I packed the ginger tablets into my purse and made a mental check over my things. My wallet was in my purse, my phone was in my purse, a change of clothes for Sofia and such was in the diaper bag.
What was I forgetting?
I turned around and smiled at what I was forgetting.
"What cha' doing baby?" I asked Sofia as she stood at the coffee table, her chubby hands holding onto the edge. She smiled at me and rocked on her feet when she let go, falling down onto her bottom. I chuckled at her pout and scooped her up, kissing the top of her head.
"You all ready to head out?" Dimitri asked, leaning against the doorframe with an easy smile on his face.
I nodded my head and set Sofia into her car seat. "Yep. Now if I can make it through lunch without puking, that'll be perfect," I said with an eye roll. Dimitri shook his head and came over, slipping his arms around my waist, dipping his head down to press his lips against mine. I leaned into him and cupped his neck, prolonging our kiss.
"I'm sure you'll be fine. The ginger tablets and vitamins seem to be helping," Dimitri reminded me hopefully. I smiled and leaned against his chest, snuggling into him. They were helping, but I still had moments where I felt like it would never end.
"I think I might tell her," I said quietly, looking up at him from beneath my lashes.
"Really?"
"If that's okay?"
Dimitri smiled and brushed a few curls out of my face, tucking them carefully behind my ear. We hadn't decided when we would tell people. I was only nine weeks along and we were still in that fragile time frame.
"I think that's fine, as long as you're comfortable with telling her."
I nodded and rested my head against his shoulder. "Yeah. I want to tell her if the time is right. I'll see how our lunch goes first," I replied a little more confidently.
Dimitri smiled at me with a smile that made my heart flutter and kissed my forehead. "Okay then. Have a good lunch, try to enjoy yourself. And if you need me, call me," he said.
I nodded my head and smiled at him before pulling away to tuck a blanket around Sofia and my things. When I straightened up, Dimitri held my coat open for me and tucked my scar neatly against my neck.
"Can't have either of my girls getting sick, now can I?" he said. I rolled my eyes at him but smiled when he kneeled down, tucking the already tucked blanket around Sofia and adjusted her hat over her ears.
I pulled Sofia from her car seat and adjusted her hat, wrinkling my nose at her playfully. Eddie came around to my side of the vehicle and helped by pulling out the diaper back and handed it to me.
"Thanks," I said quietly, shifting it on my shoulder to make it more comfortable.
"No problem. You ready for this?" Eddie asked, his eyes showing concern.
"Yeah. It'll be weird, but I'm ready. Where will you be?"
"A table or two away. If you need an out, just give me a look at I'll get you out," Eddie pledged, smirking at me as I rolled my eyes at him.
I found Janine quickly, one of the perks of her having that fiery red hair. I made my way through the tables, careful to keep the diaper bag close to my side so I didn't hit any of the patrons with it.
When Janine spotted me, she smiled, her eyes moving down to Sofia perched on my hip. Her smile grew a bit as she stood up to greet me.
"Hi," I said as I got closer to her. Janine returned the greeting and gave me an awkward one-armed hug. I returned it and pulled away to get situated at the table. I was grateful when a waitress brought a highchair to the table, I was actually surprised a place like this would have one, but I guess things have changed.
"How are you?" Janine asked once we were situated.
"I'm alright. How are you?" I returned, smiling kindly at her.
"Good. Glad that I get to see you, and meet this little one," she replied, turning to look at Sofia with a soft look. Sofia took to Janine easily, almost as if knowing who she was and how she was related. She played with Janine's fingers as we sat and waited for our food to around, fascinated with the rings on her fingers.
I took notice of the fact that she was wearing them. It wasn't often she wore jewelry – usually saving them for special occasions. But today even I noticed that her nails were manicured and painted. It looked feminine, and I suited her.
"You got your nails done. I thought you never did that because they'd get roughed up with work," I pointed out. There was almost no way that they would, given that she ran a software company, but she felt that she needed to be seen firmer so that people would take her seriously. Janine looked down at her hands and shrugged.
"I figured now that I was retired, I should take advantage."
My jaw dropped. "You retired? Who took over for you?!"
"It was time. Plus, with everything that happened to me, I felt it was time to take time for myself. Richard Fraser took over for me," she explained. I nodded in understanding. I remembered Richard. He was kind, a little goofy at times, but a dedicated worker and intelligent. He used to show me how to code when I was little, even making it into a game for me to keep me occupied.
