She held out her hand to look at the stunning ring, “Now this is the smartest thing you’ve ever done.” They both laughed. “Are you sure this shouldn’t go to Holly though?
He shook his head, “This one is yours. I think my mother may have put it in safekeeping for you right after freshman orientation.”
Mia laughed, “You were not kidding. She is a very smart woman. I knew I liked her.”
Mia picked up her phone and took a photo of the ring on her finger. She looked at Schooner, devil smile at full tilt.
“Oh no, who are you texting that to?”
She just smiled, enigmatically.
“Your Mom?” He guessed.
“Nope.”
“My Mom?”
“Nope.”
“Seth.”
“Nope, he’ll be second.”
“Kami.”
“Nope.”
“Gaby.”
“Nope.”
“CJ,” he teased
“Ugh, nope,” laughing, “I don’t want to be responsible for an earthquake in LA.”
He shrugged his shoulders, palms up. “I’m out of guesses.”
“Katie Holmes,” smiled Mia and they both laughed.
CHAPTER 18
Schooner’s right leg bounced up and down at a frantic pace as he and Mia sat in Dr. Gary Cohen’s waiting room. Dr. Cohen, one of the top-rated physician’s in Manhattan for high-risk pregnancies was known for his laid back caring manner and was universally adored by his patients.
Mia had been one of Gary’s first patients when he joined a prestigious gynecology and obstetrics practice — long before he was known as “The Man” for high risk pregnancies. A friend of Mia’s, a nurse at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, had recommended a doctor when Mia was suffering from irregular cycles and prolonged periods of bleeding. The senior doctor in the practice was no longer accepting new patients, so Mia was assigned to the new guy, who was just starting out and trying to build a patient roster. Nearly twenty years had passed since.
“You’re making me nervous. Stop that.” Mia placed a hand above his knee and gave him a pointed look.
“Sorry,” he took her hand and squeezed it.
“So when is Yoli flying in?” She needed to distract him or his nerves were going to start making her even more nervous than she already was.
“I think she lands about 11 P.M. tomorrow night,” his eyes were darting everywhere.
“Schooner!” He looked at her. “Stop.”
“Sorry. I can’t believe I’m this nervous.” His eyes were wide and he looked like a lost boy to Mia. She smiled at him, God, he is sweet, she thought.
She leaned over and kissed him, “This is going to be a long freaking nine months. Keep it up and I’m sending you back to LA.”
He smiled against her lips, “Bitch,” and they both laughed.
“Mia Silver.” A nurse was at the door.
Mia and Schooner stood and in sync looked at one another and said, “Showtime.” They laughed as they headed back toward the exam room, hand in hand.
Dr. Gary Cohen entered the exam room, arms outstretched for a hug, “I hear my favorite patient is here.”
Mia gave Gary a warm hug, “I’ll bet you say that to all of your patients.”
“You and I were babies when we started,” they both laughed.
“Gary, I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Schooner Moore.”
Gary extended a hand and a warm smile to Schooner, “So, you’re the guy responsible for knocking her up, huh?”
They all laughed, “That would be me.”
“Good job, Man.” Gary clapped Schooner on the shoulder.
“Alright, Miss Mia, I’m going to do a sonogram in a few minutes. We’ll take a look and make sure this is a viable pregnancy, and then discuss some of the risks of being forty and pregnant, things we need to look out for, regimen, etc.”
“Ok, let’s get you up on this table, feet in the dreaded stirrups. I’m going to do a vaginal ultrasound on you. What we’re looking for is fetal pole or possibly even a fetal heartbeat, depending on how far along you are.” He squeezed gel onto the head of the ultrasound wand. “Are your periods still so irregular?”
“Yup.” Mia nodded, bracing herself for what she knew was going to be a cold, goopy wand.
He laughed, “You’ve always been a mess. Ready?”
