“I’m sorry I called you a sickly-looking stick figure. You’re skinny, not sickly. At least not these days.”

Nina said the word sorry, so Kelly supposed her words equaled an apology. It was more than she expected when she walked into her cousin’s suite. Hannah had assured her that Nina would be fine with her bringing the kids to the game.

“Thanks for letting us join you.”

It wasn’t like the suite was packed full of people. Evidently, Nina only usually shared it with Hannah and her kids, because they were the only other people Kelly had ever seen in it.

“Well, Hannah told me everything is good between us again, and apparently we aren’t worried about Jake getting his heart broken anymore and bringing the team down.”

Hannah had explained things, but it wasn’t just a broken heart they were worried about. Taking the hits leading up to the visitation and letting the team mother see Kelly walk on the wild side had turned on her protection instincts. Knowing how much Kelly herself worried about causing problems for Jake, she couldn’t blame the other woman.

At the time, her own insecurities had made it hard to understand the harsh words. She still wasn’t quite over her cousin deeming her a charity case. The fact that she was potentially marrying a man who was not only hotter than sin, but also made her feel special, made her feel like anything but a charity case.

The license in her purse made that reality feel even more real. It meant they could get married any time after twenty-four hours. Jake had made it more than just a piece of paper for insurance. He’d said a date along with a vague qualifier that it would only change if something forced their hand.

Kelly got the feeling he meant that only in reference to moving the day up. He spent their long wait for a license giving her some ideas for the wedding. The more he threw ideas out, the more Kelly noticed his excitement about the wedding. She was still hesitant to believe it was really happening, but it was hard to ignore the fact he’d sent a couple of suggestions for venues to her phone.

With the kids down in the front of the suite, pointing and hollering for Jake, who was on the ice, Kelly couldn’t easily ask the other women in the suite their opinions. She didn’t think she’d be able to sit through the whole game, so she pulled out her phone and opened a text to both Hannah and Nina.

Are you guys busy January 11th?

After hitting send, she looked to her right to see if either of them had their phones out. She should’ve verified that before asking, especially with Hannah, since she was helping Ollie with a teething ring.

Their phones went off at the same time, Hannah’s more of a single chime and Nina’s multiple notes. Hannah shushed Ollie while grabbing her phone with one hand. She looked over at Kelly and held up the phone.

“There a reason you’re asking this way?”

As Hannah asked the question, Nina leaned forward to join the conversation. Her red lips were pursed, giving an impression that she didn’t have time to play around. At least that’s how Kelly read it. Nina pretty much always gave off that vibe.

Kelly pointed down to the kids and started typing again. Until she knew the wedding and the guardianship stuff were sure things, she wasn’t going to tell them. She hoped Hannah and Nina could keep the secret. She knew she wasn’t really in their inner circle, but she needed some female perspectives, and she didn’t have anyone else.

Brian’s parents are trying to get guardianship

Sending all the news in one text seemed a bit much, so Kelly decided to do it in pieces and wait for responses. She also wanted to see the individual reactions. Since Hannah, in particular, had seemed against the relationship between Kelly and Jake, she wasn’t sure how she’d take the wedding news.

Kelly was still trying to figure out how she was taking the news herself. It really hadn’t registered, even as they moved on to start talking about particular aspects of it.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Nina said, not worried at all there were four kids around her.

Hannah quickly covered Ollie’s ears as she glared over at Nina. Fiona giggled from her spot still watching the action on the ice. Simon and Liv were both unfazed. The latter was sleeping, and Kelly was fairly sure a hurricane wasn’t going to wake the little girl up. With all the loud music and cheering, there was more than enough noise around to rouse her, but she didn’t even blink her eyes.

“Use your fingers, not your words,” Hannah scolded as she followed her own advice.

