Only Him

Chapter 13

"She's a kumquat!" Lissa crowed through the phone. I blinked, startled. I'd just finished my Sunday morning training session with my team and my mind was still on maneuvers and countermeasures.

"A what?" I demanded, taking a towel from my gym bag and quickly wiping my brow. George and Stella gave me curious looks but I waved them off and turned my back to them, continuing my conversation in a much quieter tone. "What the hell is a kumquat?"

I could practically hear Lissa shrugging. "I don't know, some kind of fruit? The website says it's bigger than a grape but smaller than a fig, which is how big she'll be in a few days."

"I don't even know how big a fig is."

"Not that big. Are you purposefully trying to mess with me?" she demanded testily.

I chuckled. "You make it easy. Now why are you comparing it to fruit?"

"'It' is a 'her' and because that's what the website compared her to."

"You don't know it's a girl yet," I pointed out. Lissa had known about the pregnancy for two days—only one day less then myself—and she'd taken it upon herself to research as much as she could in her spare time.

"Call it a gut feeling. You're missing the point! The baby is growing! The website also says that you'll be feeling less morning sickness soon—"

"Morning my ass," I interrupted, thinking about the three times I'd vomited yesterday alone. "Try 'whenever the fuck it feels like it'."

"—and that you'll need maternity clothes soon," she continued on as if I hadn't said anything. "This is so exciting!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Trading in vomit for getting fat."

"Don't be such a pessimist," she chided. "You need to get more excited about this!"

I sighed. "Liss," I said, ducking into an isolated alcove so that I could talk in relative privacy. "It's not that I'm not excited, or even happy for that matter because I am. It's just that I'm nervous about it. And I really need to talk to Dimitri."

"I know," she sounded morose. "He'll be home in a few weeks and then you can tell him." Yes, yesterday on top of everything else I'd been coping with Dimitri had called to inform me that he and Christian had been delayed at Alder and their trip would be extended a week or two. I'd really started to panic after that. "Or you could call him, you know."

"I'm not telling him about this over the phone." I'd been adamant about that when I'd originally told her and I still was today, extended trip or no. That was a conversation Dimitri and I needed to have face to face.

"Well then, how about you go see him?" she suggested. "You have plenty of vacation time saved up. Drive up to Alder and tell him in person."

I was already shaking my head, though she couldn't see it. "No," I disagreed. "I can't. He's busy working and so am I. You have that conference in Pittsburgh next week and I'm busy prepping for it. I'm better off waiting until he gets back. Maybe by then I'll have figured out how to tell him about Kumquat."

"I'm sure he'll be patient and underst—did you just call your baby 'kumquat'?" she demanded, cutting herself off.

I smirked.

"Yup. You know, I wasn't quite sure about it at first but now the name's kind of sticking." I slipped from the alcove and cut across the gym, heading back to my apartment where I could shower and get ready for my logistics meeting with Hans. I hadn't lied when I'd told her that I had a lot to do to prepare for her meeting next week.