She nodded, holding her breath and biting her bottom lip. Schooner grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He smiled down at her, his eyes saying all she needed to hear. He was surprisingly calm after his mini-meltdown in the waiting room.
“Ahhhh!” Mia stiffened from the cold, wet feeling probe.
“Relax.” Gary smiled up at her. He manipulated the wand, eyes intent on the screen. She squeezed Schooner’s hand tighter. Please, please, please, she said a silent prayer. Gary kept making adjustments to the wand, moving it left, center, right.
And finally a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh sound and Schooner let out a “Yes!”
Mia looked from Schooner’s smile to Gary. He was nodding his head, “Good job, Mia,” he was smiling, “we have a heartbeat.”
She felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes and turned to look at the monitor. The tech pointed out the baby’s heartbeat and Gary told her to print it.
She looked up at Schooner who was watching the fetal heartbeat and mouthed the words, “Our baby.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. She knew he couldn’t speak.
“Ok, let’s get some measurements and we’ll calculate a due date.” They moved markers around on the screen and pressed buttons that sounded like snapshots to Mia. “Ok, we’ve got it.” Gary informed his tech. “Mia you can get dressed now and why don’t you and Schooner come meet me in my office.” He handed her a wad of tissues with a smile and she wondered if it was for her tears or to clean off the nasty goop.
Schooner and Mia entered Gary’s ultra-modern office, hand-in-hand, and he motioned for them to have a seat.
“First, let me congratulate you. This is a very exciting day and I’m really thrilled for both of you. Schooner, I’ve known Mia for a long time and she is absolutely one of my very favorite people, so this pregnancy and her health are personally even more important to me than it typically is with a patient. I consider Mia a friend.”
Schooner smiled at Mia, “She does have that affect on people, doesn’t she.” He rubbed her hand in both of his, smiling ear-to-ear.
“Have you known one another long?” Gary asked.
“Twenty-four years.” Mia offered. Gary’s eyes widened in surprise. “We went out freshman year in college.”
Gary was smiling. “How’d you guys get back together?
“Facebook.” Schooner responded with a smile, as if that explained everything.
“Good for you.” Gary looked at them, shaking his head. “Ok, let’s get to the serious stuff. Here’s the good news, Mia you conceived right away, with no problems. Considering your age, irregular periods and irregular ovulation pattern, that is great. The fact that the embryo implanted normally and we now have a heartbeat is also really good. The embryo has a CRL measurement of slightly over 5MM. Again, perfectly within the norm and very good news.”
“What is a CRL measurement, Gary?”
“Crown to rump length.”
“Cool.” Mia was smiling, picturing a little head and bottom all curled up sleeping.
“Based on that measurement, we’re looking at a fetal age of about 5 weeks and a gestational age of 6 1/2 — 7 weeks. If you go full-term, Mia, we’re looking at a birth date right before Christmas.”
She backhanded Schooner in the arm, smiling at him, “How’s that for a gift from a Jewish girl!” He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. Schooner was beaming.
“Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room.” Gary began, “Mia, you’re forty. So what does that really mean? It means we need to test for certain things, look for certain things, keep our eyes open and be prepared to make some decisions
, should we need to.”
Mia looked at Schooner, holding her breath. He rubbed her hand in his and the look in his eyes said, “No worries, Baby Girl.”
Gary continued, “At age forty, the biggest risk is for Down’s Syndrome. The statistics are 1 in 90 births, which is considerably higher than 1 in 1300 for a woman who is twenty-five.” Mia realized she wasn’t breathing, she could feel the strength emanating from Schooner’s hand to hers, that same strength he infused in her the night that she was raped. “In about a month, we’ll do some blood tests looking for some normal first trimester proteins, a few weeks after that we’ll do Alpha-fetoprotein testing and at the same time we’ll do an early Quad Marker Screen testing for four substances that come from the baby’s blood, brain, spinal fluid and amniotic fluid. At that point, we’ll also do an amniocentesis. We have a Geneticist here on staff and I’m going to have the two of you meet with him.”
