Special Chapter The Visit
Colin received the text on a Thursday morning, three weeks after Elena was born.
Visiting hours are 2-4 PM. Bring gummy bears. The green ones. — Miu
He forwarded it to Jen, Priya, and Sandra. Within minutes, his phone was buzzing.
I'm bringing a onesie. — Jen
I'm bringing a blanket. — Priya
I'm bringing my nerves. — Sandra
Colin bought the gummy bears, put on a clean shirt, and drove to the address Miu had sent—the one with the water view, the one that cost more than his apartment building.
---
The building was tall. The lobby was marble. The elevator had a button for "Penthouse Level" that none of them pressed because they didn't live there.
"It's like a hotel," Jen whispered.
"It's like a palace," Priya whispered back.
"It's like a place where I don't belong," Sandra said, clutching her gift bag.
The elevator doors opened. Colin knocked. The door swung open, and they stepped into chaos.
Not the controlled chaos of a minimalist apartment.
Real chaos. Boxes stacked by the door. Baby towels draped over the couch.
A pile of unopened gifts in the corner. A stroller parked in the hallway like someone had abandoned it mid-escape.
The cat—the fat orange one—was sprawled across a baby blanket on the floor like he owned everything.
And in the middle of it all was Miu.
She was wearing a loose shirt, her hair tied up, her legs bare in shorts that had definitely seen better days. She was holding a stack of baby towels in one arm and trying to fold a blanket with the other. The blanket was winning.
"You came," Miu said. Her face was tired, but her smile was real. "Don't mind the mess. The baby sleeps in twenty-minute increments. I clean in fifteen."
Colin looked around. "We expected it to be—"
"Clean? Minimalist? Like a CEO lives here?" Miu laughed. "A CEO does live here. She also lives with a newborn and a cat who sheds his body weight in fur every hour. The minimalist phase ended when the baby arrived."
Jen stepped forward. "Where is she? The baby?"
Miu nodded toward the hallway. "Nursery. Sleeping. Finally. If anyone makes a sound, I'm cutting you."
They sat. The living room was warm, the afternoon light pouring through floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the water. The couches were deep, the kind you sank into. The coffee table was covered in baby books and tea mugs and a half-eaten bag of gummy bears.
Colin held up the bag he brought. "Green ones."
Miu's eyes lit up. She took the bag, opened it, ate one, and closed her eyes. "You're my favorite."
"I know."
"How's life?" Priya asked. "Really?"
Miu looked at the hallway where the nursery was.
Her face softened. "Exhausting. Terrifying.
The best thing I've ever done." She paused.
"She screamed for three hours last night.
Three hours. Nothing worked. Lena walked her up and down the hallway for an hour.
I cried. The cat hid. And then, at 4 AM, she just stopped. Fell asleep like nothing happened."
"That sounds terrible," Sandra said.
"It was. And then she smiled in her sleep. Tiny smile. Like she knew she'd won." Miu laughed. "She's already running the house since both of her grandma's aren't here."
They were mid-laugh when the front door clicked.
Low voices drifted in from the hallway. Not raised, not urgent, but weighted. The kind of voices that made decisions without asking permission.
"—the Henderson acquisition closes tomorrow. I need the final numbers by 8 AM."
"The board will push back on the evaluation."
"Let them push. The numbers are solid. If they want to argue, they can argue with the quarterly report."
"That's not going to make you popular."
"I'm not trying to be popular."
Miu's face didn't change. She took another gummy bear. The voices got closer.
"The zoning variance for the waterfront project. Did the city sign off?"
"Pending your approval. They want a meeting next week."
"Schedule it. And call the mayor's office. Tell them I expect the variance to be approved before the meeting."
"That's not how zoning variances work."
"It is now."
Lena walked into the living room. Adrian was behind her, tablet in hand, still talking. "—and the Tokyo office wants a decision on the expansion by Friday."
Lena stopped. She saw them. The room went very quiet. Her eyes scanning the living room.
She was wearing a blazer—charcoal, sharp, the kind she wore to boardrooms. Her hair was up. Her face was the face from the photographs, the one that had made grown men tremble. She looked at the group of writers huddled on her couch like they were a quarterly report she hadn't reviewed yet.
