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Twenty-Five
Aria grabbeda cart inside the grocery store and started down the aisle, looking at the list of supplies she’d made on her phone. Damian had been taking care of dinner — either bringing it home or spearheading their joint efforts in the kitchen — but she’d been struck with a strange desire to make him a cake fordessert.
A beautiful, from-scratchcake.
She would cover it in a thick layer of yellow icing in honor of their baby — the first of many cakes she would make for him and theirchild.
She had no idea why the desire to bake had struck; she’d never been big on baking in the past. But she’d suddenly had the urge to measure and stir, to present Damian with something wonderful andsurprising.
She felt liberated, the relief of telling Damian about her pregnancy making her feel light on her feet as she made her way through thestore.
She couldn’t even muster annoyance over the fact that Andre trailed her through the aisles, her own private Secret Service, much to the dismay of the other shoppers who looked at her with concern, like Andre might mug her for the flour and sugar in her cart right in front ofeveryone.
She would get used to to the security detail. She would get used to it for Damian, and maybe once Malcolm was dead he would ease up alittle.
She hesitated over the cocoa powder, wishing she’d asked Damian if he preferred chocolate cake or something else, then finally threw it in thecart.
She’d figure it out when she gothome.
When she came to the candles she impulsively threw a number “0” into the cart. She would put it on the cake and they would make a wish for the child growing inside her, for their lifetogether.
She loaded her purchase onto the checkout belt and the cashier looked at her with a grin. “Goodday?”
“Excuse me?” Ariaasked.
“You look so happy,” the young woman said. “It’snice.”
She hadn’t even been aware she’d been smiling. “I am actually,” she said. “It’s a really goodday.”
“Good for you,” the cashier said with a genuinesmile.
Aria paid for the groceries with the credit card from her account, stupidly pleased that she could do something for Damian all on herown.
When she got to the car, Enzo opened the door and started to remove the groceries from thecart.
“Actually, I’d like to do it, if you don’t mind,” Ariasaid.
Enzo looked like he wanted to lay a hand across her forehead to check for a fever, but he gamely opened the hatch on the SUV and watched (was he nervous? he looked nervous, like Damian might have his head for letting her unload groceries) as she unloaded thebags.
“Don’t worry,” she said when she was done. “I won’t tell if youwon’t.”
She took the cart to the cart corral and returned to the car, sliding into the backseat with a sigh ofsatisfaction.
Someday soon she would be one of those moms with a baby in a carrier. She would talk to their son or daughter while they shopped, pointing out the fruits and vegetables, pausing to kiss its velvetycheek.
Then she would go home, put the baby down for a nap, and practice in the firingrange.
Andre got into the passenger seat without a word and Enzo started the car. Aria watched out the window as they left town behind, continuing along the windy wooded roads that led to thehouse.
She never thought she could enjoy living anywhere but the city, but she’d gotten used to the quiet of the country, the muffled silence when it snowed, the wind blowing through the trees after astorm.
It was an ideal place to raise their baby, a place where he or she could chase fireflies in the summer and still be exposed to all the culture and sophistication offered by thecity.
She thought about the empty rooms inside the house, trying to decide which of the ones close to the master suite would be best for the baby. She would go upstairs later this week and look at the views from the windows, choose the one that offered the best potential as a place to read, the one that would be bathed in golden light in the summer and offer a view of snow falling on the field inwinter.
They stopped at the gate outside the house and Enzo keyed in the code. The car inched forward, picking up speed along the drive flanked bytrees.
Her heart swelled with gratitude when the house came intoview.
