Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (51 page)

"They aren't identical. Whereas
identical twins share the same looks, fraternal may look similar but could look
completely different.

"I want to know the sex of the
babies." He whispered.

"Are...are you sure?"

He nodded.

"Oh-kay." I gave a nod.

We both turned to the technician.

"Breath, Lilli." Aidan
whispered.

"You ready?" She looked at us.
We both nodded. "You have a boy and a girl. Congratulations."

Aidan kissed the top of my head.

C
hapter Three

Time Flies and Your
Waist Disappears

Lilli

The events of the past few months were a
blur: going to visit Donald, who was now starting physical therapy to rebuild
his muscles, visiting the children’s homes, planning fundraising events for the
foundation, reading over proposals that Viola received for new shelter’s and
homes that needed financial support. Then there were doctor’s appointments,
watching my waist disappear, preparing for Elora’s baby shower and getting used
to my new limitations.

My workout had changed dramatically. I
was no longer running on the treadmill, now I was taking brisk walks. Luckily,
I could still do yoga, though I had to learn some variations of poses for
pregnant women. The only solid thing I had was the pool. In the pool I was
weightless and could still swim my laps.

As summer approached I was concerned
about extensive heat, but also excited that I could finally use the outdoor
pool. The whole maternity bathing suit was a bit unattractive, but there was
nothing I could do about that. Phoebe had insisted that I could still wear a
bikini, I decided that Phoebe was out of her mind.

Aidan’s hours at work shortened for a
period of time, but then increased again when June arrived. There was a large
deal with a real-estate company taking up most of his day.

Though his schedule was crazy, he still
made time for the appointments and classes we had signed up for. He also made
sure we went on a date at least once a week. I had argued that we didn’t need
to go out, but he insisted it was for him.

Our most recent date had been to see a
movie. I felt like a complete asshole because I fell asleep in the theater.
Aidan let me sleep while holding me against his side. He insisted that, as long
as he was with me, he could care less. I still felt like a jerk.

After we left the theater, I was
starving, as usual. Aidan stopped at a pizza shop and got a large cheese pizza
to go. The smell of the pizza in the small confines of the car was too much and
I started eating in the car with Aidan laughing at me. Finally arriving home
for the evening, I was tired again. After taking a long, hot shower, I slipped
on a long night-shirt and climbed into bed. I felt Aidan slip into bed before I
heard him.

"You still awake?"

"No." I groaned. He laughed.

"I wanted to give you
something." His fingers traced the side of my face.

"Aidan, I don’t need anything—"

"I want you to have this. Please?"

I rolled over and saw him smiling down at
me. I sighed. "Ok."

His smile widened.

"Sit up."

As I sat up, he shifted my hair over one
shoulder and placed a silver chain around my neck. "This was my Grandma
Isobel’s, given to her by my grandfather." I pulled my hair away from my
shoulder, allowing Aidan to fasten it. "I want you to always wear this for
me."

"It’s very pretty. What does this
mean?" I was looking at the small circle pendent that hung from the chain.
There were three words written in calligraphy ‘Mo Anam Cara’.

"It’s a Celtic saying." Aidan
shrugged it off. Then his arms were around me, pulling me down to lay with him.
"You’ll wear it?"

"Of course…well, wait…it’s not like
dog tags or something, is it?" I giggled.

He chuckled and kissed the side of my
head. "No, it means 'My Soul Mate'."

"Oh." I breathed out.

We both became quiet, allowing the
silence to lull us to sleep.

It'd been a week since that night and it
was now early Saturday morning. My phone, vibrating and bleeping on the side
table, woke me. I groaned, reaching for it.

"Who the hell is calling this
early?" Aidan growled from the other side of the bed. As much as he liked
to cuddle up with me, my discomfort often made me toss and turn a lot,
resulting in him sleeping further away from me.

"Probably Phoebe."

Yawning, I stretched and reached for my
phone, knowing this call would have everything to do with Elora's baby shower.

"Phoebe, you do realize you're
waking up a pregnant woman up way too early, don’t you?"

"Lilli, I’m sorry, but I just
wanted to make sure you are ready for the decorators and caterers arriving in a
few hours." Phoebe talked so fast, I wondered how much caffeine she'd
already consumed.  Or perhaps she'd graduated to crack.

"Phoebe, they aren’t coming until
nine and it’s only six. I could be sleeping for at least two more hours."
I growled.

"Okay, okay…sorry…I’ll see you at
eight thirty." She hung up before I could argue.

I tossed my phone back on the stand and
curled back up to my pillow. It didn’t take long for Aidan to wrap an arm over
my waist, his hand resting on my bulging midsection.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was in the bathroom when Phoebe came barging
into the bedroom. Eight thirty on the dot. "Lilli?"

Aidan groaned and then mumbled something
I couldn't hear, but he was definitely not happy.

"Oh." Phoebe exclaimed.
"Sorry, Aidan."

Laughing as Phoebe burst into the
bathroom, she glared at me.

"Shut up." She laughed.
"I didn’t know he was still in bed."

I couldn't help but laugh more.

"Yeah, yeah, it’s hilarious."
Aidan growled as he pushed open the bathroom door.

"I really am sorry." Phoebe
dramatically batted her eye lashes. "Forgive me?"

"What time are the guys supposed to
show up?" His question sounded strained as he stretched his arms over his
head.

During Elora’s shower, the men would be
gathering in the recreational room to watch boxing. That was the plan anyway, they
would most likely end up in the bar playing pool and darts while drinking.

