Chapter 13
Victoria
Blaze cradles me in his arms like I’m the most precious being alive as he carries me downstairs. It’s midafternoon, but I hear voices. Lots of them. Women.
Soon, he steps into a huge room that takes my breath away.
It has to be a library. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the walls.
The center has comfortable sitting areas.
It’s the most inviting room I’ve ever been in.
It’s also clearly filled with antiques—both the furniture and, I suspect, the books.
I recognize Claire and Arianna, the two women who have brought food to my room, but three other women are with them. A hush fills the room as they spot us before rushing over. Then I recognize another familiar face—Reagan. She was with Blaze when he rescued me.
Blaze growls. “You all are like vultures. Back up. Let me set Victoria on the sofa.”
My mind is spinning. It occurs to me that in four years of college, I never really had a posse. I had girls I roomed with. Sometimes we went out together or studied as a group, but I was always slightly removed from them, like I didn’t quite fit in.
I don’t know how to describe what I’m feeling now, but there’s a strange sense of belonging. I don’t even know these women. I’ve only met three of them briefly, and yet I sense the welcome in their expressions and demeanors.
Blaze gently settles me on one of the sofas, propping my leg up on a pillow. The pillow itself makes me cringe. It’s probably more than seventy years old. These people really do not value the museum they are living in.
He cups my chin before lifting his face, holding my gaze with his always intense one. “I need to make a few calls. Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” I reach up and stroke his cheek because I know he likes it when I touch him. It calms him. Just like it calms me when he touches me.
He rises and turns toward the women who are crowding around me. “Don’t make me regret this,” he barks.
I nearly giggle as they all roll their eyes. Somehow, I’m certain every one of them has a similarly intense relationship with their husbands.
Blaze looks back at me before leaving the room.
And then I’m surrounded by the swarm of women who pull a low table up close. Three of them sit on it, two drag armchairs closer.
“It’s so good to meet you. I’m Melody.” This comes from a cute woman with strawberry-blond hair.
“And I’m Emilia,” says a woman with near-black, pin-straight hair.
“Ah, you’re one of Blaze’s cousins.”
She nods. “Yep. My husband is Haden. Are you coming to dinner? You’ll meet all the men then.”
I nod. “I guess, I’m not sure. But it sounds nice. Depends on if…” My voice trails off. I’m not sure how to finish that statement. Whatever I was going to say sounds ridiculous in my head.
They all giggle.
Claire rolls her eyes. “Depends on if Blaze lets you come to the dining room, right?”
I chuckle. “Yes. That’s what I was going to say. It sounded absurd in my mind.”
Arianna nods. “Trust me. We all get that. The men in this family are bossy as fuck. Overbearing. Controlling. Demanding. But total cinnamon rolls.”
I can’t keep from grinning. I fully agree with her assessment. I look around the room to give me a moment to pull my emotions together. “Sheesh, this library is impressive. These books are very old.”
Arianna groans. “It’s a masterpiece. We’re slowly cataloging everything. It hasn’t ever been done. Or, at least, we can’t find a record of it.”
Emilia lifts a finger. “Not to say it doesn’t exist. We could suddenly find such a thing five years from now, and that’s if we kept looking every day between now and then.”
“I can’t believe how large this place is.” I push to sit taller. I’d give anything to be set free to roam this mansion and investigate.
Claire nods. “And it’s filled with the most bizarre, eccentric knick-knacks.
It’s hard to know for sure who purchased all the strange antiques.
The only person who knows anything is Gretchen.
She’s been here for fifty years. She says she believes a lot of this mansion was already in this state when she was hired.
It’s possible Amos’s wife, Carolyn, had a passion for shopping before she died, but it’s also possible a lot of this stuff was already here from previous occupiers. ”
I rub my hands together. “I’m kind of a dork about antiques.”
“Then you’re going to love it here,” Emilia declares.
I glance at the entrance to the room. I doubt Blaze can hear me unless he’s hovering outside the door. “I only met him yesterday.”
They all laugh.
Reagan giggles so hard she holds her stomach.
