Chapter 23 #2
The booths sold mostly paintings and decorative objects, though some also had jewelry. Reese bought a copper lamp with an oriental motif. Kimberly chose the painting of a snow-white owl.
“Lena loves owls,” she said with satisfaction after the sales associate finished wrapping the painting.
I discovered a booth that sold the most adorable prints for a baby’s room, but I was determined not to start shopping already.
Focus, Bonnie. You came here to find a present for Lena.
I particularly liked a carving out of sandalwood in the shape of a half-moon, so after Kimberly got her painting, we headed to the booth that sold it.
I asked if I could take a closer look and immediately fell in love with the scent.
I’d had fragrances with sandalwood before, but they’d always been mixed with other notes.
The wood had a subtle aroma, and I liked that best.
“Do you think Lena would like this?” I asked.
“She’s got a meditation and workout room. She hates going to group classes, so she mostly watches online yoga and Pilates and does her workouts at home. I think this would fit there perfectly,” Reese said.
“Then I found my present.”
Reese sighed. “Anyone else smell waffles in the air?”
“Oh yeah. I’ve smelled them since we arrived, but I didn’t see where they’re selling them.”
"There," Kimberly said, pointing at the tiniest booth by far. It was wedged between two much bigger ones, and there was no name tag or anything. If it wasn’t for the delicious smell, you could completely overlook it.
"Is your present already wrapped?” Kimberly asked me, eyes fixed on the waffle booth.
“Almost.”
“I can’t wait. I’ll go into a sugar coma for sure, but it’ll be worth it,” Kimberly said.
“Can it count as dinner?” Reese asked.
“Hell yes,” I exclaimed as I paid for the present and grabbed the bag.
“We’re ready for sugar?” Kimberly asked.
I almost laughed. She sounded so eager to get shopping over with.
Just then, Travis called me.
"Hey," I said, putting the phone to my ear. “Are you on your way?”
"I'm already at the fair, and I've got surprises for the three of you."
I perked up.
"He's got a surprise for us," I mouthed to the girls, then went back to my conversation. "We’re heading to the booth that serves waffles. It’s next to the one selling giant paintings… or just follow the smell.”
“I’m standing right in front of it,” Travis said, sounding pleased with himself.
"Oh, he's here at the booth," I said. "We'll be right there."
My heart somersaulted in my chest when I laid eyes on him. My God, the man was simply gorgeous. His hair was mussed up as usual, and his shirt was buttoned up all the way. He was wearing cuff links, and he was holding three plates with waffles.
Well, hot damn, his hotness score just skyrocketed. I played with the pendant at my neck—it was the one he’d bought me in Oceanwell Bay.
"And that is why we love Travis," Kimberly said.
"You have a good influence on our cousin," Reese told me as we walked toward him.
"Oh, how so?"
"I think he's starting to embrace his family-man side more. He's very serious about the hotel and building a worldwide legacy."
"Worldwide?" Kimberly asked. She seemed surprised. "No, wait." She narrowed her eyes. She looked overly suspicious.
Reese winked at her. "You didn't hear it from me."
Kimberly blinked, jerking her head back. Now she was probably even more suspicious.
To my astonishment, she didn’t press for more information. Instead, she focused on Travis.
"Come on, you have to tell me. How do you remember our favorite toppings?" Kimberly asked.
"Easy. You completely terrorized me when I was a kid if I brought you the wrong one. They're branded on my brain now."
Reese smiled sheepishly. "My God, we did, didn't we?"
Her waffle had strawberries, something that looked like Nutella or possibly peanut butter, as well as chopped mango.
Kimberly's had drizzled honey or maple syrup and an assortment of fruits.
I knew without tasting mine that it had peanut butter, coconut flakes, and something that I was sure was chopped pineapple. I grinned, taking my plate.
"None for you?" I asked Travis.
"Nah. I wanted to spoil my ladies." He looked at the bag hanging on my wrist. "You're done shopping already?"
I nodded proudly. "Yes, we are."
"So you're just in time to spend a romantic evening with your girl," Reese said.
"Unless you're going back to your hotel empire that you plan to expand internationally?" Kimberly asked.
Reese sighed, and Travis stared at her before bringing his eyes back to Kimberly. Apparently the cat was out of the bag now.
"I'm determined to shed that workaholic image. I'm not sure why you still harp on about that," Travis said as a nonanswer.
"Maybe because we haven't seen you in a year."
"That is a gross exaggeration," he said.
"Well, not for me," Kimberly replied. "You never showed up in Paris."
"Kimberly." Travis sighed. "Traveling overseas is time-consuming, and I couldn't afford to be jet-lagged for days once I get back."
"I do it all the time, and I don't mind," Kimberly said.
"So you're not thinking about moving back any time soon?" Travis asked.
The corner of Kimberly's mouth twitched up. "It depends."
That seemed to catch his interest. His eyes were fixed on his cousin. He put an arm around my back, absent-mindedly drumming his fingers on the side of my belly. Even though the baby was far too small for me to feel him or her moving, I felt it in my bones that they enjoyed the touch.
"Can you expand on that?"
"Why?" Kimberly asked between waffle bites.
"I'm just interested. We all like having the whole flock together."
"Well, I'm not sure yet," she said. "I'm sort of done with Paris in the sense that I don't want it to be my home base anymore. But I was thinking about maybe spending some time in London."
She looked at Reese. "You can come visit. You said your contract generously allows that. Who knows? Maybe you'll find another Englishman."
"Oh no," Reese said, "I'm so done with Englishmen. They make you fall hard with their cute, sexy accent, and then they show their true colors. Let’s change topics, please.”
“Tell me about the party,” I said. “Where will it be? And how big?”
“It’s family only. And for some reason, Mom wanted to host it at Tate’s house,” Travis said.
