“We wanted to actually meet him before we gave him his name,” Toby said.
“Some of the stuff we brought was too big so we’re just going to have it mailed to Toby’s penthouse,” Brenna said.
“Are you kidding? What did you get us?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Don’t get too excited babe, there’s no way their gifts are gonna overshadow mine,” Toby said. I looked over at him, confused. “What? You don’t think I forgot to get you a push present, do you?”
“A push present? I told you I didn’t want anything,” I said to him.
“Why didn’t you get me a push present,” I heard Brenna ask Charlie.
“You deserve it. You deserve the world, Maggie,” he said kissing me. Our friends made juvenile whistles and applauded watching us. “Speaking of which, it’s time for all you guys to leave. Go on, get out. Mother and baby need to rest.” He ushered everybody out and closed the door behind them after they had all said goodbye.
“What’s this about a push present?” I asked carefully. I had heard about push presents obviously. Toby had brought it up since given his generosity under normal circumstances, giving lavish gifts was almost second nature to him.
“Well, I know you didn’t want anything, but it just didn’t seem fair. You carried our baby so long and then went through giving birth. You had to give up booze and sushi, your hormones are all over the place and now, he’s gonna be crying all the time,” he said.
“Yes, I know what I signed up for.”
“You gave up more to have him than I did,” he said. “So, I have to make sure life is as easy and rewarding as possible with me.”
“What did you do?”
“I thought about getting you a car but in New York City it isn’t the most useful purchase. You use my cars anyway. So I figured something more practical. You know that little bit of debt you had left over from your degree?”
Little. Only a billionaire could call my remaining twenty thousand dollars in college debt little.
“Yeah, how did you know about that?”
“I paid it off.”
“I’ve never asked you to do anything like that, Toby,” I said. Money didn’t matter to him, it was apparent with how freely he offered it to me. Travel, dinners, gifts, things for our son that I never would have imagined being able to afford. Organic cotton diapers even though the Costco ones were cheaper and would still just get covered in shit anyway. The offer of a full staff: baby nurse, chef, housekeeper, and early childhood expert on call twenty-four hours a day to help with the baby.
He’d turn the world the other way on its axis if it was possible and I loved him for it. I was still a little embarrassed when it came to his money though. I never wanted him to think that it was why I was with him.
“I know, but you should because I want to. Remember that bag you were telling me about from the shoot you did?” he said.
He wasn’t talking about the custom Celine luggage tote that Missy hired for a photo shoot with a celebrity client. I knew he wasn’t talking about that one. It was a rare vintage piece that she had had to call in a favor to use. My interest in fashion had only grown working with her and I had offhandedly mentioned that I thought the purse was nice to him when I saw him after work.
“Yeah?” I said carefully. He went to the pile of gifts that our friends had brought and picked up a shopping bag, handing it to me.
“The designer drove a hard bargain since it’s a collector’s item but in the end, they couldn’t say no.” I opened the shopping bag and saw the purse.
“You’re kidding.”
“No, look inside.” I took the purse out of the shopping bag and opened it. At the bottom was a wallet. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Open it.” I did, opening the wallet to find it full of cash and cards.
“Never give anyone a bag without anything in it,” he said. I couldn’t talk. I didn’t want to count the money but I knew it was a lot.
“Toby… I don’t need these gifts to know you love me.”
“I love giving them to you. It matters to me that you have everything you want. I want to give you the world and since I can't do that, take this instead. I’m never going to stop so get used to it.
I didn’t think I ever would but I was glad that I was with someone so generous.
“Thank you, Toby.”