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“I read online that during the 14th week of pregnancy, the babies are able to pee and even pass gas which your kidneys absorb and pass out as urine. So next week, when you’re peeing, it might not even be yours. Weird hey?!” She grins and I giggle.
“You’re ridiculous.” But at least it stopped my tears. I push off the floor and make my way to the pile of baby items strewn across the floor. “You’re really, really ridiculous, Daniels,” I repeat as I rummage through the stuff.
“What even is this?” I ask, picking up a contraption that looks like some sort of mini spaceship. There’s a glass cover over the top of a plastic box and a dial on the front. Is it some sort of toy? Clearly not for newborns.
“That–” she says as she snatches it out of my hand, “Is a bottle warmer. It’s to heat the pumped milk to the perfect temperature, for when you need me to babysit. It’s not safe to warm it in a microwave.”
Again, I don’t see us needing that anytime soon. “Ridiculous,” I repeat.
She rolls her eyes; she slowly starts picking up the items on the floor and stuffs them back into the shopping bags. “Yeah, it might seem ridiculous to you now, but it won’t be in a few months. Now tell me in detail what happened in Brattleboro.”
I sigh, flopping back onto the couch. I proceed to tell her everything while she slowly clears the floor. “Wait, he wouldn’t let you in at first?”
I roll my eyes, “Yes, Ella, he didn’t know it was me.” She waves a hand for me to continue, so I do.
She starts laughing when I get to the part where he lost consciousness. “Big bad Ezra Beaufort fainted when he heard you’re having twins?”
“Yes!” I snap. Sure, I made fun of him at the time, but for some reason seeing Ella laugh at his expense rubs me the wrong way. “Now, stop interrupting, or I won’t tell you the rest of what happened.”
“Okay, okay…sorry.” She raises her hands up in surrender. I’ve already lost interest in recounting today’s events down to exactly what I ate, what Ezra was wearing, and whether or not he had opened my car door for me. But I continue because I know she’ll nag me to death if I leave her hanging.
She sighs when I’m done. “You see, Charlie, I knew he would want to get involved.” I roll my eyes again, but she’s not done talking. “Now, all we have to do is figure out how to tell Mom.”
“What?”
Ella glances up at the nervousness in my tone. “What? We have to tell her soon. She’ll figure it out on her own if you don’t tell her, anyway. Your stomach is starting to get a distinct shape.”
I glance down at my stomach, knowing she’s right. There’s not really much of a bump yet, but it’s no longer completely flat either. “You’re right, you’re right. I’ll tell her, of course I will.” I’m really dreading having that conversation. I’m not sure how she’ll take it.
She’s the sweetest creature, but she can be a bit old-fashioned at times. She’s most likely not going to like me having a baby out of “wedlock”. She’s big on doing everything the traditional way. First comes the man, the ring, andthenbabies. Technically, I don’t even have the man…
I sigh. Ella pats my knee comfortingly, understanding my plight. At least, I will always have her–of that I’m completely confident. Just like my babies will always have each other. I’m growing them each a best friend. The thought brings another lone tear to my eye. I wipe it away as I rest my head on my twin’s shoulder.
CHAPTER 14
EZRA
The assignment Massimo sent to my burner was to make sure everything checks out in one of his clubs…and everyone behaves. It’s a little more tedious than it sounds trying to get a bunch of grown ass criminals to act in a civilized manner. I’m exhausted by the time I make it back to town, so I just drop into bed in my apartment at the Latchis Hotel downtown, after dropping my truck at the cottage.
The first thing I do when I wake up is toss all cartons of cigarettes in my apartment into the trash. It’s been a couple of months since I had a drag, but I’ve got to stop tempting fate by leaving them around. I’m going to be a father now.
I hesitate, my hand hovering over the trash can with my lighter in hand, but I’m reluctant to throw it away. The weight of it in my pocket grounds me, not to mention flicking its lid soothes my nerves. It’s a big part of my identity in Providence; I can’t beLa Fiammawithout my lighter. I make a promise to myself as I turn away, the lighter clenched tightly in my fist, to get out of this cluster-fuck of a situation any way I can…as soon as fucking possible.
I put the lighter back in my pocket and call my brother’s girlfriend, Autumn. She picks up on the third ring. “Ezra! To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Hello, gorgeous. I have a job for you, think you might be up to the task?”
She lets out a tinkling laugh. “What? You want me to contact my lawyer to have some restraining orders drawn up for you?”
“Autumn, you’re hurting my feelings. If I need a restraining order from anybody, it’s from you, you clingy woman.” Her laughter deepens and I grin.
“Get to the point asshole,” my brother growls through the phone, making my grin widen with delight. Guess his jealous ass can’t stand it when another man makes her laugh, brother or not.
“Fine, fine. I have a building with quite a nightmare of a garden. Think you can fix it up for me, darling?” Autumn is in the process of opening a landscaping company, but in the meantime, she’s taking some odd jobs to build her portfolio. By the time her company’s up and running, she’ll have had a significant number of jobs under her belt.
“Of course, text me the address.”
I hesitate. “Actually, I think I’ll have to take you there myself.”
