Once they were upstairs, all the girls converged on me.
“How are you holding up?” Teddy asked. “That must have been quite a shock.”
I rolled a shoulder. “I don’t know that I’ve really processed it. It’s been a whirlwind couple of days.” I covered my face with both hands and let out a sigh, allowing myself to really feel the shock of the past couple days, now that I had a moment of safety with my girls. “I can’t believe he has a daughter. I can’t believe we’re moving. I love my house. I planned on living there forever. I was just starting to get used to the idea of being with him. And now this? It…it feels like it’s too much.”
Zoe and Autumn closed in for a double hug. “It is a lot,” Zoe said. “But you can do this.”
“You can,” Autumn agreed. “If I can get married, you can do this.”
“Am I, like, her stepmother?” I asked, to no one in particular. “What if I end up being the evil stepmother from Cinderella?”
Lizzy had Sabrina on her hip, the little girl babbling and cooing and chewing on a teething toy; I suddenly had Sabrina in my arms, the adorable little girl grinning at me and whacking me with the toy.
“Hey now,” I said, laughing as I warded off giggling blows of the teething toy, “no no, none of that.” To Lizzy, then. “Is this where you tell me that if you can get married and have a baby, I can do this?”
Lizzy nodded. “Sure is. But it looks to me like you are doing it. Nobody ever said it would be easy, because it won’t be. It’s a huge, complex, difficult, overwhelming situation. But you’re equal to the task, Laur. You have all of us as a support structure. And most importantly, you have that man up there at your side.”
Kat hung on me from behind, her cheek against mine. “This is where you say thank you, Teddy.”
I cackled. “Thanks, Teddy,” I laughed, “you’re the best at luring unsuspecting men into falling in love with us crazy-ass bitches.”
Teddy gave a cutesy, demure shrug, kicking up one foot with her hands flinging palms-up. “I do what I can.”
Autumn shook my sidearm. “Hey, now. I helped.”
I wriggled out of the cluster-hug. “Okay, okay, the Ice Queen hasn’t thawed out that much. Too many hugs.”
The rest of the day was spent choosing furniture from the crazy amount of stuff the girls had arranged, having the movers—and the men—bring it in where we wanted. While this was happening, the movers from my house showed up, with our clothes in wardrobe boxes as well as our kitchen and bathroom stuff and the various needful knickknacks. I planned to go back to the house myself later to pack up and transport my purse collection myself—you didn’t trust several hundred thousand dollars in vintage luxury purses to anyone but yourself.
Kat had set Isabela up with her phone so she could watch shows while we worked—hours flew by, and then suddenly it was dusk and Seven, Braun, and Titus tromped into the kitchen, each of them carrying an armload of food—there were pizzas, Chinese food, Thai food, Italian, and Mexican, as well as cases of beer and a package of juice boxes for Isabela.
I’d chosen a massive dining room table, simply to fill the space available as it was simply enormous; there were sixteen places, a bench on one side and chairs on the other, with heavy, fancy chairs with thick, padded arms on the ends. With everyone in attendance, over half the seats were filled.
And I had a vision flash into my brain and lodge there, stark, vivid, and real—Isabela running around after a tow-headed little boy, Sabrina following behind, with other children all around, laughing and playing. I saw Teddy, and in a dreamlike way I could tell she was laughing at something said by the man she loved even though I couldn’t see his face or features. I saw Lizzy with Braun, Autumn with Seven—and in the dream/vision/whatever it was, she was pregnant…as was Zoe; I saw Kat, too, holding the hand of a small black-haired little girl who looked just like her. And in the vision, we all sat together at this table, laughing, eating—my mental camera panned around the table, seeing all my friends…my family, my sisters…all of us together, all of us happy.
“Laurel?” Lizzy’s voice. “You okay?”
I looked around at everyone, at this table, here and now. “Yeah, I’m good.” I looked at Isabela. “Isabela, I would like to formally welcome you to Six Chicks Real Estate family.”
Isabela just blinked. “Okay. Thank you?”
Laughter from everyone.
Seven flipped open a box of pizza. “I never got a formal welcome.”
