Nine-month-old Michael crawled to the edge of the colorful beach blanket, grabbed a handful of sand, and shoved it in his mouth before Nick could stop him.
“Honey, will you give me—”
Tess held out a cool bottle of water with her left hand, which sported a one-half carat diamond set in antique platinum filigree next to a thin platinum band. “You’d think he would learn.”
Nick grappled with the squirming child and washed the sand out of his mouth—the third time in as many days. Nick snorted and put the cap back on the bottle, then handed his son a toy to hold his attention. “This child might look like me, but he definitely has your stubborn streak.”
“Stubbornness isn’t necessarily a bad trait. I’m glad I insisted Michael come with us. He is the reason we’re together so he deserves a beach vacation too.”
This wasn’t just a vacation trip. Tess and Michael had accompanied Nick on a combination business and pleasure trip to St. Kitts, the island he’d been scheduled to visit before he had become Tess’s keeper nearly a year earlier.
When Nick had phoned Pete Clark to decline the assignment in Bulgaria, he had explained that unless arrangements could be made to accommodate his new status as a father, he would go freelance, pick his own assignments and sell the photos to the highest bidder. Pete, desperate to keep his top photographer, had persuaded the top brass to give Nick more latitude with the assignments he accepted. They had also put him into a consulting position working with young photographers as well as promoting the magazine to journalism students.
Once Nick had photographed the sunken treasure discovered by an amateur group of divers, the trip became a belated if somewhat unconventional honeymoon for the couple. They hadn’t been able to take walks on a moonlit beach or share quiet intimate dinners because their son had chosen to keep strange hours while away from home.
“Maybe I should take him to play in the surf again,” Nick said. “He seemed to enjoy it the last time and I’m hoping I can wear him out so he’ll go to bed early tonight and we can eat in peace.”
“You’re the one who turned down Bella’s offer to keep him while we took a honeymoon trip.”
“She has enough on her plate dealing with Ed’s fight over the house and the fact he moved his partner in with him. Besides, she was scheduled to move to an apartment this week so she wouldn’t have to face Ed and Naldo on a daily basis.” Tess narrowed her eyes at him.
“Hey, I have no issue with the guy being gay. That’s who he is. But he was dishonest, cheated, wasted my sister’s precious time and broke her heart. He better hope I never meet him in a dark alley.”
“Calm down and go play in the ocean. She has the best attorneys in town and Ed is toast.”
“Thanks for helping arrange that.” Nick leaned across the blanket and kissed his wife. “And are you sure you wouldn’t have rather gone to Paris later for a honeymoon? Mom and Pop said they could have kept Michael next month. We could have tried for baby number two in the City of Lights.”
“I’m absolutely sure about this trip. I can’t imagine anything better than being on a beautiful Caribbean island with my two favorite guys.”
Nick kissed her again, this time a little more deeply. “Maybe we can try to make a baby tonight.” He waggled his eyebrows in an exaggerated manner.
“Too late,” she said.
“Well, tomorrow night. During his nap.”
“What I mean, sweetheart, is it’s too late to try,” she explained, placing emphasis on the last word.
His brows drew together and he looked at her with uncertainty until he understood her meaning. “You’re…we’re…?” A broad smile brightened his face.
“I suspected before we left, but I brought a couple tests with me and they were both positive this morning.”
“I’m…speechless. Stunned. And happy,” he added when he saw the beginnings of a frown on Tess’s face. “Enormously happy. At least this time I’ll be around to help during your entire pregnancy.”
Tess chuckled. “If it’s like the last time, you may be glad you missed it.”
“Hormones?” he asked tentatively.
She shook her head. “Puking. Lots and lots of puking. So far though, I feel fine.”
“Come on, buddy.” Nick scooped his son from the blanket and together they headed for the clear, blue St. Kitts ocean water. “You’re gonna be a big brother. And you and I both are going to be there for everything.”
If anyone had asked Nick to picture this—life as a family man—a year ago, he’d have called them ten times a fool. But his family was a picture seared into Nick’s mind forever.