Late
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hat marathon lovemaking night almost a month ago had come back to haunt Isabel. As satisfying as it was, she was fairly certain that night was the culprit. Now here she was at Valerie’s house, waiting on the results of her home-pregnancy test.
This was more of a formality just so she could confirm it. She already knew she was. She was two full weeks late. Her breasts were tender, and even morning sickness had already started. It was still mild enough that Romero hadn’t noticed, but it was enough that she was certain she was pregnant.
At first, when she’d been late, she’d been sort of pissed at herself. Why hadn’t she been more responsible? But as the weeks passed while she waited for more time to go by before she took the test, she’d begun to get excited.
Another baby.
The thought alone made her smile. This was why she’d initially said she’d wait until next year to decide. Unlike Romero what had accused her of, her mind hadn’t been made up. She really was on the fence about another baby. Now she couldn’t be happier. But this close to Christmas she decided, along with Valerie’s eager encouragement, she’d surprise Romero.
Isabel knew how badly he wanted another baby. This would be hands down the best gift she could give him. This worked out in more ways than one. He’d warned her more than once subtly and not so subtly that working even part-time and dealing with the house and kids would be too much. And she’d be damned if she was going to bring in some young nanny to raise her kids and prance around her husband. But now she may not have to admit how right Romero had been.
There was no doubt about it anymore. Commuting back and forth from the kids’ school every morning to the university and back again while still maintaining a house was hell. Especially because Isabel hated a messy and disorganized home.
She was still very grateful for the opportunity Elliot had given her, but as soon as she got the confirmation she needed, she’d be letting him know she wouldn’t be back after Christmas break. With another child on the way, Romero would be happy to know she likely wouldn’t be going back to work now for at least another five years. There was no way she was going to keep up with everything she was doing now and deal with another baby. That would only sweeten his Christmas gift, and even as she and Valerie sat there waiting anxiously, they excitedly discussed the options on how to surprise Romero with the news.
“Oh my God, Isabel, he’s going to die.” Valerie touched Isabel’s arm. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he really hates you working with that professor. Alex said he’s a complete grump ass when the subject ever comes up, so, of course, Alex makes sure to bring it up often.”
Isabel rolled her eyes but laughed with Valerie. As if she didn’t already know this. Romero had come a long way since she first met him when it came to his explosive temper about a lot of things, but when it came to anything like this, he still had a hell of a time trying to control it. Though she wondered how hard he actually tried when it came to things of this nature, because he was still very blatant about it.
“You really think I hadn’t noticed?” She laughed. “I knew before I even started working, so from the very beginning I’ve done my best not to say anything I know will only irritate him more. But you know Romero. You can’t win with him when it comes to this stuff. Right from the start I tried to keep anything I did or discussed with Elliot to a minimum. I’d only been working for about a week, and one night while we were having dinner, I was telling him about my day at work. I noticed him getting tense, so I made the mistake of saying, ‘But you don’t wanna hear about everything we talk about.’ Then I asked him how his day was. Instantly,” Isabel said, snapping her finger, “that brow was up and he asked why.” Isabel raised her own brow to imitate her sexy husband’s glare and then his hardened tone. “Is it gonna piss me off?”
Valerie laughed. “God, he sounds just like Alex. I don’t know where Alex gets off making fun of Romero. He’s hated every single guy I’ve ever worked with.”
Isabel laughed then stood up to walk over to the counter where the pregnancy test was. She still hadn’t told anyone about that conversation she’d had with Elliot the day Manny had to pick them up. He hadn’t said anything remotely inappropriate again, and she’d since decided she’d overreacted. She turned to grin at Valerie as soon as she saw the result.
“Positive?” Valerie practically squealed.
Isabel nodded, feeling giddy herself. Within seconds, she and Valerie were hugging and squealing like two crazy people.
“Congrats, momma,” Valerie said, squeezing her tightly, then pulled away. “Welcome to the insanity of my world of lots of crazy kids running around.”
Isabel felt choked up suddenly. She felt bad now that she was this thrilled about something she should’ve just agreed to long ago. Romero had been saying they should have another baby for years now, and she’d stubbornly refused. How in the world was she going to keep this from him for a few more weeks?
Alex walked in the front door. “The girls left their bikes in the driveway again.” He stopped when he saw Valerie holding her hand to her mouth, looking ready to burst. “What?”
