Page 20 of Passions in Death
She made a check mark in the air, then attacked the omelet. Spinach, no surprise, but plenty of cheese to smooth that out.
“And yeah, they’re going to want to have a party. Nobody ever learns.”
“Someone could get bashed with a frozen round of marble rye.”
“It’s happened before,” she said darkly. “It could happen again.”
He leaned over, kissed her. “Never boring.”
She switched to bacon. “Then Mavis is going to pop out Number Two. Except it’s not popping. It’s this whole weird, ungodly process.”
“Which you shouldn’t bring up over breakfast. Please God,” he added fervently.
“And she’s already said we have to be there again.”
“Not over breakfast. In fact, never speak of it.”
“Wait. Does that mean we have to have one of the girl parties, another shower thing?”
He took another bite of omelet. “Anticipating that question, I asked Peabody. She said no, as they have all the baby gear already.”
“Thank Christ.”
“But there should be a gift once Number Two arrives.”
“Another gift.” It never, ever ended! “For Mavis, for the kid?”
Roarke shot a warning stare at the cat, who’d finished his breakfast and tried a casual saunter toward theirs. “My information is a gift for Mavis would be thoughtful, one for the baby is required.”
“Well, shit.”
“The nursery is nearly done. Mavis and Leonardo decided on a magic theme.”
“What, like rabbits coming out of hats?”
“Not stage magic, darling. A magical forest theme with elves and winged faeries, friendly dragons, that sort.”
“Oh. Yeah, that sounds like them. But like what happens to get the kid out, I’m not thinking about it yet.”
“Well now, I had a thought—on the gift, and it would cover all of it. Though Bella’s getting a bed, and the crib and such will move to the nursery, the chair, the rainbow chair, isn’t moving. It’s Bella’s, after all, and suits her new room. A magic forest chair would suit the nursery.”
“Huh.”
“The same sort of chair, but with the nursery theme.”
“That really would cover it all. Let’s do that.”
“Mavis already has Leonardo working on the fabric design, as it’s something she wants. And he’s agreed to distract her there, run it by us, then tell her there’s a bit of a backlog, but it’ll be done by the time they bring the baby home.”
“So another big secret surprise? Where did one of those just lead last night?”
“We’ll keep privacy rooms and sex clubs off-limits.”
“Fine.” Then she shrugged. “It’s a good idea.”
“Peabody also mentioned a big-sister gift for Bella.”
Eve’s jaw literally dropped. “Oh man, come on!”
