by Fields, MJ
After dinner, we walk back toward Cross’s loft. I wrap my arm around his middle and lean into him as we stroll.
“Are you happy, baby?”
“Uh-huh,” I confirm.
“The night went really well. I think your brothers stopped giving me the evil eye about halfway through the night.”
“You know, at this point, they are only doing it to mess with you, right?”
“I know. I will take my licks like a man.”
The night is beautiful. A crisp, cool October night in New York.
“Cross, do you want to go swimming?”
“Swimming? What? Now?”
“Yeah, we can go down to the hot springs.”
“We don’t have our suits with us.”
“I know,” I say with a wicked lilt.
He immediately stops, turns us back toward the woods and heads for the hot springs. When we get there, we check to make sure no one else is around, and I start stripping. I get my clothes off before Cross, and I take off running and jump in the water. It’s so warm, and it feels glorious. A few minutes later, Cross jumps in after me. I swim over to him and wrap my arms around his neck.
“You know we have no towels, and we are going to freeze our asses off while walking home, right?”
“So? We are warm right now, aren’t we?”
He rests his hands on the small of my back and pulls me in closer. “We are.”
I kiss his nose. Then, I kick out of his grip and start swimming. He gives chase, and we play in the water. Splashing and laughing and soaking in the warmth.
About an hour later, we are settled on the side of the spring, wrapped up in each other, and we hear footsteps crunching through the leaves.
“Christ. Really, man?” we hear Nicco’s voice boom through the clearing before we see him and Marianna making their way with a basket and bags in tow.
I laugh and try to hide myself behind Cross’s big frame.
“Sorry, Nicco. We didn’t realize anyone else would be out here tonight.”
“This sucks. It is not like when you were with Angie.” He cuts his eyes to me in a silent apology. “I can’t hang out with you while you are skinny-dipping with my sister, man.”
“I know. I will be sure to let you know when to steer clear in the future.”
“Ugh, now, the thought of you two naked in that water is burned into my brain.”
“Did you guys happen to bring any towels with you?” I ask.
“Yes.” Marianna elbows Nicco in the side. She comes to the water’s edge and hands us a couple of towels.
“I’ll start a fire,” Nicco grumbles as he lumbers off.
“He’ll get used to it.” Marianna grins at me. “It’s just weird for him right now, you know?”
“I get it.”
Cross and I get out and wrap up in the large towels. Once we get dressed, we make our way to the fire. He sits on a log we used as a bench around the pit the boys dug out years ago, and I settle between his legs. His arms are around me from behind, and he is rubbing his hands up and down my arms, trying to warm me. I lean my head on his thigh, and I look through the flames to Nicco. He is closely watching us, and he gives me a hint of a smile. For all his complaining, I know my big brother is happy for me. Happy for us.
Thirty-Three
Brie - Present
“Anyone seen my phone?” Nicco bellows down the hall.
It’s moving day. He and Daniel finally found the perfect place for them at Venice Beach. It’s about twenty minutes down the road from our apartment.
“Where was it the last time you saw it?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I had it last night. I’m going to check Kelsey’s room again.”
“Tell her to call it real fast,” I yell down the hallway.
A few seconds later, I hear a faint buzzing coming from between the couch cushions. I fish it out and hit Accept Call.
“Aha! I found it. It was under the couch cushions,” I declare in victory.
Silence.
“Hello?” I singsong into the phone.
“Gabby?”
Oh no. No. No. No.
I stay on the line. I should hang up, but I am paralyzed.
“Tesoro,” he whispers across the line in a strangled voice.
Nicco comes back in.
“It’s not in there. I have looked everywhere. Maybe it’s in your car.” He stops as he gets a look at my face. “What’s wrong, Sis?”
A small sob escapes me against my will.
“Gabby, I’m sorry, baby. I did not know you would answer the phone …”
I don’t hear the rest of what he says because Nicco has made it to me and taken the phone from my hand.
“Hello? Fuck. Hey, man. No, I misplaced my phone, and she was helping me find it.”
He gives me a look that says he is sorry, and he walks to the kitchen and out onto the back deck out of earshot. I go to my room and shut the door.
This is exactly why Nicco moving here was a bad idea. I was stable. I was okay. At least, I thought I was. Now, grief crashes over me, wave after wave.
I’m not sure how long I sit there before a soft knock comes. I wipe under my eyes and stand up. I open the door a hair.
Nicco is standing there, looking contrite. “I’m so sorry, sis.”
“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have answered your phone, especially without looking at the caller ID to see who it was. I just thought it was Kels calling, so I could follow the ring and find it. I answered without thinking.”
It could have been anyone. Mamma or Papa, one of my other brothers, or Cross. It was a stupid move on my part.
“We haven’t talked about him, but he and I …”
“You’re still friends. I get it. You always have been.”
“We always will be, but I promise I won’t bring it to your doorstep. Honestly, that’s the first time we have spoken since I came to California. I really am looking for a fresh start of my own.”
