Page 65 of Fixed Asset

I remained quiet. Cat continued tracing my jaw up to my temple and back down, her eyes following her finger. A soft, sweet touch.

“What’s your mom’s name?” she asked.

“Nora.”

Her eyes dashed to mine and flared.

“Nora? Really?”

I nodded, not understanding the sudden change.

“That’s my gran’s name. Nora Mae. My mom’s name is Faye Nora, after her mother.”

My hand shot out and tagged her around the back of her neck. I tugged her closer until our foreheads touched. My sinuses clogged, and I felt my eyes itch.

“My sister tried to name her first daughter Nora,” I told Cat. “My dad explained the Defcon-level war she’d start if she took that name from me. Anna chose another name.”

“Then it’s decided,” Catarina whispered.

“It’s decided,” I confirmed.

“I have Lina, Steven, Lars, Lauren, and the heathen twins, and that’s all I have.”

I didn’t understand where she was going, so I remained quiet and waited for her to continue.

“I’m not ready yet. I need a few more years of doing what I’m doing. I still have the fire in my belly. But when the time’s right, I want a big family, and I want to be home with that family. I don’t want my babies losing me like I lost my mom. I want them to have what you had. I want to spoil my boys and give my Nora a daddy who thinks she’s a princess and will love her and tell her the sun rises and sets with her.”

Give my Nora a daddy who thinks she’s a princess.

Goddamn, I wanted that with Catarina more than I’d ever wanted anything other than my mother to still be alive.

I had to sniff and clear my throat before I could tell her, “When you’re ready, I’ll give you everything you want.”

“A few years, but no more than four. If I see the words geriatric pregnancy on a single form, I will lose my shit, and it might get messy. Lauren might have to dip into the heathens’ bail account to get me out of jail.”

And my smart-ass Catarina was back.

“I’ll make sure to fill out all the medical paperwork. We can’t have my baby mama in lockup.”

“That might be a good idea. Or we can have an at-home birth.”

I held my breath waiting for her to tell me she was kidding. That wait was in vain. And with that, an irrational fear about something that had not happened and would not happen for years to come started pooling in my gut.

“Baby, you are not giving birth to our children at home. You’ll be in a hospital with medical professionals.”

“Women have babies at home every day.”

The insanity of that stunned me into silence.

“Nothing to say to that?” she hedged.

“I reserve the right to circle back to this conversation at such time an appropriate comeback pops into my head.”

“Nope. Gotta be quick, Jack. No comeback, you lose.”

Seeing as we were discussing our future children, there was no losing when it came to this conversation.

Future children with Catarina.