Chapter Thirty-Six
EMERSON SAT AT the desk finishing a chapter she was editing in the villa they’d rented on Gili Trawangan, the small Indonesian island where Baz was volunteering at the cat clinic.
The villa wasn’t fancy, the area was hot and humid and it rained often, and Baz came home smelling like cats most of the time.
But she wouldn’t care if they’d stayed in a tent and he smelled like that all the time, because the last few months had been the best of her life.
They’d celebrated their first Christmas together last week, and they’d had a wonderfully relaxing day and a steamy, sensual night.
They’d decorated the villa and had made a big deal for Brennan, even though he’d probably never remember the way they’d sung to him and he’d tried to join in.
But it was a day she and Baz would never forget.
The only downside to being so far away was that they missed everyone and Ollie, like crazy.
But they kept in touch with texts, phone calls, and video chats.
Sid and Gunner were taking care of Ollie, and when they video chatted with them, they got to see all the dogs, which Brennan loved as much as they did.
Emerson had even been able to keep up with the book club using the online forum, and she’d almost gotten Gwen to join.
But now that Gwen’s parents were trying to take a more active part in her life, Gwen didn’t have much downtime for reading.
The kitchen timer went off, drawing Emerson from her thoughts.
She saved her document and went to take the cookies she’d made out of the oven.
It was Sunday, and Baz had been called into the clinic for an emergency.
Tomorrow was New Year’s, and he’d have the day off, so she made putri salju, an Indonesian crescent-shaped vanilla cookie, also known as the snow princess cookie for the powdered sugar topping that resembled snow.
She’d been trying a lot of new recipes lately and looked forward to making them for everyone back home.
Baz’s kitchen had been approved for a permit, and she was excited to get her business up and running.
She set the cookies on the cooling trays, and as she headed back to the living room, she heard Brennan waking from his nap.
She glanced at the monitor and saw him pushing to a sitting position in his crib.
It was hard to believe he was six and a half months old.
He was changing so fast, sleeping almost through the night, nursing less often, wanting to eat everything they did, and mimicking sounds and voice inflections.
She headed into the bedroom, and Brennan reached for her.
“ Mamamama. ”
The thrill of hearing that, and hearing him call Baz Dadadada , was beyond anything she thought possible.
“How was your nap, Little B?”
She picked him up, earning the sweetest grin.
He had two tiny bottom teeth, and he had more hair now, too.
It still stood straight up in the middle and was cuter than ever.
As she carried him out of the bedroom, Baz came through the front door, strikingly handsome with his sun-kissed skin, scruffy jaw, and baring the dimples that still gave her butterflies.
He was enjoying his work at the clinic, and since he rarely was needed for the whole day, they had a lot of family time, which they all loved.
There were no cars on the island, so they walked everywhere.
Brennan loved his stroller rides, and with white sand beaches and clear blue water, when it wasn’t raining, there was no shortage of beautiful views.
“There you are,”
Baz said, opening his arms like he was saying it to both of them, which she knew he was.
He was always as happy to see them as they were to see him.
Even on stressful days, when he walked through the door or they met him in town, he lit up like he’d been waiting hours for that very moment.
But even though they were madly in love, they had their ups and downs.
Emerson got behind on deadlines, Baz had stressful situations with animals, and Brennan was a great baby, but babies made life busy and sometimes a little overwhelming.
They’d gotten good at reading each other’s moods and talking things through.
If there was anything too heavy to discuss, they usually waited until Brennan was in bed, which worked well for them. It gave them time to decompress and to fill up on the joys of family time, which helped put their stresses into perspective.
Brennan reached for Baz with grabby hands. “Dadadadadada.”
“Hey, little man. I missed you.” Baz wrapped his arms around both of them and kissed the top of Brennan’s head. Then he kissed Emerson’s lips. “Smells good in here. How’s my girl? How’d your editing go?”
“Great. I’m really enjoying the story.”
“That’s always a plus. Did you edit any steamy scenes we should act out?” He waggled his brows.
