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Chapter Eleven
Life didn’t get any easier with their business. Starting up their own business proved to be time-consuming. Not only did they keep long hours, but they had no choice in the hours they worked. Getting their business off the ground was far more difficult than any of the three had expected. Chase and Mitch worked long hours while she continued to work as a receptionist. Leah kept her appointments with her midwife even though her men couldn’t attend most of them. They’d been with her on the first one and when she found out the sex of her baby. She was having a little boy.
She’d been asked if she wanted a paternity test. Leah refused, explaining her situation to the midwife. The older woman hadn’t minded the situation and continued to see her. Her mother rang her all the time. Leah loved hearing her voice. Some of the nights she was alone as Mitch and Chase tried to get their name out there, so her mother’s phone calls were welcome.
With Mitch and Chase out, she spent a great deal of time painting her son’s nursery. Leah didn’t mind the demands of their business. She remembered how much they’d talked about it when they were growing up.
Into the third month of her pregnancy, she had finally picked a colour to paint the walls. She decided on a vanilla colour. The lightness would make the room feel larger. She opened the tin of paint on a Friday night. Leah had become used to the quiet in their apartment.
She whistled a tune while she ran the brush up and down the walls in one smooth action. The ceiling would have white clouds with a blue sky peeking out. She wanted her son to look up into something with texture rather than a plain white wall.
Leah climbed the ladder and was painting around the light bulb when the sound of the door echoed around the small room. She heard Mitch’s and Chase’s voices.
“Leah, where are you?” Mitch called out to her.
“In the nursery,” she said. “If you can remember where it is,” she muttered to herself.
“What the hell are you doing?” Chase asked, charging into the room. He stood at the bottom of the ladder.”
“I’m painting my son’s nursery.”
“No, you’re fucking not. You could have fallen. You’d put yourself and the baby at risk for some stupid ceiling?” He lifted his hands up to her.
She saw red. Grabbing the tub of paint she poured the little amount left inside over his head.
He moved out of the way as she came down. When her two feet were on the floor, she poked his chest. “I would never put our baby in harm’s way. You’re gone for most of the day and night. Our son will not be coming home to a half-finished room. It will be ready for him, and if you don’t like that, tough.”
Leah stormed out of the room, past Mitch to the kitchen. She needed a drink of water. Her anger was getting the better of her. The windows were wide open to deal with the fumes created from the paint. She wasn’t doing any heavy lifting.
Mitch wrapped his arms around her waist. His hand stroked her stomach. She leaned against him loving his comfort. “He worries about you all the time.”
“If you ever came home you’d see I was safe. I’m not going to wait around for you to do the nursery.”
“I know.”
“I know you’re hard at work, and I hate it. I want to help you, but I can’t do anything to help,” she said. Her frustration grew as his comfort reminded her how much time they missed together.
“We’re doing really well, Leah. There won’t be much more work to do. Our previous clients are there, and we’re building a base. The money we’ve been given is perfect.”
“I miss you.”
“Am I forgiven?” Chase asked, standing in front of her.
“Are you going to stop accusing me of putting my son at risk?”
He nodded his head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You shouldn’t.”
After that night Mitch and Chase tried to do as much of the work possible. Leah didn’t mind doing the work. She’d tried to assemble the cot she’d bought, but it looked more like a wooden igloo by the time she was finished. Her men fixed all the furniture, and as she went into her seventh month of pregnancy, the nursery was complete.
The time was going by so fast. Her pregnancy was speeding along. She’d felt her son kick. Chase and Mitch were still waiting for that privilege. Whenever they cuddled up to her, he’d fall asleep inside her. She figured their son was already forming a protest over the lack of time. It felt like she’d turned into a giant penguin overnight. She waddled with each step she took. Mitch and Chase teased her constantly over how she moved.
Leah woke up one night to hear Chase and Mitch shouting in the sitting room. She rolled off the bed onto her knees. It was humiliating how she had to get herself out of bed in the mornings. She moved closer and was shocked to see Mitch shaking a pair of keys at Chase.
“I told you I haven’t seen them in months,” Chase said.
“What’s going on?” Leah asked, rubbing her stomach.
