Page 8 of Tales of Obsession Epilogue
ROSE
THANKSGIVING
“We can’t keep lettingthese men run our lives,” my aunt Piya announced to our little huddle.
Jordan nodded seriously. “I love Xander, but he can be such a drama queen.”
Jordan was engaged to Caden’s cousin, Xander. They recently had a baby and were planning a grand wedding as soon as she recovered. For now, the couple lived between Lunenburg and New York City since he played hockey for a Canadian team and she owned a PR company based in New York. Jordan had been trying to (unsuccessfully) organize a girls’ weekend ever since they arrived in New York City. My aunt was also desperate to take Poppy on a mother-daughter trip and insisted that I tag along.
This Women’s Alliance was our way of keeping our men in check. Crazy attracts crazy because our significant others were all lunatics. Their possessiveness knew no limits. They couldn’t fathom the idea of a wifeless weekend and had stamped over our ideas.
Fed up, Jordan and my aunt had concocted a foolproof plan. “So, it’s agreed. The nannies are the only ones who’ll know our whereabouts and temporary phone numbers. I paid mine enough that there’s no way she’ll open her mouth unless there’s an emergency,” Jordan whispered to the group.
Xander’s brother, Jasper—the only man allowed into our precious huddle—nodded along. I got the feeling he helped us conspire just to mess with the guys. “What about your security detail?”
Jordan winked at him. “We already took care of them.”
“They’ll find out,” Poppy droned in that jaded voice of hers.
Once a week, we went to my aunt Piya’s estate for a family dinner. She had extended the invitation to Jordan, Xander, and Jasper whenever they were in town. However, our weekly dinner was a little different since tonight was Thanksgiving and tomorrow was Black Friday. We had come up with an elaborate scheme to ditch the men tomorrow in favor of a girls’ day, followed by dinner and dancing. The plan included double-shot eggnogs, getting our men sloppy drunk, and turning off our location sharing.
All of us had been sworn into secrecy by Jordan, and we must uphold our commitment to follow through. Unfortunately, Poppy agreed to it before my aunt announced we’d be going Black Friday shopping. Suddenly, Poppy had a ‘tickle’ in her throat.
My aunt was having none of it. “I don’t care. You deserve a break from mommy duty, and I want to spend time with my daughter.”
While both Jordan and Poppy had newborns, it wasn’t the babies driving them crazy. Rather, it was their men. My husband was driving me crazy, too, but for a different reason.
While they were busy adding extra booze to the eggnog, I dragged my palms against each other and stepped out of thekitchen. I tried to quieten the flutter in my chest by wearing a path in the hardwood from room to room. Zane and Piya had a house to die for, but it was too big for pacing. It took me five minutes to cover the length of each room.
I ended up in the dining room. The table was perfectly set for Thanksgiving dinner—turkey, roast beef, potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and pies arranged like they were straight out of a magazine spread—but the rich aromas that had everyone else salivating only twisted my stomach into a nauseating knot.
My hands trembled as I touched my still flat belly. I wanted to throw up each time I rehearsed the words—I am pregnant.
We had been married for ten months. During that time, Caden had showered me with extravagant gifts and endless affection. He still made my lunch every day, which consisted of food packed with ‘nutritional value.’ I never knew it was possible to be this utterly loved, especially by a man who was nothing short of a dreamboat. He even made sure my career soared alongside his. Our lab was listed under both our names—a wedding gift from my perfect husband. Over the last year, my contributions have been published in academic journals.
Caden had handed me the world on a silver platter. Our lives were perfect except for the weekends Brynne and Enzo visited us. Caden hated sharing my attention.
On the flip side, Caden also loved the idea of bonding us for life. I just had no idea which was more prominent—his distaste for sharing me with a child or forging a lifelong bond by bringing a baby into the equation.
I placed a hand over my face. I was more than a little apprehensive about his reaction to my pregnancy. How did this even happen? I was on birth control.
Come to think of it, birth control was only ninety percent effective. At the rate we had sex, I could work out the margin of error for myself.
Poppy poked her head into the dining room, coddling her daughter, Arya, in her arms. Something twisted inside me when I saw Arya’s chubby fist twist into Poppy’s strands.
“What are you doing here? Dinner isn’t for another thirty minutes,” she said, watching me pace the dining room.
“Uh-huh,” I replied distractedly.
“We’re supposed to be getting the men drunk in the living room. Zane and Xander are only five eggnogs deep.”
“Uh-huh,” I repeated, twirling my fingers together.
She rocked Arya, narrowing her eyes at me. “How far along are you?”
I stopped pacing. Zane, Poppy, and Caden had a sixth sense that normal human beings didn’t possess. Oh God, what if Caden had figured it out, too?
“How did you know?”