Valerie and Isabel exchanged glances. Her best friend’s eyes pleaded, and Isabel knew that, like her, Valerie would be dying to tell her husband. “He can’t say anything—”
“Okay, you can’t say anything,” Valerie said quickly before Isabel could even finish. “Isabel is pregnant!”
Alex’s eyes went wide, but then he looked confused. “Why can’t I say anything?”
“Because she’s gonna surprise Romero for Christmas,” Valerie chirped in delight. “He’s been wanting another baby for years!”
“Yeah, he has.” Alex laughed. “He was just talking about it the other day. He’s gonna be so stoked.” He walked over to Isabel and hugged her. “Congrats.”
After Isabel pulled away and thanked him, still feeling a bit choked up, Alex brought up something she hadn’t even thought of. “If you’re gonna want to keep this under wraps, don’t tell Manny and Max.”
Isabel’s eyes shot open. “That’s right,” she said, bringing her hand to her head. “Those two are incapable of keeping secrets.”
“Not to mention neither knows how to whisper.” Valerie laughed. “They’d probably discuss it right in front of him and then for the life of them not be able to figure out how he could’ve possibly heard them.”
“Yeah,” Alex agreed, laughing now too. “You may as well just tell Romero if you’re gonna tell them and ask them to keep it under wraps.”
“Okay, so let’s all agree no one tells Manny or Max,” Isabel said, pointing at them. “I don’t mind if anyone else knows like your family,” she said to Alex. “Just as long as they know I’m keeping it from him and his uncles until Christmas.”
As much as she mocked Max and Manny for their inability to keep a secret, she wasn’t much better. She’d never been good at lying, especially not to Romero, and she knew keeping this from him for the next few weeks would require lying to him. But the end result would be absolutely worth it. He was going to be beyond thrilled.
Isabel was already wondering how she’d get through Thanksgiving tomorrow when already just the thought of cutting up the pansa for the menudo made her a little nauseated. Still it was less than a month away. She could do this. Her morning sickness with her second pregnancy hadn’t been as bad as with her first. Isabel could only hope the third time was even better.
“Okay, I gotta go,” she said, remembering Romero was waiting for her at home with the kids.
The lying had already started. She’d taken advantage of the fact that Romero and the kids were caught up watching E.T. for the hundredth time to say she had to run out and get an ingredient she’d forgotten for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner. She’d been in the kitchen all day, but after another nauseous episode, she couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to run out and get the home-pregnancy test and make a pit stop at Valerie’s. Amanda was another one she didn’t trust to spill the beans. Her young daughter asked a million questions. Isabel would be forced to tell her what she was up to if she saw her buy the test, so she’d been forced to wait until Amanda was sucked into the movie and wouldn’t immediately tag along with her to the store as she normally did.
Isabel even covered her tracks by pushing the brown sugar to the back of the pantry because she would never forget to buy any of the ingredients for her contribution to their Thanksgiving feast. She knew Romero knew this as well. Just like with everything else she was meticulous about her grocery lists. That was where the new job came in handy. She blamed it on being so busy and exhausted last week when she’d started getting all her stuff together for Thanksgiving, and Romero had easily bought it, barely turning away from the TV when she told him.
“Was it crazy busy?” Romero asked as soon as she walked in.
“Yes,” she said, feigning annoyance. “The supermarket is always a mess the day before Thanksgiving.”
Romero kissed her then followed her into the kitchen. “No wonder you were gone so long.”
“Aha,” she said, putting the box of brown sugar on the counter.
“The kids polished off that casserole you made yesterday,” he said, opening the fridge. “But that boy of yours ate so much of it I barely got some.”
“The chili beans will be done soon.”
“Oh yeah!” Romero smiled big, turning to the pot on the stove. He closed the fridge and walked over to the pantry next.
“Did you get everything you’re in charge of,” she asked, turning to watch Romero searching through the pantry. “Honey, the chili is probably already done. Just get yourself a bowl if you’re that hungry. There’s corn bread and all the fixings right there on the counter”
The second she saw the box in his hand she froze. “Look, babe,” he said, looking at the box of brown sugar she’d set down on the counter then at her a bit dolefully. “You went to the crowded ass market for nothing. The brown sugar is right here.”
Isabel looked at him and frowned. “I knew I’d bought it.” She quickly turned away to look into the chili pot instead because she knew how bad she was at lying. She didn’t want to look him in the face when she did. “But I searched and searched and couldn’t find it.”
“Probably because it was way in the back.”