“Yep. I was there when you met him. It was about an hour after I gave Blaze a lecture about keeping his eyes peeled. I had a feeling he was going to meet his soulmate soon. I even suggested she would be on the hike I was leading, but all those women were nearly twice his age.”
I wince. “He’s twice my age.”
Melody waves a hand through the air. “What’s twenty years plus or minus nowadays?”
Arianna leans forward. “A twenty-one-year-old woman with a forty-one-year-old man isn’t the same as a forty-one-year-old man with an eighty-year-old woman.” She giggles.
“True.” I chew on my bottom lip for a second. “It’s still weird. You all seem convinced that I’m moving in for good. I do have a job interview lined up in Phoenix.”
Emilia nods. “I had graduate school lined up. My degree is in early childhood education. In nine months, this entire mansion will be a nursery. I’ll be using my degree hands-on every day.”
Melody speaks next. “Brody said your degree is in art history. Wherever you were planning to interview, surely this place is more fascinating.”
“That’s a fact,” I agree. I rest against the cushions, trying to relax. It’s difficult. My mind is racing. I can’t wrap my head around this turn of events, nor can I believe this is possible. “And all of you are pregnant?”
Under normal circumstances, I would never ask that, but Claire told me they all are. I assume I’m not being rude. No one is showing yet.
Claire nods and pats her stomach. “I will tell you definitively that these Wilde men are fertile and not messing around. I guess it’s contagious. They might arrive with a brow lifted, but then they get the bug and decide they want to have babies, too.”
“It’s a lot of pressure,” I point out. “What if someone can’t get pregnant easily or never does or doesn’t even want children?” I’m musing out loud.
Emilia shrugs. “I doubt it would matter. This house is going to be filled with children. We’re like a strange commune. There will be plenty of babies to hold and share. Plus, most of the fun is in trying.”
She has a point. Surely some of these newlywed women have lost interest in having sex since they’ve got to be hovering over the toilet part of every day. That aspect freaks me out. And why am I even contemplating such a thing?
I. Met. Blaze. Yesterday.
“I’ve never actually been around kids or known anyone pregnant,” I admit. “Don’t you get, like, morning sickness?”
Claire groans. “Morning? Ha. More like all day for me. I’m hoping it will slow down now that I’m not in the first trimester. Kinsley says it’s possible, but some people suffer from nausea for the entire nine months.” She cringes.
“You met Kinsley yesterday, right?” Arianna asks.
I nod. “She was very nice. Do all of you go to her?”
“Yes. She’s the only doctor in town,” Emilia responds. “None of us has decided whether we want to actually deliver here at the mansion or go to a hospital in the city.”
“Did you meet Isabel?” Melody asks.
“No.” I glance around. I’m pretty sure these five women are the only wives living here. Am I missing someone?
Melody continues, “She recently started working with Gretchen. We keep adding more staff. Before she came here, she was a nanny in the city. She loves kids. We’ve been talking to her about getting certification as a doula.
There are a few midwives in town, but if Isabel got certified as a doula, and if she moved into the mansion… ”
I cringe. “Don’t you worry about complications?” Hell, I’m kind of panicked about the idea of being pregnant at all, let alone a home birth. Yikes.
Claire shrugs. “If there’s any doubt, we can get to a hospital in under thirty minutes.
I haven’t committed to giving birth in the mansion.
I don’t think any of us have made that decision.
But we’re exploring our options because, chances are, at some point, one of us will, whether we intended to or not. ”
This time, I wince. She’s right. That’s fucking scary. As I look at them all, I feel serious doubt seeping in. I’m not sure I want Blaze’s penis anywhere near my vagina, so it’s good that he doesn’t intend to do so before we’re married.
Married? I’m certifiable for even thinking such a thing.
Married…
I’m twenty-one. People don’t get married at twenty-one unless they’re knocked up. Ha. I’m certainly not pregnant. If I’m going to stay here for even a week, maybe I should call Kinsley and ask her to put me on birth control.
Blaze suddenly returns, his brow furrowed. “Sorry,” he says, his attention on everyone but me. “I need a minute with Victoria.”
As all five women stand and hurry from the room, I stiffen. The last one shuts the door.
Something about his demeanor has me nervous.