“Where’s my goddamn vase?” Howard snatches the phone from me.
“I don’t much care for your tone.” Mrs. Verne’s voice turns sharp. “Call me back when you’ve decided to behave yourself.” I hear the beep saying the call has ended.
“Did she just …” Milly peers at the phone as Henry tries not to laugh but fails.
“She hung up on me.” Howard’s face is red, so much so that I wonder if he’s on the verge of a heart attack. “She hung up on me!”
It’s classic Mrs. Verne, and usually I’d appreciate her sticking up for herself, but as my life hangs in the balance, I don’t find it quite as amusing.
“Call her back. I want to see this.” Henry gestures toward the phone.
Howard calls, and Mrs. Verne lets it ring a few times before finally picking up. “Feeling more civil?”
“Show me the vase.” Howard keeps his tone level.
“Say please.”
Howard flicks his gaze to me, as if he’s thinking of going ahead and killing me, the vase be damned. Shit, Mrs. Verne.
Then he glances back at the phone. “Please,” he grumbles.
“Of course, dear. You should’ve asked sooner.” Sugar wouldn’t melt in Mrs. Verne’s mouth as she moves the vase into view.
Howard brings the phone close to his face and peers at it.
“It’s real. Now, if you want it, then I need you to send Mateo and Milly back to me along with your blessing on their upcoming wedding.”
“What?” Howard and Henry exclaim in unison.
“Did I stutter?” She pets Scarab as he walks past the vase, which is precariously set at the edge of my desk.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who notices it, because Howard yells, “Get that cat away from it!”
“I would, but you haven’t agreed to my terms, so Scarab is free to do what he wants with his own vase.” She shrugs.
Scarab reaches out a paw toward it.
“Deal!” Howard yells.
The men release me, and Milly rushes into my arms.
Right where she belongs.
Epilogue
Milly
“Oh shit. What’s happening?” my brother Henry asks when I walk into the kitchen.
We’re at our beach house for the next two weeks. I love it here. I fell in love with this island when Mateo brought me here for our honeymoon ten years ago. When we found out I was pregnant with our first child, Mateo brought us a house here as a push gift to me.
I had no clue what a push gift even was before that. But Mateo clued me in that it’s a gift husbands give their wives for pushing a baby out of their bodies. I’m not going to lie; at first I thought he was making it up. Heaven knows that man will look for any excuse to spoil me. I mean, he’d already bought the house at that point, brushing off the fact that I hadn’t pushed the baby out yet.
Truth is that while he does enjoy spoiling me, he wanted to make sure we had this place while I was knocked up so he could keep me here as much as possible. My beast of a husband goes a bit overboard when I’m pregnant. He’s always protective, but when there is a baby inside me, his protectiveness goes into overdrive. I get it. I’m a bit clumsy, and I also get pregnancy brain. I’m so freaking forgetful.
“Why do you think something is happening?” I glance around, wondering what I missed. That pregnancy brain is kicking in. I’m five months along with our third. I love being pregnant, and I swear if I let him, Mateo would keep me that way as much as possible.
Speaking of children, where is my oldest, Buffy? She is always getting herself into something. I should have known naming her after Verne would give me an adventurous and bold girl. When I found out I was knocked up with a little girl, Mrs. Verne teased that I should name her after her. It was at that moment I realized I’d never gotten Mrs. Verne’s first name out of her. I’d given up and started just calling her Verne and sometimes even Mom.
I decided to try to strike a deal with her, knowing that was the only way she was going to cough up the information. I knew she wouldn’t be able to resist my offer. So I told her if she handed over the name I’d love nothing more than to name our daughter after her grandmother. A few tears were shed, and a deal was struck.
Ever since Buffy came into this world, those two have been thick as thieves. I’m sure they're off together right now getting into something. The thought of that brings a smile to my face. I love knowing that my children get to have that. That they have so many people surrounding them that love them.
“Whatever this is you have on.” He waves his hand at me. I glance down at my bikini.