Chapter 18
Maverick
“Ugh, just leave me right here, and I’ll drag myself back to bed when I’m sure I’m not gonna puke anymore.”
“Nope, sorry, I’ve already texted the crew and given them a list of cookies to bake and get out into the display cases this morning,” Briar said.
“I told them I’d drop in later to whip up a few of the new spring melties, but not until you and Leo are situated in the den with ginger ale, crackers, and a couple packages of dried fruit.
“Ugh, don’t talk to me about food right now, even of the dry variety, ‘cause it sure as hell isn’t coming up dry,” I whined. “Now I feel cold and gross.”
“Then let’s get you in the shower, or would you prefer a bubble bath this morning?”
“Shower, so I can resume the prone position faster. How’s Leo?”
“Still hugging the downstairs toilet and cursing my existence, he wasn’t ready to get cleaned up yet. Said he was sure he had another bout of puking to do and sent me to come check on you.”
“I think I might be done, as long as we move slowly and you promise not to mention food again.”
“You have my word,” he said as he slowly andcarefully, helped me to my feet.
I brushed my teeth while he got the water going and made sure it wouldn’t be too warm.
The last time we’d gone for anything hot, I’d wound up puking all over myself and him.
The lukewarm spray was perfect, and he soon had me cleaned up and downstairs in the den with my new favorite obsession, Below Deck, which happened to be one of Leo’s favorites too.
As soon as Briar got him tucked in beside me, we curled up on our giant, fluffy round pillows together and settled in to watch the show.
We’d fallen so in love with the first set of cushions, which we’d purchased to go with the low writing table Leo had finally given in to the temptation to order, that we’d picked up several others and distributed them all over the house.
Our nest in the corner of the master bedroom was comprised of three of them, in addition to a slowly growing layer of fluffy blankets we’d selected from a local store.
It was cozy, just like our nest in here, especially when we were all curled up in it together.
“Exactly how long is morning sickness supposed to last?” Leo asked.
He spooned up behind me, one hand splayed over the baby bump that became more noticeable with every passing day.
“My oldest brother had it for six months,” I groaned, “and one of my sisters had it all the way through her pregnancy, but she was carrying triplets.”
“Just kill me now.”
“I don’t have the energy,” I groaned. “Besides, I love you too much.”
“Then at least help me plan the best way to get back at Briar for doing this to us.”
“Already done,” I groaned. “We’re sticking him with all the midnight feedings.”
At least we could still muster up the energy to giggle, though it lacked the liveliness of our days up at the cabin.
Five months ago felt like forever when you’d spent the bulk of it praying to the porcelain god.
If morning sickness lasted as long for us as it did for my sister, I wasn’t sure how we’d survive it.
Today was honestly the worst and, fortunately, only the second time I’d had to skip a day of work and stay home.
If there was one positive, it was getting to spend the day with Leo.
“Ugh,” Leo grumbled two episodes in, “as nice as it is to spend the day with you, I feel like I’m letting your mom down by calling out today.”
“Dude, you are literally baking her grandchildren,” I reminded him. “She’s totally fine with it, I swear. She knew you were knocked up when she hired you, remember. Besides, there was only the one new house left for you to photograph, right?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like shoving it off to another day.”
“You’d have had to move it anyway,” I pointed out.
“Why?”
“The whole day is supposed to be overcast and cloudy,” I explained. “It was already clouding up majorly when I closed the curtain, so you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
“Bless your mom and her sunny days only policy,” he replied and snuggled in closer. “She’s right about it too, especially for the external shots. Stormy days can make some houses look seriously foreboding and put people off.”
“Exactly,” I said, my stomach beginning to rumble and demand real food now that the dried strawberries, crackers, and ginger ale had helped settle it.
As if on cue, I heard Briar come down the stairs, a delicious aroma wafting our way.
“Lunch is served,” Briar announced, “courtesy of the dad brigade. Your mom told them that you guys had a rough morning, and they delivered. We’ve got lobster bisque with beautiful chunks of lobster floating in it, crab-stuffed mushrooms, times two batches since neither of you likes to share them, and Maverick’s dad brought over a freshly grilled batch of that barbeque beef you two have fallen so in love with I’m beginning to think you’re fonder of it than you are of me. ”
“I mean, it isn’t responsible for knocking us up and causing mornings full of misery, so there could be some truth to that,” Leo quipped.
“Love you too, sweetheart,” Briar said as he set the tray on the coffee table beside our nest and refilled our glasses from the pitcher of lemonade tea he’d brought down with him.
“If you guys are all set, I’m going to pop into the cookie shop and bake up a few batches of those strawberry crunch cookies everyone has been going gaga over.”
“Don’t forget the grocery list, and please double the number of lemons on it. I’ve been squeezing some into my ice water at night, and with the exception of this morning, it has really been helping.”
“In this case, triple them,” Leo said. “I’ve been getting water when I get up to pee, which I know is a surefire way to ensure I’ll have to get up and pee again, but I’m going to try adding a bit of lemon juice to mine to see how it works out for me.”
“One case of lemons it is,” Briar said, leaning over to kiss us both and running his hands over our bellies. “You guys behave in there, or your daddies are never going to let me put a claw or anything else anywhere near them again.”
Leo snorted, while I just giggled and tugged Briar into another kiss. “Since we’ll be getting so many lemons, do you think you can whip up a batch of lemon pancakes when you get home tonight?”
“Would you like strawberry-lemon syrup with that?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Double yes please with sausage crumbles on top,” Leo said.
My nose immediately wrinkled at the thought of sausage crumbles, and Briar noticed too.
“Okay, one sausage crumble covered pancake stack kept as far away from Maverick’s as humanly possible,” he murmured with a bit of a chuckle.
“I’ll eat on the couch,” I offered.