They’d had fun acting out some of the more erotic scenes she’d edited. Of course, her wicked dirty man could rewrite them all and make them hotter. “Nothing we haven’t done better.”
“Good answer.” He took Brennan from her and kissed his cheek. “Were you a good boy for Mama today?”
Brennan looked at her. “Mamamamamama.”
“We had a great day, and he has a new trick to show you.” It had taken every ounce of her willpower not to spill the beans and text him earlier.
Baz lifted Brennan up in the air, making him giggle. “What kind of trick do you have for me? Did your mama teach you to edit or bake?”
“Something like that.” She laid a blanket on the floor and reached for Brennan. As Baz handed him to her, she said, “Stay there.”
She went to the other side of the blanket and put Brennan down on his belly. He pushed up on his hands and knees and rocked. He’d been working hard on crawling the last two weeks.
“No way! Did he crawl?” He dropped to his hands and knees in front of Brennan. “Crawl to Daddy, B. Come to Daddy.”
That was all the incentive their little guy needed. “ Dadadadada. ”
The love Baz had for Brennan, and the joy he took in being his daddy, were just two of the things he did that made her fall even more in love with him every day. She pulled out her phone, ready to capture the first time their little boy crawled to his daddy.
Brennan crawled toward Baz, and Baz’s eyes shimmered with delight. “That’s my boy! Look, Em. He’s crawling! Are you getting this?”
“Every second of it.” And she hoped her parents and Ashley were seeing it, too.
He crawled all the way to Baz, and Baz scooped him up, smothering him with kisses. “You are the smartest boy! I love you so much.” He hugged him. “We have to babyproof everything! I’ll call my mom and have her go over and fix our place up before we get home.”
Brennan clapped a hand on Baz’s cheek. “Dadadadadada.”
“That’s right, B. I’m your daddy, and I’m damn proud of it.” He nuzzled Brennan’s neck.
She couldn’t stop her smile as she revealed her second surprise. “Do you think you could be proud of two little ones calling you Daddy?”
“Two…?” Understanding rose in his eyes. “Are you…? Are we pregnant?” The excitement in his voice matched the excitement in her heart.
“Mm-hm.” They’d been careful most of the time. But they’d gotten carried away a few times and had forgotten to use protection.
His dimples deepened. “We’re having a baby?”
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh, tearing up. “I think I’m about seven weeks along.”
Now he was tearing up, too. “Hear that, Little B? You’re going to be a big brother.” He swept her into his arms and pressed his smiling lips to hers. “Are you feeling okay? You haven’t been sick or anything, have you? Should we see a doctor?”
“I haven’t felt sick at all, but I missed my period, so I took a test, and then I took another, and another. They were all positive, so I visited the medical clinic for a blood test, and it was positive, too. I already made an appointment with a doctor back home.”
“And you’re happy, right?” he asked urgently. “I’m not misreading you, am I?”
“I’m elated.” She was so happy, she had a hard time believing she was the same person who hadn’t even had family on her radar when she’d gotten pregnant with Brennan, and she knew that had everything to do with Baz. “I know the timing isn’t optimal, but…”
“But nothing. I love you and you love me. The timing is perfect. Just like we are.” He kissed her again. “You know what this means?”
“Double the diaper bills?”
He laughed. “We get to make love without anything between us for months on end.”
“That’s how we got into this position, Dr. Wicked.” She went up on her toes and kissed him. “I’m glad you’re happy, too.”
“Happy doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. This is the best New Year’s Eve present ever.”
His cell phone rang, and she took Brennan so he could answer it.
He put his phone to his ear. “Hey, Dad, guess what!” His smile faded, and the blood drained from his face. “Is he going to be okay?”
Panic flared in her chest.
“Uh-huh…Okay…Love you.” He ended the call, staring absently straight ahead, his face sheet white.
“What’s wrong?”
“Zander’s been in an accident.”
Her stomach pitched. “Is he okay?”
“They don’t know anything yet. He’s on his way to the hospital. We need to get home.”
She put her arm around him, wanting to say Zander would be okay, but she knew better than to make a promise she had no control over, so as he wrapped her and Brennan in his arms, she said, “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.”