With Grace living in the condo and without her lease at her apartment in Red Hook, she’s paying down her debt quickly. She refinanced her loan through a legitimate bank and is actively paying it down every month. Of course, she argues that her salary should go to more than her debt, and she tries to give me money for household expenses, but I told her it’s her job to pay off her debt, then we’ll renegotiate what she can contribute once that’s done. However, she’ll contribute nothing. It’s my job to take care of her and our baby. What she does with her money after her loan is paid off is up to her.
Jamie sidles up next to me, bumping her shoulder against mine. I smile softly at her. Gracie was easy to win back, Jamie not so much. She’s coming around slowly but surely, and truly, I believe she knows I love Gracie and our baby and would never do anything to intentionally hurt them.
“She looks happy,” Jamie comments as we watch Gracie hug everyone who has come to the baby shower.
I turn and look at Jamie. “I hope she is.”
Jamie sighs and leans against the wall. “I know she is, but it’s the first time I’ve seen her look content, peaceful.”
I smile, realizing she’s right. There’s a peace that surrounds her.
“You look happy too,” I remark. We’ve tiptoed for months around the topic of her and Aaron. The night they left our condo, Aaron didn’t return until the next day and they’ve been inseparable ever since.
She rolls her eyes and shrugs. “I’m all right.” She’s so full of it. She and Aaron are very much on the expedited relationship path Gracie and I were on, minus the surprise pregnancy. He bought a condo in SoHo and she moved right in. She still has her place on the East Side, but I’ve heard Aaron mention her possibly selling it. No sense in maintaining a property that isn’t being used. I chuckle, knowing that my brother is happy and has someone like Jamie to keep him in line.
“I have another surprise for her,” I whisper to Jamie.
Jamie groans. “You better not propose to her here,” she mumbles under her breath. “Way too cheesy.”
I huff out a laugh. “I’m not going to propose to her here.” However, I am going to propose to her, and soon. I have the ring, I’m just waiting for the right time. I don’t want elaborate and over the top, though, because that’s not Gracie. I want intimate and simple, like her.
“Aaron is at JFK, picking up Gracie’s mom and should be here in the next few minutes.” I glance at my watch. “The plane should have landed over an hour ago, so I expect them soon.”
“What?” Jamie snaps her head and looks at me, her eyes wide in surprise. “You got her mom to come visit her?”
I was surprised as hell too. After Gracie called her mom and told her our baby news, she wanted to take a trip back to Montana. Only with the weather turning from fall to winter and the unpredictability of flights due to bad weather, she thought it’d be better to wait until summer to visit Montana.
Jennifer is very much like Gracie with her travel anxiety and was hesitant to travel to New York City. I convinced her we’d have someone guide her every step of the way and that Aaron would be waiting for her after she got off the plane. For anyone, New York City is intimidating. For someone who’s never left small-town Montana, New York City is downright daunting. When I told her about the baby shower, and promised her a first-class ticket, she agreed to the visit—and we decided to keep it a secret from Gracie.
In lieu of gifts, because I know Gracie would have thought it was “too much” to expect from her co-workers, everyone chipped in for a diaper delivery service. I, of course, had never heard of this, but apparently, this is something that’s a godsend for new parents. Diapers are delivered on the regular; you just pick the size and they show up at your door. Sounds fucking brilliant and seems reasonable and hard to argue with, because all I hear about is how much babies eat, sleep, and shit. Yet, I couldn’t be more excited for it all.
“They’re here,” I whisper when my phone buzzes with Aaron’s text message telling me they’re on their way up. I nod at Sue, who’s been in on the surprise and helping me with all the details.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Sue says loudly, getting the room to quiet down. “Gracie,” she reaches for Gracie’s hand, “we couldn’t be more excited for you and Andrew, and we cannot wait to meet your baby. We’ve taken a poll to see what everyone thinks you’re having, and overwhelmingly, we think it’s a girl.” Sue points to a poster board on the wall with a stork that’s covered in blue or pink stickers. Only two of them are blue.
Of course, Gracie didn’t want to find out the sex of the baby early. She said it’s the only real surprise in life. So we’re waiting. All we want is a healthy, happy baby.
Rubbing her belly, Gracie smiles before saying, “A girl, huh?” She’s fucking beautiful with her round belly carrying our baby.
“Do you have names picked out?” Eddie asks.
“We have a few. Nothing has been agreed upon yet.” She glances at me pointedly, and I roll my eyes. We’ve gone in circles discussing names and haven’t narrowed it down just yet.
Aaron enters the conference room and winks at Jamie before nodding to me.
“Grace,” I call her name and she turns her attention to me. “I have a surprise for you.”
She grumbles and twists her lips into a smirk. “You know I hate surprises.”
“I think you’re going to like this one.” I grin widely, and she walks over to me. I place my hands on her shoulders while Aaron guides her mom into the conference room. He positions her behind Gracie so she can’t see her yet. “You know there are very few things more important than family, right?”
“Of course,” she answers quietly.
“Turn around.”
She turns slowly, her eyes scanning the room. When they land on Jennifer, everyone in the room can hear her gasp.
“Mom?” she says, getting emotional. It’s been years since she’s seen her mom, and I knew this would be the only meaningful gift I could give her.
“Gracie,” her mom says, tears rolling down her cheeks. Gracie definitely gets her looks from her mom. Jennifer stands a few inches shorter than Gracie, but they share the same hair and eye color.
Gracie lunges as gracefully as she can into her mom’s arms, where the two women embrace for what seems like hours. The room is buzzing with excitement and the look on Grace’s face tells me there was no better gift she could have received.
“I can’t believe you have a driver,” Jennifer says as we slide into the back of Tony’s Town Car that sits in the same spot it has every day since I bought Williams Global. I know having a driver is a luxury most don’t have, so I appreciate Jennifer’s exuberance.
“We don’t have him full-time,” Gracie explains.
We did, until Gracie told me we need to be more like “normal” people and take cabs and trains and walk. Of course, Tony is always available to us. I know we’ll use him more once the baby comes, but to appease Gracie, we cab it places from time to time.
Gracie reaches out for her mom’s hand. “Do you feel like going out for dinner or staying in?”