Page 119 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

“You don’t have to be so sensible,” I reminded him while rubbing my hands vigorously over my arms, and we were still inside the heated private terminal—as in the terminal for private plane passengers, nothis ownprivate terminal. A girl could get used to this life, especially when it meant we got to bring our fur kiddos with us.Gah!Tears in my eyes again!? Yes, I loved my husband. Yes, I loved that he’d thought to bring Georgie Boy and Princess Miranda with him. But the pregnancy hormones had to settle. I was so over crying at the drop of a hat.

Blake simply pressed a sweet kiss to my tear-dampened cheek. A man in a suit rolled our luggage to us, he had a stylish woolen cape draped over his arm. My husband helped me into it. The fabric covered my exposed arms and torso, down to my thighs and gave plenty of room for my growing belly. Okay, so he thought of everything.

He stood behind me, rubbing my belly absentmindedly while we waited for the car to bring us home. The driver popped the trunk and jumped out of the front to load the bags for us. Blake held open the back door for me and I slid in first. The car had heated leather seats and I sighedall the sighsas the warmth sank in down to my somewhat-less-frosty-thanks-to-my-cape bones. Before we left, the driver walked Georgie Boy, letting him sniff and do his business. Georgie used puppy pads on the flight, but every dog knew the outdoors was better peeing grounds. Miranda still had her travel litterbox.

Maisie stood in the doorway with her hands clasped in front of her, crying not from pregnancy hormones. She knew the reason I’d left. She knew about the baby. And I was quite certain she understood why he brought me home.

Per Blake’s directions, she’d been getting the guest room across from our bedroom cleared out and hired a painter in that time. The walls needed a fresh coat of white to give a clean base for the nursery. Blake knew exactly what he wanted the nursery to look like. We lay in bed one night in our room on the island, just talking about how our lives had changed so drastically from those people who met on the Seine.

“I know I’ve told you this,” Blake said, staring up at the ceiling. “But the first time I saw you, I knew I had to meet you—nothing beyond that. I had no idea what the world had in store for us.”

“When you said you were leaving to head up to that festival, my heart stopped. How could I let you go? Now less than a year later, we’re married, a baby on the way… It’s like, whose life am I living?”

He laughed softly. “Gloria Parker’s. Do you realize how lucky this little one is to have you for a mom? Intelligence, kindness—not to mention you’re smoking hot. Our kid won’t have a chance to be anything but beautiful.”

“You did contribute like fifty percent, honey. You graduated from Harvard with a degree in finance, not exactly a dunce. You have a big heart—I mean, you brought Georgie and Miranda to live with you. And I’ve been around handsome men—Ant and Pete arewhoa. But you, husband, you made my heart stop beating momentarily. I thought,How could he be real? This man has to be a movie star.”

He laughed at that.

“Growing up with you will be a wonderland. I think the nursery should reflect that. What do you think?”

“Reflect that?” I asked.

Blake nodded, smiling, seemingly lost in a vision in his mind. “Alice in Wonderland. How amazing would it be to have an Alice-themed nursery?”

And there’s your answer as to why we needed the white base coat.

Maisie stepped out of the way to welcome me inside while Blake carried our bags. She hugged me fiercely. “Don’t you ever leave us again,” she scolded. “We need you here. Blake needs you here.” Then she let me go to place a hand on my growing belly. Her eyes lit up even as they teared up again. “I can’t believe—a baby! This house needs the laughter of children. We won’t let those Parkers anywhere near this little one.”

“But Maisie, weareParkers,” I reminded her.

She swatted away my words. “The horrible ones.”

A laugh burst from Blake. “My sister doesn’t count, right?”

“No…” Maisie said thoughtfully. “Jupiter is lost, but she’s good.”

“I was lost once, too, Mais,” Blake said.

“Until you met Gloria. Maybe that’s what Jupiter needs.”

“No,” my husband said steadfastly. “Gloria is already taken. I’m not sharing with my sister.”

He… I shook my head. “My husband is an idiot. Don’t mind him.”

Just then, Dee popped out of the kitchen with a tray of pastries. “Blake! You brought our girl home!”

“Forever,” he replied.

“You have to be hungry,” she said to me. “I made all your favorites. Go upstairs and change into your comfies.” —I had to laugh at Dee using my word— “I’ll bring the pastries and some tea up to you. Dinner is cooking in the Crock-Pot. I can stay and bring it up to you.”

“No need, Dee,” Blake said. “I got it. Thank you so much.”

She smiled so big. Dee, like Maisie, loved my husband. And I loved Dee, too. I walked over to hug her. “Not getting out of this,” I said. She returned my hug one-armed.

“This house wasn’t the same without you.”

I felt the love, but I felt more jet lagged. This growing a human and twenty hours of travel wore me out. “I’m so glad to see you both, but this is where I take Dee’s advice. I need my bed.” Patting my leg, I signaled for Georgie and Miranda to follow me, but I stopped at the stairs pointing. “Why the chair lift?” I asked.

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