busy at it hours later when she heard Satoshi and Takumijo walk past the door on their way downstairs.
Shaundra coughed. The smell of paint had filtered down the hall to her office. She coughed again. I wonder if it will be safe for me to sleep in the room next to the nursery tonight.
Probably not. Maybe she should get a hotel room for the night until the fumes cleared. Shaundra opened the Internet back up and surfed for nearby hotels. Her cell phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hello beautiful."
"Harper! How nice of you to call. What's going on?"
"Oh nothing," he said. "I was just calling to check on you and to see how you were feeling."
"I'm fine," Shaundra replied. "I'm working on a new manuscript for the New York office."
"Good," he said. "You're keeping busy. How are the fellows?"
"They're busy preparing for their tour, but today Satoshi and Takumijo are painting the nursery, so I'm trying to stay out of their way." She coughed again.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. The paint fumes are filtering from the nursery down to my office."
"Where is Ichiro?"
"He went to Kyoto," she said.
"He's not helping to get the nursery together?" Harper asked.
She knew that tone of voice. "No," Shaundra said. "That's not high on his priority list." She coughed again.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"The paint smell is getting heavier."
"That can't be good for the babies."
"I was just about to reserve a hotel room before you called."
"Why waste the money on a hotel room when I have a place available right here in town?"
"Thanks, but no thanks," Shaundra said. "I remember the last time you extended such a courtesy to me, and besides you're still the number-one suspect on the baby-daddy list."
Harper chuckled. "Your life is never drama free."
"Nope, but hopefully I'll be too busy in the next couple of weeks to care."
"I still don't like the idea of you being alone in that farmhouse all by yourself for the next two or three months.
You really should consider coming here or going to stay with Ich's people."
"I'll be okay," Shaundra said. "There will be security at the gates, and Mr. Niigata has hired someone to come in and check on me every couple of days. And Ichiro's brother will be preparing meals for me, even though I him I can handle my own cooking. I swear they treat me like an invalid. Women have babies every day."
"Not fifty-one year old women," Harper replied.
"You would have to mention that. Look, I'm fine, my pressure is stable and the babies are thriving. I just can't control my weight. "It's going to be hard as hell to take off."
"I'll pay for you to go to the gym, or I'll hire you a personal trainer."
"When am I going to have time for that?" Shaundra asked.
She'd probably barely have time to use the toilet.
"Have you considered hiring a nanny?"
"A nanny?" Cristal had mentioned that before.
"Yes, someone to come in to help you with the babies."
"No, only rich people do that."
"You're rich," Harper told her.
"No, I've never considered that."
"She could either move in or come a couple days a week to help out," he explained to her.
"I'll have to look into that," Shaundra said. "But right now I really need to reserve a room to stay for the night."
"I can take a hint," Harper said. "I'll start putting some feelers out for a nanny and I'll get back to you."
"Okay," Shaundra said. "But she will have to speak English."
"Yes, I know."
"I'll talk to you later." She disconnected the call.
Someone cleared his throat behind her.
Shaundra turned toward the door. A paint-splattered Satoshi stood in the door carrying a tray. "I made you lunch,"
he told her.
Shaundra cleared a spot on desk. "Thank you," she said.
"So you do know your way around the kitchen," she teased.
"I told you I don't sit around and starve if Ichiro does not cook for me and spoil me." He placed a tuna fish on whole- wheat sandwich in front of her, along with fresh fruit, a glass of ice-cold milk, and two cookies. "The cookies and milk are for the babies."
"You're going to spoil them," Shaundra said.
"That is what uncles are supposed to do."
Shaundra picked up one half of the sandwich and was about to bite into it when she started to cough. She bit the sandwich, chewed, and swallowed. "This is good."
"Ich prepared the tuna before he left so I know there's not salt in it."
She felt bad that they had to be on a salt-free diet with her. "Did he say when