Hero Ad Hoc - Chapter 3

Sorry I posted this is a little late. I overslept. Again.

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Arthur gazed lovingly through the nursery window. “Isn’t she absolutely adorable, Harri?”

Grace Harriet Ames looked like every other capped, red-faced, squalling infant in the hospital to Harri, but she nodded and said, “Absolutely,” anyway.

The nurse had shooed them out of Patty’s room in order to take care of the clean-up. When Harri had objected to the baby’s name, the same nurse also threatened to stab Harri with a scalpel for upsetting the new mother. She just wished Patty had warned her of the plan to give the baby the worst middle name ever.

“I could get the birth certificate changed,” Harri muttered. “The judge will understand Patty was on drugs when she filled out the form.”

“Quit acting like a baby yourself,” Arthur murmured. “Patty planned to name her after you and her aunt all along. You two have been the biggest influences in her life.”

Harri looked at the former-supervillain-wannabe turned tech-guy and doting daddy-wannabe. “Jeremy’s makeover has gone to your head.”

“No.” Arthur returned her gaze with a steady one of his own, something she wouldn’t have thought possible even a month ago. “Do you know why I targeted you last year? You were the heir to the Winters empire and one of the most prominent lawyers in the city. I thought you had the perfect life. One with power and prestige. The one I was cheated out of. When Corvus tried to set me up for the destruction of City Hall, I knew you would be the only one strong enough to find the real culprit. And you did.

“But on top of that, I got to know all of you, and I realized all of your lives were just as screwed up as mine. When none of you had a family to rely on, you made your own.”

He turned back to watch Grace with an even more lovestruck expression on his face. “The best I can do is take everything you guys have given me and give it to Gracie. Give her the family all of us wanted, but none of us had.”

Harri swallowed hard to get the lump out of her throat. Who would’ve thought the former Professor Venom was a sentimental sap? “You’re right, Arthur. That’s the best present we can all give Grace.”

She sniffed to get the snot out of her sinuses. Otherwise, she’d start bawling, and the babies didn’t need to be frightened by her ugly-cry face. “I need to let Aisha and the guys know how Patty and Grace are doing.”

“Okay,” he murmured, but Harri was pretty sure he hadn’t heard a thing she said.

She headed out to the cell phone patio. Thankfully, she was the only one there. She pulled out her phone and dialed the office number.

“Winters & Franklin, attorneys at law. How may I direct your call?”

Harri laughed. “Why, Ms. Franklin, you almost sounded like a professional receptionist.”

Aisha answered with a creative epithet for a female cat. “Gimme the stats.”

“Grace Harriet Ames. Born at four-fifty-eight p.m. Seven pounds, two ounces. Eighteen inches. All the fingers and toes, and healthy as a horse. On the other hand, Patty may be here an extra day.”

“What happened? Is she okay?” Panic edged Aisha’s voice.

Harri winced. That had been careless of her. Aisha was already hyper over her own situation.

“Patty’s blood pressure was a little high, and she had more bleeding than the OB was comfortable with. She wants to make sure everything is under control before she sends Patty and Grace home.”

“Room number?”

“No. No flowers.” Harri gestured emphatically even though Aisha couldn’t see her. “That’s one more thing we’ll have to haul home. Have ’em delivered to the apartment when she’s released from the hospital. If you want to help, decorate Patty’s place. It’s not like you need a ladder.”

A groan vibrated through the receiver. “Can we not talk about this right now?”

“Fine.” A zillion issues dammed up behind the idea of her best friend being pregnant. By one of their clients, no less. “How’d the meeting with our indecent proposal go?”

“I think I have her convinced that changing her atrocious hero moniker would go a long way toward improving her image.”

“Uh-oh. That implies there are other issues.”

“She claims she gets the biggest power boost by, um, you know.”

Harri sat down on one of the decorative benches. “You’re kidding me, right? I always thought her Meg Ryan imitation was part of her shtick.”

“Nope, not an imitation. That may be a bigger hurdle than the name change.”

“Keep her or drop her?”

“She didn’t even blink at our rates, and Cobblestone did recommend her. He’s been our best referral for new clients.” Harri rolled her eyes. Maybe it was a good thing they couldn’t see each other. She still thought Aisha should have pressed assault charges even though Corvus had extorted Cobblestone to deliver their warning to her. However, the condo association bought out Aisha’s upside down mortgage at the full amount just to get her out of the building after the destruction Cobblestone and Rey had wrought in their battle. The insurance settlement had been a nice bonus, even though they immediately dropped her policy due to the excessive payout.

“That didn’t answer my question,” Harri muttered.

“She wrote the check for the retainer on the spot.”

Harri snorted. “What happened to discussing a client together before we agree to represent them?”

Aisha chuckled. “When I told her that, she wrote the check for three times our requested amount. I said you still had final say in the matter no matter how many zeros she wrote.”

Time to address the pink elephant in the room. “Did you make it through the day without any more floating?”

“No.”

Harri could have sworn she heard Aisha’s teeth grinding. “You’re not on the ceiling right now, are you?”