I just nod.
“Hey, Brie, Melanie is here,” Dawn calls as she comes in the front door.
Shit, I forgot that I was going with her to take Cassian for his twelve-month shots today. He turns a year old in less than a month. I can’t believe it.
“Isn’t that the lady you babysit for?” Nicco asks.
“Nanny,” I correct him. “I am a nanny, not a babysitter.”
“Nannies live with the family and watch the baby every single day. You are a babysitter.”
“Whatever,” I say as I pass him. I grab my phone and purse and head for the door before Melanie and Cassian can make it up the steps. I need to get out of this apartment.
“I take it, I don’t get to meet them?” he calls after me.
“Maybe next time,” I call back.
Once I’m in the courtyard, I can finally breathe again. Melanie is standing there with the baby.
“Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”
“More like heard one.”
* * *
On our way to the pediatrician, I fill Melanie in on my morning.
“Oh, jeez, Brie. Honey, I was afraid something like this would happen when that brother of yours showed up.”
“I know. Me, too, but I learned my lesson. No answering Nicco’s phone. Ever.”
“Do you think he had any ulterior motives for moving here? I mean, it just seemed so out of the blue.”
I think about it for a minute.
“Maybe. Papa could have sent him here to keep tabs on me, but honestly, if that were the case, he could have sent any number of his soldiers and not exiled one of his sons. It just doesn’t add up. Perhaps his breakup with Marianna sent him running, just like how everything that had happened with me sent me running. They were together for years and years. I barely remember the time before they were a couple. It had to be hard for him.”
I want so desperately to believe that Nicco was sincere when he said he, too, wanted a fresh start. I hope that he has no ties to the family bu
siness and that none of that has followed him here to taint our lives or our new friends’ lives.
Melanie doesn’t look convinced. “I hope so, for your sake. You are doing so well. You have made friends, you are working, you have a new boyfriend. I’m so proud of you and I don’t want you to revert back to that girl who was always curled into herself.”
“The one thing that I know beyond a shadow of doubt is that Nicco loves me very much. He wants me to be happy as much as, if not more than, anyone else.”
“Good,” she says like her fears have been eased. “Are we going to get to meet him?”
“Eventually. Right now, you guys are still my safe haven. The one place I can run when things get to be too much. The only ones who know my whole story from all sides, and I don’t know if I’m ready to share you guys with Nicco just yet. Where will I go when things like this morning happen?”
She reaches over and pats my knee, and I know she understands what I am trying to say. I thank God daily for her and Rick. In a lot of ways, their friendship has saved me.
We arrive at the doctor’s office, and I get the baby from his car seat and hold him close. Shot days are hard for us. I think I cry harder than he does. It sucks when he is so little and can’t understand what is happening, and his mother and I—two of the three people he trusts most in this world—hand him off to get pricked and prodded. I bet, in his mind, it is a betrayal. It slays me every time, but I keep coming because I don’t want Melanie to have to do it alone.
“Here we go, little man. You are going to be okay. Mommy and I are going to be with you the whole time. I promise it will only take a second. When it is over, we are going to hold you tight, and we are going to go to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream to get you the biggest cone they have. Then, we are going to go to the splash park, and you and I are going to jump through the water,” I whisper to him the entire walk to the office.
As soon as we walk into reception and his eyes see the desk and Miss Linda, he bursts into big crocodile tears and buries his face into my tee. It breaks my heart.
After the terror is over, the three of us do get ice cream and go to the splash park close to their home. Cassian is not quite walking on his own yet, so I hold him in my arms as we stomp through the water sprouts and run through the arched fountain.
He giggles and keeps shouting, “Gin,” for again, so I know that he has forgiven us.
“So, what are we doing for the big birthday?”
“I’m not sure yet. I was thinking a safari theme maybe. Or Candy Land. I have always wanted to throw a Candy Land theme party. I went to a baby shower once that was Candy Land theme, and it was amazing. I always said, if I ever had a baby shower of my own, I would want that one,” Melanie explains, and I know we are kindred spirits.
I would love to help her throw Cassian a Candy Land birthday party.
“Let’s do it!”
“You like that idea?”
“I love it, and there is so much we can do.” I start plotting. “We can have a huge cake made to look like King Kandy’s castle. We can have a candy bar set up with goodie bags where guests can make their own candy gift bags to take home. We can make huge lollipops out of PVC pipe and Styrofoam we cover in see-through color-tinted plastic. We can fill huge clear plastic bags with smaller helium-filled colored balloons to look like gumballs. Oh, we can even dress like Princess Frostine and Princess Lolly, and we can dress Cassian as a tiny Jib. Do you think Rick would dress up as Mr. Mint?”
She starts laughing. “I like where your head is.”
“Our boy only turns one once, and we have to make it extra special. Do you want to check out some bakeries now?”
“Absolutely.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon together, planning the most epic first birthday party ever thrown.
