by Cee, DW
“Done!”
“Done?”
“Done! Now let’s see if seven orgasms are possible.”
January 9, 2014 NICK: 1+1
“What’s with the smile, Nicholas?”
“Will you stop calling me that, Laney? It creeps me out!”
“Why? Is that name only for your lover?”
“When did you become such a pain? Is it the pregnancy making you surly?”
“I’m not surly!”
“You harassing my beautiful wife?” Donovan kissed his “beautiful” wife in front of me. Oh brother! There was no winning this conversation.
We all got back from our respective trips, and were called to an impromptu dinner at Donovan and Laney’s new home. I had to hand it to Donovan for pulling off this huge feat of buying their dream home. I, personally, wouldn’t want to live next to the in-laws. I know our neighborhood is cool, and I know we Reids are entertainment all within a cul-de-sac, but there was no winning an argument if Uncle Henry and Aunt Babs were to get involved. My new cousin-by-marriage was pretty amazing to watch as he, with the help of his mother-in-law, purchased this home and got it together in time to carry his bride over the threshold. Donovan was working overtime for all the sins of his past.
“Where’s Bee?” Emily asked me. “Didn’t you invite her?”
“She’s still in New York. She’s meeting with some new vendors and possible buyers. She’s opened up a small space in the Mart to display her creations.”
“I’m going to have to get Bee to make me some prego wear really soon. The way I’ve been eating, I’m going to become a house.”
“I’ll lend you my maternity wear, Laney. Come over tomorrow and we’ll go through my closet.”
“I don’t know, Emily. You didn’t wear maternity clothes until you were five months pregnant. I think I need them now.”
“Oh I have clothes from when I was pregnant with the twins, too.”
“Why am I listening to you ladies gab about maternity clothes?”
“Because, Nicholas...Emily and I are here to warn you that if you’re not good to my Aunt Bee, we’re going to kick your ass!”
“Emily,” I complained. “Please get her off my tail and take her back to her husband.”
“You and Bee are...together, now? All was resolved back in New York?” As always, my sister-in-law meddled without meddling.
I knew I had a sheepish grin. “Bee and I have decided to date.”
“What does that exactly mean?”
“I think it means that we are dating exclusively, but we are not terming what we are as a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.”
“… yet…” Laney had to add.
“We’re going to take things slowly, Emily.” I ignored my cousin. “Bee and I are not in a rush to get serious, fall in love, and get married all within four months. I think we have enough of that between my siblings and one Laney Reid.”
“Taylor...” Donovan threw in his two cents.
“And what’s wrong with the way we approach relationships?” Emily was more forceful than her usual self.
“Nothing is wrong with the way you all approach relationships. But I’ve watched all three couples, and you six have had your share of ups and downs, and hots and colds. I don’t like extreme emotions. I don’t want my heart to be all over the map. There’s something to be said about having an even-keeled life.”
“Boring!” Laney put in her last word before going to meet her in-laws.
“Well I’m sure you will do what is best for you. Just make sure you are doing what is best for Bee, too. That is what a gentleman would do, and that is the least I expect from you as my brother, and as a Reid.”
My sister-in-law was putting on the pressure. She wanted me to rise to the challenge and I supposed I could do it.
“Will you excuse me, Emily? I have a phone call.”
“Tell Bee I said, ‘hello,’ and that I expect her over to our house real soon,” Emily encouraged and walked over to her family.
“Well hello there!”
“Hello. What’s going on over there? I’m told you are all meeting at my niece and nephew’s brand-new home.”
“We are all here, and you are very much missed.”
“Really?” Bee asked with a nasally pitch. “Who is the one missing me?”
“Laney, for one, misses you. I’m sure the entire Taylor clan misses you. And Emily just told me that she would like to see you at her house very soon, which must mean that she misses you, too.”
“And what about you, Mr. Nicholas Gerald Reid?”
“I may miss you...when it’s cold in the middle of the night…”
“Well it’s nice and warm in this Bennington mansion so I don’t miss you at all.”
“I don’t think I ever asked you who you spent your New Year’s Eve with, have I? I got an interesting bit of information from a Reid, who shall not be named, who told me you spent it with a certain gentleman whom you are cohabitating with right now. Could that be true?”
“Quite an interesting question considering I got a tidbit from possibly the same Reid, now a Taylor, that you were hanging out with some nineteen-year-old on New Year’s. Could that be true?”
“Damn that Laney Reid, Taylor, whoever she is. She’s a thorn in my side in every way.”
“Should we call it a wash since I’m kind of digging this jealous tone? It’s very un-Nick-like.” I could tell she was laughing at me on the other end.
