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“I hope this means all of you are packed and ready for the trip to New York tomorrow,” he said. “We’re staying there until after the baby’s born.”
That had been the plan we’d discussed. As fun as a natural birth on the island sounded—Logan had offered to fly in the best medical care available—I’d wanted to have the baby in a nice, safe hospital just in the event anything out of the ordinary happened. Tomorrow morning we’d all fly into New York, where we’d stay at the penthouse until it was time for our little boy or girl to come into the world.
“OK!” Marianne shouted. “Come over here and open these! But… can you open mine first? I’m really happy about it.”
Logan chuckled. “As long as that’s OK with everyone else.”
Pearl and I gave our approval. Truth be told, I was more eager for Marianne’s present than mine.
Logan stepped over and pulled off the sheet, revealing the finished painting of him that Marianne had started almost a year ago.
“It’s wonderful,” Logan said, stepping back to get a better look at it. He cocked his head to the side, taking off his sunglasses. “But… it’s different.” He moved closer. “The face is changed.”
Sure enough, it was. The serious-faced glower that Marianne had painted before was gone, replaced with a sly, almost Mona Lisa smile. The mood of the painting was brighter, more inviting, not to mention truer to the man I knew and loved.
“That’s right!” Marianne said. “You’ve been different since Emily came to live with us on the island, happier. It didn’t make sense to have the painting the way it was before. I sent a picture of it to the gallery and they said theyhadto have it for my next showing. But I told them it was just for you.”
“I love it, sis.” Logan gave his sister a hug and kiss before the rest of the exchange began. It was right in the middle of this that Roberto came out with a cake lit with thirty-nine candles, singing, “happy birthday tojefe…”
We ate and drank and laughed and watched the sunset together, the five of us going over the insanity of the last year, how much our lives had changed for the better, and how much promise and potential the next year had for us.
In time, the group peeled off, leaving Logan and me alone.
“This was wonderful,” he said. “I’m not much of a birthday guy, but damned if you didn’t make this day special for me.”
I smiled. “Get used to it, because I’m not going to let a single birthday of yours go uncelebrated. And when she’s here, I’m going to enlist her in the party planning.”
He raised an eyebrow. “She?”
“Just have a feeling.”
He leaned over and kissed me slowly and deeply.
“I love this little life of ours,” he said. “Don’t know how I got so lucky.”
“Whatever you did, it worked,” I responded with a wink. “Now, let’s go upstairs so I can give you yourrealpresent.”
He laughed, wasting no time standing and scooping me out of the chair. Didn’t matter that I was big with baby, Logan carried me upstairs like I weighed nothing at all.
We were soon in bed together, kissing slowly as we stripped one another out of our clothes. I’d been a bit self-conscious about the changes my body had gone through—the big belly and boobs, the extra weight I was carrying around. The way Logan looked at me, however, the way he touched me, you’d think he’d found me more beautiful than ever.
We made love in the slow, passionate way we so often did those days, the amber light of the sunset streaming in through the curtains as they flitted in the gentle breeze. He made me come three times, the third time absolutely exhilarating as we came together. When we were done, I lay curled up in his arms.
Logan wore a serious expression on his face as we relaxed.
“Something’s on your mind,” I said. “Don’t try to tell me there isn’t, I know that look.”
He allowed himself a wry smile, shaking his head.
“Yeah, there is. Not sure if right now is the time to talk about it, though.”
I sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just that I spoke to one of my lawyers yesterday, the one dealing with the attorney in charge of your father’s estate.”
I said nothing, letting him go on.
“There’s a pretty good amount of money there, more than enough to work with if you want to invest it. Not to mention the house and the staff. I didn’t want to bring this up now for obvious reasons. But the meeting is tomorrow, so I thought you ought to know so you can be a part of it if you want.”