We fell silent when our food came, and I fed Sofia bits of my soup, chuckling at how excited she was by it. We were slowly moving to solid with her, but I still breastfed or pumped and fed her from a bottle. She had a fascination with peas, mashed potatoes, squashes, and carrots. I was happy though, I had heard from many people that babies would be picking with vegetables, but Sofia loved them.
"She's such a good girl. She seems so happy," Janine commented once she had finished eating, spooning the last bit of her potatoes up and fed it to Sofia. I smiled to myself and I opened my purse and searched, grasping the photo between my fingers. We had made it through lunch and it was much more pleasant than I thought it would be. It felt like it was the right time.
"I have a surprise. And you can't tell anyone," I said with a hint of excitement in my voice. Janine looked away from Sofia and nodded. I couldn't help it when my smile grew on my face as I passed the sonogram picture to her.
"It was sooner than expected, but we are happy, nonetheless. Nobody knows yet, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to Dad. We're telling him next," I explained, flipping it around. Janine stilled for a moment when she realized what I was holding before carefully pulling it from my fingers.
I sat quietly as I waited. Janine's features were hard to read, they were blank, but her eyes crinkled a bit and her lips quirked.
"You?" She asked pointing at the picture. I rolled my eyes with a laugh. "Yeah. Who else would it be?"
Janine's lip quivered and she laughed. "You're having another baby," she said through a watery laugh. She reached out and stroked Sofia's head while she looked at the photo.
"How far along are you?"
"Nine weeks. I actually didn't figure out I was pregnant until after I passed out at work," I said with a shake of my head.
Janine's face became stern and alarmed. "You passed out at work? Are you alright?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Hyperemesis gravidarum. That's actually how I found out. Dimitri and I thought I had some weird stomach bug. But no, just another baby."
Janine shook her head. "And here I hoped that it wouldn't make a reappearance. Did you have it with Sofia?"
I shook my head and explained that I had a fairly easy pregnancy with Sofia. Janine nodded in understanding and looked at Sofia.
"Can I hold her?" Janine asked almost timidly. I nodded and watched a flicker of excitement cross her face as she pulled Sofia out of the highchair and cuddled her, cooing at her quietly as she smoothed Sofia's hair back from her face. Her curls were thick and I tried to keep them tidy, but there was almost nothing I could do. It was starting to look harsh. Janine kissed Sofia's forehead and rested her cheek against it.
"Her hair is crazy today," I chuckled when Janine brushed Sofia's hair back again.
"You're using a brush, aren't you?"
I chuckled and shook my head. Sometimes I think mothers are mind readers.
"Yeah."
"Don't, especially right now when they're nice and tight. Your hair used to be like this when you were wee. Try using a wide-tooth comb and leave some conditioner to sit the next time you bathe her, even if you don't wash her hair. And as adorable as the longer hair is, try keeping it a bit shorter until she's older. It will help with the ruggedness," she explained, twirling strands over her fingers. I nodded and smiled to myself. I never really paid attention to how she took care of my hair as a kid, and as I got older my curls started to loosen a bit.
"Thanks. I never would have thought of that."
"But don't try to cut it yourself. Find someone that is specialized in curls. Pick someone that you'd want to cut your hair," she added gently. I appreciated that she was taking a more gentle approach with the advice. Sometimes, she would come across as harsh, but I think that might have just been how she spoke before. But now, it's almost like she had changed over the last few years.
Taking the nerve that I had built over lunch, and the gentle atmosphere, I disclosed another piece of information I wanted to give.
"I also wanted to extend an invitation to our wedding," I said shyly.
Janine looked up from where Sofia had been playing with her necklace, a Nazar my dad gave her when they started dating. The look on her face implied that she was stunned.
"Really?"
"I mean, if you want to, you don't have to if you don't want to," I stuttered out immediately, feeling like I was fourteen years old again. I twisted my ring on my finger for a moment before focusing on her again, only to find her smiling.
"When?"
"January fifteenth."
"This coming January?"
"Yep. We had picked the date before we found out. So, I'll be just hitting the beginning of my second trimester," I replied.
Janine smirked and nodded. "Well, I guess you will need to wait to get your dress altered until the last possible moment."
I snorted a laugh and rolled my eyes. "I haven't even started looking and it's two months away."
"When do you plan on going to look?" Janine asked and she tried to juggle Sofia as she started to stand in her lap, fisting her hand into her hair.
"I thought maybe today, but I don't know. I don't really know anything about buying a wedding dress," I started, "Do you have anything to do after this?" I asked shyly as I watched her.