Jen stood. Priya stood. Sandra stood. Colin stood.
"Hello," Jen said. Her voice was an octave higher than usual.
"Hi," Priya squeaked.
"We were just—" Sandra gestured vaguely.
Lena nodded. Once. "Thank you for visiting Miu."
They nodded back. Eight heads bobbing in the afternoon light.
Miu burst out laughing.
"You're scaring them," she said.
Lena looked at her. Then she crossed the room, leaned down, and kissed her. It wasn't a peck. It was the kind of kiss that said I've been gone for hours and I missed you. When she pulled back, Miu's face was pink.
"The baby?" Lena asked.
"Asleep. Finally."
Lena nodded. "I'm going to shower." She looked at the group. "If you need anything, just call Adrian."
She walked toward the bedroom. Adrian was still standing in the hallway, watching the scene with the expression of a man who had seen everything and was mildly amused.
"Adrian," Miu said. "You staying?"
He shook his head. "Meetings." He walked to her, bent down, and kissed her cheek. It was quick, familiar, the way family kissed. "She's been impossible all day."
"She's always impossible."
"Today she threatened to fire the mayor."
Miu laughed. "She can't fire the mayor."
"She knows that. The mayor doesn't." He turned to Miu's friends, "just call me if you need anything."
He left. The door clicked shut.
The room exhaled. Jen sank back into the couch. Priya picked up her tea. Sandra fanned herself with her gift bag.
"You're all silly," Miu said.
Jen pointed toward the hallway where Lena had disappeared. "That woman owns half of Canada and you call us silly?"
"She owns half of Canada and she leaves cabinet doors open. She's not scary."
"She's terrifying."
"She's terrifying in boardrooms. At home, she's just Lena."
Priya leaned forward. "Just Lena?"
Miu's smile was soft. "Just Lena."
---
They gave her the gifts.
Jen's onesie said My Other Mother Owns a Corporation. Miu held it up, laughed, set it aside. "She's wearing this tomorrow. I'm sending pictures to the board."
Priya's blanket had a tiny stitch: When I Grow Up, I'm Going to Own the World. Miu touched the letters. "Lena's going to frame this."
Colin set the bag of gummy bears on the table. "All green. I picked them out myself."
Miu looked at him. "You're a good friend, Colin."
"I know."
They were laughing when the baby cried.
The sound came from the nursery—sharp, demanding, the kind of cry that meant now, not later. Miu started to get up. She was halfway off the couch when the bedroom door opened.
Lena walked out.
She was wearing sweatpants. Low on her hips.
An oversized crop top that ended just above her waist. Her stomach was bare, her abs visible, the lines of her body soft and strong and nothing like the woman who had walked in an hour ago.
Her hair was wet, loose, dripping onto her shoulders. Her face was bare. Her feet were bare.
"I got her," Lena said.
She disappeared into the nursery. The crying stopped.
Jen's mouth was open. Priya's tea was frozen halfway to her lips. Sandra was staring at the hallway like she had seen a ghost.
Colin looked at Miu. "Was that—"
"The CEO of Thomson Group? Yes." Miu was eating another gummy bear. "She's also a mother. She's also very good at calming the baby. She's also very aware that you're all staring at where she just was."
Jen closed her mouth. "She has—"
"Abs. Yes. She works out. It's annoying."
The nursery door opened again. Lena came out with Elena in her arms. The baby was awake now, her dark eyes wide, her tiny fists waving. She wasn't crying anymore, but she wasn't sleeping either. She was watching, the way she always watched, like she was memorizing everything.
Miu stood. Held out her arms. Lena handed her the baby.
"Since she's awake," Miu said, settling Elena against her chest, "say hi to your uncle and aunties."
Elena looked at them. Her face was serious, considering, the face of someone who was already taking notes.
"She has your eyes," Jen said.
"She has Lena's stare."
"She's going to be dangerous," Colin said.
"She already is."
