“So we gathered up some fun stuff, and zipped right over to keep him company.”
“We were at the doctor’s this morning, too.” Leonardo continued to beam at Mavis. He was draped in white, long, loose pants, long, loose shirt that flowed around his impressive body and gleamed against the gold-dust tone of his skin. He had a single pigtail draped down one side of his face, and like Mavis, had it tipped in pink and blue, and belled.
“Are you sick?” Eve demanded, forgetting her aversion to the room and moving quickly to Mavis. “Is the baby sick or something?”
“No, we’re RRA—rolling right along,” she explained. “We just had a checkup deal. And guess! We got pictures.”
“Of what?”
“Of the baby!” Mavis rolled her baby blue eyes. “Wanna see?”
“Oh, well, I don’t really have—”
“I’ve got them right here.” Leonardo pulled a portfolio from some canny split in the shirt. “We only took the ones that don’t show the baby’s personal area. Because we haven’t decided if we want to know.”
“Isn’t the whole . . .” Eve gestured vaguely toward Mavis’s belly. “. . . place its personal area?”
“He means any of the shots that would show if the baby has a penis or a vulva.”
“Oh.” She actually felt blood draining out of her face. “God.”
“Come on, come on, look at your godbaby.” Mavis took the portfolio from Leonardo, flipped it open. “Aww, can you believe that? Is that too cute for words?
Eve saw something that looked, sort of, like an underdeveloped, hairless monkey with a really big head. “Wow.”
“See, you can even count the tiny, little fingers.”
Which, to Eve’s mind, made it all creepier. What did it do with those fingers inside there?
“Leonardo’s going to print the best ones on fabric and make me some tops.” Mavis pursed her pink lips to blow Leonardo a kiss.
“Great. That’ll be great. Um.” Since they made her nervous, Eve looked over the top of the pictures to Summerset. “I just stopped by to see how everything was going.”
“Let me make you a cold drink.” Leonardo patted Eve’s shoulder.
“Yeah, good, okay. Where’s Roarke?”
“He’s in the bedroom with the physician assistant, making sure everything’s set up. Mavis and I will stay awhile.”
“Sure we will.” To prove it, Mavis perched on the arm of Summerset’s chair. “We’re going to be in town for the next couple weeks, so we’ll come by every day if you want. And you only have to give me a buzz if you’re lonely or feeling out of sorts. I’ll come right over.” She took Summerset’s good hand, patted it.
Eve slurped up the flavored ice Leonardo passed her. “Well, I’ll just see if Roarke . . . needs anything, then get going. I’ve got work to—” She let that hang, grateful when Roarke stepped in from the next room.
“Hello, Lieutenant. I wasn’t sure you’d make it by.”
“I was in the neighborhood.” He looked harried, she thought. You wouldn’t notice it, not unless you knew every inch of that fabulous face. And she did. “I had an hour to spare, so I thought I’d swing in, see if you needed any help.”
“I think we’re under control here. PA Spence is satisfied with the arrangements.”
There was a quick, and audible sniff from Summerset. “I’m sure she’s more than satisfied at the prospect of sitting around doing nothing but annoying me for the next several days, while you pay her an exorbitant salary.”
“That’s all right,” Roarke said pleasantly, “I’ll dock it out of yours.”
“I don’t want that woman hovering over me every minute of the day and night. I’m perfectly capable of seeing to my own needs.”
“It’s her, or it’s the hospital.” The pleasant tone had taken on the faintest edge, one Eve recognized very well.
“And I’m just as capable about making my own decisions regarding my medical care.”