Finally they sat in a dining room and ate the meal Amedeo’s mother had cooked. She’d answered questions as she was asked, but she observed more than anything. She liked his family and the warmth they conveyed in their jibes at each other.
Later in the car, she smiled, thinking back on the afternoon. “Your brothers don’t let you get away with anything.”
“True. Did you like my family?”
She shifted in her seat to look at him. Why was that important to him? “Yes I did. They were very friendly. And fun.”
He glanced her way. “Good. I’m happy you did.”
She stretched then yawned.
“You tired?”
“No, just full, really. Warm from the food.”
“Good, because I had plans for our evening,” he said.
Chapter11
Amedeo held Violet’s hand the rest of the way home. He liked that she liked his family and they had clearly enjoyed her. No one had to do that, but the situation would be easier if they did. Violet wouldn’t object if one of his siblings or his mother wanted to babysit.
As if his mother would even ask. She’d probably come over to his house and just pack up the child. The kids were going to have all kinds of family.
Violet didn’t nap, but he could tell she was more relaxed now that the meet and greet was over. Her hand was warm and soft in his. He kissed her hand before he pulled into his driveway.
“Home,” she said.
She thought of his place as home? The idea warmed him. Good. She would feel welcome here then. It would make shared custody much easier.
“I think the furniture for the baby’s room will be delivered tomorrow.”
“That’s fine, but I have to find a place to live and set up a nursery there.”
“No hurry.”
He wasn’t in a hurry for her to leave. He’d gotten used to her being around. The offer to marry her was still on the table. They hadn’t discussed it in days and he didn’t want to ruin the good will that meeting his family had given them.
“But I need to figure out so much,” she said, sounding exhausted.
“Not tonight. It’s okay.”
“You always say that, but it isn’t okay. I need to take some responsibility for myself.”
He squeezed her hand. “What are you going to accomplish on a Sunday night? You can’t go look at apartments. You can’t even make appointments to look at apartments.”
She sighed. “I know. I just have been slacking about that part of this.”
“Look, we can go this week. I’ll call a real estate agent and line up some places.”
“How do you even know where I want to live?”
Yikes. He hadn’t mentioned any of his thinking to her. “Well, I was hoping you’d live close to me.”
She looked at him as if he had two heads. “I can’t afford Princeton.”
“I wasn’t thinking in Princeton. You can be closer to Trenton and the rents are more reasonable.”
She seemed to mull that over. “Okay. Maybe I can do that.”
“I know you’re uprooting your life, but if we’re close, the baby doesn’t haven’t to travel as much. That’ll be more important when he or she is in school. We both can attend parent things. Besides, I’ve said I want the child to go to private schools. There are many right here.”
“I guess we’ll have to talk about private school.”
“Why talk? It’s the best education the boy or girl can get.”
“How many black people go to private schools?”
“I don’t know, Violet, but is that any reason to hold the child back?”
He really didn’t want to discuss this now. He didn’t want to argue with her. He wanted to have sex. They hadn’t in a few days and he was itching to touch her.
“Maybe not. We’ll see.”
He’d leave it for now. He opened the door from the garage to the house for her. She smiled at him and she had that look in her eye. Her hormones were raging. He could help with that.
He led her upstairs. “You want a bath?”
“That sounds amazing.”
He filled the tub while she undressed. He could see that her stomach wasn’t showing, but it wasn’t flat anymore. That was his child growing inside of her body. Made him even harder.
He undressed, waiting for her. He held her hand as he helped her into the tub. He settled her against him. She let out a sigh, relaxing into him.
He could just reach her tits. So he did. He played with one then the other.
“Don’t touch them unless you plan on following through.”
He licked her ear. “Oh, I do, Violet.”
“This kid is going to wonder why the outside world is so peaceful after all the sex we’ve had during this pregnancy,” she said.