The plan is to get this paperwork ready and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it’ll be enough of an incentive for her to get on board with the temporary move to the compound. Although, I can’t really blame her for digging her heels in, she’s already had to deal with a Christmas that didn’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped.
“She’s home. Bed rest.”
“Well, that sucks, but we’re gonna need her John Hancock as well.”
“I know, but I was hoping I can take it with me. I’ll get her to sign it and can bring it back.”
“Sure. That’ll work. Just remember I told you I’m gonna have a hard time getting a judge to sign off on it if you don’t have room for the kid. How’s the house coming along?”
I give her an update and my promise that as soon as I can get Sophia out from underfoot, I should have it move-in ready at the latest by mid-February.
Twenty minutes later, I walk out of the office with the paperwork I hope is going to do the trick.
I already know I have my brothers’ support, and last weekend we sat down with Ravi. Not gonna lie, it wasn’t just Sophia tearing up that time. The kid was afraid to believe us at first, which killed me, but we were eventually able to assure him we were serious.
Now I can show him how serious. Transferring guardianship from the Arrow’s Edge MC to us is only the first step, but it’s a big one. Once the house is done and our family is complete, we’ll set the wheels in motion to make it permanent.
When I get home, Van appears to give me a quick sniff before he heads back for the couch. That’s where he’s spent most of his time with Sophia, lying on the floor at her feet with his eye on the door.
I kick off my boots and tiptoe in; I don’t want to wake her up if she’s sleeping. Sophia is lying on her side—wrapped around the body pillow Lisa got her—her eyes on me.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
I sit by her feet and rub her leg.
“I was, but I heard you come in. What is that?”
She points at the manila envelope where I dropped it on the coffee table and I grab it. Figures she’d zoom in on that.
“I stopped by to see Mel.”
Her eyes grow big as she pulls herself up to a sitting position.
“Mel?”
“Yeah, guardianship papers were ready for our signatures. Mine’s already on there, it just needs yours.”
She smiles big and holds out her hand but I pull the envelope from her reach.
“Let me sign it.”
“Not so fast.” Her face instantly looks mutinous. “There’s a catch. She says no judge will sign off on it if we don’t have an appropriate space to offer him. Which means this house needs to get done.” I point at the temporary wall we’ve had to put up between the addition and the A-frame when winter struck. “And we both know what that means.”
She falls back on the couch, her forearm covering her eyes.
“I hate this,” she mumbles, her voice wobbly.
I lean down and pull up her sweater to kiss her stomach.
“I know you do, Fee. We don’t really have a choice. If I could take over growing those babies for you I would, but what I can do is get this house ready for all of us. It’ll just be for a few weeks. Maybe a month.”
More like six weeks, but I’m not going to push it.
“You’ll have Lisa and Brick around when I’m working, and you’ll see Ravi after school every day.” She wipes her eyes with her sleeve and struggles to get upright, so I give her a hand. “Think about it,” I add. “You won’t have to eat my cooking attempts anymore.”
“Fine,” she grumbles through a faint grin. “Get me a pen.”
When she’s signed the papers, I tuck them back in the envelope and move to the other side of her so I can pull her back against my front. She drops her head back on my shoulder.
“After these two are out and Ravi is ours, no more babies. I’m done.”
I bend down and kiss the tender skin at the base of her neck.
“Okay, babe.”
She tilts her head up and glares at me.
“I mean it.”
I smile and drop a kiss on her lips. Not the right time to bring it up, but now that I’ve had a taste I wouldn’t mind a big family.
But that’s a discussion for another time.
“I know, Fee.”
Sophia
February.
“Do you have to go? I’m bored out of my mind.”
He bends over the bed and presses a kiss to my pouting mouth.
“Baby, I’ll be a few hours, that’s all. I’ve gotta get those rooms painted, but Ravi and Elan are helping so it shouldn’t take us too long.”
I snort before wincing a little when the babies move. I rub a soothing hand over my now impressively distended stomach.
Six weeks to go. I can do this.
“Can I get you anything to eat before I go?”
“No. I’m fine.”
For once I don’t feel like eating. A little too late, I’m already as big as a house. With my luck I’ll never get this baby weight off.
“Call me if you need me.”
One last kiss and he takes off, leaving me in bed with just a big-screen TV and Van for company.
I grab the remote and click on Netflix. I have three more seasons of Homeland to watch, that’ll keep me busy for another day or two and then I’ll have to find something new again.
But first I need to pee.
I’m barely through the second episode of the day when I need to pee again. I pause the show and swing my legs over the side of the mattress, just as the door opens and Mel Morgan pokes her head in.
“Are you decent?”
“Yeah, come in. What are you
