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“How, exactly, would that work?”
“The women buy all the pretty little outfits and such that every mother loves while the men buy the new father things he may need for the baby.”
Anna still looked leery. “Okay, I’ve never been to a baby shower with men before, but if that’s what you want to do, I’m game.”
Emma clapped her hands happily. “I’ll address the invitations and have Rose help organize the event. Leave everything to me.”
One look at her mother-in-law’s gleeful expression and she began to panic. “This is just immediate family right?”
“Absolutely, just family. Now, before you start buying baby stuff, I have some things I saved from when the boys were little.”
“I was surprised when you said you had heirlooms. I’ve never seen any baby items in the house. Where have you been hiding them?”
“There’s a storage building on the island with the cabin. Isaac is fetching the baby things for me and we’ll give them to you at the shower. Don’t buy anything for the nursery until after the shower. I have a feeling you are going to receive everything you need as gifts.”
*****
Nick was rhythmically rolling the first coat of pink on the third wall when the carpet contractor arrived.
“Good morning, Mr. Le Beau. My name is Jeff,” the contractor said, offering his hand.
“Good morning, Jeff, and please call me Cade.”
“All right, Cade. Where’s my patient? I was told this was an emergency.”
“Right down here.” Cade gestured and led the way to the nursery.
The walls were in much better shape than they had been, but the carpet still bore the evidence of yesterday’s paint war.
Jeff’s eyes widened. “Wow. What happened in here?”
“My family happened. I made the mistake of asking them to help me paint the room. I won’t make that mistake again. Paint and the Le Beau men are not good bedfellows.”
Jeff chuckled as he pulled his measuring tape from his back pocket to jot down the measurements.
“I’ll leave you to it. But just one thing...”
Both men stopped to look at him.
“If you get the room finished by dinner time, I’ll handsomely reward your efforts.”
“Well, all right,” Nick grinned.
“I have the carpet in stock so I’m sure I can meet your deadline,” Jeff nodded his acceptance.
It took the entire day and a lot of bribing with bonus payments for the contractors, but the nursery was perfect. And empty.
The next morning
Cade tapped his fingers on his coffee cup. Even though Anna had been thrilled with the pastel pink nursery and new carpet, he’d been awake much of the night thinking about the empty nursery. Somewhere around three a.m. he had hit upon the solution he needed in order to make things up to Anna. Now he needed his lovely mate to head to the spa so he could call in the cavalry. Since they had created the unholy mess in the nursery, they could help him fix this with his mate.
Speaking of the devil, she walked into the kitchen. “Good morning,” Anna’s wolf rumbled contentedly as she kissed his neck on her way to the teapot.”
“Good morning, cher. You’re especially beautiful today. What time are you and the ladies heading to the spa?”
She glanced at the clock. “In about fifteen minutes, just enough time for a cup of tea with my incredible man.”
“You keep that thought in mind today. Just remember how incredible I am and ignore those masseurs I know they have.”
“Masseurs? Hmm,” She grinned, teasing him.
Cade swept her into his arms and kissed her hard. “You shouldn’t poke the big bad wolf, mon amour.”
Anna giggled at his mock angry expression and kissed him again.
“Keep that up, and you’ll never get to the spa,” Cade growled.
“That dang spa is looking less inviting by the second.”
“Oh, no you don’t. You need a day away. Now, get.”
“All right, I’m going.” Anna laughed as she put her cup in the dishwasher and headed for the door.
*****
The women weren’t even out of the driveway when Cade dialed Simon’s number.
Simon answered in his usual way. “Hey, Cade. What’s up?”