Do you need character references? If so, I’m there

Kelly smiled and let out a deep breath. With her walking out on them and the weeks between them talking, she hadn’t been sure either of them would be willing to stand in front of a judge and say Kelly was a good person. She nodded, but then shook her head when she saw them both looking at her.

I don’t have the exact date of the hearing yet, but if you guys would be willing to help in that department, I would forever be indebted

Hannah’s eyes narrowed as she read the text. When she was finished, she cocked her head to the side. Since Nina was on the other side of her and had moved back to sit normally, it was kind of hard to see exactly what she was doing.

What’s the 11th then?

The text was from Nina. Kelly couldn’t help the wide smile on her face as she replied.

Jake has taken helping me with that problem to a whole new level … he asked the lawyer if getting married would help … apparently it might make me look more stable

Kelly quickly looked up, just in time to see Hannah’s jaw drop and her eyes bug out. Turning to Kelly, she mouthed a single word, which Kelly thought was “really.” There was probably a giant question mark at the end of the word, but punctuation didn’t come across in silent words.

We got the license today

After putting her phone on her lap, Kelly reached down to pull the document out of her purse and held it up, so Hannah could see it. Nina’s arm appeared from behind Hannah’s shoulder and grabbed the paper.

Kelly scowled at it being ripped out of her hand. She’d only brought it out to provide proof it existed.

“Give her the paper back,” Hannah said, taking it from Nina. “There’s nothing on it that you don’t already know.”

Since Nina had mentioned an investigator looking at Jake, Kelly was sure the statement was fact. There wasn’t anything more than general information about the two of them on the paper. That didn’t change the fact that Kelly felt better when it was back in her possession. She quickly tucked it back in her purse.

“True, but I wanted to see it with my own eyes.”

Kelly was listening to Nina speak when her phone vibrated. She looked down to see Nina had sent a text.

Are you pregnant?

It was a good thing Kelly hadn’t taken a sip of the water she brought up to her lips. If she had, water would’ve spewed all over the place as she snorted in response to the text.

I’m pretty sure you have to have sex for that, unless my mom messed up the birds and the bees for me

?!?!?!

The text matched Hannah’s expression. If ever someone looked like their brain had just exploded, it was Hannah right then.

“How is that possible?” she asked, adding to her text.

Kelly had wondered about that too. As the idea of getting married settled in more, she realized she needed to put some more stipulations into her agreement. Finding out if they were sexually compatible was one of them.

It had been almost six months since Kelly had sex, at least sex with another person. She wasn’t sure where Jake was at as far as his drought, but she’d thought him staying over may push them to that next level. And yet, they didn’t even sleep naked together.

Having spent so many years worrying about staying skinny, Kelly was concerned about what Jake would think when he saw how much her ribs and hip bones were on display. He was a big muscular guy, who would probably be afraid of breaking her into a million pieces. That was the only reason Kelly had come up with for him not trying anything more than cuddling in her bed.

If they were going to get married, they both had to get over their problems and see if the pieces fit together. There was no way Kelly would let Jake sacrifice that much.

We’re taking things slow. Our first official kiss was Christmas Eve

“Honey, there’s slow, and then there’s you. Why in the world are you talking about getting married if you haven’t even sampled the product?” Nina asked.

Kelly stared at her phone for a second, hoping she’d magically read the words. If that was the case, she had Nina’s voice a little too deeply ingrained in her head, because it sounded just like the words were spoken out loud.

“Who’s getting married?” Fiona was quick to ask. “Are you and Jake getting married?”

Looking up from her phone, Kelly saw her niece sitting backward in her chair. Her eyes were wide with anticipation of answers to her questions. Kelly had been a little worried Fiona wouldn’t approve of her crush marrying her aunt, but she showed no signs of the idea bothering her.

“Sorry.”

Nina’s second apology of the night didn’t sound anymore sincere than the first, but it had to be a record for the number of times she’d said sorry in a day. Actually, it was probably close to a full year’s record.

“We might be. We’re still talking about it and whether it’s right for you guys.”

