Page 32 of Air Of Mystery
“Thanks,” she said. “Bending over is almost impossible these days. I’m beyond ready for baby boy to be here.”
Gabriella was at Nicole’s side a moment later. “You are going down to two days a week starting today,” she announced as she helped her rise. “I don’t care if you told Philippe you’d work full time until week thirty-nine.”
Instead of arguing, Nicole accepted the shoes I held out. “Okay. I think that’s probably a good idea.”
Gabriella’s mouth hung open in surprise. It was clear to see she’d been expecting a full-blown disagreement about Nicole going to part-time.
“This pregnancy has been tougher than Caleb’s,” Nicole admitted. “Max has been after me to slow down and rest more.”
“Ma belle?” Philippe’s voice traveled down the hall.
“We’re in the tower room,” Gabriella called back.
Philippe Marquette entered the room, and I smiled automatically at the Frenchman. While he wasn’t conventionally handsome, he was still striking with his dark eyes and hair. Also, the way he gazed at his wife was adorable. Then his eyes landed on Nicole, and he began to frown.
“Did you come up the stairs alone?” he asked Nicole.
She tossed her hair a bit. “Yes, I did.”
“Well,mon cher,you will be getting an escort on the way back down,” he said, easing the shoes and electronic notebook from her and then taking her arm.
“Walk her out to her car too,” Gabriella added. “She’s exhausted. I told her to go home early.”
“I’m fine,” Nicole insisted.
“And we will see to it that you and the baby remain so.” Philippe steered her gently from the room.
“Nice seeing you again, Nicole,” I called out.
“Email those release forms to me tomorrow,” she called back as they left the room.
To my left, Gabriella was texting a message on her cell phone.“I texted Max, her husband,” she explained. “He’ll be waiting for her when she gets home. He’ll make her sit down and put her feet up for the rest of the day.”
“Is there a problem with the pregnancy?” I asked, concerned for Nicole.
“They tried for a long time to have a second baby, and Nicole is pretty much unstoppable...but lately we could tell that she’s getting more tired and we’ve been after her to cut her hours down this last month. But she keeps insisting that she’s fine.”
“My intuition says she’s putting on a brave face and not wanting anyone to know how worn out she actually is.”
“I agree with your assessment,” Gabriella said. Suddenly she cocked her head to one side, going very still.
Before I could ask what was wrong, it suddenly sounded like a herd of elephants were stampeding one floor above. I jumped hard at the unexpected noise.
Gabriella began to shout at the ceiling. “I’m not sure what you three are doing up there, but it better stop right this minute! Otherwise, I swear to whatever god is listening, there’s going to be serious consequences!”
“Yes,Maman,” was the answer that sweetly called back.
Gabriella shook her head and chuckled. “Monsters,” she said affectionately.
“They’re great kids,” I said.
“Most of the time,” she agreed. “And sometimes I want to smack their heads together.”
From above, I could hear the kids laughing.
“Stay for supper,” Gabriella said. “We can talk more about you doing your show from the mansion. I know Philippe has some questions for you and well honestly, I’d love to learn more about your investigations.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’d love to.”
