Chapter 209

I start awake at the knocking that comes at my door, sitting up straight in bed. For a moment, I’m completely confused and a little scared – where the hell am I?

But then I feel Kent’s arm tighten around my waist. Immediatelt I smile, looking down at where he lays belly-down on the bed.

“Whoever it it,” he murmurs, still exhausted, “…shoot them.”

I laugh despite myself but then smack him lightly on the back as the knock comes again. “You know I didn’t bring any guns on this boat, Kent – that’s so dangerous –“

He lifts his head suddenly, looking at me with an appalled expression. “We don’t have any guns?”

“Well Daniel and Jerome probably do,” I say, shrugging and slipping out of the bed, reaching for my old bathrobe, which is folded neatly on the top of my suitcase. “But they wouldn’t let me have one.”

“Clever boys,” he murmurs, putting his head back down on the pillow with a content sigh.

I grin at him and move to the door, pulling it open just a little bit and peeking out. My grin deepens when I see my sister standing there with a big tray of food in her hands.

“Hey sis,” she says, wrinkling her nose at me. “Any idea what time it is?”

“Um,” I say, glancing over my shoulder and looking for a clock but finding none. “No?”

“It’s one o’clock,” she says, laughing a little.

“What?” I gasp, my eyes going wide.

She laughs harder then and shakes her head at me. “You and lover boy state up late?”

I give a little shrug and lower my eyes, letting her make what she will of my non-answer. Janeen laughs again.

“Is that for me?” I ask, looking eagerly at the tray.

“It is,” she says, holding it out for me. “A little breakfast, a little lunch.” I reach out to take it and then blush horribly when I see, in the corner, about five condom packets bunched neatly together in a little white tea cup.

I flinch back and then glare at her and she bursts out laughing, pleased at the result of her joke.

“Janeen!” I scold, opening the door further now and taking the tray from her hands. “You’re just trying to embarrass me.”

“What!” she exclaims laughing. “Safe sex is important! And a lesson the two of you clearly have to learn!”

“Well, it’s not like they’re going to do any good now,” I murmur, glancing down at my stomach and sending her a second glare as I move back into the room.

“Condoms protect against more than just pregnancy!” she calls after me in a singsong voice.

“Bye Janeen!” I say, mimicking her, deliberately letting her know to go the hell away.

“You’re welcome, Fay!” she shouts as the door shuts behind me.

Scowling a little bit, I carry the tray over to the dresser where I neatly remove the offending item and drop it into my suitcase. Then I carry the tray over to the very tiny breakfast table with two chairs as Kent turns his head to me, sleepy and curious at once.

“Breakfast?” he asks, pleased.

“With a side of snide sister,” I murmur.

He laughs lightly and pulls himself to the edge of the bed, tugging on the underwear he discarded last night before giving me a kiss on the cheek and heading off to the bathroom. As he freshens up, I pour us two cups of dark coffee from the French press, leaning forward to savor the smell.

When Kent comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later, I’m sitting in the bed settled against the pillows, my cup is half drunk.

“You’d better get over here,” I murmur. “Or your cup will be gone too.”

“You’d deprive me of my first cup of proper coffee?” he asks, pretending to be appalled. “After two months in jail?”

“Kent,” I say, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “I’m pregnant. The baby needs it.”

He laughs, taking his cup and climbing onto the bed. When he leans back against the pillows he reaches for me, wrapping an arm around my hips and pulling me into his lap, wanting me close. “The baby doesn’t need caffeine, Fay,” he murmurs, shaking his head and pressing a kiss to my hair. “Though knowing you, it’s been jittering around in there like a Mexican jumping bean for four months now.”

“Excuse you,” I say, looking him up and down. “I have been a very responsible mom for the past two months –“

“And the first two?” he asks, turning to smirk at me.

But I just narrow my eyes at him, smacking him with my free hand even though I know that he’s joking. “Well someone was feeding me coffee every morning. In bed and then at breakfast. And then…maybe some in the early afternoon.”

He laughs, shaking his head a little as he sips his coffee. “Kid’s screwed,” he murmurs. “But we’ll like it anyway.”

“Look on the bright side, Kent – maybe all the coffee stunted its grown and it will stay little,” I sigh, rubbing a hand fondly over my stomach. “Make my job a little easier, five months from now.”

“Daniel was a big baby,” Kent says absently, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Really?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“Mmhmm,” Kent hums, turning his eyes back to me. “Almost ten pounds.”

My eyes go wide and my mouth falls open, appalled.

“What?” he laughs.

“Kent!” I exclaim, still horrified, “that’s gigantic!”

He shrugs a little, brushing it off. “Maybe it came from Lenai’s side,” he offers.

I turn my head to the side and flick my eyes over all six-foot-something of him. “Yeah,” I say, my voice deeply sarcastic. “I’m totally going to buy that the giant baby gene came from your tiny first wife.”

He laughs now, shaking his head. “It will be fine,” he says, shrugging it off. “This baby? She’s got a strong mama, and we’ll get you all the good drugs.”

A smile grows on my face as I peer at him now, waiting for him to figure out what he just said.

“What?” he asks, looking at me, frowning at my confusion.

“You just called the baby she,” I say, laughing. “Are you team Princess Baby?”

“What?” he asks, his face scrunching a little in confusion.

I laugh again, rolling my eyes. “Janeen and Jerome think it’s going to be a girl. They’ll be thrilled to you have you on their side.”

“Oh,” he says, considering a little. “Well, I guess I am on their team, then.”

“You want a little girl!?” I squeal, grinning, looking at him, every part of my heart melting just a little bit.

He looks away from me, smirking and pretending he’s a cool and unemotional mob boss again, even though I now know he has more depths than that. “I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, Fay –“

“Yes, you do!” I laugh, reaching out to shove his shoulder lightly, teasing him. “You totally want a little girl, who is just like me! Another tiny Fay, so you can have two!”

His smirk deepens into a smile as he looks at me again and slowly shakes his head. “No, you’ve talked me out of it now – the two of you will destroy my life and drive me insane. I changed my mind – I want a boy –“

“No, you don’t,” I murmur, reaching behind me to put my cup down and pressing myself closer to him. Kent obliges by wrapping a warm arm around me. “You want a little baby girl, which is probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever said, Kent. And I’m going to tell everyone.”

He groans then, which makes me laugh harder. “Don’t,” he sighs, shaking his head. “Just keep it between us.”

“No,” I say softly, shaking my head as I rest it against him, completely charmed by this sweet little detail of Kent’s heart that he doesn’t want anyone to know about.

“Do you really not know anything about the baby’s sex?” he asks. “You’ve…been to the doctor and all, right?”

“Of course I have,” I sigh softly. “But I told them I don’t want to know. Daniel wanted to find out, but I wouldn’t let him.”

“Good,” Kent says, huffing a little. “It’s not his business.”

I smile a little to myself because…well, it kind of is Daniel’s business, isn’t it? On paper, this child is Daniel’s in every way it can be before it’s born.

But I don’t bring it up – not yet. Because there are some parts of our plan that I need to talk through with Daniel first, before we can bring Kent in.

As much as so much of this feels over, feels finished?

There’s still so much left to do.