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“I’m here.” She waves from the elevator bank. “I’m sorry I’m late. The production meeting went long.”
“It’s okay.” I lean down and kiss her. “The car’s here with the two kids. Let’s go before they try to lynch the driver. He’s new, and we can’t lose this one.”
“I’m ready. Do you have the gift?”
“Yes.” I lift the golden box so Harlow can see it and then hustle her back toward the elevator.
“I gave it to him. You can thank me with a bonus check,” Trident yells after us.
“On it, Tri,” Harlow yells back.
“I gave him a bonus last month,” I grumble as we step onto the elevator car.
“What did you do that time? I forget.” She punches the basement button.
“Nothing that deserved a bonus.” I give Harlow a once-over. “This is a nice dress.” It’s black and slinky, and there’s a sweet bit of cleavage from my vantage point. I frown. There will be other men at the party tonight, and they might be taller than Harlow. “Hold this.” I shove Aunt Gia’s present into Harlow’s hands and pat my pockets. Surely I have something to cover her cleavage up.
“I know what you’re thinking, and I’m not putting a handkerchief or napkin on my chest.”
“You’re practically naked.”
“It’s not my fault that pregnancy makes my breasts balloon into giant gazookas.” She gives me an accusing glare.
“It’s not my fault either.” I find a contract folded in my breast pocket. I snap it open and try to stuff it into her neckline. She bats at my hands and turns away. The doors open, and a bodyguard greets us with a puzzled expression.
“Thank you, Steve.” Harlow waltzes past him.
“Eyes up, man,” I order.
“He wasn’t even looking.” Harlow drags me to the car.
“He could have been thinking about it.”
“Not everyone is obsessed with me like you are.”
“I’m ossessed with you, Mommy,” declares Georgie, our youngest. At three, she’s a walking, talking, piano-playing genius who can’t bear to be away from her mother more than two seconds. She climbs onto Harlow’s lap and snuggles around the bulge in Harlow’s tummy and lays her head on Harlow’s chest. The car starts moving, and she falls asleep.
My heart clenches at the visual. Mother and daughter with another on the way. How did I get to be so fucking fortunate? The image is replaced by the curious eyes of my eldest, Kosta.
“What’s in the package?” he wants to know. “Another animal or an egg this time?”
“An egg, and when you open it, there’s a dancing bear.”
“I like that. Will she let me play with it?”
I ruffle Kosta’s mop. “When has Aunt Gia ever said no to you?”
He appears to seriously consider this.
“Maybe when Georgie was born? I asked her for a brother and got Georgie instead.”
Harlow coughs into her fist to disguise her laughter. Me? I bite the inside of my cheek. “Aunt Gia’s not in charge of that, so it wasn’t so much her saying no to you as it was her saying it’s up to God.”
“What’s God gonna do about this one?” He nods toward Harlow’s stomach. She’s avoiding our eyes to avoid hurting Kosta’s feelings by laughing.
“We don’t know. We’re going to wait until the baby is born to find out.”
Kosta wrinkles his nose. “I bet it’s going to be a girl. Mommy, if you have another girl, you need to keep going until there’s a boy. I can’t be the only boy in this family.”
