Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Michael
As I was setting the table, the bedroom door opened. I put the plates down and hugged Britney. She was cute, wearing my T-shirt. She held me tightly, and my heart thumped.
As she let me go, I said, “So your friends are all joining us for breakfast.”
“Seriously?” she asked, backing up.
I nodded, and she headed back into the bedroom. She’d grabbed a long-sleeved scoop-neck maxi dress that seemed to be pinned to one side around her knee.
As she changed, I told her, “I’m not sure your friends believed me that you were here, at least from my reading of the various texts back and forth in the group chat they added me to this morning.”
She laughed and put some makeup on, transforming herself into the earthly goddess she was. “Charlie and Kir are the only men in that group chat. It means you’re accepted.”
Since I knew she loved me, her friends were more than welcome to add me.
“So Jeff and the others aren’t?” I asked.
She finished with her foundation. “Can I ask you if Xerses is interested in Kelly at all?”
I grabbed a pair of dark-brown pants as she was wearing a black top with a caramel-colored bottom skirt of the dress. “I thought so, but she’s not his usual type.”
She stopped dressing to ask, “What’s his usual?”
I froze and grabbed a black long-sleeved cotton/cashmere T-shirt and held my tongue. When I saw she was staring at me, I said, “It’s not my place.”
She crossed her arms and said, “Don’t lead with that and not deliver, Michael.”
I walked over and took her hands, needing to trust her. “Only if you promise to keep it to yourself and not share.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I will unless it puts my friends in danger.”
“Fair enough,” I said since trust had to go both ways. “Xerses usually goes for women who will trade sex for whatever he can buy them.”
She nodded and shrugged. “And he can buy a lot.”
I took a deep breath as she was calm about the whole thing as I said, “Your friend Kelly doesn’t strike me as the kind who…” I pressed my lips closed as talking was getting me in trouble.
She finished with her eye makeup and asked, “Who what?”
I needed to attend to my dishes and avoid her gaze. “Who submits, darling.”
“Submit? You seriously just said that?” she asked, following me out. “But he’s a joker. It’s hard to picture he’s into extremes like that.”
I nodded and left the bedroom. “Getting a woman to do whatever he wanted to see is a power trip he’s always enjoyed. Otherwise, he’s great. None of the other Norouzis are like that.”
She set the silverware as I finished with the plates. “Got it. I’ll work on finding her a guy that appreciates how great she is.”
That was her plan from earlier, before either of us knew what had happened to her.
I nodded. “Good.”
We finished with the table and headed to the kitchen to bring in trays.
“And as for your sister?” she asked.
She took the pastries while I took the eggs, keeping them far from my wife. “What about her?”
She asked, “Did you get her out of that contract?”
As we headed back to get the rest of the food, I shook my head. “It’s complicated.”
She took the rest of the carbs as I grabbed the breakfast meats. “Oh no.”
Bernadette had her own issues, and the law wasn’t on her side.
“It seems they willingly consummated the marriage years ago, so it’s more than a betrothal,” I explained.
“And then he left? Sounds like abandonment.”
It was cute how she was now defending my sister, who absolutely didn’t deserve it. I shrugged. “The barristers are arguing, but I assumed you didn’t want her to be happy at all once the gossip came out about us.”
She pressed her hands on her belly and said, “I just want our child to be happy.”
My heart lifted, and I kissed her.
The rest of the world stopped mattering when I was in her arms. All that mattered was us.
We stopped for air, and a doorman buzzed for permission.
I gave it then offered my arm. “Let’s get the door.”
She laughed and walked with me. We opened the door for our guests and hugged everyone.
Near the back, Kelly was all smiles as she hugged Britney and said, “So you told him.”
As I closed the door, Britney told everyone, “Yes, Michael knows I’m still pregnant, and everything is better than fine.”
As we headed to the table in a group, Isabel said, “You both look happy.”
“We are,” we said at the same time, and I held a chair for Britney to sit.
Hope reached out as she said, “Oh good. Michael made those waffles of his.”
Britney asked, “Waffles?”
Hope added butter and nodded. “When he was the butler, he’d have these on the table every Saturday.”
I reached into my pocket and handed her the restaurant’s business card. “Here.”
She looked at it. “What’s this?”
I folded my hands on the table. “The restaurant where they come from.”
Her eyes were wide. “You ordered?”
Heat rose to my face. Admitting to lying sucked. I quickly added, “I make all the food for Britney that she wants from me.”
Britney lifted her chin and said, “Lemon water, darling.”
“On it.” I jumped up to get the hot-water carafe that she now gulped instead of coffee.
Miley, the lawyer and quietest of her friends, asked, “So you’re happily married now for real?”
Britney hugged my side and said, “Yes, and it’s good.”
She cut her food and smiled. “I’m happy for you.”
With his deep dark-brown eyes and black hair that had women swooning, Xerses added, “Britney brings out a good side to you.”
Since I understood Britney mothered her friends some, I asked him, “Why do you avoid women that might be good for you?”
Kelly’s face brightened, and she lowered her head.
Xerses stilled and said, “I don’t have time for romance in my life.” He glanced at Kelly, who was counting threads in the rug to avoid me.
Britney folded her hands. “Yet you can’t keep your eyes off our realtor.”
Xerses sat back and said, “We’re not talking about me. We’re toasting the happy couple.”
“No toasting,” Britney said quickly.
Charlie jumped up to help. “Orange juice and sparkling mineral water for you.”
Xerses poured the mimosas for the others.
I stood to help serve and said, “One day, I’m going to pay you all back for your kindness.”
“We consider you family, Michael,” Kir said. “And family sticks together.”
Exactly. I had Britney as the stable one in our family of two, and we could handle anything together. I returned with her mineral water and orange juice.
She took my hand and asked, “Michael?”
I moved her hair to her side. “Yes, darling?”
She smiled at me. “I never want us to leave our urban family for long. I’d miss everyone here.”
I took a seat beside her and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, darling. We’re here for a while still as I spoke to my father’s doctors and found specialists in America to send him to. I’m not giving up hope entirely.”
“That sounds like you.” She made her plate. “If you’re staying in that amazing apartment, then we’ll need a baby gate for that pool area when our little one starts crawling.”
“Of course,” I said, hoping our future duke or duchess would have everything he or she desired one day, including parents who paid full attention.
She gripped my hand and said, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said and knew it was true.
She had my whole heart. We would figure out everything else together.