Page 77 of His Treasured Mate

“Sorry, Thomas.”

“Why can’t the two of you just get along?” Luke asked them.

I heard Hunter huff. “We'll try, Dad. Promise.”

“Wanna bet on how long that promise lasts?”

“I'll be twenty down that they break it before you leave tonight.”

“That long? I give no more than twenty minutes.”

“You're on.”

She set a timer for twenty minutes and we shook on it.

Meanwhile I got up, not an easy feat these days, and waddled into the kitchen to finish dinner.

“You should have just let me bring something or pick up from Kate's.”

“It's okay. I don't mind. Everyone's already slowed my commitments and I need something to do or I'll go crazy.”

“Lily didn't you clean out your office and setup the nursery literally today?”

“That doesn't count. I need to stay busy.”

“Oh my God. Thomas was right.”

“Right about what?”

“You're nesting.”

“I'm not. I'm just organizing and preparing. It's not the same. I have five other people to worry about this time. I just need to get things ready.”

I rubbed my lower back while stirring the spaghetti sauce I had cooking on the stove. It was nearly done so I put a pot of water to boil and prepped some garlic bread and a big fresh garden salad. It wasn't fancy, but I knew it would be delicious and made it easy to quickly feed a crowd.

“Can I at least help?” Syd asked.

“Sure. Grab the rest of the bags of veggies. I already chopped everything. It just needs to be tossed together.”

“You are amazing, you know that right?”

“I suspected as much,” I teased, then started laughing.

A trickle ran down my leg.

“Dammit, Sydney. You made me pee myself.”

“Oops sorry.”

“Don't worry. Payback's coming soon.”

“Well, in about seven months. I just hit the eight week mark.”

“Soon enough.”

We both laughed again and I felt the warmth flow down my leg.

“Gross! You made me do it again. I need to go change.”