ChapterSixteen
Carla
“Baby, relax. You’ve been bouncing your knee since we sat down.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t even realize I was doing it,” I say as he takes my hand in his to lend me some of his strength. A few seconds later Lennox walks in.
“Asher, Carla,” she says as she hugs us both.
“So, I went over the test results, and Brooklyn and I have formulated a treatment plan for you, Carla. First, we are going to wean you off the metformin, once we get that out of your system, I want you to change your diet. I want you on a low glycemic diet with a lot of protein vegetables. You’ll need to limit your fruits, no sugars, diary, processed foods or grains and you need to limit yourself to only water. Also, I want you to begin taking Myo-Insitol, Nac, chaste berry and Dim. You will also need to start exercising, start off with walking. It will take about a week for the medicine to leave your system, after that I want you to begin to make these changes. You will meet with either me or Brooklyn once a week. Do you have any questions for me?”
“That’s a lot of changes, but I think we are up for it.” Asher says as he squeezes my hand.
“My suggestion is to cook your own meals so that way you can monitor what you are actually eating. And luckily for you, you have a cook in the house to help you with this. This is a turtle, and the hare situation guys, and we are going for the turtle approach cause slow and steady is going to win the race. Also, you two have fun! Yes, you may have to do a little more work but it’s still an amazing time in your lives. It should be fun and enjoyable, don’t think it’s work, okay?
We’ll get you there Carla, even if it takes longer than you are planning. Remember it will happen in God’s perfect timing—hell, it took forty-two years for me to finally marry Peter! So be patient, it’ll happen. Now, would you mind if I added my two cents? Asher explained to me that you don’t want the rest of his family to know what is going on with you two and I understand that you feel like it would be added pressure and I just want to give you food for thought.
In the time since I came back into Peter’s life, the Gideons and their wives have been nothing but supportive, loving, and accepting. I think you are only looking at one side of the equation and that’s the possible pressure you think they might add to the situation, but the other side of that is a support system you can rely on. They will help you on this journey, support you and be shoulders for you to cry on, and they’ll rejoice when you have any type of win. I know you don’t have any siblings so it’s hard to understand the resources you have, but I am telling you don’t miss the chance to allow that amazing family into your life. Okay Okay, that’s my two cents and I’m getting off my soap box.”
Lennox made a lot of great points about including Asher’s family in our baby journey. I also hate that I am causing him to keep something major from his family too, he needs support from his family, and I am keeping him from that. We finally get home from hitting the stores and getting all the things we needed for the next step in our journey. Asher has repeatedly told me to relax about this and that is what I am going to try to do. One of the spare bedrooms was made into an office for me, but I want to have a space to do yoga or meditation and have a treadmill so that I can exercise. I know they have a gym downstairs, but I would feel more comfortable if I can stay up here until I decide if I want to include everyone in what we are doing. In the meantime, I am going to get back to work and have a normal routine. There is only a couple of days left in the month, once the new month comes in, we’ll start on this new baby journey.
I have a lot on my mind from all the changes Lennox told us to make. Should I or shouldn’t I include the family? How long will it take us to get pregnant, or will we ever get pregnant? I had no idea how deep into my mental thoughts I was until I almost jump out of my skin when Asher touches my hand.
“What is it, Carla?”
“I know what you said about us having a lot of options to have a baby, but my desire is to get pregnant with your child, carry it to term, and give birth to him or her. What if I’m just broken Asher? What if I can’t give you a child? Will you eventually want a woman who can give you a biological child?” I ask hoarsely as I feel the tears burning the back of my throat.”
I take a deep breath, “I obviously haven’t done my job reassuring you. Come here little one.” I walk straight into his arms.
“Listen to me, you have gone a long time being everything for everyone and I am here to tell you that is not what I want from you. All I want you to be is you, because that is who I love Carla. I love you. Not the badass lawyer or the woman who can’t cook so she orders take out to try to fool me into thinking she cooked this elaborate meal because she’s afraid to disappoint me.” I remind her of the time she tried to surprise me with dinner after I spent a long day at the restaurant. Even though she took the boxes out to the garbage she left the receipt on the counter. “Just you! And if you can never give me a baby so what! Being a mother does not define your worth as a woman, your worth as my woman, wife and partner. Give it to me baby, I promise I can handle the load. I’m strong enough to carry it and I won’t let you down. Just like when you brought your little ass here with that outfit to get my attention, I saw you then dove, and I see you know. I see you! Now we will follow Lennox’s directions to get pregnant but baby you have to trust me, trust us and let’s put this work in. Not just the medication, change of diet, and us exercising, but also getting this dick all. the. time.” I say as I waggle my eyebrows down at her. “Okay?”
