Professional Heir

Chapter 7

Kimberly.

After a couple of months it was now February. Valentine's Day to be exact, and Robert I were going out for dinner. "I feel so fucking fat." I groaned.

"Hey, just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you can be so rude to yourself. Shut it with the foul mouth." Robert warned, pointing a finger at his wife. Me. I'm the wife. The moody wife. The pregnant wife. The wife that can no longer see her cooch.

I rolled my eyes and continued to stare at my stomach in the mirror. "Kimberly May."

"Fine. Jeez. You try growing a human. Then you'll understand how weird it feels."

He came up behind me to rest his hands on my bump. "You look as gorgeous as always." He smiled.

"But you can see my bump through my dress, what if people just think I'm fat?"

"Sweetheart, maybe if you actually covered your tummy with your dress then you wouldn't see it."

I stared at him through the mirror. Ugh. He was right.

Of course, Milo was driving us tonight, so after we grabbed our coats we headed downstairs to wait for him. The sound of the living room TV filled the foyer.

I followed the noise to find Ethan sitting in a high chair, watching shapes and colours fly all around the TV screen. Elijah entered with an orange bowl in hand and a little blue spoon. "Is it too loud?"

Elijah had been staying with us for two months. Turns out that was what Robert had planned. He said he didn't like the idea of Elijah being alone with his grief, all while learning how to look after a baby. Robert hired a nanny so he could come to work whenever he felt like it, a guest bedroom had been filled with his stuff, and another turned into a nursery for little E.

"Not at all." Robert shook his head.

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" I took a seat on the arm of the couch. Usually, Elijah had someone here to keep him company while Robert and I went on dates, but tonight he declined

He nodded with a small smile. "Yes, I'm sure. I'm going to put him to bed in an hour then head to bed myself. Everything will be fine."

"Hmm," I placed a kiss on Elijah's cheek. "Well if you need us, just call."

"Yes, Mother." Elijah rolled his eyes before feeding his brother a spoonful of yoghurt. The baby was 8 months old and surprisingly had grown quite some hair, jet black just like his brother's.

I kissed the baby's nose to which he offered me a yoghurt-y grin. "Goodbye, bub."

"Goodnight, Elijah." Robert called out from the doorway, holding out his arm for me to take.

I was thankful to Robert for having Elijah stay with us. Not that I'm trying to make it all about me, but I'd be worrying constantly if he wasn't. He's great with Ethan, he truly is. But when you're not in the right frame of mind and a baby keeps crying at you, a lot of the time there's nothing you can do except mirror their meltdown and cry for hours on end with them. I didn't want that for him. At least this way we were here to help ease him into his new responsibilities.

*****

"We'll be a while, Milo, I'll text you to come back."

"Thank you, sir." He drove off, leaving the two of us at the front of the restaurant.

We had been to this one in particular, every Valentine's day since I had moved to The Netherlands. It was the restaurant Robert took me to as a celebration after I was a legal citizen, and ever since we had come here once a year to keep that celebration alive.