“Hey, sis, what’s shaking?” That’s real wise, Merimon. Go ahead and piss her off. She will be over here with a knife and a pair of scissors before you can say “balls.”

“I’m not your sis, doofus. How is Beth? Oh, and thanks for calling me back.”

“Save some of that charm for my brother. Your sister is asleep and seems fine now. I think she just went too long without eating.”

“Shit! I tried to talk to her today, but she got pretty pissy with me. You’re right though, there is something wrong with her.”

“Excuse me,” Nick taunted. “Could you repeat that part about me being right again?”

“Yeah, yeah, shut-to-the-up and let’s figure out what we’re going to do, pretty boy.”

He really hated to admit it, but he was crazy about his new “sis.” She was rude, crude, and irreverent, but funny as hell. Even with the constant threats of bodily harm, he could see why Gray fell so hard for her. “I’m going to make it hard for her to skip meals. I plan to change my schedule around so I can keep an eye on her more. I do have to go to Charleston tomorrow, but I’ll come back instead of staying over. We have an appointment next week with her doctor, and I hope they give her hell if she has lost weight.”

With a deep sigh, Suzy said, “Oh well, I guess it’s a starting point. When you aren’t around, I will force her to go to lunch with me so I can keep an eye on her. I can hit the Krispy Kreme every morning on my way in and buy a few dozen donuts to tempt her. Of course, I’ll probably get attacked on the elevator before I even make it to the office with them.”

Nick chuckled. “That sounds like a plan. Why don’t you swing by here and pick her up on your way to the office tomorrow? I need to leave early and I don’t want her driving until we know that she’s okay.”

“Yeah, no problem. Just let her know. Um . . . thanks, Nick, I really appreciate you looking after her.”

“Oh, man, I bet that hurt. You don’t need to thank me. Beth is, well, you know . . .”

Suzy laughed. “Yeah, I do know, Nick. The question is, do you know?”

With that parting shot, she was gone. What the hell was she talking about? Maybe she had taken to drinking at the office. That would explain a lot.

* * *

Beth could barely remember anything from the previous evening. She seemed to recall Nick coaxing her to eat more food before she stumbled into bed. Apparently, she had been more tired than she’d thought. He had woken her briefly before he left, saying he was going to Charleston for Mericom for the day and that Suzy was picking her up in a few hours. She had tried to argue, but he was adamant.

She expected the worst when she stepped on the scales after eating more than normal the previous day, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that she was down a pound. This day was already starting out better than yesterday. She pulled on her new standard pregnancy attire: a dress. She needed to go shopping for some slacks that she could wear. She was starting to dress like Ella before her makeover.

Suzy burst into the apartment without knocking and walked into the kitchen.

“I know I gave you that key, but could you please knock before barging in? You almost made me pee my pants.”

“Ewww, must we go there this morning?” Suzy groaned. “You know, since you got knocked up, I’m hearing entirely too much about bathroom issues, horniness, and the whole ‘I’m gonna cry any minute’ thing.”

Beth laughed at her sister’s martyr expression. “I’m sure this is tough on you, but your understanding and your compassion mean so much to me.”

Suzy made a face and flipped her off. “Are we ready here or what?”

“Yep, lead the way.” Beth followed Suzy out and locked up. God, how did her sister wear her platform shoes as easily as someone wears a pair of running shoes? Beth liked her high heels, but she had to draw the line at anything that would land her on her ass. She climbed into her sister’s SUV and strapped on her seat belt, and they were away like a shooting star. When they suddenly pulled into the parking lot of an IHOP, she looked at Suzy in surprise.

Shrugging her shoulders, Suzy said, “What? I missed breakfast this morning since I had to come pick you up and I’m starving. I love their Grand Slam Breakfast.”

“Yeah, right. Denny’s has the Grand Slam Breakfast, not IHOP.”

Suzy grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “I just call them all the same thing, eggs are eggs, right?”

Beth hid her grin as Suzy walked over to a booth and plopped down as if she were a regular. The table full of men beside them almost fell out of their seats. Suzy flashed them a big smile and went back to looking at her menu. When the waitress walked up to take their order, Suzy said, “We’ll both have the Breakfast Sampler, coffee, and juice.”

“Bu—but I was going to have fruit,” Beth stammered.

Suzy raised an eyebrow at her and then turned back to the waitress. “We’ll take some fruit with our breakfast.”

“So, is this some Make-Beth-Eat thing?” she asked.

“I don’t know what you mean. Can’t a girl have some breakfast without the third degree?”

Beth had to give her sister props; when the mountain of food arrived, Suzy dug in as if it were the best meal ever. Much to the delight of the men at the next table, she even licked syrup from her finger. Suzy also watched like a hawk as Beth ate. “Is there something wrong with your food?”

“No, I’m just not used to eating such a heavy breakfast; it might make me sick.”

Suzy took another big bite of her pancakes and said, “Well, I’ve got all day, so take your time.”

Beth had a bad feeling that they weren’t going anywhere until she put a dent in the huge mound of food in front of her. She started with the eggs, thinking they had the least number of calories. When Suzy still looked ready to camp out for the duration, Beth moved to the bacon and one of her pancakes. She wasn’t lying when, a few minutes later, she pushed her plate back and said, “Please, Mom, I’m full. I can’t eat another bite.”

Suzy gave her a satisfied smile and pushed back her clean plate. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? That will tide us over until lunch. I’m thinking Mexican food or some nice buffet somewhere, what do you think?”

I think I’m in trouble.

