t be happy.”
“Pfft,” Cat said as she breezed into the room and set her tray down on the end of the bed. “What Gray doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
Maeve nodded. “He’s gone crazy. He’s in OPD mode.”
“OPD mode?” Immy asked as she set her own tray down. And swiped a few more M&Ms.
She couldn’t help it if M&Ms were the elixir of the gods! If she wasn’t supposed to gorge on them then they wouldn’t have made them so darn delicious.
“OPD mode?” Cat asked.
“Overprotective Daddy,” Maeve said as she sat on the bed and crossed her legs. She drew the blankets over her lap. “I’m a bit worried that he’s going to try and make me spend all of Christmas in bed.”
“He can’t do that!” Immy said with a gasp, horrified. She was wearing a Christmas apron over her clothes. The apron even had tiny bells on it that jangled when she moved. She loved it. She was saving her Christmas outfit for later tonight.
She didn’t want to get it dirty.
“Yeah, he can’t do that!” Cat said. “We’ll complain to the SPCL!”
Immy stared at her. “The what?”
“The SPCL,” Cat explained. “Faith told me all about it. She was going to complain to them about Reuben. It’s The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Littles.”
“Oh, well, I don’t think we have to go that far,” Immy said worriedly.
“You have to keep these Daddies under control, Immy,” Cat told her. “Or they’ll think they’re the boss. And you’ve got two of them.”
Hmm. Cat did have a point.
“What are we doing?” Maeve asked. “Decorating cookies? Oh, I missed baking them.” Her face fell.
“You didn’t,” Immy told her quickly.
“Yeah, Doomy Gloomy wouldn’t let us near the oven,” Cat told her. “He claimed that we’d hurt ourselves. I told him that Immy bakes all the time, but he still wasn’t having a bar of it. So he baked these for us.”
“To be fair, he is pretty busy getting everything ready for tomorrow,” Immy said.
“He’s also very fond of the word no,” Cat said. “Pretty sure he was hatched saying ‘no’.”
“Um, hatched?” Maeve asked.
“Yeah, he definitely wasn’t born.” Cat grinned. “Come on. Let’s decorate cookies.”
“Are you nervous, Maeve?” Immy asked as they started with the icing first. She had a cookie in the shape of Santa to decorate. This was such fun!
“Yeah, kind of,” Maeve replied as she took a tentative bite of a piece of dry toast.
Immy figured that might help settle her stomach.
“I just don’t know what I’m more nervous about,” Maeve added. “Being pregnant or not being pregnant.”
“At least you’ll soon know,” Cat said. “Then we can plan.”
Immy really hoped she was pregnant. She would love to be an auntie.
They kept decorating and eating. Well, Immy kept eating anyway. After the last cookie was decorated, Immy lay back with a groan. “I can’t. I can’t do any more. I think I’m going to be ill.”
Maeve gave her a concerned look. “You do look a bit pale. How many did you eat?”
She’d lost track.
And it wasn’t just the cookies. It was the candy. And the icing.
The door to the bedroom suddenly opened and Gray walked in. “Maeve, have you seen . . .” he trailed off, shaking his head before getting out his phone and calling someone. “They’re here. In with Maeve.” He ended the call and gave Cat then Immy, a stern look. “Your men are looking for you.”
Oops.
“What have you naughty girls been up to?” Gray asked, walking closer. “Cookies? Did you eat some? You probably shouldn’t eat sugar if you’ve been vomiting.”
“No sugar?” Immy gaped at him. “Man, that’s harsh. Really harsh. It’s Christmas. It’s a time to eat as much sugar as you want!” She stood with a small groan, putting her hand on her belly. “Well, as much sugar as your stomach can handle. Excuse me, got to go. Maeve, Gray, good luck!”
She headed to her bedroom, walking straight to the bed and ignoring Jenner as he stopped playing his guitar.
“Immy?” he asked in concern as she climbed onto the bed and lay on her stomach. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t reply. She didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want to tell him the truth.
“Immy? Talk to me,” Jenner said as he sat on the bed and rubbed her back. “What’s wrong?”
“I’d say that someone has eaten too much sugar,” Tobias said, walking into the room.
Cupcakes.
“Papa! No tattling.”
“How much have you eaten?” Jenner asked, rolling her over onto her back.
She bit back another groan. “Not that much.”
Tobias snorted.
Rude.
“Sit her up,” Tobias said. “I’ve got some water and bread to settle her stomach.”
Jenner helped her sit before he held a bottle of water to her lips. “Small sips.”
After drinking some water and taking a few bites of bread she began to feel better.
“Seems we’re going to have to keep a better eye on how much sugar she’s having,” Tobias said.
“My fault,” Jenner told him. “I should have been watching her.”
“I don’t need watching!” Immy protested. “And you can’t limit my sugar. It’s Christmas.”
“Do you want to feel sick and yucky on Christmas Day?” Jenner pointed out.
Unicorn poop. She really didn’t need him to be logical right now.
“No,” she grumbled.
“Then you need to slow down,” Tobias added. “We just want to look after you.”
Immy sighed. “I know, I’m sorry.” She climbed into Jenner’s lap and then held her hands out to Tobias, cuddling him close.
“We just love you, Cherry,” Tobias told her. “We want what is best for you.”
“I know, I love you guys too. I’m so happy we’re all here for Christmas.”
“Us too, baby girl.” Jenner kissed the top of her head. “This Christmas is going to be one to remember.”