Page 32 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

“Aunt Kira,” Stella says with a mouthful of dough, eyeing Kira nervously.

Kira’s eyes dart to the side behind her glasses. She shrugs.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Dad says. Tana then squalls in response and Dad smiles. “And you’re definitely not one of the quiet ones.”

I see Harley’s face drop out of the corner of my eyes. She was just able to pawn the baby off on Dad and she’s already in need of some coddling. As good as Dad is at soothing babies, Tana is definitely a mommy’s girl. “Let me have her,” I say and go to my dad. “I want a try.”

“Really, Gillian, just let me–” Harley starts to protest but I wave her off.

“I want to try. I have done this before, you know?” I take little Tana up in my arms. Still so soft and tiny, face still just slightly scrunched. And with just a few little bounces, she quiets down, settling onto my shoulder. “There you go.”

“I think she just hates men,” Amy says.

“That’s not true!” Dad replies defensively while the rest of us giggle.

“You guys start. I’m just going to make sure she settles down,” I say softly, rubbing Tana’s back.

No one objects; they all begin loading their plates. Harley settles back into her seat and mouths a thank you to me while I walk back and forth, bouncing Tana in my arms. She smells…so good. Brings me right back to the early days of Stella. We were still strangers and we were both so confused, but we had each other.

We will always have each other.

“So, I know you’ve been busy, Harley, but have you given any more thought to the wedding?” Dana asks.

Harley laughs tiredly and nods. “Yes. Courthouse. End of next month. Simple.”

“Do you hear that? The lady wants simple,” Kira says, glaring at Amy.

“Yeah, simple!” Stella adds.

I laugh, continuing to pace. “Did Amy have a few too many grandiose ideas?”

“It’d be criminal for them not to have a real wedding!” then looking at Grant, she adds, “You two are so beautiful together. And you’re rich, so–” Amy explains.

Harley hums knowingly. “Even money can’t convince me to have a big, pain in the ass kind of wedding.”

“I have no objections to that,” Dad murmurs. Dana pokes him on the arm and gives him a look. The two of them have their own language, since she stepped into Mom’s place. That look said, “Don’t be a cynic.”

“More importantly,” Harley goes on. “We don’t want to wait. We want to be married as soon as possible and focus entirely on Tana.” She looks at me with suddenly desperate eyes. I know that look well. When you’re a mother to a newborn, all you want is a second to yourself. But the moment you have it, you need to get your hands on your baby again.

I giggle and hand Tana back to Harley. My sister gapes at me. “She’s out cold! How did you do that?”

“She’s had practice!” Stella echoes from earlier.

“I’m sorry, is there a parrot in here?” Dad asks playfully.

“Caw-caw!” my daughter responds.

I laugh and settle in beside her, wrapping her into a hug. My little baby. Not so much a baby anymore. Where is the time going?

“But I wouldn’t say no to big party,” Harley says devilishly.

“That we can definitely manage,” Amy grins.

We start talking about the details of Harley and Grant’s reception, a big party to be held on one of the Infinium lots. We discuss themes (settling on carnival mostly because that’s what Stella was most excited about) and food (“Corndogs, obviously,” is Harley’s answer). It’s definitely going to be…unique, I’ll say that. In tune with the theme, I start dreaming up different sweet treats I could make. Funnel cakes, elephant ears, deep fried Oreos. This is going to be fun.

Toward the end of our brunch, we hear someone call out from the gate, “Are we interrupting?”

Amy’s eyes immediately shoot toward the source of the voice which then leads me to recognize it too. Hunter Ricks, the new neighbor.

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