Autumn teasingly elbowed him. “You’re not a chick.”
“Oh. I would still like an official welcome to the extended group, then.”
“Hey, if there are official welcomes going out, I think I should get one—I was the first to dip my toe into the office pond, so to speak,” Braun said. “It ain’t easy being the first.”
I gestured at Lizzy. “You’re the boss, boss.”
Lizzy sighed, laughing. “Fine. Braun, congratulations on being the first. Seven, I know Autumn isn’t easy to get along with, so good on you for tackling that particular challenge.”
Autumn threw a lime wedge from the tray of tacos at Lizzy. “Hey, I resent that comment. I am the most easygoing and fantastic person there ever was.”
Lizzy snorted. “Okay, babe, keep telling yourself that. Titus, you must be a glutton for punishment, falling for Laurel. She’s as complicated as she is beautiful. To all three of you, welcome to the club. We’re a weird, foul-mouthed, crazy bunch of women, but we’re loyal.”
“Hear hear,” Teddy said. “You guys may be foul-mouthed, but I happen to be a lady.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “I’m a lady too. I’m just a lady who likes to say fuck.”
Isabela huffed. “You shouldn’t say that around me, you know. I’m very a-pressionable.” Her lip quivered. “Mommy said that word when she was mad. And then she…she told me not say it, and she shoudn’t not to have said it, because I’m a-pressionable.”
“Impressionable,” Titus murmured around a mouthful of pizza.
“’Kay.” She glanced at Kat. “What do you do when you…when you miss her so bad you want to just…” she trailed off, unable to find the right words.
Kat’s smile was sad and understanding. “So bad you just want to…not die too, but just…not be anywhere. Not be anyone.” She was sitting on the other side of Isabela, while I sat across from her, while Titus was at the head of the table. “What do you do? You just let yourself miss her. It’s okay. You can talk to her, in your head. You can talk to any of us about her. You can just go sit somewhere by yourself until you feel better. Because here’s the real secret, honey—it’ll pass. And that’s okay too. It doesn’t mean you don’t love her, or miss her. But it’s okay to let the missing her pass. It’s normal and it’s okay.”
“Now who’s the one with hidden depths?” I asked, the question aimed at Kat.
Kat rolled her eyes. “They’re not hidden. I just don’t use them very often.”
“Maybe you should,” Teddy said, grinning. “It’s hot on Laurel, the whole emotional depth and availability. It’s like a whole new Laurel. Just think what you could be like!”
Kat shook her head, snorting. “No. And don’t you dare make me the next victim of The Ad.” A glare around the table, especially at Teddy. “I mean it, Theodora. I don’t want a man. I don’t need a man. The only part of a man I need is his—”
“A-HEM,” Teddy cut in. “Language, Kat. Little ears.”
Isabela rolled her eyes. “I know what you were gonna say.” She glanced at Kat. “You were gonna say his mouth. For kisses. I caught Mommy kissing someone, once. They didn’t have no clothes on, and they were making funny noises. I had a bad dream and wanted a drink of water. Mommy said she was just kissing her friend.”
Kat snorted, spluttered. “Yeah, honey. Exactly. The only part of a man I need is his mouth, for kissing.”
“Lots, and lots, and lots of kissing,” Zoe said, unable to stop her spluttering laughter. “The kind with no clot
hes on. And funny noises.”
“Okay, that’s about enough of that,” I cut in. “Let’s be appropriate.”
This, of course, drew even more uproarious laughter from everyone, with Autumn, beside me, grabbing my arm to stop herself from falling over with laughter.
“You…you are telling us to be appropriate,” she guffawed. “Oh god, that’s rich.”
“What?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You’re really leaning into your new role, ain’tcha?” Zoe said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Let’s be appropriate, says the queen of inappropriateness. Aren’t you the one who was telling us about…um, special kissing…challenging and adventurous places?”
I sighed. “That was the old Laurel. Behold—” I gestured at myself, and took Titus’s hand. “The new and improved me. Now at least fifty percent more appropriate, in the necessary situations, of course.”
“Oh, of course,” Autumn said, sighing with the fading gales of laughter. “But really? Only fifty percent?”
