“What?” I finally asked. “You’re making me feel like a zoo animal.”
“Oh, nothing,” he replied. “I was just wondering which of us you like the best. In bed.”
I almost spit out my bite of eggs. “Seriously? I would expect you guys to be more mature than that.”
“What a childish question,” Derek agreed. Then he slowly lowered his newspaper. “Especially since the answer is clearly me.”
Taylor scoffed. “Fat chance, old man. Err, I mean, Chief.”
“You think it’syou?”Jordan asked Taylor. “She wants a real man. Put on another thirty pounds of muscle and maybe then you can throw her around in the bedroom.”
“I’mlean, unlike you gorillas,” Taylor shot back.
Baby Anthony happily flailed his arms as if he were part of the argument.
“You all have your strengths,” I said diplomatically. “That’s what I like about being with all three of you. Your different styles compliment each other well.”
All three of them were silent for a moment.
“That’s not an answer,” Derek pointed out.
“Ugh!” I carried my plate to the sink, rinsed it off, and put it in the dishwasher. “My attraction to you three is dwindling by the minute.”
Jordan came up and hugged me from behind. “We’ll stop. We’re just having some competitive fun.”
I sighed happily in his arms. “It’s eight in the morning. Let’s save this kind of discussion for later in the day, after I’ve had coffee, okay?”
“Deal.”
He kissed me on the crown of my head, and then we heard a noise deeper in the station. Seconds later, a familiar face appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.
I gawked. “Mom?”
My little Sicilian mother barely even acknowledged me. She hurried over to Taylor and took the baby out of his arms. She immediately began cooing to him in Italian, rocking him back and forth and smiling like she had gone to heaven.
“Uh,” Derek said. “Mrs. Ricci? What are you doing here?”
“Shush,” she said to him. “Baby time.” She twisted him around and opened her mouth wide for him. Thus prompted, Anthony opened his own mouth in a toothless smile.
Derek gave me a look. I nodded.
“Mom, you can’t be here,” I said. “It’s too risky. Nobody is supposed to know the baby is here.”
“I do not care!” she announced stubbornly. “I have been patient. I have waited. I have even lied for you! I want to see baby, now.”
I gave a start. “You lied for me? When?”
She sat down and bounced the baby in her lap. She had the magic touch, because everything she did made Anthony squeal happily. “That man came to the restaurant. Awful man. Yuck. Romancing Angelina even though she is married woman.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Derek asked.
“He asked about the baby. I pretended to be angry with you about it, and said I would not discuss my daughter. He believed me, I think. And so, I deserve my reward!” She began smothering the baby with kisses.
Derek’s jaw clenched. “I knew Billy would snoop around. Checking our story.”
“He asked about the baby’s father,” Mom went on, “but I said nothing. I only acted angry. It was good acting, because I would not be angry! I would be very happy to have grandbabies.”
“You have a grandson already,” I reminded her. “Jason and Maurice’s son…”