I pulled her to me and wrapped my body around hers, kissing her nose, and said, “Nothing is going to go bad. Come on.” I pulled her around back and up the stairs.
Before I could knock, the door swung open and Ellie’s round belly greeted us, followed by Ellie. “Kytten! I’m so excited you’re here. Come in, come in.”
Ellie grabbed Rose by the hand and dragged her across the threshold. She looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes pleading for rescue. I chuckled and followed after them.
“I didn’t know we were coming to your home. I would have brought something,” Rose said, clearly uncomfortable with what she had surmised was a lack of manners on her part.
“Oh, nonsense.” Ellie waved her off. “Ryder has everything under control.”
“Ryder cooked?” I asked, sniffing the air.
Ellie laughed. “Yup. I haven’t been able to handle cooking. Hopefully, once this little one is born, I can show him what I can do.”
Ellie directed Rose and I to sit on the couch. She swore Ryder would be right back; he had to pick something up to go with dinner.
Chrissy and Tabby came running into the room, and Tabby climbed right up in my lap as if no time had passed since the last time she saw me.
I snuggled her close, and Rose just watched us. Chrissy being Chrissy, broke the ice.
“I like your pink hair. Momma, can I have pink hair?” she asked, looking at Ellie over her shoulder.
“Absolutely not. It does look beautiful on Kytten. But Daddy would skin me alive if I let Simon color your hair. Maybe when your grown up and don’t have to do what Daddy says anymore.”
“That will never fucking happen, Chrissy,” Ryder called out as he entered the house. “You will always have to do what Daddy says.”
Rosie stiffened beside me, and I reached over and squeezed her knee. “He’s only joking,” I said with a wink.
“Like hell I am,” he snarked as he walked closer to the living room.
When I saw what was in his hand, I asked, “Is that what I think it is?”
He smiled at me. Actually smiled at me and answered, “Fuck yea. I asked her to make it as soon as you called.”
“Ryder’s mom makes the best cakes,” I told Rosie, leaning over but never taking my eyes off the cake box.
“Auntie Rachel says we should always have dessert first. Do you like dessert, Kytten?”
Rosie swallowed and looked at me. When I smiled and squeezed her knee again, her bottom lip trembled just a bit. Her hand latched onto mine, and with a wide smile, she turned to Chrissy. “I love dessert.”
Ellie and Ryder both exhaled. Ryder stared at Rosie before shaking his head as if to clear his mind.
“Let’s eat,” Ellie suggested, walking to Ryder and rubbing his arm. He kissed the top of her head and we all sat down.
Dinner went great, but Rose excused herself to the bathroom multiple times, and I was getting concerned.
“Are you ok?” I asked, leaning over to whisper in her ear. She gave me a fake smile and nodded. I let it go because I didn’t want to make an issue where there might not be one.
Not in front of Ellie and Ryder.
I wanted them to like her.
I wanted them to accept her.
By the time Ryder cut into his mother’s cake, Rosie had just come back from her fourth trip to the restroom. Waiting in the hall, I stopped her when she exited the room.
“What’s going on? Are you sick?”
“No.”