Janine tried to pry Sofia's hand out of her hair but gave me a thoughtful look. "If you are asking me if I want to go help you pick out a dress, you don't need to ask. I'd love to."
I let myself into the house only to stop when I heard raised voices. I shifted Sofia in my arms and walked down the hall to find Adrian and Dimitri standing in the living room, the air tense. Dimitri had his back to me and I could see Adrian's face clearly, red and distressed. He noticed me first and looked deflated. Dimitri noticed the shift in posture and turned, a little bit of his anger leaving his face when his eyes laid on me, and Sofia who slept in my arms.
"What is going on in here?" I demanded.
"Remember when the judge said I had a partial match to Natasha's son?" Dimitri asked bluntly, turning to look back at Adrian. His fist curled tightly and I could tell from his posture, he wanted to take a swing. Oh, God.
"I do. But before we continue, I'm going to put Sofia in her crib. Maybe that will keep the two of you from shouting," I replied before turning on my heel and going into Sofia's room. I groaned quietly to myself and I gently detached Sofia from me and kissed her little mouth before lowering her into the crib, putting her blanket over her legs.
I took a moment to breathe deeply before exiting the room to find the two men still tense. They were a little too close for my liking, so I wiggled myself into the space between them.
"I think the two of you both need to take a moment and breath – before one of you says something you regret. You are both angry, and I understand that. But if you start picking fights with each other, it will ruin the relationship you two have built," I said putting myself between them, resting my hands on both of their chests to push them apart.
"Take a minute. Breathe. And then we can go back to having a civilized conversation at a normal level. If either of you wakes Sofia, I will murder you."
Adrian nodded and wiped his hand over his face and walked out onto the balcony, closing the door behind him before he sat down. I turned to Dimitri and sighed with a slight shake of my head.
"Were you really going to try and punch your brother?" I asked exasperatedly, setting my hands on my hips. Dimitri huffed and sat down on the couch, running his hand through his hair.
"No," he said quietly before leaning back on the couch. I watched him as he tried to calm himself, closing his eyes and breathing slowly. He reached his hand out and brushed it over the side of my leg, pulling me closer. I slipped my hand into his hand and squeezed. He seemed to relax a bit more at my touch, and his eyes opened. I met his gaze and raised my brows at him in question.
"I'm okay," he said quietly. I squeezed his hand again and brought it to my lips, kissing the back of his hand.
"Okay. I will be right back," I said before I pulled away and walked onto the terrace. Adrian looked up and relaxed his tense posture when he realized that it was me.
"You okay?"
Adrian shrugged. "I don't know. I figured he'd be mad, just not that mad. I didn't put the two together until recently. It's not like I had sex with her while they were married!" Adrian exclaimed quietly. I could hear the guilt in his voice. I wasn't surprised he would feel guilt. Adrian was an extremely compassionate person when it came to family. He could be loud and have an air of ignorance, but when it came to the people he cared about, he was an open box. He didn't know how to react to finding out about Vinnie, but he did the right thing by telling Dimitri.
I expected it to take longer to come to terms with it. Not a week.
"I think it was just an initial reaction. Don't take it to heart. He's calmer now," I soothed. Adrian nodded and stood up, running his hand through his hair in a gesture that was so similar to Dimitri it was funny.
"C'mon, let's get this over with. It'll be better now that you're both calm," I said, emphasizing calm. I led Adrian back into the living room and sat down on the couch, a median between the two men.
"I will be here to mediate, but you two need to work your shit out. Do not raise your voices, do not get aggressive, do not get violent. If you raise your voices, I will interrupt you," I said firmly as I scooped a wedding magazine up from the coffee table, looking at two sternly before flipping it open. I felt like I was mediating children, but maybe that was the best approach. Sometimes children were easier to reason with than adults. I didn't pay much attention to it, but enough that Adrian and Dimitri could work their problems out.
Dimitri felt betrayed because he didn't know the extent, Adrian felt guilt because it was his ex. Dimitri thought he was the man that came between him and Tasha, to which Adrian tried to make Dimitri understand he wasn't.
"Adrian didn't know who she was until we went through the photos," I piped up during their verbal ping-pong match. I looked and pinned Dimitri with my stare.
"Adrian said that Tasha was familiar when we ran into her around your birthday but couldn't place her."
"And how exactly do you know that?" Dimitri asked, turning to me.
Crap. I kind of put my foot in my own mouth there. We had made a promise only days ago not to keep secrets from each other, but here I was doing just that.
