I walked into my outer office to find Ms. Parker with her head buried on her arms, her shoulders shaking with sobs.
“Goddammit!” I never knew what to do with crying women.
She jumped and turned her face away, sniffling and wiping her palms over her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Mr. Vincent. I didn’t want to leave the office without anyone… but now that you’re back, I’ll just—”
I handed her a handkerchief. “Come into my office, please.”
She dried her eyes and blew her nose. “I’m sorry,” she said again.
I waited until she rose and entered my office. “Sit down. Can I get you anything?”
“No, oh no, I’m fine.”
Could have fooled me.
My cell phone vibrated for the second time, and I took it out. It was Granger. I flipped it open. “Where are you?”
“And good morning to you too, Mark. I’m on five. Macintyre’s got some new gowns, and I’ve been trying them on. I want to tell you, I look pretty damn good in them! There’s this green lace number—”
“Forget about them and get your ass up to seven.”
“Is something wrong?” His voice suddenly became anxious. “Patti?”
“I’m hoping you can shed some light on this. Just get up here.” I shut the phone and put it away. “Now suppose you tell me what’s bothering you, Ms. Parker?”
Her eyes welled up with tears again. “I… it’s….” She attempted to pull herself together. “Howard had to cancel. Gershom is sending him out on some local job.”
“So did you reschedule him?”
She nodded. “W-Wednesday at the same time.”
“Okay. See? It’s not the end of the world. There’s no need to get upset.” I patted her shoulder.
Her lower lip trembled, and a single tear spilled over and ran down her cheek.
Jesus, I’d never seen my unflappable secretary so distressed.
I cleared my throat. “You’re not crying because Gershom’s an asshole, are you?”
She smiled. She probably thought it was a reassuring smile, but it missed that by a mile and a half when her face crumpled and she began sobbing again.
Someone flung open the door to the outer office, and it slammed against the wall. That’s gonna leave a dent I thought as I reached for my Glock, half expecting one of Gershom’s goons to come tearing into my office, ready to blow my head off, but it was Ms. DiNois who rushed in. She took one look at Ms. Parker and ran to her, dropping to her knees beside her. “Gabe called me.” She took the handkerchief and mopped up Ms. Parker’s eyes. “He’ll be here as soon as he gets changed.” Ms. DiNois stroked her shoulder and continued to murmur soothingly.
I stood there with my hand still inside my suit jacket. What the fuck was going on?
Finally Ms. DiNois turned to face me. “I’m sorry, Mr. Vincent. With everything that’s been happening, your call got Granger nervous, and since I’m just down the hall from your office, he asked me to make sure Patti is all right. Sweet—” She cleared her throat. “Ms. Parker, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.” Ms. Parker’s face was red. “I’m so sorry.” She leaned forward and whispered, “It’s the hormones.”
What the fuck? She was too young to be going through menopause.
The slap of footsteps sounded on the tiled floor of the corridor, and then Granger skidded into my office, barefoot, out of breath, and holding the skirts of the green lace gown he’d enthused about up around his knees. I let out a low whistle. He did have good legs—even though he wasn’t on the job, they were smooth, tanned, and hairless.
“Gabe?” Ms. DiNois stared wide-eyed.
“I... I couldn’t take the time to change.” He ignored me completely, his gaze going from Matheson’s secretary to mine. Abruptly he looked sick. “The baby?” Baby? “Mark, get Futé up here!”
“No, Gabe, I don’t need a doctor. I’m fine.” Ms. Parker gave him a watery smile. “She’s fine!” She rested her palm on her abdomen.
“Are you sure?” His legs gave out from under him and he collapsed on the floor beside the two secretaries, the gown a puddle around him. And he started crying.
My desk phone rang, and I picked it up. “Yeah?” I growled. If whoever the fuck was on the other end didn’t know who they’d reached, asses were going to be kicked.
“It’s Macintyre. Is Granger there?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, tell him to get his ass back down here. And if that gown doesn’t come back in one piece, I’ll have his balls.” He slammed the phone down.
I gave my head a shake, even though that wouldn’t do anything for the ringing in my ear. I hung up the phone. “Gabe—”
There was a tap on my door. Jesus, now what?
“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Vincent, but my secretary bolted out of my office, and I saw her head this way. I wanted to make sure everything was okay. Nice dress, Granger.”
“Oh, hey, Matheson. Thanks.” Granger looked loopy, and I was glad I hadn’t been around when Ms. Parker told him she was pregnant. “We’re having a baby!”
