Mollywood (14 page)

I could tell five minutes after we got there that this was not the place. It was all cookie cutter, and the flow was all wrong. With some hard work and sweat equity, we could have made it very livable, but we didn’t have that kind of time. I let Molly come to that decision on her own. It took her less than ten minutes.

Thomas took feedback from both of us, mostly from Molly, and made some notes. Promising he would find us something better to look at next time, he left us near our car. I helped Molly back into the passenger seat and slid back behind the wheel. We were half way back to the apartment before Molly spoke.

“We’re never going to find a place. Maybe we should just listen to Mac and install an elevator.” I’d stopped at a red light and turned to gape at her in shock.

“Wait…did you just agree with Mac? Is that even…possible?” Her eyes narrowed at my teasing and she turned away to stare out the window.

“I’m just tired of looking at houses. There’s always something wrong with them. Either they are too old, or too new. They are on a busy street or way outside of town. The closest we came to agreeing on anything was that funky ranch house but it needed way too much work.”

I sighed and placed my hand over hers.

“We could always just build a house. Or I could get some guys together and remodel one.” Remodeling was actually the last thing I wanted to do. It reminded me too much of Jessica and Jack. Tempting fate by doing exactly the same thing with my current mate that I had done with my first seemed just…wrong.

“We don’t have that kind of time. These babies are going to be here before you know it. What we need is for Thomas to get his head out of his ass and find us what we need!” Her anger was as severe as it was irrational.

“Tell you what. Just in case, I can talk to a few people about putting an elevator into the shop. Just so we have a backup plan.” She whirled to look at me with her eyes flashing.

“Like there’s room for an elevator. And what happens if there’s a power failure? I’m trapped inside with two infants? Oh my God! What if there’s a fire. I’d have to try to climb down the fire escape with two babies or just throw them to some random passerby. This is crazy! I can’t do this….it’s just too damn much.” She burst into angry tears.

I immediately veered over to the side of the street and parked. Reaching over, I pulled her into my arms. The console made it awkward but I pressed my side painfully into it so that Molly wouldn’t be uncomfortable. She resisted my embrace for a moment and then collapsed into my chest. I knew she sobbed in frustration and fear and I tried my best to soothe her.

“Baby girl, you know you won’t be alone. I don’t care what it takes I’ll make sure that you and the babies have everything you need. Shhh, baby, please don’t cry. It’s all gonna be okay.”

It took almost five minutes but I managed to calm her down. Inside, a part of me was screaming in concert with her concerns. Two babies. Not just one life to try and protect, but two. I’d utterly failed to protect my first, and now I was going to be responsible for the well-being of two more? The tortured animal that lived in the dark corner of my mind howled in protest. But Molly needed me, so I shut it away and ignored the noise.

When we got home, I made her put her feet up and ordered out for some dinner. Thanks to Molly’s encyclopedic knowledge of every restaurant in town coupled with Francis’ organizational skills I had a mammoth binder that was a veritable compendium of carry out menus. I’d found a service that picks up carry out orders from anywhere and delivers for a fee. I think I was on track to becoming their number one customer.

With the cravings that Molly had been having, it was a Godsend to have a service that would schlep their butts to six different restaurants on their way to my house. The owner and I had been talking about a discount “frequent flyer” rate. Turning from the phone, I discovered that Molly had disappeared into the bathroom. I checked on her and found her lounging in a tub full of bubbles. The water wasn’t too hot and she impishly flicked some at me as I ran my hand through it to test the temperature.

“How long ‘til the food comes?” Planting a gentle kiss on her forehead I pulled a towel out of the cupboard and put it within reach of her.

“Not long. You should have enough time to soak before it gets here.” She smiled and slid down further into the water.

“Joe….” She sighed, her gaze fixed down on her belly. “I’m sorry for being so ridiculous I know it must be getting old. I’m driving myself crazy. But I think the mood swings are starting to get better.”

“It’s fine, baby. Just try to relax.” I kissed her forehead again and went back out into the apartment. Her mood swings weren’t getting better. They were less frequent, but the intensity of them was worse. Or maybe my patience was just wearing thin.

Her nausea and vomiting was a lot less frequent, and she seemed to have more energy now that she was in her second trimester. Still, she slept like a rock and when she was doing anything physical, she needed to take a lot of breaks.

Gathering up the scattered dirty clothes I started the washer before heading into the kitchen. I didn’t want Molly to have to bother with chores. I was exhausted from working all day, but managed to finish just before the doorbell rang.

Our delivery dude was a heavyset kid with horrible acne. I tossed an extra ten into my planned tip (hoping it might help him afford a dermatologist) and kicked the door shut with my heel. Juggling the carryout containers, I returned to the kitchen and plated up the food. When I came back out into the living room, Molly was lowering herself onto the couch wearing one of my t-shirts and a white pair of panties.

“Joe, baby, did you clean up?” She glanced around the room with a troubled frown and then back at me.

“Yeah.”

“I was going to do that after we ate.” She looked a bit defeated, and I doubted it was likely she’d have rallied the energy.

