WHEN THE BIG DAY FINALLY came—my baby shower, not the birth of my child, which couldn’t come soon enough—Alex and Tank helped me out of the limousine when we arrived at Wenn early that morning.
As they assisted me out of the car and onto the sidewalk, I couldn’t help feeling that they were handling me as if I were a Fabergé egg.
“Guys, I’m not going to break—I promise,” I said as we moved through the crowds on Fifth Avenue and then into the building itself.
“We’re just being careful, Jennifer,” Tank said.
“And I appreciate that,” I said as I placed my hand on his arm. “I really do, Tank. I’m just not used to the kind of attention I’ve been getting lately.”
“With the baby coming so soon, you deserve this kind of attention,” Alex said against my ear as he wrapped his arm protectively around me.
He was wearing a long, fitted black overcoat that couldn’t contain his muscular physique, and his eyes held a wealth of emotions—worry for my wellbeing, excitement for what was to come, and concern that I might be overdoing it now, especially since the baby had officially dropped yesterday. I looked up at him and could see that this pregnancy had nearly been as hard on him as it had been on me. I needed to own that. So if he wanted to treat me as if I were a Fabergé egg, then so be it.
I’d do anything for my man.
“Thank you,” I said as I gently took hold of his collar and pulled him close to me. “You’ve been nothing short of a champ throughout all of this. I love you for taking care of me the way that you have. At this point, I feel beyond spoiled by you, Tank, Cutter, Blackwell, Lisa and Epifania. It’s just that sometimes I also feel a bit claustrophobic, and then the hormones start to kick in, which clearly turn me into a monster.”
“You’ve never once been a monster since you’ve been pregnant, Jennifer,” Alex said.”
“I sure as hell feel that I have. And I apologize for it now.”
“But that hasn’t been the case,” he said seriously. “Not once.”
“I don’t know, maybe I’ve just been too worked up lately. Because I’ll freely admit it—I’m scared to death about giving birth, Alex. Please don’t judge me on this, but if giving birth becomes too painful, I plan to scream out for an epidural. Or for a piece of leather to bite down on.”
“Why not have the epidural?” he said. “They’re completely safe—I’ve Googled it.”
“You have?”
“I did.”
“You’re the best,” I said.
He kissed me on the forehead. “And I love you. Even if I do think that you should have stayed home today.”
“But today is the shower,” I said. “I don’t know what Lisa and Blackwell have in mind for it, and I really don’t care because I trust them. Whatever they’ve come up with will be lovely. But once the shower is over? I am so done, I can’t tell you. After the last present is unwrapped, this girl is out of here. I plan on going home and bingeing on Netflix.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” Alex said. “Tank will take you home. And look, Jennifer, I know that you are no fool. I know that you can sense where your body is at this moment. My best advice when it comes to today is just to enjoy it for what it is—a celebration of you and our baby. I hope that you have fun. Are you ready to go up?”
I nodded at him and then looked over at Tank, who was standing beside us. “See you in a few hours?” I said.
“Absolutely. And have a terrific shower, Jennifer. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, Tank. And by the way, while I have your ear, would you mind being a sport and giving birth for me?”
“Not in the cards for me, ma’am.”
“How about if we deal from a new deck?”
“With my plumbing, still not in the cards...”
I shrugged at him. “Nobody can say that I didn’t try. Anyway, wish me luck, you two. Because who in hell knows what Lisa and Blackwell have in store for me.”
“I know,” Tank said.
But before I could question him on what he knew, he gave me a sly smile and then left the lobby, leaving Alex and me to ourselves.
“You really don’t think it will be that bad, do you?” Alex said as he kissed me.
“Actually, no,” I said. “Because when it comes to those two? I have faith in them. Today will be whatever today is, and I know that they will have done their best. So!” I said. “Let’s go. And let’s see what comes at noon, when this shower thing is supposed to start.”
* * *
WHEN ALEX AND I ARRIVED at the forty-seventh floor, we started toward our offices with his hand holding mine while, in the distance, I could hear the phone ringing and Ann answering it.
“And here we go,” I said. “Another busy day.”
“You mean, ‘here I go,’” he corrected. “You’re just doing a bit of paperwork, finishing up, and then enjoying your shower, remember?”
