Page 121 of Fighting For Light
“He’s kicking. I’m going to take that as he likes the rocking chair his daddy made him, too.”
My stomach flips, and I’m overwhelmed with emotion. I walk up to her, and she places my hand where his tiny little foot is pushing. The feeling is so surreal, and it leaves me in utter awe every time.
“I love it when you call me his father,” I rasp around the tightness in my throat.
“Because you are, Kai,” she says gently, and I nod, blinking away the tears.
“Thank you, gem,” I rasp.
She smiles and pats my hand on her stomach.
***
Cordi was in her office and on the phone with Mom for most of the day, planning all kinds of things for this giant wedding. It gave me the chance to set up the backyard and figure out how to cook us dinner from her cookbook. I asked her a couple of daysago if she wanted to go out on a date with me, but she shut me down. I know it’s out of fear, so I’m bringing the date to her.
Since I’ve been doing nothing but killing time, I built an outdoor table out of cedar and used the hardly-touched fire pit chairs to go with it. After setting up lights and laying out the outdoor rug, I collected flowers from our room and used them to decorate the outdoor space. Our room was starting to smell like a perfumery in France, anyway.
I cook grilled steak, potatoes with rosemary, and a special bone marrow butter for the top of the steak, with fresh green beans on the side.
By five, Cordi is still in the office, and dinner is almost done. I peek my head around the corner. She looks up from her computer, and I noticed she didn’t jump when I knocked on the door. That’s a good sign.
“Hey, what are you up to?” she asks.
“Did Mom talk your ear off?”
She smiles. “She did, but it’s all good. This is the wedding of my dreams times four hundred people.”
“She’s really inviting that many people?” I ask her. In the back of my mind, all I can think of is- security risk.
“Not that many, but it feels like it. It’s closer to about three hundred, but she told me she doesn’t expect at least one hundred people. But if we don’t send them an invitation, then they would be offended or something? Which I have to admit didn’t make any sense to me because we don’t know these people.”
I cross my arms. “That’s the politics of high society, I guess.”
“Your whole family has never come off as high society, though. Your mom walks around like a queen, though she kind of is, but still.”
I chuckle, rubbing my chin. “Mom has always been good at making connections and playing the long game. It’s part of the way my father got to his position, anyway,” I say, and Cordiscrunches her eyebrows. “Okay, enough about that. You need to go upstairs and get ready for our date.”
“Date? Kai, I told you I don’t think—“
“We aren’t going anywhere except the backyard.”
She tilts her head and looks at me carefully.
“Come on, we’re going to be late to our dinner reservation at La Cocina Kai.”
A smile grows on her face, and she shuts her laptop and stands slowly. “Alright, how long do I have?”
I check my watch. “Twenty minutes?” I suggest.
She kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll make it ten.” She walks past me and right up the stairs.
I wait at the bottom of the steps, then run to the workout room, where I hung up a suit and tie. After dressing, I slip into one of Cordi’s aprons before cooking anything else. The first course is a salad with couscous and other stuff I found in the fridge. I fill Cordi’s newly purchased plates, then check the cheesy potatoes roasting in the oven. The steaks are wrapped and resting while we eat our first course.
An open flame in California this time of year is a wildfire waiting to happen, so I turn on the electric candles. The moment I step through the slider, I see my wife coming towards me through the hall. Her hair is down, and she’s wearing a form-fitting crochet dress she got recently that dips down in the front, showing off her cleavage that I could get lost in. My eyes make their way to hers, and she’s grinning at me.
“Eyes up here, daredevil,” she says, her tone is smoky and sensual.
“What happens if I keep them there?” I ask her, eyes going back to her chest.