“Yeah, I wondered about that,” Kimberly said, glancing at her plate regretfully. She’d finished her waffle.
Reese finished hers a few seconds later, then kissed Travis on the cheek. “Did I tell you I love you lately?”
“You mean since you started at the office? Not at all. I’m surprised you remember we’re related.”
“Hey, the best way for me to be professional at the office is to be overtly affectionate out of it,” Reese said.
“By the way, Marjorie thinks you’re mad at her. You used to be friendly with her.”
Reese’s face fell. “Crap. Now she’ll think I’m a bitch. I have to rethink my strategy. I’ll talk to her.”
“Please do. She’s a wonderful person, and we don’t want her to go back into retirement, trust me.”
Travis was a great boss. From the few things he'd told me, I knew he was good to his employees.
Reese nodded, then glanced at Kimberly. “Ready to go?”
“Hell yes. Let’s get our movie night going and leave the lovebirds alone. It was great meeting you, Bonnie.”
I smiled. “And you. Thanks for helping me pick a present.”
They both kissed my cheek before leaving.
Once they were gone, Travis moved his arm from my back to my shoulders. “What do you want to do?”
I shrugged. “Want to look around?”
“I saw you glancing to your right a couple times. Something caught your eye?”
“A booth that sells prints for baby rooms.”
“Let’s go look.”
"We said we were going to wait until we know what it is before picking things out," I murmured.
"There's no harm in looking now. Come on, I know you want to."
I smiled sheepishly. "Something is happening to my brain," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"It's like for a couple days, all I've been thinking about is baby, baby, baby."
"Then let's go find something for the baby."
Arm firmly around my shoulders, he led me to the booth in question.
I loved feeling him all around me, protective and possessive at the same time. Every time we walked near a puddle, he gently steered me away from it, like he was afraid I might exert myself too much if I had to stretch my legs to step over it.
I knew for certain, right here and right now, that Travis was in my heart to stay. I only hoped that I was going to be in his as well.
The booth with kids' items was honestly the most adorable thing I'd seen. They had prints depicting all sorts of things, such as a child on the moon scene. One of my favorites was the kid on a broomstick.
"God, I hope he or she is a Harry Potter fan. I need someone else to obsess over it."
He chuckled. "We can start by buying that painting. I'm sure with your grooming, it'll be impossible for him or her to not be a fan.”
I felt myself blush. “I'm going to buy the baby a broom as well.”
His eyes bulged. "What?"
"Small ones that babies can grip. Well, toddlers. I researched them online. They're made specifically to develop their squeezing reflexes." My hormonal brain was unleashed. "Maybe it's too wild."
"It's not. Look at your smile. You can wallpaper a whole room with Harry Potter stuff if you want to."
I perked up. "Please don't say that twice. I might take you up on it."
Travis kissed my forehead. "Whatever makes you happy makes me happy too."
I leaned into him, soaking in all that masculine energy he exuded.
"I also like the one with the kid on the moon. It kind of makes you dream big, doesn't it?"
"Most definitely," he said.
My hands were shaking a bit when he told the sales associate to bring us both paintings.
"Why are you shaking, babe? Are you cold?" he asked.
"No. No reason."
Honestly, I was a bit emotional because these were the first things we'd bought for our baby. It felt real and at the same time surreal. This was happening. My baby would be spoiled from the day he or she was born. Actually, from before that too. It was more than I could've dreamed of.
"You sure you don't want anything else? Look around you."
"Well, since we do have two paintings, we could buy a third one. A trifecta."
"Do you want something for yourself?"
"I haven't found anything yet, but what about that?
" I pointed to another picture. It was next to one depicting a small child dressed as a doctor, but I thought that was too on the nose.
Besides, it had a syringe, which I thought was sort of scary for a child.
It definitely scared me. The one I was pointing at had a hammock hanging between two thick trees in a forest, and a teddy bear was wearing a hat and sunglasses. It was relaxing.
"Definitely looks good," Travis said.
I could tell from his voice that he was simply agreeing with me. He wanted to make me happy. That was it. My heart felt like it was filling my entire rib cage.
"We'll take those three," he said, paying quickly.
As soon as the sales associate handed them over, he put an arm around my back again, as if he was afraid to let go of me. My baby and I were in great hands, and I couldn't be happier.
A tiny voice in my mind warned me not to get used to this, to the warmth and comfort of a family, to the love of a man.
These things never lasted for me. But deep down I hoped that even if things between Travis and me went sour at some point, he'd still be here for the baby, and so would his family.
It would crush me to know that I wasn't part of his family, and even worse if he eventually married someone else, but at least my baby would be loved.
Oh dear, my eyes were misty. I tried to surreptitiously wipe them as we arrived at his car, but Travis caught on.
"Babe, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick?" he asked, looking from my right eye to my left one, then back to the right one.
I shook my head.
"You're crying." He sounded alarmed and completely shocked.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure why."
"What do you mean, you're not sure why?"
"My brain started on a very weird downward spiral, and it's not stopping. I'm not sure what to do."
“What spiral?”
I shook my head vehemently. No way in hell was I telling him what was on my mind. "I think my hormones are totally haywire. Dr. Taylor did say it might happen eventually."
"What can I do?" Travis asked. "Anything, just tell me."
"Why do you keep saying that? One of these days, I'm going to ask for something outrageous, I just know it. My brain is cooking up something."
"And I'll be right here to fulfill it."
"I'm starting to believe you."
"You’d better," he growled.
"But for today, I want something simple."
"Name it."
"I just want us to relax and look at cribs." I gasped. "Holy shit, my brain just switched into full-on shopping mode. Please stop it.”
He chuckled. “Nah, I’m your enabler, babe.”