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But I’m so terrified that somehow, that will change everything. I can’t bring myself to pull back that curtain.
I waddle down the hall of the new house James bought for us last week when we went house hunting. I can’t believe so little time has passed since I had nowhere to live at all, and here I am, surrounded by elegance and luxury, with wide windows looking out on our own private oasis. It’s a sanctuary, a place where I can feel safe and loved. Each room a blank canvas for us to put our own special mark onto. He paid extra for the deal to go through fast, took me to a furniture store and I picked out everything we needed to get set up, at least for now.
The baby’s room is full of boxes and he has a cleaning service coming in everyday so I don’t have to do anything. A cook as well.
And a guard sitting outside twenty-four hours a day. He even had the new VW bug he bought me towed away. If I want to go somewhere, I have to use the service he hired that comes with, you guessed it, a bodyguard.
He’s lost his ever-loving mind.
The only thing that’s bothering me, is what am I going to do? I can’t wait to be a mom, but I don’t want to lose my music either. Even if I just play for me, I’ve been so busy with the thrill of James and this new life, I’m losing the me I always dreamed of being in the mix and I know, I need to fix that as well.
He wants me to be happy. I know he does.
CHAPTER 15
Nancy
“Hey, Nance.” Mason waves, giving me a smile. He holds up a notepad. “Just trying my hand at planning out a few new recipes.”
He told me when I visited him a few days ago that he’s thinking of learning some culinary skills while he’s serving his sentence. It makes me smile. Even so soon after it all happened, Mason is still Mason. Making the best of the circumstances he finds himself in is exactly what I’d expect.
And I told him what’s been going on with my singing. Which is pretty amazing actually. I’m not about to be the next Taylor Swift, but on TikTok and Reels, my videos where I’m turned away from the camera to hide my face while I sing my own compositions have been getting crazy views.
Behind him, the cell is confined and unwelcoming, but I can see he’s already building up a little collection of cookery books.
“How’s Taylor?” he asks.
“He’s good. James won’t admit it to me, but I think he’s fallen in love a little.”
“With both you and Taylor by the sound of things.” Mason laughs and I blush.
I told him all about what’s going on when I visited. How could I not? I was excited and while I was expecting things to be awkward between us, they weren’t. Mason is still my best friend and always will be. He apologized for me losing my car because of him, and I admitted that James has bought me a brand new Mercedes.
With a driver. And a bodyguard. Both are outside right now.
Which was when he started to figure out that something was going on.
I mean, you don’t just randomly buy your new stepsister a car. Honestly, you don’t randomly buy someone you just started a relationship with a car either, but James is more than a little over the top. And safety conscious.
He did have my old VW totally re-vamped but it’s sitting in the garage. The key is locked away in a safe and I don’t have the combination.
The red flags still fly high with my new brother, but I don’t know. It works somehow.
“So I got the envelope,” I say, holding it up. “It came in the mail this morning.”
“I was guessing that was what this call was for. Ruterman said it should be with you today.”
“So shall I open it?”
Mason shrugs. “It’s up to you, Nancy. Honestly, I didn’t know whether you would ever want to know that stuff. I chose the sperm donor and at the time, well…”
I nod. “I know. I was just the incubator.”
“You’ve never been just anything. You’re going to make a great mom, and if you want to know the basic details about the father, they’re all in there. It’s not much, just what the service showed me for the profile.” He laughs. “But bear in mind, James might know him. They could have met on a junior tour or something. He played hockey as a kid. There’s a baby picture and another picture when he was like five. That’s all.”
I roll my eyes. “You and your hockey obsession. It’s a shame all this blew up before my dad married his mom. You would have been in your element sitting in the VIP box with me.” I turn the manila envelope in my hands, pausing before I rip it open. “Should I?”