“When are you coming home?”
“Do you miss me?”
I didn’t skip a beat answering, “I do. Come home soon.”
“I was originally planning to stay here another month, but I may wrap it up this week and come home to the man who misses me.”
“I’ll be here waiting.”
“Do you want to stay at my place and warm my bed until it can be warmed together? Feel free to clean up the place if you are the neat-freak type.”
“Warm the bed—yes. Dust and do laundry—no.”
I could tell her smile was even wider. “Laney has a set of keys to my apartment; make yourself at home. I’ll be there soon.”
“Everyone,” my cousin was calling attention to all of us.
“Your niece needs to make an announcement, Bee. I’ve got to go.”
“Listen carefully to her announcement. It’ll make you see double.” With that, she hung up and I paid attention to the newlyweds.
“You all know my wife and I are having a baby.” The Taylors and Reids clapped in support and love for the two, plus one.
Now Laney joined in the announcement. “Donovan and I went to see the doctor today and we were told the baby was doing well. He or she will be here in August, and he or she will have a…”
“Sibling!” Donovan announced, and held up his copy of the ultrasound while Laney held up her copy of the ultrasound. I wondered why I needed to see two pictures of a dot on a black and white strip. Only when everyone around me went nuts did I understand what was just announced. The soon-to-be grandparents and great-grandparents were elated. They ran up and hugged the happy couple and the rest of the cousins eventually followed. I just wondered what the hell was wrong with the Reid family where we kept popping out twins. I supposed there was nothing wrong with us. It was a blessing to have so many kids in such a short span of time.
But, the greatest blessing of all, was the fact that they were not my kids.
January 13, 2014 BEE: 2!
“Welcome home!” Was it wrong that I was shocked to see Nick at the airport, greeting me? “You’d help your own cause if you didn’t have a fish out of water look. A kiss wouldn’t hurt, either.” I got that beautifully playful Nicholas Reid grin and he got a whopping make out session at LAX.
“Why? How?”
“A certain prego cousin of mine emailed me your itinerary.”
I was feeling deliriously happy like a certain prego cousin of his. “How�
�ve you been, Nicholas?”
“Lonely. Horny. Expecting.”
“And what were you expecting?”
“Let’s go back to your place and find out.”
I handed him my carry-on and we picked up two more large suitcases. “This is all for work!” I explained, defensively.
“I didn’t say a word.” He put up no resistance to carrying all my shit to his car.
We headed to my loft in comfortable silence. I liked what was happening between us. This might have been new to us, but it felt old, comfortable, and satisfying.
“Is the loft still standing?”
“It is. I cleaned up the mess you left back in December, turned on your fake fireplace, and there’s some soup and bread waiting for us to consume.”
“You’re going to make me cry.” I faked a sniffling cry and he gave me that grin I so adored.
“Your place is a mess, Bee. Cleaning is not my favorite pasttime, but I couldn’t think straight with all your shit everywhere. How do you work in such an environment?”
“It’s usually not that messy, but I was trying to finish up last minute samples, and I didn’t have time to tidy before you came to pick me up.”
“The soup and bread are from my sister-in-law, but the cleaning was all me. I expect payment after we chow.”
“Maybe the payment will come in front of the fake fireplace.”
“Hell ya! Maybe we’ll…”
“Hold that thought,” I interrupted. “What do you want, Niece?” I used my most annoyed tone.
“Hi Auntie!” Laney used her most happy tone. “Do you know that when these twins are born, you’ll be a grandaunt?”
“Shit, Laney Taylor! You really need to remind me of that?”
Laney giggled. “I’m calling to tell you that I’m at my wonderful husband’s office, around the corner from your loft, and we’d like to meet you and Nick for dinner. I’m craving a big juicy steak.”
“Laney and Donovan are treating us to a steak dinner. Should we go or should we stick to the original plan of getting naked in front of the fireplace and having stupid-sex?”
“Eew!” Nick laughed when he heard Laney hollering in disgust. “I didn’t need to hear that.”
“That’s payback for all the phone-sex I was unwillingly privy to when you and your wonderful husband were separated.”
“Whatever! Steak or sex?”
“She’s asking, ‘steak or sex?’” I turned to Nick.
“I’ll take the steak from one Taylor, then have sex with the prettier Taylor. Bye, Laney.” Nick hung up on her.
“So whatcha been up to, Nicholas?”
“I’ve done nothing but go to school and study. The better question is, what you have been up to with one Michael Bennington?”
