Page 57 of Finding Jacob
I took them and she strode off to the kitchen. “I need a drink, something cool.”
“Come on in,” I said to her retreating back.
Dory and Nathan often came and went as they pleased. Sometimes, I’d come home from being out and find her asleep in one of the spare rooms or making herself dinner. She had her own apartment but hated to be alone.
“Where’s Jacob?” she called out as the tap ran. She did like to waste water, as well. I just knew she’d have her fingers under it until it ran ice cold instead of just using the water from the fridge.
“He’ll be here later. Want to stay for dinner?”
Dory and Jacob had met briefly, but we hadn’t spent any real time sitting together. “Yes, that’s why I’m here.”
“Ah, so you didn’t come just to see me and your godchild then?”
“My...” She turned, still leaving the tap running.
I smiled. “Will you be our child’s godmother? And can you turn that tap off? You know how I feel about water wastage.”
Dory shut off the tap and ran across the room. She squashed the flowers between us as she hugged me.
“Hello, ladies,” I heard. Dory squealed, left me, and ran to hug Jacob.
Not being the overly tactile person with strangers, not actually being apeople personso he’d told me, I could see him stiffen and laugh. He then relaxed once he realised she wasn’t letting go.
“I just asked her to be godmother,” I explained.
“Ah, yes.” He placed his hands on her upper arms and pushed her away slightly. “I’m pleased that you’re... pleased,” he said.
“So, in addition to organising the baby shower, I’m the godmother. The girls will be so jealous.” She laughed manically in a theatrical way.
“Dinner?” Jacob said, holding up a brown paper bag.
“You got takeout?” I asked, confused.
He scoffed. “Provisions,” he corrected.
While Jacob cooked, Dory and I went through the now mounting piles of baby clothes and some of the items that had arrived for the nursery.
“Look at your face, Anna,” she said quietly. I’d frowned at her. “You’re beaming. You’ve got it all now. A baby, a great business, and a great man.”
I smiled farther. “I know. There are still things to sort out, of course. He wants us to live together but I’m not so sure about that right now.”
“What aren’t you sure about?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.
I hadn’t told anyone what I knew about either Nathan or Jacob. I felt a little treacherous, Dory was my best friend, but I’d gone intoostrich modeon that one.
“It’s finding a suitable location and I just don’t have the energy to do that, just now. Anyway, what do you think of this?”
I held up the most gorgeous white dress. Dory stared at me, and then, eventually, the dress. She knew I was deflecting, and she let me.
“It’s stunning. You know I’m going to walk the baby through the park and pretend she’s mine, don’t you?”
I laughed. “You just make sure you have security with you.”
Even as aminorroyal, Dory had a security detail as and when she needed it. She refused most of the time, wanting to be as normal as possible.
“Nathan told me about shithead assaulting Jules,” I said quietly.
It was very rare that we spoke about her life or her family. We both, however, had come to the same conclusion that her cousin was a shithead some time ago.