So far, beef had been the only non-seafood meat that held any appeal for me, and I did not see that changing anytime soon.
“Is there anything else you’d like me to grab?” Briar asked.
“Grape juice, pineapple juice, and apple juice,” I said. “I forgot to put them on the list.”
Turned out the list was already in his pocket, so he pulled it and a pen from his pocket and started making adjustments.
“Can you add orange and cranberry to the juice list?” Leo asked, “And blackberries too, please.”
“Consider it done,” Briar said as he jotted them down. “Alright, going once, going twice. If there’s nothing else to add, I’ll be going now, but you know you can text me if anything else comes to mind.”
“While you’re down at the shop, can you make a test batch of the watermelon meltaways and bring some home for Leo and me to taste test?” I asked. “You can have Taylor dress in the macaroon costume and distribute the rest with scorecards so I can get an idea of any adjustments I still need to make?”
“Sure can,” Briar said. “Where did you leave the recipe?”
“On the door of cooler #3,” I said. “With a note that says that the recipe makes six dozen, so you’ll want to halve that for the test batch.”
“Good call,” Briar said.
The whole time we’d been talking, his hand had been splayed over my belly, his palm warm where it was pressed against my skin. The faintest flutter almost made me giggle, until I realized it wasn’t him tickling me. It was one of the little ones.
“What’s wrong?” Briar asked, a note of concern in his voice. “Your eyes just got really wide. Do you feel okay? I can stay here for the rest of the day if you really need me too.”
“No, I-I’m okay. I just, I think I felt one of the babies move.”
“Dr. Ridley said it should start happening soon.”
“That was on Tuesday,” I reminded him.
“I guess when she says soon, she means really, really soon,” he replied, chuckling when I narrowed my eyes at him.
He just ignored the glaring daggers I shot his way and pulled the list back out of his pocket and carefully jotted something down.
“What did we forget to add?” I asked.
“Nothing, I was just making note of the date and time of their first flutter so we can add it to their baby books,” he explained, damn near melting my heart in the process.
“The first flutter,” Leo said, having to squirm a bit to wiggle into a good position to kiss my belly. “Sounds almost like poetry. I’d try to write one for you, but stringing words together has never been my strong suit. I can’t wait to take dozens of pictures of you though.”
“Like you’ll stop at dozens,” I said, sitting up fully so I could reach the food on the coffee table. “You took over a hundred and fifty photos of us playing in the snow. When those little ones come, you’re gonna shoot for a record number of photos, I just know it.”
“Guilty,” he said, getting one last kiss from Briar before he stood and headed for the door. “The first year, especially. I don’t want to miss a single milestone.”
“I still can’t believe we’re both having twins,” I said. “I thought it was going to be my turn to faint when she made that announcement.”
“Yet somehow you’ve managed to be the only one of us to not be stunned into a rushed meeting with the floor,” he replied.
I winked at him before digging into my food. “Just lucky, I guess.”
I’d only eaten a couple of bites when my thoughts circled back around to the whole double set of twins bit. Talk about kicking parenthood off with a bang.
“I’ve been thinking about the discussion we had the other night,” Leo said, “about the nursery?”
At least I wasn’t the only one whose head was stuffed full of all the things we needed to accomplish between now and delivery day. “Have you come up with any ideas for arranging it, ‘cause I sure haven’t.”
“I think so,” Leo replied between bites.
“What do you think about removing the doors between the two bedrooms across the hall from our room that open into the walk-in closet and making one room where they sleep and the other a play space? We can still use the walk-in for their clothes and shoes and bedding, but there is plenty of space in the room across from ours for two double cribs, since I really like that idea better than separating them into four singles.”
“I love it,” I said. “Two double cribs would still leave plenty of room for a changing table, two dressers, and a pair of rocking chairs. Plus, we can turn the extra bedroom next to ours into a guest bedroom for when your dads come to visit. Something tells me they’ll be up as often as possible, not that I can blame them, these being their first grandchildren and all. ”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they talk to your mom about finding them a place up here,” Leo said.
“I heard my dad talking to your Uncle Bastian about them looking for instructors at the fire academy. I think he’s finally ready to move from eating smoke to teaching others how to combat the flames and get out safely.
He’s more than done his time in the line of danger. ”
“When they’re ready to make that jump to living up here, I’m sure she’ll find the perfect place for them,” I said.
“The kids will love getting to have sleepovers at all of their grandparents’ houses, which will give us some much-needed time alone.
Though our alpha kitty is gonna have to learn to wrap it before he taps it, at least for a while. ”
Sputtering, he snorted tea and pressed a napkin to his face, eyes alight with merriment as he laughed behind it.
“He better be thankful we’re not requesting the ‘ol snip-snip after this,” Leo said once he’d gotten his laughter back under control again. “Our mate clearly doesn’t shoot blanks.”
Now it was my turn to laugh, picturing Briar the way he’d been bent over us, roaring every time he came. “Great, now all I can imagine are roars of triumph and subtitles reading, ‘A baby for you and a baby for you. Oh, what the hell, let’s make it a double shot of baby batter for both of you.’”
I’d heard Leo laugh plenty of times since the day we’d met, but never once had I heard him cackle the way he did as he threw his head back and laughed up at the ceiling.
“Dude… I can’t believe you… You just called it… and we…he’s making pancakes tonight… Now I can’t… I’m never going to be able to….”
I couldn’t unthink it now, nor could either of us stop laughing.
It was certainly better than being curled up on the bathroom floor.
In a few short months, I knew it would be more than worth it when we got to hold our babies in our arms. Though if we did wind up with morning sickness every day for the rest of these pregnancies, that whole snip-snip idea Leo had mentioned might just become a reality before I’d let that potent fucking alpha of ours mount me again, ‘cause damn, what if next time he shot for three?