Fiona raised her hands in the air as her smile got wider. Kelly had clearly read the crush wrong.

“Yes. Now we’re going to have a new mom and a new dad. It was weird only having one, especially when you keep doing things wrong.”

“What? You thought I’m your new mom?”

Kelly was completely thrown off guard by the comment. The animosity she’d felt from Fiona up until Christmas had not led her to believe Fiona thought for a second Kelly was her new mom. All the questions meant to just drive her insane and letting her know every time she did something wrong, as she’d pointed out, didn’t scream mother-daughter relationship.

“Of course you’re our new mom, and now Jake will be our new dad.”

Kelly looked over to Hannah and Nina, who’d at some point sat forward so she could be seen again. There were many reasons Kelly wasn’t a parent, and not having any clue how to respond to Fiona’s statement was one of them.

Neither Hannah nor Nina seemed to have any advice, so Kelly turned back to Fiona. The girl looked over her shoulder out to the ice. Had she really been sizing Jake up as a new dad and not just a crush?

“Honey, we’re not trying to replace your real mommy and daddy. We… I just want to keep you safe and try to make sure you two are happy.”

Fiona looked back to Kelly and shrugged. “But kids are supposed to have a mommy and daddy. Since my daddy wasn’t really my daddy, it’s okay that you and Jake are our new mommy and daddy. Right, Simon?”

She turned to her brother, who apparently had a say in the titles. Kelly was surprised Fiona at six was able to come up with her logic, but there was no way Simon would have any clue what she was talking about. That didn’t stop him from nodding enthusiastically.

“What do you mean your daddy wasn’t your daddy?” Nina asked.

Kelly was still trying to process everything, so she hadn’t gotten around to figuring out on her own what that meant. She imagined it was just a slip of some sort.

“I heard Mommy and Daddy fighting because Mommy was mad at Mia, and Daddy said it was her own fault cuz I wasn’t his kid. I asked Daddy what that means, and he said he wasn’t my real daddy, but he still loved me.”

Nothing she said seemed to faze Fiona. It was like she wasn’t reporting a huge secret that could possibly change everything.

“Why was Kirsten mad at Mia?”

Kelly wanted to ask more about the paternity questions that came up, but she didn’t get the sense Fiona had much more information on that. The way she liked to rattle on, she would’ve kept going if she knew more.

“Oh, that’s an easy one. Daddy was playing with the nanny after hours.”

Taking her eyes away from Fiona, Kelly looked over to Nina. She’d just spoken, but she was engrossed with something on her phone.

“How would you know that?”

For some reason, Kelly wasn’t shocked at all to hear it. The fact that Fiona wasn’t Brian’s was a lot to take, but Brian screwing around with Mia wasn’t. She was only surprised she hadn’t already thought about the possibility. Having someone that close to home who was a younger model of your wife appeared to be too tempting. The question there was that if Kirsten knew, why in the world was Mia still working for them?

“Kirsten thought something funny was up, so she asked me for the name of a guy who could keep an eye on Brian. Since I like knowing anything that may benefit me at some point, I paid him to tell the both of us what was going on. I take it she never told you.”

“No, she never told me any of this stuff.”

Kelly was about to ask if she could get a copy of the investigator’s report, but the lights in the arena dimmed as the announcer started the spiel he went through just before the game started. Kelly hadn’t even noticed that warm-ups were over.

She decided to ask Nina about the documentation later. The affair issue would hopefully help paint Kirsten’s reasoning behind the will change. Kelly couldn’t count on just that in her pocket, though. With the possibility that Fiona wasn’t Brian’s now on the table, everything had changed. It didn’t sound like that included Simon, but if one kid wasn’t related to the McKinneys, maybe the fight could be stopped before it started. Kelly wasn’t exactly sure what DNA test to run to prove or disprove what Fiona had said, but there had to be something out there that would back it up.