He stopped and looked from Mia to Schooner then back to Mia. “You are in good health, Mia and we’re going to watch you closely. If there are any issues, we’re going to detect it early and act accordingly.”
“Meaning?” Mia asked.
“Meaning a lot of different things — if we need to put you on bed rest, we’ll put you on bed rest.” He turned to Schooner and smiled, “Good luck with that one,” and the two men laughed. “Like I said, you’re in good health and your chances for a normal pregnancy are good. But you are high-risk and we’ll watch you. For now, enjoy your life, eat healthy, don’t drink, moderate exercise, take your prenatal vitamins and enjoy being pregnant.”
As he saw them out, he gave Mia a huge hug, “I am so thrilled for you both,” and to Schooner, “Take care of our girl.”
CHAPTER 19
Yoli stood in the middle of the rotunda looking up at the frescos. “Holy shit Schooner, the pictures did not do this place justice. I cannot believe this. This space is not for real.”
Schooner just smiled, looking up at the cove lit frescos, “Pretty amazing, huh. We’re coming along on the build out faster than I thought.”
“I can see. They really do things in a New York minute here, huh.” They were ascending the main marble staircase. “Amazing.” Yoli was blown away looking at all the architectural details.
“Come, let me show you the offices,” he ushered her into an area away from the rotunda. They entered a space with floor to ceiling windows. “Like my new office?” He flashed his catalogue smile, as he stood next to one of the windows.
“Are you ever coming home again?” She asked.
“I am home, Yoli,” he gave her a real smile.
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” she leaned up on the window frame facing him, “we need to talk about California.”
“I want you to run it — all of it. It’s about time I made you COO and let’s backfill you in the CMO role. You’ve got some good people working under you, I don’t think you’ll need to go outside, unless there’s someone you want to bring in.”
“Did you just promote me?” She had a look on her face saying, “You didn’t really just do that?”
He nodded and laughed, “YOU are the only thing I’ve missed about California.” He opened his arms and she went to him for an embrace.
“Yeah well, I’ve missed your cranky ass, too,” she gazed out the window, “What am I looking at?”
“Downtown. The financial district. That’s the Freedom Tower.”
She nodded and continued to look out the window before finally turning back to Schooner who was casually leaning against the opposite side of the carved window frame watching her. “You’re happy, Schooner.” It was a statement. “I’ve never seen you so full of life as you are here. Mia is clearly really good for you.”
He nodded. “She is really good for me. I did not think I’d ever be this happy again in my life, Yoli. It’s a gift and I know it and trust me, I am treating it accordingly.” Schooner admitted. He put an arm around her shoulder and they started back toward the rotunda. “Let’s head over to Mia’s office, I know she and Kami were bringing lunch into the conference room and we’re going to make it a working lunch.” He shrugged, “Working lunch. Totally a New York thing. I’m really excited to have you finally meet Mia, but I also have to admit that I’m more than a little scared.”
“Why is that?” The first hints of early spring were in the air when they stepped through the massive front entrance of the soon-to-be L9/NYC into the bright sunshine. Schooner stepped to the curb and hailed a cab, making Yoli think, he’s really got this down.
“I really want you two to like each other.”
“Well, I really like Kami a lot and she says wonderful things about Mia. And… “ she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
“…And what?” He shifted to face her, the black leather seat of the yellow cab creaking.
“I spoke to Holly.” Yoli looked almost contrite. Almost, being the operative word.
“…And?” Schooner urged, surprised by Yoli’s admission.
“She had great things to say about Mia, but more importantly, the thing that struck her the most, Schooner, was the change in you. You’re happy.”
Schooner nodded and looked out the window as the streets passed by.
They were laughing so hard, it didn’t feel like they were working. Yoli was immediately blown away by the casual chic atmosphere of the agency that clearly came top down from their Levi’s clad owner. Levi’s, Yoli thought refreshingly, not 7 For All Mankind or Dolce & Gabana, but a well-worn, broken in pair of Levi’s. And they weren’t even camel-toe tight, they were more like boyfriend jeans.
