She walked hurriedly from a speechless Mick and quickly up the stairs as Liliana's cries continued to ring throughout the house. However, she wasn't fast enough for the long legged stride of Mick once the shock had worn off. She picked up Liliana and began to soothe her as she waited for Mick to start in on her. She knew he would be hurt; he was one of her very best friends and he would've been happy for her, would have supported her. She just hadn't told.
"I'm sorry Mick. I know I should have told you. I just had my reasons that I'm still not ready to share. I thought keeping them to myself was the best thing to do." She explained.
"Them?" he asked incredulously.
"This is Liliana. She's 4 months old."
"Four months? Fucking hell Stevie, you've been on tour for the last four months!" he exclaimed.
"I left when she was a week old. That's one of the problems with keeping a pregnancy secret. You don't have an excuse to postpone your tour." She admitted.
"Jesus Christ, Stevie. This is a lot. You're not keeping this secret anymore. Look at how precious she is. You can't hide her for the rest of her life. It's not fair to her."
"I know, I know it's not. I had just been thinking about bringing them out recently." She admitted.
"You should. Where is Grayson? Tell me about him." He asked and Stevie led him down the hall to Grayson's room where they peered in at her sleeping son until Mick motioned for her to follow him out. She knew he wanted to talk.
"How old is he?" Mick asked.
"He's 3. You would think he's older, he's very smart." She replied, her motherly pride kicking in. They spent the next half hour with her telling him all about them.
"Where is their father Stevie? Do they have the same father?"
"Gee, Mick. Good to know what you think of me." She replied indignantly.
"You know I didn't mean it that way Stevie, but you didn't answer the question." He gently reminded her.
"Yes, they have the same father. I have no fucking clue where he is and I don't want to. He was basically only a sperm donor and that's how it will stay." She said firmly, letting Mick know she was done with that part of the conversation.
"Ok, I get it," Mick said, holding his hands up, before continuing, "but what I don't understand is why you kept it secret, even from us?"
"I just didn't want them to grow up constantly being speculated about. People always wondering who their father is and I know even those close to us will. When they want to know, I will tell them who helped me create them, but they are the only ones I have to answer to. Look Mick, I know you have a lot of questions and I promise to answer them, but can we please continue this tomorrow? I'm exhausted." Stevie pled with him.
"Fine, but I still have a lot more to say. And you're coming with me to the studio tomorrow. No. No excuses Stevie." He said when he saw her starting to protest. "If you're not ready to work I understand, but you are going to at least pop in and say hello. And introduce these two. John loves kids, he'll be thrilled. Lindsey, well, Lindsey has no room to talk and I'll handle him. You don't have to worry about Lindsey." He finished and Stevie snorted. Mick would not be able to handle Lindsey, but it wasn't as if she was too much better at it.
"Fine." She grudgingly agreed and kissed Mick's cheek before trudging up to bed.
"Can I assume that you wake up at a decent hour now that you're a mother or will I have to drag your ass out of bed?" Mick called up to her and she responded without turning around, just lifting an arm above her head, pulling up her middle finger, while Mick's chortling laugh echoed. She felt a little relieved knowing that some of the secrets would now be gone, but she was very much dreading tomorrow for a lot of different reasons.
