Sunday

"Mommy."

A little finger repeatedly jabbing me in the side made me open my eyes.

"Mommy," Scarlett said and continued to poke me.

"Good morning, Scar." She was standing up on the bed looking down at me.

"I want in." She pointed between me and James.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Usually Scarlett insisted on sleeping directly between me and James whenever she was scared.

She nodded her head.

"Come here, baby girl." I scooted over and tapped the bed beside me.

Scarlett ungracefully jumped over me so she could nestle between us.

James made a noise like he just gotten punched in the gut. Sure enough, Scarlett had kneed him right in the stomach.

"Good morning, pumpkin," he said and kissed her forehead. "Good morning." He reached over and put his hand on the side of my face.

I turned my face and kissed his palm.

"Daddy, I had a bad dream." She nestled her face into his chest. "The snake monster talked to me."

Snake monster? "What movie did you two watch the other night?"

"She wanted to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets again. I think I may have fallen asleep before her."

I shook my head. We'd pretty much allow Scarlett to watch anything she wanted. But we usually turned it off at a certain point if we didn't think it was appropriate. Apparently seeing a gigantic snake was one of those things.

"Scar, there are no snake monsters. It was just a movie."

"Yes there are, Mommy." She turned to look at me. "I saw him. And he talked to me." She frowned, like she was waiting for me to question her. "Can storks eat snakes?"

James laughed. "Time to get up, Scarlett. Grandpa is coming over today to hang out with you. He should be here any minute."

"Grandpa!" Scarlett immediately dropped her question about storks.

"He is?" I asked.

"Yes, I figured while they're playing you and I could go get breakfast?" James climbed out of bed and looked down at me. There was a question in his gaze that I didn't quite understand.

Did he think I was going to say no? "That sounds wonderful," I said.

"Great. Let's go make you breakfast okay, pumpkin?" He squeezed Scarlett's shoulder.

She jumped off the bed and fell on her knees. For a second it looked like she was going to cry.

"You're okay." James picked her up and draped her over one shoulder.

"Daddy!" she squealed with delight. There was no longer any trace of her impending tears.

I sat there for a moment as I watched them disappear out the door. Sometimes Scarlett would get upset if she felt excluded. Maybe that was why James had looked worried after he asked me to go to breakfast. Or maybe he wanted to talk about something important. I certainly hadn't been acting like myself recently. I shook my head and climbed out of bed. Why was I analyzing how James had asked me? He was just being sweet. He wanted to spend more time with me. I didn't need to read between any lines.

I quickly washed up and walked into the closet. There was a new dress hanging in front of the others. It was just like my favorite stretchy cotton dress, except it was a brilliant shade of blue instead of gray. James knew it was the only article of clothing that I felt comfortable in anymore. I smiled as I pulled it off the hanger. There was no reason to analyze his expressions or his words. Everything he did was out of love. I was ready to have a romantic day with him.

I walked out of our room and down the stairs. James' father, Jon, was already there. Scarlett was sitting in his lap at the kitchen counter completely transfixed on her bowl of oatmeal, but not eating it.

"Hello, darling," Jon said as I walked into the room.

I leaned down and gave him a hug. "Hi, Jon. I see you two are already busy. What are you up to?" Scarlett was still staring at her bowl of oatmeal in the most unusual way.

"Grandpa said I could make a design with the raisins," she said. "I can't decide if I should do a snake or a stork."

I laughed. "It's going to get cold, Scar." I looked back at Jon and smiled.

"She's a perfectionist," James said as he placed a bowl down for Jon. "Remind you of someone we know?" He nodded toward me.

Jon laughed. "I was going to say you, son."

"And I was going to say Jon," I said.

The three of us all laughed.

"I have an idea," Jon said to Scarlett. "How about you make a snake with your raisins and I'll make a stork with mine."

"No, I want to make the stork. I'm scared of snakes, Grandpa."

"But didn't you just say..."