“I think you’ll be soft-opening in summer,” Mia was saying, “which is good, because a lot of people are out of town and it’s just a great time to work out the kinks,” they all agreed. “My recommendation is that we don’t do the big event until after Labor Day when everyone is back in town. Here’s what I’m thinking, Fashion Week is the week after Labor Day, make it part of the Fashion Week festivities. Means a lot of stars in town. Everyone is party hopping, throw a big opening gala in conjunction. Will give everyone something to look forward to in the fall social season.”
“Do we run the risk of getting lost in the shuffle?” Kami threw out on the table.
“We do if we don’t do it right. If we do it right, we can garner a lot of press out of it. If we launch prior, it’s pre-Labor Day and no one is in town and if we wait until later in September, we lose a lot of the star power that will be in town for Fashion Week — many of whom are already L9 members. I think we’re locked into a box and we just need to manage it to our advantage.”
Yoli made some notes on her laptop, “I’ll pull a member roster so that we can start taking a look at who we think will be in town for Fashion Week. We have a lot of models.”
“We have enough time,” Mia began, “to pull this together and really work on the details and make it a huge event. My concern is that is runs smoothly and the fact that we’re brand new, transparent to the attendees.”
Grabbing a Black & white cookie from a tray at the center of the conference room table and looking at it like “I can’t believe I’m going to eat this,” Schooner turned to Yoli and said, “Do we have our list together of staff that we want here for the opening and transition period?” Yoli pulled a sheet from a manila folder and slid it over to Schooner. He looked over the list. “I wonder how they’re going to feel about sleeping bags?” Schooner muttered. All eyes turned to him. He looked up stone-faced and looked around at all the sets of eyes on him, then broke into a huge smile, a real smile, “Scared you all, huh?”
“Asshole,” muttered Yoli.
“Love her.” Mia informed Schooner, pointing to Yoli.
“A woman to abuse me on each coast. Some guys just have it all,” he quipped.
Mia looked at Yoli with her devil grin and lifted her hand for a high five, which Yoli was right there to meet.
Later in the afternoon in a small dark pub around the corne
r from the office, drink in hand Yoli, sat with Schooner watching Mia talk and laugh with Seth, Kami and other members of her staff.
“So, what do you think?” He asked.
“I think you got it right this time. She’s so real. And you, you’re a different person.”
“I’m me.” Schooner countered, lifting his Johnnie Walker Blue to his smiling lips.
“How bad is CJ going to make this?”
“She’s going to drag her feet as long as she can, but it’s inevitable.” Schooner shrugged.
“And how is Mia with all of that?”
“Surprisingly unfazed,” he turned to Yoli smiling and shaking his head, “She could care less. She’s just worried about the aggravation it causes me.”
Yoli tossed back the rest of her drink and motioned to the waitress for another, “Well excellent, that is one less thing you have to worry about.”
Schooner turned to Yoli, a huge grin on his face, “Did you hear that CJ called Mia?”
Yoli’s mouth momentarily hung open, “Are you serious?”
Schooner nodded, still laughing. “She accused Mia of stealing me.”
“She didn’t.” Yoli laughed.
“And Mia told her,” he was still laughing, “Not to confuse me leaving her with being stolen away.”
Yoli began to choke on her drink and Schooner patted her back, “And then she told her she was recording the call.” They were both hysterical laughing.
“I knew I liked her!” Yoli confirmed.
Schooner went on, “I guess Mia said something to her about that she was just embarrassing herself and that she wasn’t going to let her go on and CJ told her that she wasn’t done yet and Mia said, “Actually, you are.” and hit the click off on her speaker button and hung up on her ass.”
They were both roaring with laughter. Mia smiled across the dark bar at them, clearly happy to see Schooner so at ease and laughing.
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