After Lauren's fashion show, dinner arrived. Ike pulled the cart through the door and Lauren took the covered plates and put them on the dining room table. Sitting down, Lauren seemed surprised when I took the seat on Ike's right, instead of at the foot of the table.
"Etiquette only matters when you have an audience, Lo," I winked and grinned at her, and she smiled as she took the spot to his left.
We tucked into dinner, and Ike brought up his offer from breakfast. "Really, Liz, if you want to redecorate the penthouse, have at it." I shook my head again. "At least redo the bedroom." I considered what he was saying. The bedroom had been his and Vera's, and perhaps, he wanted the change as much as he thought I did.
"If I did redecorate our bedroom," his dimples deepened at my use of 'our'. "I'd want your input too, Ike." It wasn't false modesty or flirtation. The room was OURS, that meant I'd want him to have a say too.
We talked over ideas as we ate, Lauren piping in with ideas too, and I wondered if perhaps her own room was less sophisticated than she'd like. I thought I'd broach that topic, along with another one that had struck me during our shopping trip with Ike after dinner while we went over the ledger. Lauren volunteered to take the cart downstairs, stir crazy from all the adult talk, and Ike and I settled in the living room with the ledger that he'd grabbed from our room.
It didn't take long to find a page or three that had to go before it went to Mr. Klein's office. Once we carefully removed them, I asked Ike if he'd had a chance to speak with Sid about the additions to the divorce paperwork we'd discussed that morning.
"Yeah, he was shocked," Ike chuckled and pulled me into his body, his hand finding the curve of my bump like it was magnetized. "He's adding the new details and he'll have it ready by the end of the week." I hummed in approval and contentment as his other hand rubbed my back. "By this time next week, if she signs and it gets the stamp of approval from the court, we could be married."
It was my turn to chuckle. "Shotgun not included?" I felt him shake his head at my attempt at humor. "You'll be alright with a civil ceremony?"
"For now," he answered, both his hands rubbing soothing patterns on my fully clothed body. "Eventually, if you approve, I'd like to have a REAL wedding. Here."
"Real wedding?" I wanted to hear what he envisioned, since he was such an amazing visual painter. "What would our real wedding look like, Isaac Evans?"
"You, coming down the main staircase in some jaw dropping dress or gown." His lips brushed my forehead. "A potato sack looks jaw dropping on you, though, so I can't really say what the dress would look like." I shook my head at his absurdity. "Flowers everywhere. Guests staring like they were watching royalty, because you are most definitely a queen, Liz. My kids," I heard him swallow, worry that his sons weren't going to be amiable, I was sure. "Standing with me, or walking ahead of you," thinking of Lauren in that dress she'd worn earlier. "And me, the lucky schmuck waiting under the Chuppah for the most gorgeous woman I've ever had the pleasure of loving."
I tilted my head back and saw how serene he looked at the idea of marrying me so publicly. "That sounds-" Lauren was back, we heard the door open and her giggling at the sight of the two of us making eyes at one another on the couch. "Amazing." He leaned in and kissed me as she laughingly told us good night.
We were in our bedroom, Ike had fulfilled his promise to undress me as completely as he'd dressed me for the day, when I brought up the other things that I'd thought of during my day with Lauren. He'd put the ledger in a safe place, still not trusting the world at large, not that I could blame him.
"Ike?" He was pulling off his own clothes, far more haphazardly than he'd removed mine, but looked up at me as he tugged his tie free. "Do you have any of Molly's jewelry from before?" He was staring at me like he couldn't fathom my interest. "It's just, Lauren is growing up, she's a teenager now and I thought-"
His confusion was replaced with a smile. "That she should have her mother's things?" I nodded. "There wasn't a lot, the pieces that were family heirlooms had to go back-" I shook my head at his father-in-law's lack of charity toward his own grandchildren. "I have some, the ones that I bought her. I'll get them and we can look them over."
"That's not all," I squirmed on the bed as he returned to undressing, trying to get comfortable. Finally, I beat the pillow into submission and sighed in relief. "When was the last time her bedroom was upgraded?" This time he didn't look confused at all. "If ours gets redone, so should hers, especially since she's-"
"A teenager now," he finished for me, and shucking off his pants and underwear all but leaped onto our bed causing me to squeal. "You keep reminding me, Liz." He captured my lips for a heart stopping kiss. "You name it, and you get it."
"Careful, Ike," I breathed into his mouth, my hands locking on the back of his head and pulling him closer. "I have very decadent tastes." And then, since I wasn't nearly as tired as my day should have made me, Ike helped me work toward a well earned exhaustion.