I reply with a watery “okay.” because I lost the battle with the tears that were fighting their way free.
Asher
The restaurant is close to opening so Jaasiel has set up a sample of the menu that we will be serving on opening night. The entire family will be there, and we have dressed up for the occasion. We decided to wear black and eggplant, but when Carla steps through the door in the eggplant-colored dress I seriously consider making use some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and staying in our bedroom. The dress she is wearing is the perfect mix of sexy and sophisticated. Her hair is twisted up in a simple, she looks good enough to eat.
“Baby doll, you look amazing. I can’t wait to show you off tonight.”
“It’s just your family baby.”
“And?” I say as I take her hand and spin her around. She’s so cute with the blush she is trying to hide.
“And I am glad it’s just your family with you looking the way you do. I can’t catch a case; I’d lose my license to practice law,” she responded. I lean in like a moth to a flame and capture her lips in a quickly heated kiss. I release her before I truly say the hell with it and stay up here.
“I’m glad my lipstick is smudge proof, Asher.” She says double checking her make-up in the mirror. I take her hand and we head downstairs. Jaasiel has gone all out and transformed the living room into a mini replica of the restaurant interior. It smells divine and the music is mellow with candlelight, the ambiance is immaculate, and Carla and I are the first to get downstairs.
“Brother, do you need any help?”
“Nope, I am good, and I have help coming.” No sooner than the words are out of his mouth, the doorbell rings. I make sure Carla is seated and okay before I go to let whoever is at the door in. When I open the door it’s the baker that we met at the restaurant, TaVonna I think.
“Hi Mr. Gideon, I’m TaVonna, I am not sure if you remember or not.” She says with a dazzling smile.
“Of course, I do, and please call me Asher. There are eight of us here tonight and calling one of us Mr. Gideon will have all of us answering. Come in.” I tell her as I move to the side to let her in, and that is when I notice the man coming up behind her pushing a cart with a bunch of boxes on it. Behind him is a young man and woman.
“Oh, let me introduce you to my husband Simon, and these two are Jason and Vicky.” We shake hands once he is close enough and we all go back in the house. He’s a tall guy, dark skinned, bald and solidly built, he’ll fit right in with the rest of us.
“Alright Jah, I’m here! Where do you want us?” She says as she takes in the kitchen and living room area. Before long they are moving in harmony in the kitchen to finish preparing tonight’s dinner. Little by little my brothers make their way to the makeshift dining room. I laugh because we are all wearing all black, even TaVonna’s husband is wearing all black. The women are in various colors, and all of them are stunning in their own right. Soon, everyone is here: Peter, Lennox, Moses, aka the General, Bree, Skai, Alayna, Megan, Brooklyn, Cole, Eliza, Emerson, Shepp, Isabella, Saint, and Mell. And we are ready to eat. Jaasiel had TaVonna bring Jason and Vicky to serve so he could sit and eat with us.
The seven courses include hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert, and mignardise. For the hors d’oeurve we had Smoked Trout Blinis with Crème Fraîche and Dill. The soup was French mushroom soup, then for the appetizer Jaasiel made Chili Crab Cakes, Cucumber & Lime Aioli. The salad was a choice between two summer salads made with either a medley of tomatoes, and the other with peaches and Parmesan cheese. By this time most people would be just about stuffed but taking into consideration how we had to eat tonight Jaasiel made sure to make the servings very small. We had a couple of different options for the entrée like East Lothian beef, braised truffle barley and Scottish girolles, ravioli di erbette, roasted duck breast, slow roasted rack of lamb or native lobster with roasted heritage carrots.
The menu is amazing and when it’s time for desert TaVonna has truly outdone herself. She created a dark chocolate cylinder with smoked hazelnut praline and salted caramel, classic Paris-Brest, or honey roasted peaches with peach sorbet. Even though we were supposed to choose only one of them, most of us ate all three deserts and was not disappointed.
The night is amazing with good food, family, and friends. After each course Jaasiel makes sure the servers have a seat and eat the meal with us too. The night is early, and we are in no rush so we take our time to eat through the courses and give Jaasiel feedback on what we like, don’t like, what is a hit and definitely what’s a miss. We’ve got peach lemonade, ice wine, and other drinks that pairs well with each specific course. As we are sitting around talking, drinking coffee or tea the doorbell rings, we look around because everyone who is supposed to be here is. “I’ll get it.” Skai jumps up and heads to the door before anyone can move, when she opens it the person on the other side of the door is the last person I expect to see standing there.