But she shifted away and did it quickly.
Not to escape him.
To begin pacing.
“No,” she snapped into the phone she’d put to her ear. “It isn’t Stellan calling to apologize. This is Simone. And I just witnessed that happy mother-and-son convo, Ms. Lange, and it turned my goddamned stomach.”
“Hey! What’s—?” came from the side, and Stellan’s gaze went there to see Susan had let herself in as usual (she most definitely had a key), and there she was, Crosby in her arms, Harry coming up the rear dragging the copious equipment they deemed they needed for whenever they came with son in tow.
Susan and Harry got the vibe and immediately stopped, Susan getting pale, Harry’s eyes going big.
Crosby did not get the vibe, reached his arms toward Stellan and shouted, “Steyan!”
Torn with which way to go, Stellan went with the only real choice he had, shaking his head at Susan as he walked to her and then catching her son, who launched himself at Stellan when he got close.
“No,” Simone bit off, “I’m not listening to your wine-addled nonsense. We’re going to get a few things clear, woman-in-Stellan’s-life to woman-in-Stellan’s-life. We’ll start with the fact that you do not ever mention his sister to him again, and we’ll move on to you not ever even coming close to accusing him of being like his father.”
“Holy Moses,” Susan breathed, her eyes now also big.
Then they narrowed.
“Uh-oh,” Harry, having caught his wife’s narrowed eyes, muttered.
“Steyan!” Crosby screamed again and latched onto Stellan’s ear.
Susan burst forward, slapping a bouquet of flowers she’d brought down on the dining room table as she made a beeline toward Simone.
Harry moved to Stellan and asked, “Is it too soon to pull out the Scotch?”
“You know where it is,” Stellan answered, turning his attention to Crosby, who was still tugging on his ear. He then stole his nose, and Crosby dissolved into giggles as he made a grab to get it back.
“No worries,” Simone snapped. “Rest assured, it will be quite some time before Stellan and I meet you in Sedona. Enjoy Napa. I’m sure the local economy will appreciate your visit.”
To that, she took the phone from her ear, stabbed it with her finger, and turned enraged eyes to Stellan.
“Mark these words, handsome. I do not ever want to meet that woman in my life. And more, she doesn’t want to meet me, or I’ll scratch her goddamn eyes out,” she clipped, blinked, looked at Crosby, shot straight then muttered, “Sorry, that would be gol-darned.”
“What happened?” Susan near-on screeched.
Crosby heard his mother’s tone and started fretting.
Stellan put his nose back then took it again and regained Crosby’s attention.
Simone tore her eyes off Stellan holding Crosby and looked at Susan like she was unaware of her arrival.
“Stellan and his mother had words,” she explained.
“I got that part,” Susan returned.
“And she said some unpleasant things,” Simone went on.
Susan pivoted to Stellan.
“I never liked that woman,” she snapped.
Stellan looked to Susan’s husband. “Harry, you were getting Scotch?”
“On it, brother,” Harry muttered, on the move.
“And get Sixx some wine while you’re at it,” Susan ordered.
“Simone drinks gin as a pre-dinner cocktail,” Stellan shared.
“I may never drink wine again,” Simone declared dramatically, making Stellan beat back laughter.
“Maybe I’ll have gin too,” Susan decreed.
“Shit,” Harry, now at Stellan’s wet bar in the family room area, muttered.
“How about you?” Stellan asked Crosby. “What are you feeling like having to drink tonight?”
“Jooz!” Crosby shouted.
“Water,” Susan said.
Crosby turned his attention to his mother. “Jooz!”
“Water, baby,” she said softly.
Crosby glared at her for a moment before he turned and stole Stellan’s nose.
Stellan smiled at him.
And he did it hiding the fact that he no longer needed anything more from Simone Marchesa.
Not her deepest mysteries. Not access to her sketchpads.
Not anything.
He had all he needed.
Because Simone and Sixx had become one with his phone to her ear and his mother on the line.
The sensitive soul and the superhero both had stepped out of the shadows.
And he was in love with her.
He was going to make a family with her.
And he was not ever going to let her go.
“So, that’s your boy and your man, yes?” Simone said to Susan.
“Harry, Sixx, Sixx, Harry,” Susan introduced perfunctorily, coming toward Stellan.
“Hey, Sixx, cool to meet you,” Harry called across the room with a bottle of Scotch in his hand.
“You too,” Simone replied with a smile aimed his way.
“And this…” Susan stated, pulling Crosby out of Stellan’s hold, causing a mad screech she completely ignored. She then walked right to Simone and plopped him in arms Simone had to quickly move to catch him with, “This is Crosby. Center of the universe.”
Crosby stared at Simone.
Holding herself and the child awkwardly, she stared back.
After a while, she slowly looked to Susan. “I’m not, well … I don’t have a lot of experience with kids.”
“I didn’t either,” Susan returned. “Then I popped him out and boom, instant expert in all things Crosby.”
Simone looked startled. “It happened as easy as that?”
“No, that’s a total lie. I was a mess. I read about five thousand baby books before he showed. I still didn’t know anything. But you know, in the beginning, they cry, you feed them, change them or try to get them to sleep. You figure out which cry means which. He figures out which buttons to push to get what he wants. It’s a give and take. I give. He takes. And we both love every bit of it.”
Simone looked back to Crosby.
Crosby studied her, then twisted, reached out to Stellan, and cried, “Steyan!”
“He likes his god-daddy,” Susan muttered.
Stellan came forward and relieved Simone of the child.
Crosby instantly went for his nose.
Stellan avoided him but bent in for a blow on the neck from his lips.
When he pulled away, Crosby yelled, “Mo!”
Stellan gave it to him.
“And this is why he loves his god-daddy,” Harry stated, handing Stellan a glass of Scotch. “One ‘mo,’ and Uncle Stellan doesn’t hesitate.”
Stellan took it, noting, “You’re early.”
“We were on time,” Susan returned.
“Yes. You’re early.”
Susan rolled her eyes.
“What can I get you to drink, Sixx?” Harry asked, making himself at home back at the drinks cabinet.
“I’ll make hers,” Stellan said.
“Sooz?” Harry called.
“My choices are nothing alcoholic, nothing alcoholic and nothing alcoholic, so who cares, honey. Just give me something wet,” Susan answered, coming to stand close to Stellan and her son.
“She’s pregnant,” Harry explained to Simone.
“Wow. Congrats,” Simone said to Susan with another smile.
“I cried three times before getting in the car to come over here just thinking about hearing Stellan call you ‘darling’ again. In other words, like the last one, it’s gonna be a rough ride.”
“Crying?” Simone asked.
“Crying all the time, and my nipples were hard and hurt like heck for seven months straight, and I actually broke a window when I threw a jar of jelly through it that I couldn’t open, and that was in month five. It went downhill from there.”
“Good Lord,” Simone muttered, no longer smiling even a little bit.
Susan shrugged and shoved her face in Crosby’s.
Crosby patted her cheek.
“Worth every minute,” Susan whispered.
Simone looked to Stellan, caught his eyes on her, and looked away.
He grinned into his Scotch before he took a sip, handed Crosby to his mother, and headed back to the abandoned salad.
“Honey, will you get out Stellan’s Scotch and Sixx’s chocolates?” Susan asked her husband. “And when you do, hide those chocolates. You remember month three with Crosby.”