December 17th
Kim and Jordyn stared helplessly at one another from across the great hall inside the Marcello mansion. At this point, there wasn’t much else they could do.
Between Jordyn’s three kids, Andino, plus Cat and Dante’s two … putting the finishing touches on the decorations for the party was going nowhere.
Fast.
The kids wouldn’t stop moving. All six of them bounced from one end of the great hall to the other, shouting and laughing at the top of their lungs. Rarely—except for Sundays—did they get all of their kids together at the same time.
And even then, usually they had each set of parents on hand to keep some kind of control over the chaos.
“I am remembering why Lucian and I agreed to stop at three,” Jordyn shouted from the other end of the hall.
Kim snorted. “Right. We all know you’ll have another one someday.”
“No way.”
“Did either of you go make sure in a permanent fashion that it wouldn’t happen again?”
“IUD,” her sister-in-law replied.
Kim nodded. “Those still have the same fail-rate as other preventative measures, Jord.”
“Yes, including getting a tubal or vasectomy.”
Panic swelled through Kim at the thought. Her cheeks grew cold as they drained of color. Across the hall, her sister-in-law laughed. Kim realized then how fast this whole conversation had turned around on her.
“Seriously?”
This time, it was Jordyn’s turn to nod empathetically at Kim. Although frankly, Kim thought Jordyn was doing it in a much more sarcastic way than she had.
“Oh, Jesus,” Kim muttered to herself.
“Gio got the snip-snip done, didn’t he?”
“Just … shut your mouth, we’re not talking about fail-rates anymore.”
“You brought it up, Kim.”
“I am not having more kids.”
Jordyn smirked and make a snipping gesture with two fingers. “Should have gotten the tubal done, too. Just in case.”
“I’m still not having more kids. You, on the other hand …”
Her sister-in-law side-eyed the very noisy kiddos as they did another round of tag throughout the great hall.
Jordyn let out another little laugh. “Well, we said we were done. But hey, who the hell knows, right?”
Just what Kim figured.
She was happy with her one boy. She didn’t want more kids. Catrina and Dante probably would have continued to try for more kids, but given how emotionally draining it had been just to conceive Catherine … they hadn’t even mentioned trying to add a third to their team.
Lucian and Jordyn, though?
Aiming for half a baseball team.
Kim knew it.
“That’ll make Antony and Cecelia happy,” Kim said.
“What will make us happy?”
“Grandmamma!”
“Nana!”
Six voices echoed their love and excitement for their grandmother. Cecelia stepped into the great hall with a wide smile and opened arms. She attempted to hug all the grandchildren at once, and then ended up just giving each one their own time and attention.
Just like always.
Very little changed.
Kim passed Jordyn a look that spoke volumes without ever saying a word out loud. The scene happening a few feet away was every reason it would make her in-laws happy. Cecelia and Antony adored their grandchildren; they spoiled them, took them to give their parents breaks, and made time for each and every one of them individually.
They had been great parents.
And even greater grandparents.
Cecelia held out a bag to show the waiting kids. She was still dressed in a heavy tweed jacket, matching hat and mittens, and a pair of leather boots. “We’ve got popcorn, hot chocolate, and the new movie you all wanted to see. So how about you head to the—”
“Theater!” six voices shouted.
The volume nearly burst Kim’s eardrums.
Twelve feet pattered against the hardwood floors as all the kids darted for the winding staircase that would lead them to the second and third level of the wing. Not a single one of the kids looked back over their shoulders as they left Kim and Jordyn behind. All they saw were their backs as they left.
Silence ensued.
Beautiful, peaceful silence.
Kim sighed. “Well, this is nice.”
“Right?” Jordyn asked. “We should have thought of that sooner.”
Cecelia smiled and winked as she shrugged off her jacket. “Sorry that took me so long, girls. Now, back to what I asked. What is this about something making Antony and me very happy?”
Jordyn shot Kim a look.
It screamed for her to lie or stay quiet.
Kim opted for a lie.
After all, it wasn’t her choice to speak about someone else’s choices regarding kids, having more, or not.
“I meant once we finally get all this decorating done for the Christmas party,” Kim said, waving at the hall.
So far, most of the decorations were up … or rather, were sitting in the places they needed to be to be put up. The trees were all placed, including the largest one in the middle of the great hall. That’s what the kids had been using to run around as they played tag.
“That will be nice,” Cecelia said as she passed Kim by. “I’ll keep the kids busy for an hour or two. How much do you think will be done by then?”
“Almost all,” Jordyn assured.
Kim agreed.
“Good. Call for Antony if you need a hand. He can get one of the men who watch the house to come in and hang things, or … whatever.”
Cecelia waved a hand over her shoulder, and then she too was gone up the stairs. Kim and Jordyn were finally alone to do their work.
“Catrina called to let me know all the catering is set,” Jordyn said.
“Oh?”
“Yep.”
“How’s her little break with Dante going?” Kim asked.
Jordyn smirked. “She didn’t say.”
“Then why do you look like something naughty just crawled up your skirt?”
“Because I assume without kids and life getting in the way, they’re very much taking advantage. I would. What about you?”
A break without kids sounded heavenly.
She got what Jordyn was saying.
“Truth.”
“Exactly.” Jordyn picked up a few lines of garland, and looked them over. “Are you done with your shopping and everything else?”
Kim made a noise under her breath. “I guess.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“We still haven’t found something for Andino yet to satisfy what he wants the most, plus Gio’s been super busy because he’s handling everybody else’s problems instead of taking care of himself. It’s just … a lot.”
“I bet.”
Kim wanted to get away from her problems as a conversational topic because really, they weren’t issues that mattered. She was complaining for nothing, mostly.
“Cecelia’s been pretty good about this whole party planning thing, hasn’t she?”
Jordyn raised a brow like she was considering Kim’s question. “She has. Surprising.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she’s ready to hand over the reins a bit in this family. Let us women handle all this stuff.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, now. You know she’s going to be down here in two hours telling us to move this or that, or that something looks better somewhere else. It’s Cecelia Marcello. She’s like ten of Catrina, but you know, without the Queen Pin title and the scary knives.”
“Still kind of scary, sometimes.”
Even without the title and knives.
Kim laughed.
Jordyn grinned.
Story of their lives …
They still loved their mother-in-law, though.
Who wouldn’t?