Did I actually detect a note of jealousy from a man who couldn’t call me his girlfriend? “Michael and I had dinner a few nights, saw a show one night, and went to see Niagara Falls one weekend.”
Nick stayed awfully quiet. “Was this before or after we decided to be exclusive?”
“It was before, of course. I’m no two-timer. I wouldn’t kiss a man again once I decided to be exclusive with another.” I made it sound as if Nick had totally offended me with his accusation.
“You fucking kissed the guy?”
I loved the sounds of this jealous man. It was something I hadn’t seen, ever!
“Look,” I pointed to the happily married couple, “my niece and nephew are waiting for us.”
Laney practically skipped over and hugged me like she’d found her long lost aunt, and Donovan gave me almost as warm a greeting.
“You haven’t answered me.” It was hard holding back the pleased, smug smile. “You kissed Michael?”
To add fuel to the fire, Laney joked, “I’ve kissed him too. He’s a sweet kisser, huh?”
“Princess!” Donovan was pissed now. “You are married to me and having my babies. Is it appropriate to talk about kissing another man?” Donovan might have been even more pissed than Nick.
Laney only shrugged. “All I’ve done in my twenty-three years of life was kiss one other man besides you. I don’t think it’s that big a deal…”
“No more talks of Michael,” Donovan griped, “from either of you!”
Laney comically mimicked her husband in silence, behind his back, and then flung her arm around mine. “How’s it going with Nicholas?” she whispered.
“It was going well till Michael came up. It’s all good, though. I wanted a rouse out of Nick and that’s what I got.”
“So you’re together, now?”
“Yes, Laney. Bee and I are together now. There will be no more kissing other men, going to shows with other men, and having dinners with other men. Aside from business meetings, I expect you to be home with me, or home by yourself.”
“Possessive! I guess you got a little Jake in you after all.” Laney teased, and skipped to catch up with her husband.
“It was freakin’ midnight, New Year’s Eve. We all kissed one another. It meant not a thing, Nicholas.” The grin was back. “Now are you going to tell me you didn’t kiss that teenager you spent New Year’s with a couple of weeks ago?”
“News travels fast. I didn’t think anyone in my family knew I spent New Year’s with Lily.”
“There are no secrets among the Reids. Are we really doing this? We’re going to be a couple?”
“Babe. It’s just the two of us—no more, no less.”
“Just the two of us...I like that.”
January 16, 2014 NICK: 10?
“Hey, Max. What brings you to our humble abode?”
“Your sister tells me she and Gram are going shopping for a wedding dress and since Emily and Laney are joining them, I’m to help with the babies.”
“Why do women make such a big deal out of one day?”
“Who the hell knows? But, if it makes your sister happy, I’m willing to suffer through it. How are things with Bee?”
“Good?”
“Why the question mark at the end of a positive word?”
“It’s calm, copacetic, and catastrophe-free. Outside of that, I don’t have much else to say.”
“You might want to show a little more enthusiasm next time you repeat yourself, and leave out the catastrohpe-free bit. If I had said what you’d just said, your sister would’ve kicked my ass and not spoken to me for ten days.” Max laughed at me but secretly, I was laughing at him. There was no way I’d date anyone as high maintenance as my sister or my cousin. Even my dear sister-in-law was a pain during her dating days.
“I’m thinking of taking Bee skiing this weekend. We didn’t get to spend much time together in New York. I figure this’ll be my peace offering. Any suggestions where I should take her?”
“None. But if you don’t want all the Reids to follow, I’d keep that info to yourself.”
“Good advice, Bro’. I’m leaving before I get corralled into babysitting.”
“See ya.”
I drove down to Bee’s hoping to spend a quiet evening together. I’d study, she’d work, then we’d have a little fun.
“Hello Nicholas!” One too many female voices greeted me when I opened the door.
“What the fu...” I stopped when I saw Gram sitting on the couch. “What are you all doing here?”
“We needed Bee’s help with bridesmaids’ dresses.”
“Jane.” After Laney’s wedding, I was tired of the drama. “Bee is busy with her new collection. She doesn’t have time to make bridesmaids’ dresses for you.”
“I only have four bridesmaids now that Laney’s gotten herself knocked up, and her husband is refusing to allow her to do bridesmaid duties. Are you sure you’re going to be able to come to the wedding?” The conversation veered to Laney who was busting up in the corner of the room.
“You look like a lunatic laughing over there by yourself, Laney,” I said.
“I’m onl
y laughing because Dad informed me today that he and Jake are taking obstetrics classes just in case I have the babies on Grandfather’s plane. He’s bringing an entire c-section surgical room onto the plane.”
