Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“No, dear,” Nora purred, curving an arm around Inger’s waist and drawing her away, but Hale heard her finish, “My apologies. We’re a crew of four. Let’s start brainstorming. With what I have in mind, we can’t begin planning too soon. Allow me to share.”
“Well, ma sœur, it’s official now, you’re going to have the best baby shower in history,” Chloe decreed.
“But of course she is,” Emilie hissed, before she announced to no one and everyone, “I’m leaving.”
And then she stormed off rudely (since she didn’t say goodbye to the happy couple), dramatically, and pitifully (since no one paid attention).
Oskar got close and said, “I’m an asshole. Dad told me, and I was just excited for you two. Obviously, I could have no idea Emilie would act like that.”
Elsa’s sister was a piece of work, but even Hale wouldn’t have guessed she’d act like that.
“It’s okay, Oskar,” Elsa told him.
Oskar looked to Hale.
“It is, man. All good,” Hale assured.
Oskar clapped him on the arm before he went in for a hug from his sister.
“See?” Sasha asked, staring pointedly at Chloe, Matt, Gage, Sully, and finally Hale, “I can keep a secret.”
“Congratulations, Sash, you lasted seven whole hours,” Matt teased.
Sasha rolled her eyes and flounced off.
Hale and Elsa sat back down.
Oskar dragged a chair over to sit with them.
And twenty minutes later, Tom and Mika cut their cake.
CHAPTER 8
ONLY YOU
Hale
Six weeks later…
The elevator doors opened, and after he walked out, Hale was greeted by his fiancée.
“Hey, baby,” he murmured before he dropped his head to brush his lips against hers.
“Hey,” she replied when he was finished. “I know we have to get ready, but come look really quick. I think I’ve got it licked.”
She took his hand and he used his other one to pull his messenger bag over his head as she guided him to the kitchen island.
The minute he saw what was scattered all over it, that tightness he was living with reminded him of its presence with a vengeance, and it wasn’t just in his neck this time, but along his shoulders, and lately, even down his back.
“I think we’re going with blue,” Elsa said as he dumped his bag on one of the stools at the island. “I don’t go in for that blue is boys, pink is girls thing. Blue is tranquil. There are studies that suggest bedrooms should be blue, because it’s a calming color. And we’re probably going to need that. Not to mention, it’s pretty. There’ll be a lot of yellow and green to contrast. And this crib, as you can plainly see, is a must.”
He stared down at paint chips, printed-out floor plans, pictures of baby furniture, mobiles and wall décor, and wallpaper samples.
It was six weeks after they got the confirmation, and Elsa was firmly out of the first trimester.
The minute she was, she engaged an interior designer to start work on the nursery.
They’d had their appointment with the doctor. Elsa had long since come off caffeine and had carved daily walks into her hectic schedule, sometimes doing it on the treadmill upstairs since the weather was getting chilly outside.
She’d had about two weeks of morning sickness, but that subsided. Occasionally, she’d still get nauseous, and even throw up. But it didn’t last long, she handled it like she’d been experiencing it all of her life, and she just got on with shit.
Now, even though the danger zone never really passed, the most precarious part of it had, and it was time to get their shit tight because, with the hectic lives they lived, before they knew it, they’d have a baby.
Tom and Mika had landed in Phoenix after their honeymoon, and stayed there for a while.
They’d been back in New York for the last week, though, and tonight was the first time he and Elsa would see them. Also tonight there was an event for a breast cancer research facility in the city to which Jamie had bought a table (along with being a major sponsor), and they were all going.
But Hale hadn’t shaken the feeling of trepidation he had that he didn’t understand, because he was genuinely thrilled with what was soon to come for him and his woman.
So he didn’t get it.
That meant, now that Tom was back, Hale needed to find time to hash things out with him.
It was just that Elsa was being Elsa.
She was firing on all cylinders.
The surprise of the news, and sharing it, having been accomplished, she threw herself headlong into planning their lives around their baby, both the run up to the arrival, and after.
Considering she wanted to take a solid six months off after the baby was born, she needed to get down to filming her next slate of interviews for the streaming contract she had. So she and her staff were busy rescheduling, researching and moving everything up by months.