“I remember...”
The thought of leaving Wenn behind for the next three months was something I had mixed emotions about. I loved working here, especially with my husband. But there was another part of me that was looking forward to spending three whole months with our baby—taking care of it and loving it. I knew that Blackwell, her girls and my friends would be frequent visitors, so what I saw ahead of me was letting go of Wenn for a while so I could welcome motherhood—and all that it involved.
When we reached Ann, she was behind her desk with the receiver in her hand. I looked at the blinking light on the phone and knew that whomever was on the line was on hold.
She blushed when she saw me.
“Ann, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I was about to hang up, but when I heard the elevator doors opened, I decided not to.”
“I don’t understand...?”
“Do you know an Ava Kent?” she asked.
At the sound of my mother’s name, my throat went tight.
“She’s claiming to be your mother. And frankly, she sounds angry. Since I heard both of you coming down the hallway, I wanted to make certain that this wasn’t a fraud before I told her to have a good day.”
“No,” I said as a chill shot through me. “My mother’s name is Ava. I haven’t heard from her or my father since Lisa and I moved to New York. Not that I expected to hear from them—but still.” Since Ann was a good friend, I fessed up. “Between us, my mother is an alcoholic, Ann, as is my father. The last I knew, my mother was in prison.” I nodded toward the phone. “What's the area code?”
She looked at the caller I.D. “207...”
“That’s Maine, where they live.”
“She’s demanding to speak with you,” Ann said. “For whatever reason, she sounded very angry on the phone, which concerns me. Jennifer, you don’t need this right now.”
The very thought of talking to my mother after so many years made my knees weak. My parents had caused me such great emotional and physical pain, I had no idea what I’d say to my mother now. And after all this time, why was she even calling me? Why hadn’t she reached out to me sooner? My mother was no fool—if anything, she was a cunning, calculating woman who probably knew from the press alone that I had long been married to a billionaire. When Alex and I married, I’d expected to hear from one of them for a handout, but the call never came. And because of that alone, I’d long suspected that they were happy that I was out of their lives.
But now my mother was on the line, and I had to wonder why.
Has my father died? Is that why she’s calling? Because if that isn’t the reason, then why is she calling?
I needed to end this.
“Put her through to my office,” I said to Ann.
“Jennifer, she’s aggressive,” Ann said. “If you’re going to take this call, you need to know that.”
I felt my core grow cold when Ann said that, but I knew my mother, and so I kept steady. “This is nothing I haven’t dealt with before, Ann.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Ann, my relationship with my parents is one of the reasons I fled Maine for Manhattan. I never wanted to burden you with that information. In fact, I never wanted anyone but Alex to know the truth about the people who gave birth to me. Beyond Alex, only Lisa and Blackwell know.”
“I’m a vault,” she said. “Nothing personal escapes my lips when it comes to either of you.”
“We know that you are, and we appreciate it.”
“Jennifer,” Alex said to me. “Are you sure that you want to talk to her? Is this even the right moment for that?”
“Look, even more than my mother, my father is a serious alcoholic who never has been in good health. His side of the family is filled with heart issues. For all I know, he could be dead, which might be the reason for the call. Ever since I moved here, they’ve left me alone—even after I married Alex. They’ve never come asking for money, which is in their nature to do—so trust me that this could be serious. If my father is unwell or dead, I should take the call for that reason alone.”
“Think twice about this,” Alex said.
“At the end of the day, she’s my mother, Alex. And if she’s insisting that I take her call after so many years of not hearing a word from her, then clearly something is wrong. My mother is my mother. If she’s waited this long to reach out to me, she didn’t do so without purpose. She’s a drunk, and she’s always had this weird sense of entitlement about herself. Maybe it’s because she’s bright, but for whatever reason, she’s always felt that she’s better than everyone else. So,” I said as Alex helped me out of my coat, “put her through to me in a few minutes, Ann. Let me close the door, settle in, and I’ll deal with this alone.”
“I should be with you,” Alex said.
“No,” I said. “Not with her on the phone. She can be manipulative, which means that I need to think clearly and have no distractions. For now, this is something I need to handle on my own.”