“No, I am not. Can we please talk about this later?”

“You’re going to need to tell Rey—”

“I know that!”

“Hey! I’m just trying to—”

“Fix it. Just like you do with everyone’s problems. But this isn’t your thing to fix, Harri.” After three Mississippi’s, Aisha added, “I love you. You know I do, girl, but this is between me and Rey.” She groaned. “And he’s knocking on my office door right now because I said I’d discuss my floating problem after five since I had to cover the phones as well.”

“Didn’t you call the temp agency? I had one already lined up!”

“No yet.” A burst of static was followed by a muffled “Come in!” Aisha muttered, “I’ve got to go. Talk to you later.”

The signal died.

Harri stared at her phone. Maybe Aisha was right. Maybe this wasn’t her business. Hell, she couldn’t get her own shit together with Tim.

No, this literally was her business. If Aisha would be out on maternity leave in eight months, they needed to get their ducks lined up now. Harri scrolled through her contacts list for potential replacements.

* * *

Rey peered around the door. “You still busy?” he mouthed.

Aisha resisted the urge to slam down the receiver and replaced it gently in its cradle. Harri was simply the way she was. She gestured to Rey. “No, come on in.”

Tim followed Rey into the office and closed the door behind him.

The light-headed feeling struck, but after Screaming Orgasm had left, she’d managed to fashion a rubber band chain that kept her tied to her office chair.

She tried to imitate Harri’s patented look-of-death glare. “Did you need something, Tim?”

“Information,” he said.

Both men plopped down on the visitor chairs across from her desk.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a super, too?” Rey frowned.

“I’m not, honey.” She turned to Tim. “Can I have a private conversation with Rey first?”

“No,” they replied in unison.

“If something’s wrong, it affects us all,” Rey said sternly.

“Oh, god.” Aisha buried her face in her hands. “This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Rey’s large warm hands drew hers away from her face.

She looked up at him, or the blurry vision of him. Damn, she thought she’d gotten the waterworks out of the way this morning. “I’m pregnant.”

“B-b-but you said—”

Aisha tamped down the urge to scream the words. “I know what I said. I don’t know how this happened.”

“Really? You don’t know how this happened? Do I need to have ‘the talk’ with you two?”

She and Rey glared at Tim.

Tim’s smile faltered. “It is Rey’s, right?”

“Why do white men always assume anyone with their lack of pigment can’t control their urges and screw everything in sight?” In her righteous indignation, Aisha started to stand and was quickly reminded of her rubber band belt.

“It’s called ruling out other possibilities,” Tim said dryly. “If you’re carrying a super baby, it would explain your floating.” He pulled out his phone. “Have there been any other side effects, and when did they start?”

“She needs a doctor,” Rey said. “And you’re not one.”

“True, but she can’t go to her regular doctor.” Tim eyed her as if wanting to know whether her ob/gyn could be trusted.

Aisha shook her head. “Given my medical history, there’d be too many questions. And I don’t want to put Rey’s identity at risk.”

“Your health and the baby’s are more important than my secret identity.” Rey crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his beautiful face.

“She’s right,” Tim said softly. “If you care about her, we need to keep this quiet. For everyone’s sake.” He regarded her once again. “Any other symptoms?”

She wanted to sag in her chair, but she couldn’t. From the rocking of the wheels, she was barely on terra firma as it was. “Just the floating. And it started this morning after the last pregnancy test.”

“Time?” Tim asked at the same moment Rey blurted, “Last pregnancy test?”

“Around seven.” She met Rey’s incredulous stare. “After the governor called you in, I couldn’t sleep. Normally, when I have insomnia, I’d go out on my balcony and smoke.” Rey’s mouth opened, and she held up her hands. “I know I promised to quit, honey. That’s when I realized I hadn’t touched a cigarette in a couple of weeks. And my period was late,” she finished in a tiny voice.

Aisha sucked in a deep breath. Neither Rey or Tim said anything, waiting for her to finish. Harri hadn’t let her get this far during their morning discussion. “So I walked down to the bodega and bought a test kit. They were both positive.”

“Both?” Tim looked at her askance. “You said you bought one.”

“Celia carries the two-packs because they are cheaper,” Rey offered.

Tim cocked an eyebrow. “How would you know?”

Rey’s face turned a deep scarlet. “I overheard Marta talking to her daughters when I was washing dishes at the restaurant.”

Aisha cleared her throat. “Anyway, I went back and bought two more two-packs. They were all positive as well.” “Does anybody else know?” Tim asked.

Aisha shook her head. “Just Harri.”

“You told Harri before you told me?” Hurt filled Rey’s gold eyes.

“Honey, you were off fighting dinosaurs, and well—” Guilt overrode Aisha’s anxiety. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Rey. “She walked in here when I was freaking out about the whole thing and started floating the first time.”

“It’ll be okay.” He smiled that glorious smile of his. “I promise.” He turned to Tim. “Serena?”

Tim nodded firmly. “Serena.”

Suspicion tingled along Aisha’s nerves. She shot each man a look. “What’s a Serena?”