Lani was left standing there in the bathroom holding the phone.
Max had finished changing Ellie and lifted her onto his shoulder. She promptly pulled on his ear and babbled out more happy sounds that didn’t quite amount to real words.
“Well?” he asked. Lani blinked and tried to bring herself back to reality. “Lani, what’s happened?” he demanded. He was starting to look a little worried.
She sucked in a long breath and shared the news. “That was my agent. We have a deal. A very good deal. I just sold three books.”
Max smiled. It was the biggest, happiest smile she’d ever seen on his wonderful face. And it was for her. “Congratulations,” he said.
Ellie seemed to pick up on the spirit of the moment. She stopped pulling Max’s ear and clapped her hands.
Very carefully, Lani set her phone down on the bathroom counter. “I’ll be right back.”
Max didn’t say anything. He just stood there grinning, holding the baby.
And Lani took off like a shot. She ran out into the hallway of Max’s apartment, shouting, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” When she got to the kitchen, she turned around and ran back again, shouting “Yes!” all the way.
Max was waiting, leaning in the bathroom doorway with Ellie in his arms, when she returned to him. “Feel good?”
“Oh, yeah.” She wanted to grab him and plant one right on him, to take his hand and lead him back to the kitchen where they could sit and talk and...
She stopped the dangerous thought before it could really get rolling.
“Nani, Nani...” Ellie swayed toward her.
She took the little sweetheart in her arms. “I’d, um, better get back. Gerta will wonder.”
He was still smiling, but there was something somber in his eyes. “All right, then.”
Neither of them moved.
“Nani...” Ellie patted her cheek—and then started squirming. “Dow, Nani, dow...”
Lani broke the tempting hold of his gaze. “I need to get back.” He was blocking the doorway. “The diaper bag?”
He went and got it for her. “Here you are.”
She took it from his outstretched hand and carried the wiggling toddler out of there, away from him.
* * *
“It’s time and you know it,” Sydney said the next day.
They were at the villa, just Syd and Lani, sitting at the table in the kitchen, sharing a late lunch while Trev and Ellie napped.
Everything had changed with that single call from Marie. And the time had come for Lani and Syd to deal with that.
Lani couldn’t seem to stop herself from arguing against taking the next step. “But I love Trev and Ellie. And I have plenty of time to write and to take care of them.”
Syd wasn’t buying. “Why do I have to tell you what you already know? You’ll be needing to network, to put together a PR plan. And what about that website you still don’t have? And you keep saying you’re going to establish more of an online presence, see if you can do more to boost the sales of those three e-books you have out.”
“You’re making me dizzy. You know that, right?”
“What I’m saying isn’t news. It’s what we always agreed. As soon as you were making enough with your writing to live on for a year, you would put all your work time into building a career. This sale does that for you.”
“I know, but...”
“But what, Lani?”
Lani let out a low cry. “But it’s all happening so fast. And what about Ellie and Trev? They’re used to my being with them all the time. How will they take it, having some stranger for a nanny?”
“They will do fine.” Syd reached across the distance between them and ran a fond hand down her hair. “They grow up, anyway. To a degree, in the end, we lose them to their own lives.”
Lani wrinkled up her nose at her friend. “Okay, I get that you’re trying to make me feel better. But come on. Ellie’s still in diapers and Trev’s four. It’s a long time until they’re on their own. And I know you and Rule are planning to have more children. You need me, you know you do.”
“And you need to get out there.” Syd set down her fork. “Listen, don’t tempt me, okay? You’re amazing with the kids. They love you so much—almost as much as I do. You’re part of the family and I hate to let you go.”
“Then why don’t we just keep it like it is for a while?”
Syd refused to waver. “Uh-uh. No. You need to do this. And it’s not like you’re moving back to Texas or anything. You’ll see them often, every day if you want to.”
“Of course I want to see them every day. I love them. I love you.”
“And I love you,” Syd said. “So much. I’m so crazy happy for you.”
Lani’s throat clutched and her eyes burned.
“Oh, honey...” Syd grabbed the box of tissues off the windowsill and passed them to her.
Lani dabbed at her eyes. “Somehow, I didn’t expect it to be like this. To get what I’ve always wanted—and just feel all weepy and lost about it.”
“It’s all going to work out. Change is a good thing.”
Lani shot Syd a sideways look. “Keep saying that.”
“You’d better believe I will—until you stop trying to go backward and move on.”
Lani pushed her plate away, braced her elbows on the table and rested her chin between her hands. “Unbelievable. Seriously. And yeah. Okay.”
Syd chuckled then. “Okay, what?”
“Okay, you can find a new nanny.”
“Excellent. You’re fired, as of today. And I’m perfectly capable of watching my own children until I find someone else.” In the old days, before she’d married Rule, Sydney had worked killing hours at her law firm in Dallas. A full-time nanny had been a necessity then. Now, Sydney had projects she took on, but her schedule was flexible and she enjoyed being a hands-on mom. “And Gerta’s terrific. I know she’ll be willing to accept a nice bonus and keep an eye on all four kids if I get desperate.”
“I can help if you get desperate.”
“The main thing is you’re a full-time writer and you’re getting out on your own.”
“Yes. Fine. I’ll start looking for a place. Something in Monagalla, maybe...” The southwestern ward was close to the palace. It was known as the tourist ward because room rates were relatively low there. But housing in Montedoro didn’t come cheap no matter where you lived.
Syd seemed to be reading her mind. “If you need help with the money...”
“Don’t even go there. I have enough to tide me over until the advance check comes. I’m just...a little freaked out at making the move.”
“No kidding.”
Lani pulled her plate close again. “God. I’m a basket case. Thrilled. Terrified. Sure that Marie will be calling any minute to tell me never mind, it was all a big mistake.”
Syd sipped her coffee and set the cup back down with care. “Is it a guy?”
Lani