I smirked at her. “I can’t be totally appropriate all the time, can I? I have to stay on brand to some degree, after all.”
Dinner wound down, with the vast majority of the food being devoured—largely by the men. Once it was done, Titus got Isabela’s attention.
“So.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Want to see your room, now that it’s all made up?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“All right, let’s go.”
I went with them, and found myself trailing behind Titus and Isabela as they ascended the stairs, watching once again as they held hands and chatted on the way up the stairs.
Isabela’s room was a little girl wonderland—a white loft bed overflowing with pink bedding and pink pillows and a bookshelf under it, a dresser, a desk, and an open-top chest full of toys—beside the chest was a storage shelf of square boxes filled with more toys, which were the things Isabela had brought with her, along with her clothes.
I hadn’t seen this room get done—I’d been overseeing the kitchen. “Wow, where did all these toys come from?”
“Jer and Bex,” Titus answered, his voice quiet as we watched Isabela explore the room. “They’re all things that Kenzie has grown out of or doesn’t play with anymore. We can get her new stuff, obviously, but this gets her going, right?”
I elbowed him. “Why aren’t they here?”
“Who? Jer and Bex?”
I nodded. “They should be here. Next time, invite them. They’re part of the crew now, too.”
He nodded. “They’re the closest thing I’ve had to family, since Tommy.” A tilt of the head. “And I guess since they have so many kids, they’d be a good place to get some advice, huh? When things get challenging.”
“And hopefully Isabela will have fun playing with their kids.”
Isabela looked around. “It’s all for me?”
“Sure is, kiddo,” Titus said, pointing at the shelf. “That’s all your stuff—what you already had. The stuff in the box there was given to you by some friends of mine. They have daughters around your age, one older by a year or so, and another two younger than you. You’ll meet them soon.” He pointed at the dresser and the closet. “All your clothes are there, and the shelf under the bed is all your books from your old room.”
Isabela noted the huge, overstuffed beanbag chair, so big Titus could have sat on it with room to spare. “Can I sit on that?”
Titus laughed. “Course you can. It’s yours, and that’s what it's for.”
She just stood in the center of the room, staring around. Finally, she looked at us. “I like it.”
Titus sat on the beanbag chair, flopping down heavily, and gesturing to her. “Come here, huh?” She sat down on the bean bag, not quite cuddling up to him, but not on the edge either. “I know it’s not…your old room. I know it’s different.” He reached up behind him and grabbed a book at random, glanced at the title. “Fox in Socks. Huh. Looks weird.” He glanced at Isabela. “You like this one?”
She gave a funny little smirk. “Yeah. But you have to try to read it superfast.”
He tilted his head and frowned. “Why, is it a tongue twister book?”
She just snickered. “Yeah. It’s funny.”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Well, good thing I happen to be an expert at tongue twisters.”
She blinked at him. “You are?”
He nodded. “Oh, for sure. Whenever I’m ready to go out on stage, I do a bunch of tongue twisters to warm up.”
“You go out on stage?”
He hesitated. “Did, um…do you not know who…I mean, what I do for a living?”
She shook her head. “Mommy didn’t tell me. Just that you were busy all the time traveling.”
“I’m a musician. Um, like, in a rock band.” A clearing of his throat. “Although nowadays I’m sort of a solo act.”
“Are you famous?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Like, how famous?”
A chuckle. “I mean, there’s not, like, a scale of reference. But, I do have my own Wikipedia page.”
“I don’t know what that means.” A puzzled frown. “Are you more famous than Channing Tatum? Mommy says he’s the yummiest man who ever was.” The frown became more puzzled. “But I never got that. How is he yummy? Did she try to eat him?”
“I mean, Channing Tatum is pretty famous. I don’t know about yummy, that’s probably more of a question for Laurel. But I guess I’m sort of…on that level, yeah. Most people know who I am.”
“I don’t.”
“Well, you’re six. Do you listen to a lot of heavy metal?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, duh. I don’t even know what that is.” A pause. “Mommy always listens to the radio songs in the car. And she sings along, but she doesn’t sing very good and it hurts my ears. She says it doesn’t matter because I’m the only one who ever hears, and I can’t make fun of her because I’m her kid.”
