When I met Ike and Lauren in the cafeteria, they were seated at a table and drinking sodas while having an animated conversation. I smiled as I made my way to the table, excusing myself as I weaved through the other visitors.
Ike stood up with a careful examination over my entire form top to bottom with his eyes, and returned the smile that hadn't left my face since I walked out of my father's room. "Is that glass for me?" I reached for the juice he'd gotten me and sat carefully when he held my chair. "Now, once we finish our drinks, I think we should head home and have lunch before round two of shopping." Lauren was studying me carefully, and I wondered how much she'd learned through Ike and her own observant mind.
"Is it over?" She asked, taking a sip from her own glass. When I nodded, she smiled. "Good. Now we can all stop worrying so much, right?" I bit my lip and took care as I drank.
"I swear, you're getting far too wise," Ike was smiling as he shook his head. "When you're ready, ladies, we'll go home and unload. And rest." His eyes landed on me and I rolled my eyes. "You're running on adrenaline now, Liz, but Mimi isn't coming for my head if she sees bags under your eyes." Shaking my head, we sat and finished our drinks, then Ike helped me to my feet and tucked both of his ladies' hands into the crook of his elbows and walked us back to the overloaded car.
We gave Ray-Ray the chore of finding people to take Lauren's purchases upstairs, but I kept the smaller bag with me. Choosing to dine at one of the outdoor choices, I waited until we'd all ordered to finally put the bag in front of my stepdaughter. "I felt like you should have a little something new to go with your new room."
Ike's eyebrows rose, watching as Lauren pulled the wrapped boxes out of the bag. I hoped he approved of what I'd done, and as I shifted my gaze between the two, I felt more certain he did. Lauren's gasp, as she opened the largest box first, showing Ike the small strand of pearls I'd chosen, and each subsequent one, the bracelet, the watch, and the earrings made her father's smile grow.
She jumped from her chair and nearly tipped me out of mine in her exuberant show of happiness, but I wouldn't have wished for a more regulated response. "Thank you, Liz, they're-" She pulled back and I could see her dimple, and her eyes looking slightly glassy. "Grown up."
"A young lady can't do wrong with a set of pearls, Lauren." I whispered, brushing her bangs back and holding her face between my hands. "And a nice watch." I kissed her forehead and felt Ike's hand on my back. "I'm glad you like them, sweetheart."
Lauren saw a friend nearby and asked if she could show them, Ike nodded his agreement and off she ran, her boxes carefully in the bag they came in, but the wrapping paper still littering our table.
"That was a-" my eyes met his and he leaned close and kissed me lightly. "You're so good for her, for us, Liz." I smiled up at him and his hand fell naturally to the top of my bump. "Now that we're alone," I snorted and looked at the people surrounding us. "You know what I mean," I chanced a glance toward our daughter and nodded. "How did it go?"
While Lauren and her friend gushed together over my gift to her, I told Ike every decadent detail of my meeting with Ben and Klein and by the end he was as relaxed and happy as I felt. "It's not over, not until he's behind bars permanently." I reminded him, but my hand joined his on my bump. "But I think Lauren is right, we can stop worrying as much." She rejoined us as the waiter brought our meals, taking away the wrapping paper with a smile as I thanked him.
We enjoyed lunch, and after I convinced Ike that sitting down while eating counted as rest, we left the hotel for the second round of shopping. I was taken aback by how knowledgeable Ike was about baby furniture. I suppose I shouldn't have been, he was a father three times over, but every single woman I'd met swore that fathers showed none of the interest that mothers did where their children's needs were concerned.
He knew my tastes, and he angled us toward the darker woods and high quality sturdy pieces. He asked questions I wouldn't have thought to ask, he tested features I wouldn't have known to try, and Lauren and I watched in interest as he made careful picks. The decor after the furniture was chosen was more of a family affair.
"Bunnies or bears?" Lauren asked, her nose scrunched up at the offerings.
I was surrounded by so many woodland creatures I almost felt overwhelmed. Bunnies or bears indeed. I bit my lip as I touched each pattern, wondering if the color mattered, and if blue, pink, green, or some mix of the three with a touch of yellow was the best route. My eyes met Ike's and his smile calmed me a bit.
"Lauren's was bunnies." His dimple teased me and his eyes twinkled. "Danny and Stevie had bears."
Ah, masculine and feminine or luck of the draw? Before I could ask, the softest looking white lamb caught my eye. I walked to it, and touched it carefully. "Lambs." I offered softly, turning my head to see the two of them watching me with mirrored smiles. "Let's do lambs."
Buttercream yellow, with lamb prints, dark wooden furniture and a growing sense of yearning to meet our little one was what we had when we made it home. The furniture would come in a few days, the walls would be painted by then, and the accents we'd chosen would be in place and waiting.
"We should plan a babyshower." Lauren said with authority as we had dinner in the penthouse that night. I raised an eyebrow, but Ike nodded.