Operation Feed Beth seemed to be well under way. How in the world was she going to keep from gaining ten pounds this week with her sister determined to eat like a lumberjack for the entire day or, hell, probably the entire week?

* * *

Nick smiled when he pulled in front of the house that he could find with his eyes closed. There wasn’t one bad memory that he could associate with the place or the woman inside. She kept him grounded, and he loved her more than his own life. The smile on his face got wider as he rang the doorbell and waited for his first love to answer. When the door opened, he knew he was home.

“Hello, Nicky-boy. Fancy seeing you here.”

Nick enveloped his mother in a bear hug, twirling her lightly in the foyer. “Hey, Mom. I guess you’ve been expecting me, huh?”

She held up the spatula and motioned him in. “After you, baby boy.”

Nick walked into the kitchen and smiled at the array of bowls sitting on the center island. Gray had a fondness for red velvet cake, but Nick was a chocolate man. He could make a mean chocolate pound cake and his mother knew it. He pulled an apron from the drawer in the island and grabbed butter, eggs, and milk from the refrigerator.

His mother sat quietly while he mixed his dry ingredients. Finally, he broke the silence saying, “So, I guess you were surprised to find out about Beth and the babies.”

She laughed quietly and said, “Well, your father was shocked as hell, but me, not so much. I knew something was going on with you, Nicky. I always know when something is different with you or your brother.”

Flashing a smile, he asked, “How do you do that? We never could get anything past you. I always thought you had about ten sets of eyes that were constantly swiveling.”

“Oh, honey, a mother just knows. You and your brother are creatures of habit, and when that changes, it’s a pretty big tip-off that something new is happening. With Gray, every time he went to Danvers in Myrtle Beach, he came home glowing. Within a few days, he was trying to find reasons to go back again. His moods were all over the place. I knew he was in love. I was just waiting to see who the woman was. As different as they are, Suzy is his true north.

“The first tip-off with you was the break in your dating pattern. You have always loved the ladies and they have always loved you,” she said fondly. “Ever since the merger with Danvers, you continued to travel between Myrtle Beach and Charleston frequently because of the, um . . . connections that you have here. When you stopped coming home, I knew there was a woman involved. Of course, that sex dial confirmed it.”

Surprised, Nick jerked his head.

“Oh, please, Nicky. I wasn’t born yesterday. Pick some better excuse than butt dialing me while you were working out. If there was a gym around with moaning like I heard on that phone, I’d be a lifetime member!”

“Oh, God. Mom, please don’t go there.”

“What? I’d take your father too.”

“If possible, that picture is even worse.” Nick groaned.

“All right, As I was saying, I knew you were involved with a woman and I figured it must be different if you were staying in one place. She is different for you, isn’t she?”

“Well, sure, Mom; she is going to be the mother of my children.”

“That’s not what I mean, Nicky, and you know it.”

Suddenly defensive, he kept his head down as he poured his cake batter into the pan. “It’s not the same as my brother, so don’t even go there. I care about Beth, but we aren’t a great love story like Suzy and Gray.”

“Ah, my sweet, dense boy. I see you are in the second stage of grief.”

“What are you talking about?”

With a sympathetic smile, she said, “The three stages of grief are: shock, denial, and acceptance. You need to get past your denial stage and move on to acceptance.”

“Mom, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do I need to check the dessert wine?”

“Nicky, you are grieving over your old life. It’s a big change to go from being a confirmed bachelor to having babies. You have to be reeling from the shock.”

The spoon in his hand clattered to the floor as, stunned, he looked at his usually rational mother. “I’m not in love with Beth and I’m not in some stage of grief. I fully accept our relationship and that we are going to be parents. I think I’m doing pretty well at accepting the change. Why would you think that I love her? You’ve barely even been around us together. I don’t ‘do’ love—you know that. I don’t love her, I don’t!”

His mother continued to sit there, giving him a pitying expression. Why was everyone so sure that he felt something that he didn’t? I guess if you get a girl pregnant, everyone wants to believe that you fall instantly in love and together you ride off into the sunset. Hell, now his own mom was on the deluded train as well.

“I’m not going to push you, Nicky, but I know I’m right. The next time you’re with Beth, just think about how you would feel if she moved on with her life—without you.”

“I don’t think that’s likely to happen, Mom—we are having a family together.”

“No, Nick. She’s having your children. That doesn’t automatically make you a family. Beth could move on, marry someone else, and you could become a weekend father. How would you feel about another man raising your children full-time while you took a part-time role?”

For the first time in his adult life, Nick yelled at his mother. “No one is taking my family!”

“You really mean that no one is taking Beth from you, don’t you? Honey, I don’t want to upset you, but I do want you to realize, before it’s too late, that you aren’t guaranteed a life with Beth unless you’re ready to give her everything she needs and deserves. You deserve it, too. Just don’t close your mind to the future. If you can’t imagine Beth not being in your life every day, then you need to make sure that you give her a reason to stay—before it’s too late.”

Nick dropped his head to the counter, while his mom ruffled his hair as she had when he was a boy. “Stop sulking and get the cake out of the oven; I think we both need some chocolate.”

Chapter Twenty-five

“Please don’t make me go to IHOP again tomorrow morning,” Beth begged. Suzy had insisted on having their morning meeting over breakfast for the entire week. If she never saw another piece of bacon, it would be too soon.

“What? I think it’s been good to shake things up a little bit. Besides, Bonnie enjoys seeing us every day,” Suzy said, referring to their regular IHOP server.