My throat closed—everything about her mom was in present tense.
“Your mom…uh.” He cleared his throat. “She sounds like she was pretty special.”
Isabela was quiet. “Yeah.” A deep, serious look up at Titus, then. “She’s really gone? Forever and ever?”
He had to whisper his answer. “Yeah, kiddo. Forever and ever.”
A long, long silence. “Can you read the book, now? And you gotta do it fast.”
He cleared his throat again. “Uh, okay. Here we go. Never read a book to a kid before, so, you know, cut me some slack.” Quieter, then, mumbled, “I also quit school sophomore year, so I don’t read very well to begin with. But, here we go. Fox in Socks.” He cleared his throat one more time. “Uh, okay. Fox, socks, Knox, box.” A pause, and a glance at her. “How’m I doing so far? Pretty good, right?”
She gave a little laugh. “You just started, silly. Keep going.”
I watched as he read the book, picking up the pace as the rhythm increased, and by the time he got to the Tweetle-beetle battle, he was really into it, trying to go faster and faster until he inevitably stumbled over a wrong syllable.
When he finished the book, Isabela was smiling. “So, what’s my grade for my first time? A-plus, right?”
She shrugged. “Maybe a B. You’ll have to practice.”
“Oh boy. I dunno, that was tricky.”
“You said you were good at tongue twisters.”
He snorted. “Yeah, short ones. Like, ‘Sally sells seashells by the seashore,’ and ‘red leather yellow leather,’ and ‘the big black bug bit a big black bear and the big black bear bled black blood.’”
“That one sounds hard.”
“Yeah, you try saying it five times fast.”
So she did, and stumbled halfway through the first time, and then, just to show off, Titus went through several times, each time faster than the last, never stumbling.
Isabela turned around and searched the shelf, finding one particular book. She looked at me. “Can you read this one?�
��
I came and sat down on the giant bean bag chair, Titus’s long legs wrapping around my hips. “Sure, sweetie. Let’s see.” I took the book, and sighed. “Guess How Much I Love You?”
Isabela watched with wide, sad eyes as I opened it. “That’s Mommy’s favorite book to read to me. She would make her voice all soft and nice.”
“I’ll do my best.” I took a deep breath, and began reading, in my softest, quietest voice.
When I’d finished the story, my throat was tight and even Titus was blinking a little faster than normal.
Isabela took the book back from me. “Thank you.”
I smiled. “Of course, sweetie.”
She just held the book. “Can I…can I be alone, now? I want to think about Mommy.”
Titus ruffled her hair. “Sure. We’ll be downstairs if you need us.”
We paused together at the top of the stairs, and I rested my head against his chest. “What in the hell did we get ourselves into?”
He shook his head. “She’s six. How is she handling it so well? Like, she’s amazing.”
I huffed a laugh of agreement. “Right? I was thinking that, myself.” I gazed up at him. “You’re really good with her.”
He sighed. “Thanks.” A long pause. “I wish…” He trailed off.
“What?”
“I dunno, it’s hard to say it right. Clearly, Maria was a great mom to her. I always had this resentment, you know? Like, this anger. I felt so wronged. She tricked me into impregnating her, didn’t tell me until after she’d had the baby, asked for money, and then refused to let me see my own daughter even one time. How do I reconcile that to someone who so clearly loved and took great care of that little girl in there? What do I do with that?”
“People can have different sides of themselves, I guess, right?” I scratched his jaw. “And people also do change. I don’t know. I know you can have your own version of Maria, and your experience with her is your own personal experience. Nothing can change that. But Isabela has her own experience of her mother. The person that you are with me, with her, that’s a different kind of person than the rock star who goes out on stage, the one who signs things and poses for pictures with fans and all that. And it’s not the same as the rock star legendary for a wild, hard, crazy life. It’s all you right? I guess what I’m saying is, Maria could do the things to you that she did, and still be a wonderful, loving, attentive mother who worked hard to provide for her child and put aside money for her future rather than spending it on herself. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
Laurel's Bright Idea (Billionaire Baby Club Book 3) Page 24