"Probably around eleven."
Phoebe shrugged. "But Oscar is already here."

"Alright." Aidan yawned.
"Out of the bathroom, I need a shower."

"I didn’t realize you were the shy
type, Mr. Iverson." Phoebe winked, smacking him on the ass as she walked
out of the bathroom.

Aidan’s face went from shock to
amusement. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

Once my hair and make-up were finished, I
slipped into a silk maternity dress. The dress was white and faded into blue
and black with large dark and light blue flowers. It was a V-neck with short
sleeves and it came to just above the knee. It was comfortable and pretty.
After slipping on my black ballet flats, I went to join in on the preparations.

The chaos could be heard before I got
down there. Viola, Phoebe and Elora decided on a tea party shower. There were
tons of flowers, round tables with tea sets, small finger sandwiches and, of
course, a dessert table with small cakes and cookies.

Phoebe and Viola were pointing and
shouting out orders to everyone as they rushed to finish up the room. The gift
table was a large, antique crib which had been James’ when he was young. Aunt
Anne was giving it to Elora and Viola thought it made a perfect place to put
gifts. It was decorated with large silk bows.

Guests arrived on time and filed in
quickly. It was still hard to believe people have baby showers of this
magnitude. I’ve been to a few showers and it was typically a group of about
twenty to thirty people. Not the Iverson's. The Iverson’s showers and parties
were at least a hundred people. It was insane.

Elora sat with her mother and Anne at
the center table while Viola, Phoebe, Maggie and I sat off to their right.
Maggie had her head in my lap, pressing her ear up to my stomach and seemed
intent on staying like that.

"Maggie, will you leave Lilli alone
for five minutes?" Viola giggled while tossing back another mimosa. I
could only imagine what would be happening if she continued to drink. The gleam
in Phoebe's eye assured me Viola would be receiving refill after refill.

Maggie sat up. "I’ll give you five
minutes!" She playfully scowled. Then she stood and walked to the buffet
tables.

"She can’t wait to babysit for
you." Viola smiled over the flute glass.

"I’m sure she will change her mind
when she has to handle two screaming babies instead of just one. She may want
to offer her services to James and Elora." Laughing, I took a drink of
water.

"She’s already offered to babysit
for them, too. She’ll have me fighting her for these two." Viola rubbed my
stomach and winked.

Elora began going through the obscene
amount of presents. I don’t exactly know what a newborn would do with a silver
diamond encrusted spoon, but she got one of them. Then there was an obscene
amount of designer baby clothes that I was sure would be pooped and puked all
over. I shook my head.

"What’s going on in that head of
yours?" Phoebe eyed my reactions.

I leaned over the table, as much as
possible, whispering so only she and Viola could hear me, "that outfit had
to cost, like, a hundred dollars and it’s probably going to be covered in puke
and poop within thirty minutes of wear. I don’t quite understand that
concept." I smirked and sat back.

"Oh, dear, just you wait."
Viola nodded toward the gifts. "You haven’t seen anything yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Watch…" She pointed toward the
large box Elora was currently opening. She pulled out a baby stroller, with the
help of others. I turned to Viola and raised my eyebrow in confusion.
"That cost a thousand dollars."

I choked on my own spit.
"W-what?!"

"Shh!" Viola giggled. "I
told you. You haven’t seen anything yet. It’s all about status; who buys the
best gift and spends the most money."

"Jesus!" I groaned.

Viola snorted.

"What?" I asked. "What’s
so funny?"

"Oh, Lilli…" She inhaled deeply.
"If you think this is bad, just wait till your baby shower." She
started laughing when my eyes widened. "That’s right, Lilli, my dear. Not
only are you having two babies, which already raise the stakes, but you are
also giving birth to Aidan Iverson’s babies. You will get gifts in the mail for
weeks before and after the births."

"I didn’t even think about that. Ugh!"
I groaned.

"Look at it this way, you won’t
have to buy anything for the babies for the first year." Phoebe added,
hoping to make me feel better.

"Make that the first five."
Viola mumbled, a hint of amusement lingering.

 I groaned again.

"Hey there, beautiful." The
feel of Aidan’s lips against my ear and arm around my shoulder, caused me to
jump.

"Damn it." I panted. "Are
you trying to put me into early labor?" I snapped.

He laughed.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see
you."

"You're supposed to be with the
guys." Phoebe eyed him scornfully.

"You got to feel up my ass this
morning." He shot back. "I get to see my Lilli for a minute and feel
her up."

"Don’t you dare." I laughed,
though my mind was still caught on the ‘my Lilli’ part of his statement.

"Okay, a kiss?" He leaned
toward me. I quickly pressed my lips to his.

I was pulling back when his hand quickly
found the back of my head, pulling my mouth back to him. He deepened the kiss
then pulled back with a large smile.

"See? Now I feel better."
After kissing my forehead, and Viola’s cheek, he returned to the male bonding
session.

"I see that he gave you the
necklace." Viola commented. My eyes immediately dropped to where the
necklace lay.

"Mmhmm." I mumbled.

"He told you what it means, I
hope?"

I nodded.

"Good, now maybe you can get the
idea of this just being an arrangement out of your damn stubborn head."

I snapped my eyes from the necklace to
Viola.

"What?" Viola raised an
eyebrow. "You seriously still think you are going anywhere in four
years?"

I opened my mouth, but closed it immediately.
What the hell was I supposed to say? Yes, it felt different between us, but
it’s not like we discussed anything about permanency. I sighed.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Lilli."
Viola slammed her drink on the table.

Oh lord, here we go, naughty Viola.