"How about from this spot?" Danielle asked Harper for the tenth time. 

"I don't know. Maybe you should try over here again."

Gwen frowned and shook her head. "There's too much sun over here. Try over in that corner."

Danielle pondered that suggestion. "That's a good idea, but what filter should we use? I don't want my face to look fat."

For the love of all things holy...

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. It was our second day of sight-seeing in Paris and I was exhausted. These women...were exhausting. I loved them to death—but they were exhausting and I was going to lose it.

"Bloody hell," Jackson muttered from beside me. "How much longer is this going to take?"

"I have no idea. They wanted to take a picture."

"That was an hour ago!"

"What was that, Jackson?" Harper asked with warning.

"Nothing, princess," Jackson said quickly. A little too quickly. "Take you time."

"Nice save. Are you trying to upset these women? Not to mention my pregnant hormonal wife? Believe me, you don't want to unleash The Beast."

"Talk any louder, brother, and you will."

Jackson wasn't wrong. Pregnancy hormones were raging inside my pregnant wife. It was like a game of ping pong. Once day I ate the last piece of apple pie, she cried. When she dropped her slice of pizza? She cried. Then there was that annoying car insurance commercial...Every time it came on TV she went into a blind rage. 

No reason why. 

Thankfully her hormones weren't that out of whack today. At least, not yet.

Our morning started out great, too. After breakfast we took an hour-and-a-half guided tour of Medieval Paris. We got to see Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. They even showed us Paris as it was before the revolution. 

My inner history nerd loved everything about it.

Once the tour was over we went to see the Palace of Versailles. It was the former home of three kings named Louis. This tour was a little longer and took few hours. Then when we were guided to the village of Marie Antoinette, which was located on the grounds, the girls decided that was a perfect place to take a break.

Once we were done there, our next stop was the Palace of Fontainebleau. It was over eight-hundred-years-old, had one-hundred-thirty rooms, and was once home to Napoleon himself.

Jackson enjoyed this hotspot more than anyone. He wasn't much of a history buff, but he loved architecture and old buildings. This one definitely fit the bill.

Once we left the Palace of Fontainebleau, the girls insisted on more touring. I was concerned about the toll it was taking on Danielle and insisted on taking a break. Danielle was a little irritated with me at first. She kept insisting that she was fine and that she didn't need to rest.

Then I reminded her that there was no shame in her taking a break—that it didn't make her weak. Danielle was a strong and proud woman. She refused to show vulnerability or weakness to anyone. Even me. That was one of the things I was worried about that when we first found out she was pregnant. I knew she would never do anything intentionally to harm our baby, but I knew she would be her normal stubborn self.

And I was right. 

But I was also happy to say that she was doing better. She was trying her hardest to let herself be a little vulnerable. Which is why we ended up going to a café called bread&roses.

And I'm glad we did.

Turned out that we all needed a break. We hanging around the café even after we were done eating. We talked, had tea and coffee, and reminisced about the earlier events of the day.

We took a vote after that and the girls won. They wanted to see The Eiffel Tower. That's where we were currently. Jackson and I were standing to the side while holding the many shopping bags our wives procured, while they tried to find the best spot to take their picture.

That was an hour ago.

"Right there!" Harper squealed. "That's perfect. Will one of you boys take the picture for us?"

"I'll do it," I answered and handed Jackson the bags. "Here. Hold these."

I walked over to where the women were posing and took the camera from Harper. "You ladies ready?"

"Yes," Gwen said impatiently. "Just take it!"

"Alright. 1...2...3!"

I've been around women long enough to know it's mandatory to take multiple pictures. Then to let them look at them. Just in case. Once all three of them inspected the pictures and decided they were acceptable, Jackson returned the bags to me.

"Thank you, baby."

I looked up at my wife with a frown. "For what?"

She leaned against me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "For today. For...everything. I know shopping and site-seeing with three women isn't ideal."

"Are you kidding? It's more than ideal. It's perfect."

