Rise of the Formidable Ex-wife (Lucia and Alex) novel Chapter 301

The doctor discharged Lucia the following morning with a printed sheet of instructions, a prescription for prenatal vitamins, and the calm advice of someone who had watched too many people ignore calm advice and was trying a different approach.

“Rest.” Dr. Carter said. “Real rest. Not the kind where you sit somewhere and answer emails”

Lucia accepted this with the expression of a woman who was listening, and the expression of a woman who was already thinking about her inbox.

Alexander accepted it with the expression of a man who had been given an instruction he intended to enforce.

They drove home in the kind of comfortable quiet that had taken them months to build, the car warm, the city moving past the windows. Lucia’s hand in Alexander’s on the console between them.

She noticed the cars in the driveway first. Both of them were there, which meant the children had been home since last night, which meant whatever they’d been doing had been done with full access to the house.

Alexander opened the front door. Lucia stepped through it and stopped.

The sitting room had been rearranged.

The large sofa had new cushions, the thick kind, the kind with memory foam that cost more than cushions had any right to

comfort and then doubling it. A blanket lay folded

cost, arranged the way someone arranges things after thinking hardality. A small table had been pulled within

over the arm, soft and heavy in the way of things that were genuinely good

reach. and on it sat a book she’d mentioned wanting to read three weeks earlier, a glass of water, and a plate of crackers, the quiet logic of someone who had looked up what helped early pregnancy nausea.

Her usual slippers had been swapped for something new, something decorative ones she’d worn for years.

real support in the sole instead of the flat

“We did the wardrobe too,” Monica said, appearing from the kitch usea.

with the careful look of someone slightly nervous about

what they’d done. “Some of your shoes and a few work things. Nothing you’ll need urgently, we checked your calendar. The ones that aren’t good for standing long periods are at the back now.”

Lena appeared beside her. “We used Dad’s card. Extensively.” She looked at Alexander. “You’re welcome to look at the receipt any time.”

“I’m not looking at the receipt,” Alexander said.

“That’s what I told them,” Lena said.

Lucas came in from the kitchen. “I picked up the vitamins this morning. They’re on the counter. The pharmacist said take them with food.”

Ria arrived from the hallway holding a printed schedule. “I’ve moved your morning meetings for the next two weeks to start at ten instead of eight. Your assistant agreed. I also pushed the board presentation to next month, because Dr. Carter said no unnecessary stress, and presenting to twelve people who ask difficult questions counts.”

Lucia took in the schedule, the cushions, the slippers, her four children lined up like a committee presenting the findings of an overnight session.

She opened her mouth.

“If you’re about to say you’re fine and this is too much,” Monica said, “we’ve all agreed you don’t get a vote on this one.”

Lucia closed her mouth.

16

Q

G

111

12:27 Thu, Jul 16 )

Chapter 301

5 voucher

Then she crossed the room and pulled Monica into her arms, and the hug lasted longer than she’d planned, because once she was in it she found she didn’t want to leave. She went to Ria next, who hugged her with both arms and said nothing. which was sometimes the most Ria thing she could do. Then Lucas, who patted her back with the slightly awkward devotion of someone better at practical love than physical love, but trying anyway. Then Lena, who held on tight and smelled like the perfume she’d worn for years.

She sat on the sofa.

“These are very good cushions,” she said.

“Fifty thousand dollars each.” Lena said.

“Lena,” Alexander said.

“She should know her worth,” Lena said.

Lucia laughed.

The morning settled into its new shape, which meant that every time Lucia stood up to do something, one of her children appeared to do it first. She reached for her coffee and Lucas materialized with a glass of water and the news that caffeine was on the restricted list. She moved toward her laptop and Ria mentioned Dr. Carter’s instructions until the laptop ended up back on the table. She said she needed to call the office, and Alexander appeared in the doorway wearing the expression of a man who had heard something he wasn’t going to permit

“I’ve already spoken to them,” he said.

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“Alexander.”

“You are on rest,” he said. “The company will survive one week without you.”

“I’m four weeks pregnant. Not incapacitated.”

“The doctor said rest.”

“The doctor said reduce unnecessary stress. Answering email isn’t unnecessarily stressful.”

“Sit down.”

“I am sitting down.”

“You were about to stand up for your laptop.”

“I was going to sit back down with it.”

Lucas appeared behind Alexander. “I’m staying entirely out of this,” he said, and stayed exactly where he was.

Lucia looked at the three of them, her husband blocking the doorway with his arms folded, her son standing behind him making a point of not interfering while clearly interfering.

“There are four of you now,” she said.

Five,” Monica called from the kitchen.

2/3

16

G

III

12:27 Thu, Jul 16 ) )

Chapter 301

5 voucher

Lucia looked at the ceiling and thought of the woman she had been this past year, moving too fast, managing too much. missing what her own body had been telling her for weeks. Then she thought of the hospital room, the word pregnant. Alexander’s hand over the place where something new was growing.

She picked up the book from the side table and settled back into the sofa.

“Fine,” she said.

Alexander sat beside her, and the tightness he’d been carrying for the last day eased, the specific relief of a man who had been waiting for the right thing to happen and finally watched it happen.

Monica appeared in the doorway. “I made crackers with the cheese spread the internet said was good for nausea.”

“Thank you.” Lucia said, and Monica set the plate down and went back to the kitchen, where Lena was asking Lucas where the tea bags were, Lucas was pointing out the obvious spot, and Lena was insisting that wasn’t where they lived.

Alexander put his arm around Lucia. She leaned into him.

“They did all of this last night,” he said quietly. “I found them at two in the morning still rearranging things.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “They just did it.”

She sat with that a moment, listening to the small ordinary sounds of her family through the

cupboards. Someone laughing at something Lena had said.

wall. The kettle. The

She pressed her hand flat against her stomach. Something very small was there, already being argued over for its name and its gender.

She opened the book but didn’t read yet. She just sat in the cushioned sofa her children had bought while Lucia slept,

wearing the slippers they’d chosen for her, and let be taken care of for the first time in a very long time.

It felt like exactly what it was.

୦

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads