Page 86 of If the Stars Align
Jeremy tilts his head. “Well, it’s just that I was reading this article about genetics the other day?—”
Of course he was.
“—and it got me thinking about when you and I have babies,” he says.
My gaze softens and, before I know it, I’m smiling. I walk to the bed and sit next to him. “You’ve already started thinking about us having babies?”
He nods. “Not now, of course, but down the road, yeah. And I think it might be good to know what your ethnic background is. They’ve come a long way with prenatal genetic testing, and if there are conditions that you or the baby are at risk for, it would be helpful to know before we start trying.”
My eyes well up. Jeremy has this way of making me feel so special. I mean, he has the most discriminating taste in the world, and he wantsmeto be the mother of his children.
He puts an arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you emotional before court.”
I shake my head and smile. “No, it’s okay. What you’re saying makes sense. Maybe I should start by asking my mom what she knows about his background and medical history, but…I’m a little scared, honestly. She’s always refused to talk about him.” I wince. “I had to do one of those family tree projects in school when I was a kid, and when I asked her for a picture of him, she said she’d ripped them all to shreds.”
He takes my hand in his. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there with you. We’ll handle it together.”
I let out a little laugh. “She’ll probably be a lot more receptive ifyouask her. HerbelovedJeremy.”
“Women have a hard time resisting my charm,” he teases. Then he pulls me in for a kiss.
Once we get started, it’s hard to stop, but eventually we do.
“I’m going to get in the shower,” he says when we pull apart. “Donotworry about court, okay? You’re spectacular, Sunny. Most people never make it to the big firms, but here you are. Hereweare. We’re a team, remember? Just like in law school. And if we do the grunt work now, it’s going to pay off big-time when we make partner.”
Jeremy’s parents are both partners at big law firms in Manhattan. I haven’t met them yet, but from what he’s described, it sounds like they’re not the warmest people. Theonly time they ever paid Jeremy much attention growing up was when he impressed them with an academic achievement. It’s no wonder making partner means so much to him.
“We’ll have everything we ever wanted,” he continues. “We can send our kids to the best private school in Chicago. We’ll have a big house in Lincoln Park with a two-car garage…and maybe a place in Michigan too. We’ll retire there, and you can read as many sappy romance novels as you want while I’m drooling in front of the TV.”
I giggle.
“Doesn’t that sound nice?” he asks.
I nod. “It does. It sounds wonderful.”
“Good.” Jeremy stands and kisses the top of my head. “Hey,” he says, tilting my chin up to look me in the eye. “You know I think you’re beautiful no matter how you wear your hair, right? You could shave it off, for all I care. But…I can’t say I don’t find this particular style incredibly sexy on you.”
He runs his fingers through my hair and gives it a little pull, like he does when we’re in bed sometimes. Then he kisses me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Once he’s in the bathroom, I walk to the front door where my Italian leather briefcase and Jimmy Choo stilettos—both gifts from Jeremy as well—are waiting for me. I step into my heels and give myself a final once-over in the front hall mirror before I leave.
Maybe Jeremy’s right. My hairdoeslook good straight.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to keep it like this a while longer.
It’s five o’clock on Friday, and I can’t get out of the office fast enough.
Work has been an absolute nightmare since my first court appearance two weeks ago. You would think it had gone terribly, judging by what a nervous wreck I’ve been. But quite the opposite.
I did well.Extremelywell—or that’s what I’m told, at least.
One of the junior partners at my firm happened to be in the courtroom for a status hearing on another case and said I was a natural in front of the judge. I believe “poised and confident” were the exact words he used, but I can’t be sure because, while he was complimenting me, I was still so keyed up from my five minutes in the spotlight that I could barely register what he was saying. But back at the office that afternoon, he told ourentire departmentduring a lunch meeting that I was born to be in a courtroom.
Which means that now, in addition to the heaps of legal research requests that land on my desk every day, partners are sending me to court for them on a regular basis as well. In thepast two weeks, I’ve gone five times.
I thought I knew what work stress was beforelast week. Now all I want to do is call in sick and read romance novels to escape whichever circle of Dante’sInfernois reserved for lawyers.
