Page 108 of Agony of Our Regret

I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Hey, if he thought of that within a few seconds, so will children. They’re ruthless.”

“Fine, so Charlotte?” I glanced around the room.

“Charlie for short?” Gavin offered.

I waited until each of them agreed. We got to this point last night before Noah started his fight for Emersyn again.

“I like it.” Luca turned to Vince, who nodded.

“Me too,” Noah finally conceded.

“Charlie?” Sky whispered down to our girl. He nearly jumped. “She smiled! I swear she just smiled!”

Gavin laughed. “It’s all reflexes at this point, but he’s right. She did.”

“Then that settles it.” Vince beamed. “We should have just asked her from the beginning.”

“She knows who she is and what she wants.” Luca winked at me. “Just like her momma.”

They all turned and smiled at me before their eyes fell back on our girl, all except for Vince.

“Are you ready to head home?” he asked me.

I nodded. “As nice as it’s been to have nurses to help, especially at night, I’m ready to sleep in my own bed.”

“I second that.” Luca stretched his neck. He stayed here with me last night and got to experience the cramped nook Gavin and Noah complained about the first two nights.

“Did you get the bassinet set up at least?” I asked, not sure who was coordinating with our parents.

“Yes, it’s all taken care of.” Vince grinned.

“I’m sorry she came early,” I told him, “Kind of put a kink in your plans.”

“Actually, she helped them speed up.” He glanced at the others. “Can we just tell her?”

“She’ll figure it out within about a minute of leaving here,” Gavin pointed out.

“Fine,” Luca agreed. “Frankly, I’m shocked you made it this long.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked Vince.

“The house is done.” He beamed.

Pregnancy brain had been one thing, but post-delivery brain was a whole new level of fog. “Which one?”

He moved to sit on the end of my hospital bed and rubbed my calf. “The new one. The renovations, painting, moving in. It’s all done.”

“But you said it would take close to two months. It’s only been…” I tried to remember. “A few weeks.”

“Five, but as soon as the word got out about you being on bed rest and the baby coming ahead of schedule, help showed up in droves.”

“When the Society finds out one of their own is in need, they come in and take over. When they found out it was you, with everything you’ve been through and how much you’ve still done to help, they wanted to return the favor.”

“That’s so nice.” It was all I could think to say. I was too stunned. There was so much work to be done to get it to where we wanted. “Everything on our list is finished?”

“Secret passage, hot tub, and all.” Vince winked.

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