“I wanted to be able to spend time with you tonight, without distractions.” I replied, handing her the food. She leaned down and inhaled the aromas rising from her plate.

“Crab Rangoon? Mac and Cheese from Hillside Farmacy? Baby, are you
trying
to turn me into a house?” I smiled and let her sharp tone wash off of my jangled nerves.

“You’re tired and I didn’t want you to feel like you had to cook. Me cooking isn’t exactly the best idea. You don’t have to eat it all. I just wanted to give you options.” She looked from me to her plate with hesitation, and then picked up her fork and tasted the mac and cheese.

Despite her initial irritation, Molly tore into the meal with gusto. “God, everything’s so good. Oh! Tamryn called today. Your parents are coming into town the week before Thanksgiving and they want to meet my family. She’d like to have everyone out to the ranch for dinner and drinks sometime while they’re back.”

“What did you tell her?” There was a hard edge to my voice and Molly shot me a look of surprise, and then shrugged.

“I told her we’d be there. Why?” It was amazing how much ominous warning she could put in one word. What she said was ‘why’, but what I heard was ‘you got a problem with that bucko?’

Taking a deep mental breath I took a bite of food, buying myself a moment’s respite. Tamryn had been trying to get me to call my parents for weeks but I’d managed to dodge her. It pissed me off that she had done an end run around me by going to Molly.
And
that Molly had accepted the invitation without talking to me about it.

For a moment, I was tempted to answer her challenge. Angry Joe, the damaged asshole who squatted in the shadowy recess of my mind, had quite a bit to say on the subject. How she was overstepping her bounds and treating me like crap, for starters. Instead, I pushed it all down and answered in a calm voice.

“Just curious. I’ve been trying to make some time to call my folks. I’ve just been so distracted.” I could feel her looking at me but kept eating as if I didn’t. I struggled with my frustration and where to direct it. I asked myself the most frequent question that crossed my mind in these situations.

What would Dr. Greene tell my stupid ass to do?

I came up with nothing. After a few seconds she sighed, stood up, and took her empty plate into the kitchen.

“That’s because you’ve been picking up
everything,
baby. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate all the help…but I’m not terminally ill. I’m pregnant.” Her voice was as delicate as a snowflake and I lifted my eyes in her direction. Her back was to me as she rinsed off her dish and loaded it into the dishwasher.

“I know.” My words came out as a tired sigh. “I just need to do
something
, Molly.”

She froze, her back still to me, as if pondering this carefully. Then she turned and leaned against the sink. “Baby, I can tell that you’re mad at me, but I’m confused about why. After everything you’ve said to me, I thought you’d want our families to meet.”

My family was always a complex topic. My mother had called a couple of times since we’d spoken at Tamryn’s Christmas party, but I hadn’t talked to my father since that night. I felt like it was his move, and still he refused to play ball. He’d been kind to Molly, which was something. But the thought of him breezing back into my life, trying to play Grandpa of the Year, just pissed me off.

A blended gathering of our families made me uncomfortable. No, that wasn’t true. My sister was not part of the problem. Tamryn loved Molly, and Tamz had fit right in with Mac and Mason back when they’d formed a team to save me from myself. But imagining my father having cocktails with Molly’s mom and looking down his nose at the entire Hildebrandt clan set my teeth on edge. If he found
me
so unworthy of the family name that he still hadn’t reached out to me…

I walked into the kitchen and sat at the island. I held my arms out to Molly. She only hesitated for a fraction of a second before she crossed the kitchen to me. I looked into her reluctant eyes. “Tamryn and Robbie. Yes. The girls? Of course. They’d have a ball with Mac and Mason’s kids. But mom and dad…”

She nodded “But they’re good to Tressa and Jamie, aren’t they?”

“Tamryn seems to think so.” I replied, tracing my fingertips up her soft thighs. The familiar citrus smell of her freshly shampooed hair, touching her softness, it all comforted me. She was a marvelous distraction presented at precisely the right time. As usual she made an awful situation easier to bear.

“We’ll need all the babysitters we can get.” She pulled me closer to her, and my face was practically in her cleavage. I brushed my lips over her nipple which hardened under the thin material of the shirt. She inhaled sharply, but when I glanced up in alarm, she’d thrown her head back and her expression wasn’t one of pain. Encouraged by the way she’d arched her back, thrusting herself forward against my lips, I trailed my hand under her t-shirt, and slipped it slowly into her panties.

“Joe.” She moaned, and her instant wetness coaxed a rakish smile from me.

“Ready for dessert?” I breathed into the material over her other breast.

“Oh yeah,” she gasped as she moved her legs aside to make more room for my hand. I teased her for a while, watching with fascination as the color rose in her cheeks…listening to her tiny gasping breaths. When she moaned loudly in frustration, I pulled my hand away and brought the panties down with me. She blushed and braced herself on my shoulders as she stepped out of them.

“You won’t need these anymore tonight.” I tossed them over my shoulder and her lips turned upward in a wicked smile. I took her hand, leading her into the bedroom.