"I thought if I made a snake and ate it then I wouldn't be scared. But I don't want him inside of me forever."

Jon raised his eyebrow, just like James so often did, and looked up at us.

James shrugged.

"Well, okay, sweetheart," Jon said. "How about we both make storks then?"

She nodded and put her hand into the bag of raisins. "Don't forget the oven," she said and handed him a sticky fistful of raisins.

Jon looked back up at us. "What is all this about snakes, storks, and ovens?"

"You don't know about babies, Grandpa? I can teach you." Scarlett launched into the story James and I had spun.

Jon shook his head and looked up at us.

"We have to get going," James said and looped his arm behind my back. "We'll see you two later."

"Okay, Daddy." She turned back to Jon. "But there's a timer, so the babies don't burn. And each oven has two storks just in case one misses the timer. And they're not allowed to potty at the same time."

I tried not to giggle at Jon's expression as we left them in the kitchen. "He's going to think we're awful parents." We stepped onto the elevator.

"He was just telling me the other day how lovely Scarlett is. Maybe he'll think she made the story up herself and that he'd completely misjudged her."

I slapped James' arm. "Oh, geez, what if he tells her the truth? An innocent story about storks is so much better than an explanation of sex. She's much too young."

"I should probably text him?" He raised both eyebrows.

"Absolutely."

James pulled out his phone and sent his father a text. His phone bleeped a minute later with a response. "Yup, he said we're awful parents."

"He did not." I grabbed his phone from him. The text read, "I'm not going to explain sex to a child. What do you think I am, a snake monster?"

I laughed and handed James his phone back.

The elevator doors opened. William was already standing by the car. He opened up the door when he saw us.

I missed our old driver, Ian. It had been over a year since he had moved, but I still always expected to see his smiling face opening the door. Ian was practically family now. He had been dating James' sister, Jen, ever since our wedding. And he had quit so he could move across the country to live with her. It was romantic and wonderful. It didn't mean I didn't miss him though. Not that William wasn't great. He was. But he wasn't Ian.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter," William said.

That's what it was. It was the whole formal thing that bothered me. I couldn't break past that barrier with him. "Good morning, William," I said as he took my hand and helped me into the car behind James. One time I had called him Will and he had made such a horrendous face that a passerby would have thought I had spit on him. I had called him William ever since.

He closed the door behind us.

"We should give Jen and Ian a call," I said. "I think it's been a few weeks since we've talked to them. Really we should convince them to come early for Bee and Mason's wedding. Maybe they can stay at our place the whole week?"

"We can call them as soon as we get home." James wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "You miss Ian, huh?"

I laughed. "It's the whole being bad at change thing. I miss both of them. I kinda thought Jen would move back here once they got together."

"Yeah, me too."

I rested my head on James' shoulder as the car started to move. Silence settled around us. For some reason it put a nervous pit in my stomach. The baby kicked me like he was annoyed by my feelings. I lifted my head off of James' shoulder. "James?"

"Yes? You look beautiful today, by the way." He smiled.

"Oh my God. I'm the absolute worst. I walked into the closet this morning and found this dress and was so excited. It was such a sweet gesture because you know how much I love the other one. And then I immediately forgot to thank you. That's probably what you want to have breakfast together to talk about right? How awful I've been? I think your brother is right. I have crazy pregnancy hormones. I swear I can't even think straight anymore. I'm sorry about the past few days. I'm sorry that I keep assuming the worst and arguing with you and acting insane. And by the way, you can sue everyone we know for all I care. I don't want to fight about that. It's fine with me."

William cleared his throat from the front seat. "I'm just going to..." he let his voice trail off as he raised the partition.

"Ugh." I put my face in my hands. "See. I'm the worst. Now William thinks we're going to sue him."

"Penny?"

I lifted my head. "I know I've been impossible to please. First I was upset because we weren't talking. And then I got upset because you did open up. And you're allowed to talk to Rob about stuff. I want you to feel like you can talk to your brother. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping. And I way over reacted. Like a freaking lunatic. And I'm so hungry. Where are you taking me?"