Romero closed the pantry door and proceeded to make himself a bowl of chili as he assured her everything he was in charge of for tomorrow was ready: the air mattresses for the out-of-town guests who’d be coming back here after dinner at Moreno’s, the table extension in the dining room for the day-after brunch they always had, and all the booze for the mimosas and Bloody Marys they’d have at said brunch.
She was about to sit down and have some chili with him when her phone rang. Romero reached for it, glancing at the screen before he handed it to her. “Elliot?”
How Valerie would think for even a second that she didn’t know about Romero hating her working with Elliot was beyond her. Isabel was certain of it now. Her husband wasn’t even trying to hide that fact, and his lethal glare now was proof of that.
Isabel took the phone from him, shrugging. She had no idea why Elliot would be calling her. He only ever texted her and even that was few and far between. “Hey Elliot,” she said, walking away from the kitchen table.
“Isabel, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“No, not at all.” She stopped before walking out of the kitchen, knowing it’d be better for argument’s sake that she take this call right in front of Romero. So she walked around the center island and leaned on it, facing her very annoyed-looking husband. “What’s going on?”
“My plans for Thanksgiving fell through. My buddy who was supposed to come with me to Mammoth is a cop, and he got recalled last minute.”
“Oh no,” Isabel said, genuinely feeling bad for him. She reached for a napkin to wipe a smear on the counter. “That sucks. So what are you gonna do?”
This was his first Thanksgiving divorced, and his ex-wife had the kids, so he’d be alone. They’d talked about his skiing trip to Mammoth, and he’d been really excited.
“Well, that’s why I’m calling you. I’d been trying to decide since I found out yesterday if I should be pathetic and spend tomorrow night sitting alone at Denny’s or just call you and ask if the invitation to spend Thanksgiving with you guys at the restaurant you mentioned still stood.”
Invitation? Oh, Good Lord.
Isabel glanced up at Romero, who was sitting back in his chair now, staring at her and not even eating. She’d never actually invited him, and she couldn’t believe now that not only had he taken it that way he was actually taking her up on it.
“Sure,” she said her voice nearly squeaking, and she smiled at Romero before saying the next part. “Yeah, that’s fine. You can even bring someone if you want to. We always make way too much food.”
Romero sat up slowly as if it just dawned on him that she’d just invited Elliot to Moreno’s tomorrow. His eyes went wide, so she brought her finger to her lips.
“Are you sure it’s okay. I don’t want to intrude or anything.”
“Oh no, no. That’s fine,” she assured him then gave Romero her best puppy-dog look and pouted. “I’m sure my husband would love to meet you.”
Romero’s head fell back, but it wasn’t in that playful way when he was exasperated about something. She knew him well enough to know he was pissed.
The moment she hung up she began to explain. “He was supposed to go out of town for the holiday. It was the only reason I ever mentioned anything.”
She realized she was talking fast, but Romero had that look on his face, the hardcore one reserved only for when he was truly mad at her, which hadn’t happened in years, and she didn’t like it.
“He was talking about how hard this year’s holidays were going to be since they’re the first since his divorce and how glad he’d been when he got the invitation to go skiing, so I just mentioned he would’ve been welcome to join us at Moreno’s. But his plans were solid. It was a riskless invitation. I knew he’d be out of town. I’d get credit for being nice even though I knew—”
“Why do you want credit for being nice to him?”
Isabel nearly groaned. “You know that’s not what I meant. I just meant that—”
“So is he coming with us tomorrow or meeting us there?”
She exhaled deeply, feeling defeated. This was the last thing she needed. “Meeting us there. What was I supposed to say, baby? The friend he was supposed to go skiing with is a cop and got recalled at the last minute. His entire family is back east. All the family members here are on his ex-wife’s side.”
Romero stared her down for a long moment before once again surprising her as he’d done often when it came to Elliot. He shrugged. “I guess I finally get to meet this guy.”
The relief was instant as was her gratitude. The last thing she wanted was to be arguing during the holidays. She walked around the center divider and hugged Romero the moment she reached him then kissed his head. “Thank you, babe, for not making a big deal about this.”
Romero brought his arm around her and looked up, puckering his lips so she kissed them. It turned into one of his intense kisses, and she felt his hand travel down her waist and over her ass where he squeezed hard. When she pulled away, she was surprised to see him genuinely smirk.
“What?”
“This should be fun: your stuffy professor boss at the same table with me, Manny, and Max.”
This time she did groan, bringing her hand to her face. While she was incredibly relieved that this hadn’t turned into an argument, she hadn’t even thought about what Elliot was in for with this family.