Page 68 of Under His Embrace

“Aw, shoot.” Nicky sighed. “I gotta get to school. I’ll see you later.”

Caleb nodded. “Okay.” Then he stopped rushing and backtracked for his cereal bowl, grabbed it, emptied the milk in the sink, and set it in there.

“This way,” Franco said, leading him toward the sliding glass doors to the side.

Eva and Nina stared at the sink. Dante and Romeo did as well.

“You did a good job raising that boy,” Dante said.

I smiled. “I know. But Franco will help too.”

Dante nodded, seeming happy about that. “If you need me,” he told Nina, “at all, I’ll be in my office talking with Romeo. Okay?”

She waved him off, nodding. “Okay.”

Dante glanced at me and I gave him a thumbs-up.

“Oh, damn,” Eva said. “I need to get Liv up before her checkup.” With one more glance at me, then Nina, she hesitated. “Everything good here?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I’ll let everyone know if today’s the day,” Nina said.

Once we were alone, I snacked on the toast that was set out and grabbed a coffee. “Feeling anything?”

“Dumb.”

I smirked at her.

“I do! I’ve never done this before.”

“Fair enough, but trust me, you’ll realize something is up.”

“Did you?”

I nodded. “I suddenly stood in a puddle and felt like I had to poop. Badly.”

“That’s not very descriptive. The second part.”

“You don’t often stand in a puddle that gushed out of you, right?”

She shook her head. “I suppose that part is obvious. It’s just so scary. The unknown. How the hell did you cope on your own?”

“The same as you. Clueless and worried I was dumb.” I smiled. “I think every woman feels like that.”

“First-time moms, at least.”

I glanced again in the direction of the sliding glass doors, wondering how Caleb and Franco were faring out there.

“Everything okay?” she asked me, noticing where I was looking.

I laughed. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

“Distract me. What’s going on with you and Franco? That was a hell of a bombshell you dropped yesterday.”

I nodded. “We talked last night. And… then some.”

She grinned. “Sounds promising so far. Just seeing you two smiling like that is a good sign. And his wanting to talk to Caleb.”

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