Page 48 of The Forever One
“Nothing, I’m just waiting on two.” It’s my turn to frown.
“What do you mean?”
“You said ‘first of all’ so I'm waiting on the second of all.” I chuckle again and watch as she takes a sip of her coffee, her face scrunching up seconds later. “You’re right, it’s disgusting, but we’ve got Stefano at home making the best coffee the world has ever tasted. We’re snobs, don’t forget that.”
Fuck, I love this woman.
“Second of all,” I lean in, take her hand in mine, and kiss her ring finger where her wedding band screams that she’s mine. “You’ll need to be punished for your language.”
Rolling her eyes, she meets me halfway across the table and whispers like we’re spies and this conversation is confidential. “Is it punishment if I like it?”
“Good point.” With a peck on the lips, I sit back and fill her in on the conversation with Yiannis and Aleko.
“Al Caponos sounds like a real piece of work…” She’s putting on a brave face with her jokes and sarcastic commentary but underneath it all, I see the shadows behind her eyes, the worry that lies in waiting there.
“Yeah, but we kind of need them, don’t we?”
“So, I was thinking.” I look up at her words, curious about her take. “What if, instead of going all mafia and shit, we report Elizabeth to some kind of international police?”
“Interpol?” I don’t know how I feel about that. Getting any kind of police involved with our business is always dangerous.
“Yeah. I mean, she had you kidnapped and taken across international borders, right? And since she’s an Italian national, wouldn’t they have jurisdiction?” I think about it, but I need to speak with Stefano and my mother to get their take on this.
“I get that you want her to pay and I’m guessing dying is too easy, but my first concern is keeping our family—the entirety of it, from you all the way down to my soldiers—safe.” I reach out, caressing her fingers and looking around to make sure we’re still out of ear shot from the other three patrons in the coffee shop.
“Yeah, I know. Will you consider it?” She’s the yin to my fucking yang so of course I’ll consider it. Whether or not it’s possible is an entirely different story.
“It depends.” She frowns at my serious tone.
“On what?”
“On how many orgasms you give to me, tonight.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
RIVER
Petal is basking in the atmosphere that is her Blessing Ways. She insisted we call it that rather than a baby shower because that’s what her family has always done. The yoga instructor has just left after our guided meditation session and everyone seems invigorated by it with a renewed energy. Everyone except Freya, who is moaning about how her thighs hurt.
Lianna and Becca—Petal’s sister and her wife—are bringing out the special chair they made from natural materials for Petal to sit in as we create our circle in the clearing of trees around us. Marie, Petal’s mom, holds her hand in the air to signal for us all to pay attention, and I check beside me to make sure Lina’s still enjoying herself.
“It is a blessed thing to welcome new life into the world. If you could get out the beads you each brought with you, I shall begin the Labor of Love necklace with mine. I’ll pass it around so you can add your beads. Even before birth, this new life will absorb our positive energy, knowing they are loved forevermore.” She passes the twine to me and I add a rose quartz bead to symbolize the strength of unconditional love for the baby before handing it to Lina.
Lina adds a Black onyx to help speed labor by bolstering stamina and strength. After asking me for my advice on what the Hell she needed to do for this Blessing Way, we paid a visit to Crystal Gardens.
I smile as Lydia, the doula, adds a malachite stone bead. The perfect one for her to give as it’s also known as the midwife’s stone. Lianna, Becca, Ginny, Freya, and a couple of women from Marie’s coven all add their beads before it makes its way back to Marie. She ties off the end and goes to kneel in front of Petal, presenting her with her new necklace to wear during labor.
Petal’s big brown eyes tear up as she stands to hug her mom. “Thank you, Mom.” Marie moves away, and Petal addresses us all as a group. “Thank you, everyone. It means so much that you could be here to celebrate this new life. I feel so blessed by each and every one of you. Now though, I wanted to play a couple of silly games that I asked my sister-in-law, River, to prepare.”
I guess I’m up.
I grab the large bag I brought with me, which Lina helped me put together, and pull out a small notepad and pencils for everyone. Placing them in front of me, I reach back inside the bag for the first game props.
Melted chocolate inside cloth diapers.
However, I may not have thought this through properly. The chocolate in each of the diapers has been mashed up and melted, and at the time, the smell was strong and it was a gooey mess. Now though, the chocolate has solidified, making the contents of each diaper look like solid little lumps of authentic, well, mess.
“Okay, everyone come and grab a pad, pencil, and a cloth diaper. There are ten diapers in total and the aim of this game is to guess the name of the chocolate inside. They are numbered one to ten, so once you are finished with the one you have, pass it along to someone else until you have written down something for each diaper. When we’ve all got ten, we’ll sit back down and I have the answers. Whoever guesses the most correct will win a lollipop. I’ve also marked the vegan and non-vegan ones, so feel free to help each other out a little with those.” I watch as each lady approaches to get their items and the groans of disgust mixed with giggles begin immediately as they peek inside the cloth.