"Rose happened to be there when I figured it out. I asked her to let me tell you," Adrian cut in, "I needed time to process everything. Come to terms with it."
Dimitri looked from me to Adrian and back. "Dimka, I wasn't with her until after your divorce was finalized," Adrian pleaded, taking a step forward but I put my hand up. It was better if there was space between them, more than an arm's reach.
Dimitri took a slow deep breath and sank down on the chair behind him. "Explain," he said letting out his breath. Adrian sat down too and explained, practically vomiting words to get it all out fast enough. About how he met Tasha after Dimitri left the bar, not remembering much of the events that happened, how he felt confused when we ran into them at the store, ending with how he felt when he realized that he was Vinnie's biological father.
It took all of an hour for Adrian and Dimitri to talk it out from there, and I only left once to check that Sofia was still asleep. When I came out the two seemed to have calmed, both of their shoulders were looser and the air of the room didn't feel so thick.
Dimitri looked at me and gave me a slight nod of the head, indicating that they were both calm and come to terms with the situation. I gave him a tight smile and came closer, resting my hand on his shoulder.
"You two okay?" I asked.
I looked up at Dimitri before looking over at Adrian who just looked exhausted. "We're okay. But I think I'm going to head home," Adrian said as he walked closer. I nodded and pulled away from Dimitri and gave Adrian a one-armed hug, patting his back.
"Thank you for mediating," Adrian chuckled in my ear, "I was really worried he was going to knock my teeth out before you walked in."
I snorted a laugh and pulled back. "Well then it's good I got home when I did."
Adrian nodded and looked at Dimitri and hesitantly extended his hand out. Dimitri nodded his head at him and took it, shaking it before letting go.
"Let one of us know you got home okay, the storm is supposed to hit soon," Dimitri said, looking out to the horizon. The first week of November was cold and bitter already, and we had a storm on the way. Adrian nodded and promised that he would let us know.
After Adrian left, Dimitri laid back on the couch with a quiet sigh, tilting his head to look at me.
"How did your afternoon go? I thought you were just having lunch," Dimitri asked. I straddled his hips and laid down on his chest, snuggling into him.
"It went really well. Janine seemed to be excited about our news. And she said that she wouldn't miss the wedding. We actually went out after lunch," I explained with a small smile.
"That's good. What did you do after?" Dimitri asked slipping his hand under the back of my shirt.
I smiled against his chest. "We went and bought my wedding dress."
"Oh?" Dimitri said in a curious voice, "And?"
"All I'm saying is that it's white and it looks amazing."
"Should you have waited until closer to the wedding? I mean, you had quite the bump with Sofia," Dimitri voiced.
I snorted. "This one will work. I won't get the final fitting until a week before. Don't worry."
Dimitri hummed and kissed my head. "I can't wait."
"To be married?"
"Well, yes that too. But I actually meant to see you swollen with our baby. You were absolutely stunning then too," Dimitri said, squeezing my sides gently. I pushed myself up and smirked at him. I pulled my shirt up and held it under my breasts.
"You mean kinda like this?" I asked, gesturing to the small protrusion on my lower abdomen. I noticed it was firmer this morning, given my stomach was still softer before I became pregnant. Dimitri had a fond look on his face as he lifted his hands to rest on my stomach, stroking it ever so gently.
"Yes. Just like this," Dimitri said quietly, looking up at me. I smiled down at him and placed my hands over his, stroking the back of his hand affectionately. I shifted in his lap to get more comfortable and closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth of his hand on my stomach.
It was strange how children change relationships. For Dimitri and me, it brought us together, bounded us. For him and Adrian, it almost broke their friendship. Children should always bring people together.
I reached out and stroked the side of his face, sighing happily. Despite the hostile energy that was in the room previously, all I felt was warmth and security.
"When do you want to tell your Mama and sisters? I don't want to wait too long. Plus, we have another niece to meet," I inquired, smiling at the thought of Sonya's child. Sonya had her darling in the summer and sent updates all the time, but I was excited to meet her when they came to New York for the wedding.
"I was thinking next weekend? When we tell your dad?" he said looking up at me. I nodded in agreeance. It put me close to the end of my first trimester, and I would feel a little better about telling more people once we get past that.
I shift and lay down beside him and cuddle into his side as the first flakes of snow fall for the year. Dimitri kissed side the of my head and pulled me close to him. We wouldn't be able to cuddle like this for long, given that my stomach will expand, but I'd take it while I could.
Hello hello!
There are only two or three chapters left! I've finally narrowed down how to end it all.
Let me know what you think!:)