"I don't know anyone," my words came slowly, but were no less true for the reluctance to admit it. "Not in Miami, at least." I knew people in Europe, I knew my family in Chicago, but Miami? Well I was having dinner with two of the small handful I knew by name.
"Then we invite your family," Ike said with a grin. "And we make it an event for the hotel." I rolled my eyes. "What? If we combine the shower with our first wedding." My eyes widened. "Did I mention that Sid left a message that the judge confirmed the divorce? I got it before we left this morning." His eyes belied the casual tone he used to deliver such amazing news and I was gaping at him.
Lauren squealed, but I stared. "When would you want this to take place?" He shared a conspiratory look with his daughter and I suddenly knew what their animated conversation in the hospital cafeteria had been about.
"I have the office working on sending out the invites to your family now," I nearly asked how, but shook my head. Sid. I had touched base with him before I came back and gave him contact information for Minnie. "As for our wedding and reception/babyshower?" His smile grew. "I think Lauren and June might be able to make something come together." I shook my head, but couldn't fight my own smile. "I told you, Elizabeth Diamond, I want to marry you, SOON."
"And I want to make sure that everyone knows that my baby brother or sister is going to be so welcome to the family!" Lauren added, smiling at me across the table. "Are you too tired to come see what my room looks like so far?" She'd been in the room most of the evening, calling out to Ike when she needed his help, and I'd been regulated to the couch to wait and rest.
"Absolutely not," I smiled. "I want to see how magnificent it looks." Putting my napkin on top of my plate while Ike begged off to have a cigar on the balcony, I followed Lauren to her room. Once again I found myself gaping. She'd managed to change her room from small girl princess to teenage nobility in one day, and she was right it wasn't finished. We still had the painters coming, and the window treatments to select. "Oh my." I gasped, as she pointed out the touches she felt brought everything together. "You have such a truly discerning eye, Lauren." She was beaming at me as I touched the high post of the bed she'd chosen. While I preferred darker stains, she chose a lighter oak, but it managed to look just as regal. The prints and the colors worked together so well that I wanted to tell her that her father should look to her if he chose to redecorate the resort.
"I love it." She said, with a firm shake of her head. "It's so-" She sighed with a contentment that made my own smile grow again. "Thank you, Liz."
"For what?" I asked, as she easily folded into my body for a hug that I was growing accustomed to.
"Being you." She whispered and my heart tugged at how much I found myself loving her, and Ike and his family. My family. "I love you."
"I love you, sweetheart."
Ike was back in our bedroom in his boxers with a jewelry box beside him on the bed when I came to bed. "Molly's?" I asked, starting to undress, but he was on his feet with his hands replacing mine before I had more than half a zipper undone.
"I told you, Liz, this is my job." His lips touched the nape of my neck before he answered my dangling question. "Yes, the box was Molly's. I thought that I'd get your help to make sure it's all worthy of adding to Lauren't collection." I nearly told him that it was, but he seemed to want me to go through it with him so I stopped myself. Once he had me bare skinned before him, he pulled one of my loose and comfortable nightgowns from a drawer and let it fall over my head and settle on my body. "Got to keep you covered so my mind stays on the task." He offered with a long kiss. "But as soon as we're finished-" I felt a stir with that lingering promise.
Sitting on the bed with Molly's box between us, I watched and listened as he told me about each piece. He was right, there wasn't a lot of it, but it was quality. Which I expected from Isaac Evans when it came to the woman he loved.
"Give her all of it," I told him, once he showed me the last pair of earrings. His eyes met mine and I smiled. "Give it to her and tell her every story and detail you just told me." I took his hand and kissed each finger. "Show her how much you adored Molly, how you remember the reasons you gave her each piece, and how she looked when she wore them." He was staring at me as I used my hand to place his on my cheek, leaning into the touch of his skin on mine as he cupped my face. "Remind her that you won't forget her mother, no matter how much you love me, no matter how excited you are about our baby, tell her how much she reminds you of her. She idolizes her, Ike, and after hearing you tell me about her, I can see why."
The next morning, after reminding ME why he adored me, how every detail of every moment since we first met was cemented as firmly in his mind and memory as Molly's was, Ike helped me get ready for another day. And at breakfast, again in the penthouse, he told Lauren that they would be having dinner together alone that night. When she looked at me with worry, I smiled.
"Every young woman needs a dinner alone with the first man to love her, Lauren." I said, calming whatever fears she may have harbored. "And I plan on having a nice quiet dinner and a long hot-"
"No baths without me here," Ike reminded me and I sighed. "Please?"
"Fine, a nice quiet dinner and I'll disappear into a book." Amended, I could see that he was appeased. "Now, as for today-"
We talked about Ike's schedule, Lauren's plans for a day of leisure, and I decided to have a salon day. When Lauren heard, she looked at me with such yearning that I giggled and invited her along. A girls' day followed by a father/daughter dinner seemed like a perfect sort of day to me.
