Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 92

Cora's

POV

It has been a good week. Gabriel called me on Tuesday to apologize to me again. He had spoken with both Andre and Camille and, from the sound of it, Camille was the "mastermind" behind it all. She started the rumors and she told Andre that she could distract Thomas for Andre to get me upstairs to his room, to make it easier on me to "get away" from Thomas. They were both fired, but Andre had felt really bad about what had happened. He didn't know Collin was my babies' father defending me, and he felt terrible about hitting me and knocking me down.

Collin was amazed when he got to see the babies on the screen on the ultrasound. The image of babies these days is so clear, and both Collin and Marlowe teared up seeing them. They were growing perfectly, the technician said to us. My doctor confirmed that they were good to be born anywhere from the middle to the end of May. I let Collin and Marlowe take the pictures this time so he could have one and Marlowe could show Alderidge the babies with her pictures. Collin hugged me so tight and gave me a thorough kiss to say goodbye, as we wouldn't be seeing each other for a while.

I texted Dalton and Nicolas and told them that Saturday at 2 was good for starting on the room. That way, we could get the work done and be done by 5 or 530 and then order the pizza, and grab the beer, with whoever was done first. Mom and dad were really happy about the help, as although dad is better, he is still not at 100% yet, and this takes a weight off of them both to have so many helping hands.

At 1:30 I heard a knock on the door and then heard it open and see Iris and Livi come in. They were both dressed comfortably in tank tops and shorts and sneakers for the hard work that they were about to do. I bought a lot of cleaning supplies and painting supplies for us to get it all done. I am so thankful for my friends. Ava had brought me over and Thomas was there as well. Even though it was my parent's house, Collin was still worried due to the reporter incident, so he didn't want me to be unprotected. I also think he was worried about my fan club being here today too. At 1:45, Dalton and Nicolas arrived, and I introduced them to my parents. Livi didn't look super happy to see Nicolas, but I knew she respected him, he is one of the top lawyers in New York. At 1:50 the guys arrived from the firehouse. They were also dressed comfortably in t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers too, and had arrived with a cooler of water bottles for everyone. I had grabbed a case of water, but with them going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting, I realize now that it won't be enough. I asked Thomas if he would go with me to the store so I could get 2 cases more and some snacks because this was going to be hard work for them all. Thomas agreed to take me and do the heavy lifting for me, as soon as I got everyone to the room for the babies and showed them the attic access, which thankfully was a stairwell, and not a pull-down, as that would have been really tough for them to move everything.

Thomas and I grab several bags of chips, including pretzels and popcorn. I grabbed three boxes of snack cakes, picking out Iris's and Livi's favorites and guessing for the men. I ended up only grabbing 1 case of water as I already had one in the fridge, and three cases of sodas. I also went ahead and grabbed 3 cases of beer as well while I was there, so I could load the fridge up, and then all we needed to do was to call in the pizza order and have it delivered.

By the time we got back, the guys already had the room cleared and were helping Iris, Livi, and Ava clean it from the top of the walls. I had already bought the paint for the room last week. I was doing off-white for the room and decorating the room in color with their names and with little colorful stickers to apply to the wall matching his set of Bedtime Originals Woodland Friends. I got her the Sammy and Lou Sweet Forrest Friends and the matching pictures to put in her corner. They will each get two walls for me to decorate for them and I will have a nice rug to go down and cover about 80% of the room for them to play on as they get bigger. Their beds were the same though. I got the Sorelle Berkley 4-in-1 Convertible Crib and Changer set so I can stock both their drawers up and not have to walk far to change them. The changing table will be at the end of their bed, and the beds grow with them, as they get bigger, until it is time to get them a big bed. Someone had brought a chair for me to sit on, so I could watch everything that was going on as they were really getting things done.

"I cannot believe how quickly you guys are getting this done. It would have taken me weeks and I would have had to pay someone to take the heavy things up to the attic. I really appreciate all the help, and each and every one of you", I told them. "With as much help as we have, it really hasn't been bad, we were able to clear the room quickly. So, we can get a few people painting now and each take a wall and the girls, do the trim around the windows and door, still be able to get two people to put together the cribs", Adam told me.

"Does anyone know how to put the cribs together?" I asked them.

"No, but they came with instructions, and I can't imagine that it would be too hard with the instructions," Michael said from next to me and kneeled down on the floor next to my chair and started to unbox the first crib.

"Livi is actually really good at looking at the picture on the box and being able to put things together. It is really a gift. I don't know how she can figure it out", I told him.

"Some people are good at doing that, my sister put a whole home gym together doing the same thing. She and her husband had such a hard time doing it, and then she figured it out just by looking at the picture. Ten years later, that gym is still standing. We are going to follow the directions though, as I don't want the beds to fall with the babies in them", Noah told me, as he joined Michael on the floor. I see that Ava has grabbed the window over on the wall that Jacob is painting and is quietly speaking with him. I see Livi painting around the door frame near Nicolas, but she remains quiet. I know I will have to push that conversation along, and Iris and Dalton are busy talking to each other and cracking jokes with each other. They are getting along great. Ethan is painting the last wall, intent on his work, and moving rather quickly to completion. Joe and Adam are working on the other baby bed, and without it being spoken aloud, I know that they are competing with Noah and Michael, as they are both watching each other to see where they are with putting the baby beds together. When Livi and Iris got done they went to change the laundry loads. They were washing the sheets and bedlinens for the babies in the baby detergent that Iris had brought with her. She also had tiny little hangers for their clothes too. Livi had brought a little radio and CDs with her when she arrived for me to play classical music for them, to help them sleep, and she swears to boost their intelligence.

Ethan finished before Jacob, Dalton, and Nicolas, so he started repainting around the trim and hitting any places that looked thin. He saw me watching him and said, "I painted to earn extra money when I was in high school. I like it to look as good as it can" before walking away to go behind the rest of the guys. I have to admit that the room looked great. I could see it coming together and Michael was working with single-minded focus and just had Noah handing him what he needed and holding the sides together as he got them all screwed tight. Michael was clearly intent on winning, as Adam and Joe were not as far along.

"I was thinking about coming to the firehouse next Saturday to meet the rest of the guys. I was also going to provide food for dinner. I was thinking about spaghetti or something like that. Do you guys have any opinions?" I asked them. Everyone had an opinion, but when Joe mentioned a fish fry, everyone was soon in agreement with that. I told them to make a list and we would take the supplies there the night before. They decided on catfish and cod fillets, fries; crinkle cut and seasoned, Coleslaw, hushpuppies, and that they would make a dessert at their end. I will also be bringing sodas and water as well. These guys have been a real gift to me, and I wanted to thank them for more than just them getting dinner tonight. They were almost done, so I got the pizza order and made the call. I ordered 10 pizzas as I knew the guys would be hungry and the girls and I and my parents would only need 2 of them and they could basically have almost their own pizza. Once the pizza arrived, we all sat around talking in the dining and living room and had a great time. Livia and Iris went upstairs with a couple of the guys and made the beds and hung up the few decorations and pictures that I had gotten so far. I hadn't decided on their names yet, and I wanted to talk to Collin about it to see if he had a name or names that he was really wanting to give them. I invited everyone present there to come by next week for the fish fry and made a mental note to ask someone what kind of oil they needed, as there was a lot of food going to be prepared. We all looked around the room and it was completely transformed in literally 3 and a half hours. The girls have folded the extra sheets and put them at the bottom of the changing table drawers. I will be needing wipes, diapers, and so many things really, but it makes me happy as I look at their little beds sitting ready to go, the babies will be here soon, and I can't wait to welcome them.