Page 14 of A Linton Scandal

“Fine,” she said finally, coming to her feet. “I came for an answer, and I got one, at least she doesn’t look snide or pompous.” She glanced back at the computer. “And her videos weren’t tasteless, when do you plan to introduce her to us?”

“Well, as it’s already been two months and she’s pregnant I will be bringing her to see you and father by the end of the week,” I stated easily.

I barely dodged the porcelain cup that had been aimed for my head and met my mother’s cool expression as she reached down to pick up another cup. She tossed it up and down, as if testing the weight of it and eyed me like I was a target. “And here I thought, I would manage to leave one of my son’s homes without breaking any of their dishes.” She narrowed her eyes on me. “I was wrong.”

Juliette

The ringing of my phone woke me up the next morning. I must have overslept because I could hear the music of the small grocery store across the street. I’d spent the entire night researching Mihai Linton and his family. The throbbing at the back of my head, told me that hadn’t been such a great idea.

Grabbing my phone, I dragged it to my ear. “Hello?”

“Open your door,” Sophie said. “I’m about to drop this damn pot.”

Bleary eyed, I got up and despite my eyes feeling like they’d been fused shut I made it to my front door and opened it. I quickly moved to the side, as Noah and Sophie both rushed inside carrying large containers.

Stunned by their sudden appearance, I managed to open my eyes. As confusion quickly overtook my sleepiness. “What is this?”

Noah grimaced as he rolled his shoulders after setting his large pot down on the counter. “ I was talking with Sophie’s mother, and we might have mentioned you were pregnant and so of course she had to make something for thesweetfriend of Sophie.”

Sophie, who’d set her pot down and immediately went to my fridge to grab her a water bottle, nodded.

He continued. “And no matter how many times we told her she only needed to pack a small container, she insisted that a pregnant woman’s appetite could only be sated after eating this much.”

I stared at him stunned, the only thing I’d gotten from his entire tirade was. “You told your future mother-in-law I’m pregnant?”

“Was I not supposed to?” He asked with a vacant expression, as if he’d just realized he’d fucked up.

Sophie, who’d finished two bottles of water, finally spoke. “It was more like she raked the answer out of us. We’ve been worried about you, and I guess it showed when we went to visit her, and you know how my mom is. She’s like a bloodhound with some things, by the time we’d even realized what was happening she’d already gotten the information out of us. Next thing we knew she was cooking for you.”

Some of my irritation faded. Sophie’s mom wasn’t a bad person. “Fine, I wasn’t expecting much from you guys anyway.”

“Hey.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Ignoring their disgruntled faces, I walked over to one of the pots and opened it. There was a sea of green before me, like a few of my southern compatriots I liked my greens but the amount in the pot was a lot, even for me.

“I’m never going to finish this,” I lamented, there was no way. Especially not when there was a strong possibility that I’d end up playing house with Mihai.

I grimaced, and I’d been doing such a good job not thinking about him.

“I told her that,” Noah said as he slumped his way over to my living room to take a seat. “I think we should section it out and give it away or maybe?—”

“Maybe we could try eating as much as we can, and then if there are any leftovers we can freeze them.”

Sophie cut him off as she went over to the other pot and pulled off the top. “She made some of your favorite gumbo too without the sea food, said it wasn’t good for a pregnant woman to eat it.”

“Wait,” Noah exclaimed from where he sat, eyeing me. “Did you make a choice?”

“I’ve decided to keep it,” I answered absentmindedly, still thinking about what I would do with the food on my table.

“How about we call a few of the workers from our restaurant, Doug and his girlfriend. Doug was our cameraman and videographer. We didn’t need a huge crew, him and his girlfriend did most of the work.”

Sophie said as she walked over to my side and slung an arm over my shoulder. “That sounds brilliant, we can have a party celebrating your new journey as a soon to be mother, and I can celebrate the fact that I still have a fiancé, and haven’t killed him yet.”

I couldn’t help laughing. I still didn’t know how Noah managed to get the free flying aggressive Sophie to date him, much less say yes to marrying him, but the two worked and I couldn’t be happier.

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