When they drop me back off at the apartment, I’m in a much better mood. That baby is always the best medicine.
The apartment is empty, and the girls left a note on the kitchen island, saying they are at the boys’ apartment in Venice, helping them get everything unpacked. They want me to join them when I get home. After work today, Jake was going to help move the furniture that Uncle Matt had bought the guys, so he is probably still there as well. So, I grab my car keys and head out.
Thirty-Four
Gabby - Past
Bliss—that’s the only way to describe the past few months. I finished up my classes and ended the year on the Dean’s List. Adriana moved back home, and I moved in with Cross for the summer. He is working for his papa, running one of his legitimate businesses, and his papa is so impressed that he is giving him more and more responsibilities. I have been working at Papa’s club, giving private tennis lessons to children and young adults because I want to earn my own pocket money without having to ask Papa or Cross every time I need or want something. I have grand plans of doing a little redecorating in the loft.
“What do you think of these?”
I show Cross the beautiful wine-colored leather barstools I found online. They have to be custom-made, but I think they would be gorgeous at his island.
“They look nice,” he says distractedly while watching a Yankees game on the television.
“I was hoping for something more enthusiastic than nice.” I sigh. “I’ll keep looking. Would you prefer a brown or something? They have them in a tobacco color.”
He turns to look at me. “A what?”
“They are available in brown. A different color?”
He seems to realize what I’m talking about.
“I’m sorry, Tesoro. I wasn’t paying attention. Show it to me again.”
I turn the screen back toward him, and he considers them for a moment.
“They seem awfully fancy for this place.”
“I’m trying to make this place more homey.”
He reaches for the remote and turns the game off. “I have a better idea.”
I give him my full attention.
“Why don’t we find a piece of land of our own and draw up plans to have your dream house built? Instead of you trying to dress this place up, let’s save the effort for a place that is ours.”
“You want to build a house with me?” I ask him in shock.
“Of course I do. Did you think I was going to make you live in this loft behind my father’s home forever?” He grins. “It doesn’t have a second bedroom, and the bed it does have doesn’t even have walls around it. How will I be able to ravage you without our babies walking in on us?”
“Our babies?”
“Yes, ma’am. I want a houseful of babies who look just like their mamma.”
“A houseful, huh? Exactly how many are we talking?”
He pretends to think for a moment. “Eight or ten.”
“Eight or ten? You do realize that means that I would be pregnant for a decade or longer.”
He flips me onto my back and places his big hand on my stomach. “I think you would be sexy, pregnant. Knowing that a part of me is growing inside of you”—he places a kiss right below my belly button—“I don’t think there could be a greater gift in this world than babies that are half-you and half-me.”
I melt at his words.
“Well, we have to wait until I’m out of school and have had at least a couple of years to get a restaurant off the ground before there are any babies.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean we can’t start building the house to fit them all though. What do you say?”
“I say, we start looking for land.”
* * *
“Wait, he wants to build you a house? Isn’t that a little premature? Shouldn’t he be in the market for an engagement ring first?” Adi asks as she sips her cocktail.
We met her and her latest conquest out for dinner. Cross and … Derrick? I think that is his name. They are playing a game of pool while we wait for our food to arrive.
“We haven’t talked about a ring, but he said he wants me to have ten of his babies, so I’m fairly sure we will ev
entually get there.”
She chokes on her drink. “Ten babies? Is he insane? You are not a puppy mill, for Christ’s sake. Dude, your body will never recover. He will be looking at saggy tits and stretch marks for the next fifty years.”
“That won’t happen.”
“The hell it won’t—unless he plans on sending you down to Dr. Miami for one of those fabulous Mommy makeovers.”
“Who is this Dr. Miami?” Cross butts into our conversation as he follows the server who is bringing our plates.
“Her saving grace if you are serious about this ten-babies business.”
I roll my eyes at her ridiculousness.
“What I want to know is, when do you plan to put a ring on it?”
“Adriana!” I scold. I can’t believe she just asked him that.
He just grins at her like he has a secret and looks at me. “Is she always going to be this nosy?”
“Probably. She has no boundaries.”
“It’s true. We are a package deal. You should have considered that before you went and laid claim on my best friend. She was mine first.”
“Oh no, I believe she was mine first.”
“Please don’t fight over me. I have enough love in my heart for you both.”
“Yeah, but you can only live in one place. This asshole stole my roommate. I know there is zero chance that you are moving back to the city with me when school starts in the fall.” She pouts.
About that time, Cross’s phone starts ringing. He looks at it and sends the call to voicemail. Two seconds later, it starts ringing again. Another send to voicemail. Then, my phone starts ringing. I grab my purse and check, and it’s Papa. I look to Cross as his phone again starts ringing. We both answer this time.
* * *
We head to my parents’ house. When we arrive, my parents, grandparents, my brothers, and Cross’s grandparents are all there. Mamma comes barreling toward me and collapses in my arms. We are still confused and have no idea what is happening.