"Baby." He wiped away the tears that I hadn't known I had shed. "Do you mind if I say something now?"

I shook my head.

"We're going to that brunch place you like so much. We should be there any minute. And I'm not taking you out to breakfast because I'm upset with you. I'm taking you out to breakfast because I love you."

"Oh." I exhaled slowly. "Yeah, I mean, I thought that was a possibility too."

He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you two?" He put his hand on my stomach and leaned toward me. His lips gently brushed against mine.

"This baby is making me insane."

"No." His breath was hot against my lips.

"I'm definitely insane."

"You're not insane. What would be insane is if you didn't kiss me back."

I laughed and stared into his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"If you're apologizing for not kissing me, I don't accept your apology. There's only one way I'll forgive you."

The car pulled to a stop.

"Damn it," James said under his breath.

"It's fine. You couldn't possibly want me right now. I look like the entire Atlantic ocean." I gave him a chaste kiss.

His hand slid to my hip. "If anything you're more of a sexy, very slender river."

"Tell that to my ass."

"I'd be happy to." The car door opened and James sighed.

"Mrs. Hunter." William put his hand out for me as I undid my seatbelt. I grabbed William's hand and let him help me to my feet. I really did feel as big as the ocean.

"I'm holding you to that," James said as he joined me on the sidewalk. He wrapped his arm around my back. As we walked up to the restaurant his hand slowly slid down to my ass. He squeezed it despite the fact that we were not the only people on the sidewalk.

"James." I laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling it back to my waist.

He opened up the door for me with a grin. "After you."

I shook my head as I walked into the restaurant. "Daphne? Rob? Hi." I had not been expecting to see them. But it made sense. We came here together all the time. It was a Sunday morning after all.

Daphne smiled as she gave me a hug. "Glad to see you two made up."

"Me too," I said. "I'm so sorry about last night."

"It was just the hormones," Rob loudly whispered and then gave me a hug. "You're mean when you're angry. I did the whole pouty lip thing and everything." He did it again to remind me.

"I really am sorry."

"All is forgiven." He turned back to the hostess. "Actually, can we all just sit together if that's okay?"

The hostess smiled politely. "Of course. Right this way."

I was a little disappointed. I loved hanging out with Rob and Daphne, but the whole point of this breakfast was to have some alone time with James. I was even more disappointed as she lead us past the window seats where we usually sat. They were the best tables in the whole restaurant. And there were a few vacant tables for four. I was just about to say something to James when we stepped into the private room of the restaurant.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled.

My eyes landed on the banner strung along the wall. It read, "Welcome Hunter Babies!" I laughed and glanced at Daphne. "Did you know?"

She shook her head and glanced around the room. "I had no clue." She pointed to the banner. "But a joint baby shower was a really cute idea."

"Right?" said Rob. "Because they'll basically be twins." He gestured back and forth between Daphne and my bellies. "It was actually James' idea. Because obviously he agrees you're having a boy."

"Really?" I looked up at James.

He laughed. "No." He leaned closer to me. "I just figured kill two birds with one stone. Less things you need to do if you and Daphne had this together. More time spent resting in bed with me."

I looked up at him. "That's not a cute reason at all."

"No. I believe you know me well enough to know my ulterior motives." His voice had dropped an octave, the innuendo dripping from his words.

Something about the way he said it and the fact that we were in front of a crowded room made me press my thighs together. Maybe he really did see a sexy river instead of a gigantic ocean.

"Rob and I should get lost," said James. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"But..."

He smiled and pulled me in close. "I'll be hanging out with Rob down the street. Call me when you're ready to go home. Sorry about the white lie." He placed a peck against my lips.

"You owe me a romantic breakfast. Just the two of us."

"That I can do. Oh, and..." He grabbed my shoulders and turned me back to the party. Jen waved at me. "No need to call her now. Have fun." He kissed my temple and followed his brother out of the restaurant.