"Get in it," Cole said.
Harrison shook his head and held up his hands, walking away slowly.
Brooks narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what sort of sinister plan Cole had in mind.
Cole rolled his eyes. "I'm not trying to trick you. It's just a test. Make sure it's sturdy enough."
"I think the baby is going to be a good deal smaller than I am," Brooks said.
"Well, of course. That's why you climb in. If it will support your weight then it will definitely support the baby."
That sounded fairly reasonable. As did Harrison's suggestion that if they wanted to make extra sure it was sturdy maybe they should try it out with two of them. Which is what they tried to explain to Kiersten and Leah when they wandered over and found Cole and Brooks cuddled up together in the crib.
Brooks explained the whole thing and pointed at Harrison.
"It was his idea. He said he read an article about crib manufacturing that recommended using at least three hundred pounds to test the crib's safety. So we had to get two of us in here. Tell them."
Harrison just shook his head. "I don't know what they're talking about. I think they just wanted to cuddle."
Then he took off running.
Smart move really because Cole did an impressive vault out of the crib and took off after him. Brooks turned to Leah with a grin. "So, how are things going on your side?"
…
Leah tried not to smile. It only encouraged him. But really, it was impossible to keep it together. She laughed and shook her head. "We're having fun, though not as much as you're having over here apparently."
"Getting lots of loot?"
"Tons. Between this shower and the one the sisters and my friends at work gave me, this baby will be set for diapers for at least a year."
Kiersten laughed at that. "Try a month."
Brooks and Leah both blinked at her in surprise. She shrugged. "What can I say? They are little pooping machines."
Brooks opened his mouth, no doubt to make some inappropriate joke, but was sidetracked by a crash coming from the opposite side of the apartment.
"I'll be right back," he said, jumping out of the crib and running full tilt to where his friends seemed to be doing their best to destroy his loft.
Leah just looked at Kiersten and shook her head. "It'll be like having two toddlers in the house."
Kiersten nodded. "True, but that could be said of most men."
She had said good-bye to the other guests before coming to check on the boys and Cass and Izzy helped her and Kiersten carry the gifts into Brooks's wine room.
"Is this going to be the nursery?" Izzy asked, looking around at the dark wood, humidors, and racks of wine bottles.
Leah shook her head and folded her arms, looking around. "We haven't discussed it. But it's the only available room in the house. Well, the only room with a door anyway. The master suite is upstairs, but down here is all open. I'm not comfortable putting my baby in a room filled with glass bottles full of alcohol. And Brooks isn't comfortable getting rid of any of it."
"Translate to mean, he flat-out refused?" Izzy asked.
"Yep."
"Why don't you guys get a new place?" Kiersten asked.
That would be the sensible thing to do. But again, she and Brooks hadn't discussed it. They hadn't discussed anything actually. They hadn't discussed whether they'd stay with the original plan and be done with the whole marriage thing once the peanut arrived or whether they were in an actual, real relationship now. Whether he wanted to be a stepfather. Whether he wanted Leah and the baby to continue to live with him once the baby came. How things were going to work with Marcus in the picture. If they'd work, because Brooks and Marcus, despite the polite smiles, did not seem to enjoy being around each other. All things that needed to be decided, and soon. And all things that Leah was afraid to discuss with him.
But her friends were looking at her, waiting for an answer, so she shrugged. "We haven't discussed that, either. I know he really likes it here."
"Well, unless you're planning on strapping the baby to the pool table, you guys might want to think about getting a more kid-friendly place," Cass said.
"I know," Leah said.
Izzy and Cass gave her hugs before heading out. "You call us when that baby is born," Izzy said.
"I will," she said, walking them out.
"That was nice of them to come," she said to Kiersten after they left.
"It was good to see them. It's been a while. They've been out jet-setting since we won that money. Although it looks like Cass may be ready to settle down."
"Chris certainly seems head over heels for her."
"Speaking of men who are head over heels, how are things with Brooks?"
Leah snorted. "Not head over heels."
"Are you sure about that?" Kiersten asked, nodding over in the direction of the boys.
They were now standing around the kitchen counter with beers, but Brooks's gaze kept straying over to her.
"He can't keep his eyes off you," Kiersten said.
"That's not love, that's hormones."
"I thought you were the one who was supposed to have the hormone problems."
Leah laughed. "Yeah, well he must be doing sympathy pains then. I can't seem to shake him."
Kiersten raised her eyebrows. "Do you want to?"
Warmth spread through her cheeks but she shook her head with a grin. "Not really, no."
"So it's going good then?"
"Better than I thought."
"But … "
Leah sighed. "I wish I knew what he wanted. Where he wants this to go. If he wants it to go anywhere. Or if he even knows. And with Marcus always hanging around now, things are kind of … weird. Awkward. He's always doing nice things for me, bringing me stuff, and seems really invested in the baby. Though he does bail every time his phone rings. And don't get me wrong, I'm happy he wants to be so involved. I just wish he and Brooks got along better. And that I knew what the hell Brooks is thinking about Marcus and all the rest of this."
"Well, you know there's only one way to find out, right?"
She took a deep breath and blew it out. "Yeah, I know. Freaking communication."
Kiersten laughed at that. "That sounds about right." She glanced around the room again. "And you might want to make that talk quick. You guys need to figure out what page you're on so you can do something about your living arrangements. Or you're going to be tucking your baby in at night between a couple of wine bottles."
"Wine," Leah said wistfully. "I really miss wine."
Kiersten giggled. "Miss it all you want, but I don't think you want to have your baby shacking up with it."
"This is true."
She knew Kiersten had a point. The baby would be there soon, and they didn't have anything figured out yet. She wanted things settled before the baby came, and that meant she was going to have to have a conversation or two. Hopefully they went well.
She wasn't prepared to deal with the consequences if they didn't.
Chapter Nineteen
"So, how's it going with the little lady?" Harrison asked, dealing out the cards.
Brooks glanced up and gathered his hand.
"That well, huh?"
Cole nodded at him. "What's going on?"
Brooks released a deep sigh. It wasn't something he'd planned on getting into. Poker night was his opportunity to escape from All Things Domestic. Although lately with Cole and Kiersten and their new baby, and Chris in a fairly serious relationship for once in his life, and Brooks sort of married with a baby on the way, a lot of their conversation had been taking a domestic turn.
Harrison, the odd man out as the only unattached one in the group, didn't mind, although he did seem to view them all as strange and pitiful zoo creatures that he enjoyed observing from the outside but had no intention of getting close to for fear they were contagious.
"Things are going great. When Marcus isn't around. Except he always seems to be around now," Brooks said.
"Well, that's a good thing, right? That he wants to be there for his child," Chris said.
"Sure. Except this is Marcus we're talking about. I don't know if he's there because he wants to be there for Leah and the baby, or if he's there to screw with me. He's got to be loving that he's the father of my wife's baby. He couldn't have planned this any better if he'd done it on purpose. I don't know how much longer I can deal with him."
"Yeah, well, seeing as he's the father, you're going to have to get used to him. You'll be the stepfather to his kid. If you stick around," Cole said.
"Can you imagine having to deal with that man, having to co-raise a kid with him for eighteen years? Hell, I don't think I could do it without another guy always trying to one-up me and get in my way. How am I supposed to do it with him pulling his usual Marcus shit? He's already got the whole biological father thing on me. He's been trying to work on Leah, too. And she doesn't know him like we do. All she sees is a charming guy, with old family money, who wants to be involved in raising their kid. Who wouldn't want that?"