I gave her a quick kiss before we all started to make our way back down to ground level. Exhausted, we climbed into our cars and headed back to the hotel. Since we had one more day of sight-seeing in Paris tomorrow, everyone agreed to just relax in our own rooms tonight. There was going to be a lot of walking tomorrow then we were catching a train to Barcelona the next day.

Thirty minutes later and we were back in out room. I wanted Danielle to relax and get off of her feet. But my beautiful stubborn wife insisted on calling her mom before she did anything else—including resting. So while she went on the terrace attached to our room to make the call, I carried her shopping bags over to the couch and sat them down. 

When it came to parents in our group of friends, there honestly—and unfortunately—weren't that many good ones. My and Jackson's dad and my mom weren't really parents of the year. Then there were Harper's parents...They didn't even act like she existed anymore. Lanie and Nate's parent's had passed away a long time ago, so I never got to meet them.

All we really had was Jamie's mom, Karma's dad who lived in Florida, and Danielle's parents. That was it, really. They were the only decent ones in our lives. 

My mother and father-in-law were accepting of Danielle and I from the beginning. Danielle's dad was this big Wall Street guy and her mom was the head of a non-profit for international adoptions. 

And they were kind. Wholesome. They were extremely wealthy, but they didn't rub it in anyone's faces. They also didn't try to setup arranged marriages, either. 

The first time I met them was when Danielle and I were still dating in secret. I didn't think it was a good idea, but my then mistress wasn't having it. Meeting her parents was important to her. So I did it on one condition: that it was at their house. Going to a public restaurant would be too risky. 

The four of us had dinner at their parents' condo in Central Park West. It actually went pretty well. Of course, that was until Danielle's father pulled me aside and brought up my upcoming nuptials. 

I froze. I just stood there an stared at him. 

What was I supposed to say? 

"Yes, Mr. Walling, I am currently engaged. To who? It's a woman that I don't love. Yeah, my parents are forcing us to get married for the sake of their business. How did Danielle and I get together? Well it's kind of a long story, but my fiancée and I decided to sleep with other people. Then I went to London and my mom died. Then I ended up in bed with your daughter. Then I found out that my brother was sleeping with my fiancée this whole time." 

Yeah...that would not have gone over well. 

Thankfully Danielle walked in and saved my life. She explained everything to her parents and they were just as appalled as we were. Her father made numerous offers to confront my dad about it. I knew that wasn't even an option. It took a little insistence, but he finally agreed to keep it to himself. 

The only time I was ever really in hot water with them was when we eloped. Thank god Danielle took care of that, too. Okay, it wasn't only her. I did ask her dad's permission first. I just didn't mention that we were going to elope. 

There were tears of joy and anger when they found out, but we promised to have another ceremony that they could attend. Which her mom still reminded me hadn't happened yet. But when they found out about the baby, they were overjoyed and it took some heat off of that ceremony. 

Now I just needed to tell my parents before—

"My mom said hi and to make sure we pick out what invitations we want for the baby shower." 

"The shower? Babe, that's months away and we're on vacation." 

Danielle giggled. She threw her phone on the bed before walking up to me. "I know. She's excited. It's her first grandchild." 

"Fine," I sighed, "we'll look at invitations. But not tonight." 

I reached out and pulled Danielle against my body. "Tonight, my beautiful ife, I want—"

"If you tell me to relax, I'm going to sleep in Harper's room and make Jackson come in here." 

"I was going to say...I want it to be about us. You and me. How about a hot bubble bath together? Then maybe some room service?" 

Danielle nibbled her lip as her eyes lit up. "We ate not too long ago, but the bath sounds nice." 

I snickered at that. "You think I don't know you? For the past two weeks you get a sweet tooth in the middle of the night."

"How did you know that? You're always asleep when I sneak into the kitchen." 

A corner of my mouth lifted in a smile and I reached out and stroked her cheek. "Sleeping or not, I always know when you aren't in the bed with me, Dani." 

She melted against me. "That's really romantic. And kinda creepy." 

"Yeah?" I laughed. "It's a fine line."

Her eyes turned heated when I reached behind her and unzipped her dress. 

"Now how about that bath?" 

***

Sorry for the long wait with this one. Should be updating quicker now 

xoxo