Matheson looked from Ms. Parker to Ms. DiNois—it was a damn good thing he didn’t include me in that look—and Ms. Parker raised her hand. “Well. Congratulations.” His expression became thoughtful. “Mr. Vincent, I think I will take the rest of the day off.”
“Fine, fine.”
“Ms. DiNois, you may as well go home too.” She looked as if she were about to protest. “Oh, stay here as long as you need to.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He waved aside her gratitude and left, and I crossed my arms over my chest. “Someone mind telling me what’s going on?”
Ms. Parker was bent over Granger, murmuring to him and stroking his hair. She met my eyes. “I’m sorry, sir. I was going to tell you I’m pregnant, but I didn’t know how to.”
Because the only kind of maternity policy the WBIS had was none. Once it became known one of the secretarial staff was pregnant, she was congratulated, given a parting check and a pat on the back, and... encouraged... not to return.
It was time we joined the twenty-first century in this matter as well and came up with something better.
“She wants to stay as long as she can,” Granger said, taking the handkerchief from Ms. DiNois and drying his face and eyes with it.
“I’ve got no problem with that.” I sure as hell wasn’t giving up an excellent secretary like Ms. Parker. “Do you want to come back?”
“I’d like to. I... I like working for you.”
“Okay then. I’ll talk to The Boss, and then I’ll bring it up with Humphrey.” If I still had a job here myself, that was.
“You will?” Granger bounded to his feet, almost stumbling on the gown’s voluminous skirts before he caught himself. Then he pulled me into a hug and pounded me on the back.
“Enough! Enough!” Why the fuck was he so surprised? “How long before you have to leave, Ms. Parker?”
“I’m four and a half months along, and since you’re not a taskmaster—”
“Jesus, don’t let that get out!”
“No, sir.” She offered a little smile. “My doctor says I’m in excellent health. So unless something unexpected crops up, probably not for another three or four months.”
“Okay, once you’ve left to have the—” Three sets of eyes gave me the fisheye. What did they think I was going to say? “—the baby, I’ll borrow Ms. DiNois.”
“Um…” Granger had the strangest expression on his face, a combination of awe, pride, and disbelief. “Maybe we should tell you that Arianne is pregnant also. Only a few weeks, but….”
I ran a hand through my hair and stared at him. He had been a busy boy.
I went around my desk, checked my calendar, and sat down heavily.
Yeah. It was Monday.
Matheson had gone home. Ms. Parker didn’t start crying again, but Granger and Ms. DiNois thought it would be a good idea to take her home.
“You can’t go around in that,” I warned Granger. Was I supposed to think of him as a man or a woman when he was half-dressed like this?
“No, I’ll get it back to Macintyre.” He tugged at the sweetheart neckline of the gown. “I took out the falsies before I decided I didn’t have the time to change.” He raised the skirts again so he wouldn’t trip on them. He was six feet tall, but it was obvious he’d need to wear six-inch fuck-me heels to prevent the hem from dragging on the floor. “Arianne, stay with Patti and wait for me to come back for you.”
Ms. Parker was in the process of shutting down her computer. “I’m pregnant, not crippled! I can make it down to the first floor under my own steam,” she informed him acerbically, a sharp change from earlier.
Jesus, I was glad I’d never have to worry about my lover having a baby.
Granger went to my secretary, released his grip on the gown, and cupped her face in his hands. “Humor me, sweet?”
She wavered for a second, and he kissed her gently.
“Why don’t you and Ms. DiNois go down with him?” I suggested. And the only reason why I didn’t call him on unprofessional behavior was because I didn’t want Ms. Parker to start crying again. “You’ll be two floors closer to the ground floor.”
“Great idea, Mark.”
“I’m so sorry. I feel like such a dunce,” Ms. Parker murmured as the three of them walked out of my office, Granger with one arm around her, the gown’s skirts bunched up in his free hand, and Ms. DiNois on her other side.
Well, some of us had work to do. Although if Quinn had the day off, I’d go home too.
I called Gershom’s office. “It’s Vincent. I want to see him.”
“Oh… uh… I’m sorry, he’s out of the office. He… uh… won’t be in for the rest of the week.”
Shit.
“May I take a message?”
“Yeah. Tell him I want to see him first thing next Monday morning.”
“I’ll do that, Mr. Vincent.”
I hung up, stared at all the files I still had to go through, and got back to work.