Tiffany let out a big breath.
Marcus smiled, waiting her out.
“I guess,” she finally said. “I do like Toronto. And we’ll come back to visit lots and lots, right? We’re still coming back here to—”
“As much as you want, no worries.”
Or as much as was possible.
He seriously doubted the Marcello family would give him much of a choice when it came to them spending a reasonable amount of time with Cella and Tiffany. As it was, if Lucian thought his daughter and granddaughter hadn’t come around enough, the man didn’t hesitate to let Marcus know that needed to be corrected. ASAP.
Marcus respected it.
Mostly.
“And I think,” Marcus added, “that when we do move you and your mom to Toronto, it won’t be to my house that I live in now.”
“No? Where?”
He grinned. “A new house. With a bigger bedroom for you. A theater room where we could do movies. Probably a swimming pool, too.”
Shit, he wanted the whole deal. A mansion with a couple of wings, just because. Like the one he grew up in, even.
If Marcus was going to finally go all out when it came to his adult life, including getting married, he might as well settle right down into it as well. Like buying the home of his wife’s dreams that she could decorate to her heart’s desire.
Why the hell not?
Tiffany sunk back into her blankets, the expression on her face telling him she was far happier about the idea of a move than she had been minutes before. “And a puppy, too?”
“What?”
“Could I have a puppy at the new house?”
Marcus laughed, unable to stop it even when he replied, “You know what, Tiff, we will certainly see what I can do about that.”
The littlest love of his life eyed him from her mound of pillows. “That wasn’t a yes.”
Smart kid.
Then, Tiffany smiled when she added, “But that wasn’t a no, either.”
Marcus pointed a finger her way and winked. “Exactly.”
And with kids, sometimes it was all about the compromise. Even if he knew Tiffany wasn’t the type of kid to forget about this in a few months. That was fine with him.
39.
Cella
“DID I hear you promise Tiffany a puppy?”
At least, Cella thought, Marcus had the decency to look slightly ashamed when he strolled into her home office.
“Maybe,” he returned as his attention drifted to the phone on her desk. “Weren’t you on the phone with a client? Why are you eavesdropping on my conversations with Tiff, anyway?”
Despite what his reply suggested, there was no heat to his words. Thing was, Cella really did trust Marcus with her daughter. He’d proven himself capable, responsible, and loving on more than one occasion with Tiffany. He never crossed a line; not even the suggestion of it.
She also trusted her daughter felt safe enough that if something made her uncomfortable, she would speak up about it. She always had before. Even if it was just saying that she didn’t like sharing a bathroom with a boy because of all his boy things, as Tiffany had put it.
Mostly, Cella figured that was just so her daughter could have easier access to all the pretty things—like her mom’s makeup and perfume—when they switched around who used what bathrooms.
“Nice try.”
Marcus chuckled deeply. “Had to give it a shot. You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, right? That’s what I was told once. And technically, it wasn’t a yes or no on the puppy. Nothing firm. What, are you against pets? Wouldn’t have taken you for the type, love.”
Mmhmm.
She heard how he tried to switch that around on her at the end. But she also wasn’t that easy to trick, and a puppy would be a lot of work.
“I’m against more work or responsibility getting shoveled onto my plate than I already have to deal with,” Cella explained, shrugging under the silkiness of the robe she had thrown on earlier as she readied for bed. “How are we going to do this, Marcus?”
That had him quirking a brow.
She cocked one right back.
“Do what?” he asked.
Cella widened her arms, hoping he got the point at her rather wide gesture. When he didn’t seem to catch on, she let out a breath of frustration before saying, “Everything, you know? Getting married. This pregnancy. Oh, and now we’re apparently going to start talking about moving, too. And if I trust what I heard you telling Tiff, it won’t be just moving to your place. It’ll be buying a whole house. Like that’s not a lot of—”
“Cella.”
She ignored his quiet hum of her name and how it sounded both amused and calming coming out of his mouth. Instead, she continued to rush right ahead with her ranting because that felt better for the moment. “I suspect you’re going to want to do that before the babies get here, too. I also need to find a new office space for my business because if I am moving to Toronto, then so is my company. But let’s not forget the client I was just talking to that—even though I should cancel the contract because it would clear up my time a bit—I don’t actually want to. I was looking forward to that job.”
“Cella ... babe, hey, are you done?”
Her eyes snapped upward from where she had focused her stare on the buttons of his shirt while she rambled her way through the mess of thoughts and feelings that hadn’t left her alone for most of the past month. His conversation with Tiffany might have brought it to the surface where she was willing to say something, but that didn’t mean it was a new thing.
None of this was new.
All this stress?
It didn’t leave Cella alone.
“Am I done?” she asked, every word measured.
Marcus must have heard the warning there because as he crossed the room with a laugh and his arms open wide, he said, “Sorry—bad choice of words. I just meant, could I step in and say a few things now or do you need more time to get out ... the rest of the lovely mess in your head?”
She was stuck on how he called her a lovely mess. Or did he mean her anxiety and stress that she had just word vomited to a pile while he watched?
What did it even matter?
Cella didn’t have the opportunity to ask either way because before she could even blink, Marcus had closed the space between them, and had her wrapped in his embrace in the next second. His strong arms tightened around her as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. Dragging in a deep breath, his scent came with it, calming her further. The soft thump-thump-thump of his heart beating against her own chest when they were tight together only soothed her further.
That’s what this man did for her.
In every way.
Even when life was crazy.
He was solid ground while the world crumbled around her. An unmovable pillar in the hurricane of life. The safe-haven she could run to whenever she needed him no matter the reason.
Marcus kissed the top of Cella’s head before murmuring, “I was going to tell you all the solutions I have ready for these problems ... but really, I only have one question. Can I ask it?”
Pulling back from him just enough that she could tip her head and stare up at Marcus who grinned at the sight of her own smile, Cella said, “Ask it, then.”