Chapter 15
It was a happy day. Sophia was swollen, eight months’ pregnant. She looked like a basketball was under her shirt. She was carrying quite well, however, and if you saw her from the back you wouldn't have known she was pregnant. Sophia attributed her trim look to eating well and exercising every day. She also really loved her new prenatal yoga class, which she attended four times a week at the sleek and upscale gym in the Times building.
The two brothers stood on either side of her as they climbed the stairs into Dan Shrader’s office. Dan was waiting behind his old-fashioned desk with all of the documentation.
A few weeks before, Sophia and Marcy had had a gender reveal party with the brothers. Marcy had brought her two boyfriends. She had finally managed to get her own polyamorous relationship, though the two men were not brothers. She loved calling Sophia and they would exchange details about their exciting threesomes and offer each other advice for how to navigate jealousy and fights. When Sophia bit into her cupcake and saw blue, she cried with the brothers. She had intuitively known that it would be a little boy.
Now here they were at Dan’s.
“Are you sure about this?” Dan asked, as he pushed two separate packets of papers at the brothers.
“Totally sure,” Adam said with a cheeky grin.
“Not a doubt in my mind,” Blake said.
Sophia sat between them. She didn’t really need to be here, but it felt ceremonial to her. She watched as the brothers read over the terms of their wills and then signed. Dan and a secretary signed as a witness.
“I have set up a five million dollar trust fund for our son,” Adam declared, the first to finish signing the packet. As he pushed back toward Dan along with the old-fashioned ink pen, he grinned at Sophia. She clasped his arm and snuggled into him to thank him.
Then Blake said, “And I've done the same.” Sophia clasped his arm and planted a firm peck on his cheek. He was letting his beard grow out at her request, since she liked feeling the bristles against her inner thighs when he went down on her. She had also requested Adam to remain clean-shaven and he had obliged her.
“You do know that you have just agreed that your child will be your sole heirs and will inherit the Franklin Corporation in the event of your deaths?” Dan confirmed.
Both brothers nodded eagerly. They had already thought about all of this. When Sophia had questioned if they really wanted to do this, they had both said yes without any hesitation. They did not have any other children, nor did they plan to. They promised to reconsider the terms of their wills if they ever did have other children, but for now, their unborn son was their sole heir.
“And now here’s the financial agreement between the three of you, as per Adam and Blake's request. In addition to the trust funds they just set up, Blake and Adam Franklin agree to help support Sophia Nueva with her living expenses and all expenses related to this child, until he reaches the age of 21 years, and they agree to support this child in any of his future educational pursuits. They accept full responsibility for all expenses associated with your son, including educational and medical expenses. This agreement protects you and your son even if your romantic relationship together ends,” Dan went on. He produced many more papers for the men to sign. He glanced between the three of them, looking unsure of how to judge this situation. But like any good lawyer, he reserved judgement and remained discreet about the strange affair his clients were entertaining with this woman.
Sophia sucked in her breath, extremely surprised and feeling a bit winded. She had not known that the brothers had arranged for this. What generosity! They were both such good men, so keen to make her happy and provide for the baby. The fact that they were both taking financial responsibility for the baby without knowing whose it was meant everything to her. She squeezed their arms.
“We just never want you to ever suffer or worry,” Blake said kindly, reading the shock on her face.
They left the lawyer’s office and Sophia commented, “It feels like we just got married.”
“In a way, we did. I consider you my wife,” Blake agreed.
“Me too,” Adam said, taking Sophia’s hand.
“So how about we go shopping for the nursery now?” Blake proposed.
Sophia was ecstatic to satisfy her nesting instinct and start preparing the baby’s room. She had already chosen the second bedroom in her penthouse to be the nursery. With the exception of a bassinet that she would keep beside her four-post bed, she planned to furnish that room and hire a decorator. The brothers had already contracted one of the New York’s premier designers and had chosen gold and silver to be the theme, with lots of teddy bears.
The brothers told her that expense was not an issue. She ran from store to store, picking out adorable clothes and tiny shoes. She picked out dozens of teddy bears and blankets and accessories. She picked a little baby bathtub and kits for baby care. Her natural instincts guided her, but she also had plenty of advice and lists of things she needed from her new book, a gift from Marcy, What to Expect When You’re Expecting. “This book is mandatory for pregnancy,” Marcy had told her when she produced the book wrapped in blue paper at the gender reveal.
At one baby store, the brothers were drawn to a huge white crib that was priced at two thousand dollars. “Are you sure?” Sophia laughed. “I hadn’t expected to spend that much.”
“Let’s get it,” Adam urged her.
They needed the assistance of Adam’s personal driver to load up the car with all of the things they bought. It took many trips to get everything up to the nursery. They also put some toys and a Pack’n’Play in the Franklins’ apartment.
“It really looks like a baby is coming,” they joked as their apartment transformed.
Sophia was ecstatic as she began to unpack the bags and find places for everything in the nursery. It looked so cute and smelled like fresh paint. She lifted the window to let it air out. The decorator had down a fantastic job. She tenderly folded clothes in the organizer in the walk-in closet, and put little newborn diapers in neat white rows in the special baby-safe built-in dresser that the decorator had installed near where the crib was meant to go. The brothers struggled with setting up the crib and agreed to let Sophia redo it with her woman's touch.
Together, they stood with their arms around each other, surveying the room. Then they retired to the living room. Adam began to make dinner while Sophia relaxed with her feet up. She had few bad pregnancy symptoms but shopping all day on her feet made her exhausted.
“Foot rub?” Blake offered.
She nodded gratefully.
“I really feel good about this,” she said, eyeing the little brightly colored play mat that she had set in the center of the living room. It delighted her that she had everything she needed, even a car seat set up in the back of Adam’s car. Adam offered to buy her a car earlier but she had refused, having no need or desire to drive in the city. She would entrust her life and her son’s life in the driver, though, who had proved his excellent navigational abilities thus far.
“I do, too. I am so excited.” Blake laid his head against her belly and the baby began to kick. They both oohed over it and Adam hurried over to feel it. Watching these men dote on her, knowing that they were going to support her, helped her feel better. It did not matter who the father was and she was determined to never find out. Maybe it would become obvious when the baby grew older. That had always worried her. But now she knew that even if that happened, these men were never going to abandon her or lose interest.
“Even if we don’t work out, we will be good dads,” Blake promised.
“I know,” she said happily, rubbing her tummy and playing with the baby’s tiny feet. Feeling him wrestling around inside of her made her feel so whole and complete, confirming her motherhood. She loved to sit and just enjoy time peacefully feeling her child. Often she read him books and played classical music and Spanish songs that she remembered from her childhood. Sometimes she would cry, but out of nostalgia, not sadness. She liked to do this alone in order to bond with the baby and not have the brothers fawning over her, but now she enjoyed sharing this time with the fathers.
“He will go to St. Xavier’s, where we went. It’s one of the best schools,” Adam declared.
“I think he should pick his own school,” Sophia replied gently yet firmly. She hated the idea of sending her kid to a Catholic school against his will.
“Yeah, duh, Adam,” Blake said. “You really think this kid belongs in a Catholic school?”
Adam shrugged. “So maybe an alternative school.”
“We’ll decide later. I just want to thank you both.” She leaned her head back and smiled at them. “I’m really happy that this has happened.”
“Now we’re just waiting for him to come!” Blake said joyously.
“Just one more month,” Adam crowed from the kitchen, where he was making a meal specifically nutritious for pregnant women and their babies.