Lena sat on the couch. Her hand found Miu's shoulder. Her fingers started moving, slow circles, kneading the tension. Miu didn't react. She kept talking, kept laughing, kept passing the baby around the circle. But she leaned back, just slightly, into Lena's touch.
The group watched. They couldn't help it. Lena's hand was on Miu's shoulder, her thumb working a knot, her face calm, her attention split between the conversation and the woman beside her.
Then she stood. Walked to the kitchen. The refrigerator opened. The microwave hummed.
Miu looked down at Elena. "You're hungry again? You just ate."
The baby made a sound. Impatient.
"You get that from your other mother."
Lena came back with a bottle. She didn't sit. She stood by the couch, waiting.
"Babe," Miu said. "Elena needs milk."
Lena reached for the baby. Elena went easily, her face turning toward Lena, her hand reaching for the bottle. Lena settled into the reclining chair by the window, the one that looked out over the river. She tilted the bottle. Elena drank.
The room was quiet. The afternoon light was gold. Lena was in the chair, the baby in her arms, the river behind her. She looked like something from a painting. She looked like something none of them had ever seen.
Colin leaned toward Miu. His voice was low. "If I want a raise, I'm going directly to you."
Miu heard him. Her smile was sharp. "Babe."
Lena looked up. "What?"
"They say if I ask for a raise for them, would you grant it?"
Lena thought about it. Her hand was on the bottle, her eyes on the baby. "Yes."
"Just like that?"
"Whatever you say."
Miu's face lit up. She turned to the group. "Nope. If you want a raise, tell Lena. She controls the corporation." She paused. "I just control her."
Lena's ears went red.
The room dissolved. Jen was laughing. Priya was hiding her face.
Sandra was taking pictures, finally, the camera she had been holding all afternoon, capturing the moment Lena Thomson—CEO, heiress, the woman who owned the biggest comglomorate in Canada—sat in a reclining chair with her ears red and her baby in her arms.
Miu walked to the chair. Leaned down. Kissed Lena's forehead. "You're cute when you're embarrassed."
"I'm not embarrassed."
"Your ears say otherwise."
Lena didn't answer. The baby finished the bottle. Miu took her, settled her against her shoulder, patted her back. A burp. Small. Satisfied.
"There," Miu said. "Now you can sleep."
Elena's eyes were already closing. Her hand was curled into a fist. Her breathing was slowing.
The room was quiet again. The light was fading. The river was silver.
Colin looked at his friends. They were all watching the same thing—Miu in the chair now, the baby on her chest, Lena beside her, their hands touching. The cat had appeared, jumped onto the arm of the chair, and was curling into a ball.
"We should go," Colin said.
No one argued.
They stood. Gathered their bags. Miu looked up, her face soft, her voice quiet so she didn't wake the baby. "Thank you. For coming. For the gifts. For the gummy bears."
"Always," Jen said.
"Anytime," Priya said.
Sandra was at the door, her camera in her bag, her face full of something that looked like wonder. "She's beautiful. The baby. All of it."
Colin was last. He stood in the doorway, looking back at the room. The woman in the chair, the CEO beside her, the baby between them. The cat. The light. The river.
"Miu," he said.
"What?"
"You really are the boss."
She smiled. "I know."
He closed the door.
---
The elevator was quiet. Jen was scrolling through her phone. Priya was looking at the river. Sandra was humming something Colin didn't recognize.
"She fed the baby," Jen said.
"She's so wifey," Priya said.
"She has abs," Sandra said.
Colin looked at them. "She's a mother. That's all."
Jen laughed. "I'm asking Miu for my raise. Directly."
"She said to ask Lena."
"She said she controls Lena."
The elevator doors opened. The lobby was marble. The doorman smiled. The city was waiting.
Colin thought about the apartment. The boxes. The chaos. The woman in sweatpants who had kissed her partner like she was coming home. The woman in the chair who had looked at her baby like she was everything.
"Miu is the boss," Colin said.
They walked out into the afternoon. The sun was setting. The river was gold. And somewhere above them, in an apartment that was no longer minimalist, a baby was sleeping, and her mothers were watching her, and the world was exactly where it needed to be.