“And half a ton of silver.”
He was right about my silver. I stil wore a lot of silver jewelry even though Gracie was usual y tugging at my necklaces. I was constantly in danger of her choking me to death. She was like he-baby, she was so damned strong (that, she got from her father). Not to mention, she kept shoving my rings (while they were on my fingers) in her mouth and biting hard and that child had the jaws of death, kid you not, I should know, I nursed her. She was teething and the silver must feel cool on her gums so I didn’t mind (much, I was pretty sure one day I’d find the baby Gracie gum mark grooves in my rings cute).
I decided to change the subject to one I wanted to talk about.
Luke had made it to the dresser and was rooting through a drawer.
I winced as he rooted. Our drawers were painstakingly tidy. I liked them like that and put a lot of effort into it.
Everything folded neatly and organized by color or color combination or long-sleeved (then by color) and short-sleeved (then by color), etc. I had a system, a tidy system.
Luke didn’t do tidy and he wasn’t al that hot on any of my systems either, no matter how often I explained them to him (which was a lot).
I got over Luke’s ruthless rooting and asked his naked, muscular, sexily dotted with droplets of water back, “What do you think of the name Maisie?”
Luke’s body went completely stil . Then, very slowly, he turned to me and his eyes locked with mine.
“Repeat the question,” he demanded.
“You heard me,” I said softly.
Quick as a flash, Luke was across the room, I was flat on my back, he was on me and wrapping my legs around his hips.
“Luke!”
“Quiet,” he muttered as he yanked the towel away and then kept muttering, as if to himself, “Please God, don’t be wearing any underwear.”
I slapped his shoulder, “Luke, Shirleen is…” He kissed me to shut me up (he did this a lot).
When his mouth moved to my neck, I was breathing faster but I stil said, “We’re going to be late.”
“We’l be quick.”
“Luke, seriously…”
His head came up and his eyes caught mine and I went quiet at their intensity.
“You sayin’ you’re havin’ my baby?”
“You sayin’ you’re havin’ my baby?”
I nodded.
His face went soft and, just as soft, he said, “Then we’re celebrating.”
I smiled at him. There was no denying Luke when he was in the mood to celebrate (not that I’d want to).
“Okay,” I whispered.
He kissed me again.
I kissed him back.
*
Sometime later, we were both yanking on our clothes, way late, and Shirleen was shouting up the stairs for us to get a move on. “You never said what you thought about the name Maisie,” I said to Luke.
“I don’t give a fuck what the name is, long as you come out of it alive.”
I felt my breath catch.
Al the Nightingale Men got off facing al kinds of uncertain situations and hair-raising danger but they became a wee bit edgy when their women got pregnant.
This was because Indy had nearly died while having her and Lee’s first, Cal um.
I’d known Lee a long time and I’d never seen him the way he was in the hospital that day when the doctor ejected him from the birthing room. He was always cool and in control. Ultra cool and in control.
That day, he was not cool and in control.
He was so not cool and in control, I thought they’d have to tranquil ize him.
to tranquil ize him.
In the end, it was surprisingly me who calmed him down.
It was funny how life came around and then went around.
Lee had been the one to find me at my worst, my most humiliated, beaten up and taped to a pole after my ex violated me. He had taken care of me, doing so gentle and sweet.
Years later it would be my touch that stopped him from losing it.
I’d put my hand on his arm. He’d frozen at my touch right before he turned into me, slid an arm around my shoulders and yanked me to him, shoving his face in my neck.
I remember it like it happened two minutes before. Then again, it was something you never forgot.
“Fuck, Ava,” he had said into my neck as his other arm wrapped tight around my waist.
I slid my arms around his waist, turned my head and whispered in his ear, “I know, Lee.”
“She was screaming.”
I shut my eyes tight and held on tighter.
“I won’t be able to…” he started and his voice was hoarse.
“You won’t have to,” I cut him off.
He pul ed me deeper into him and I thought he’d crush me but I didn’t make a peep.
“Fuck,” he murmured and said no more, just held on. So I did the same thing.
Indy and Cal um had made it, though the drama wasn’t over. A year later she announced she was pregnant again and Lee went berserk. I’d never seen anything like it and I’d and Lee went berserk. I’d never seen anything like it and I’d seen Luke go berserk once and, let me tel you, when one of these boys lost it, it wasn’t pretty.