Chapter 37

"Ah crap! I don't have the plans done for the design and he will need that information." Rossalyn muttered so only Josiah could hear her as Jason approached and shook hands with Josiah.

"I'm Josiah, this is my wife, Rossalyn. She's actually in charge of the project you're here for." Josiah said.

"It is nice to meet you both. I understand we're going to be turning two rooms into one for an office. Would you like to show me the rooms that we will be working with?" Jason said.

"Sure, I just need to grab the design plan I was working on." Rossalyn said as she stood from the table.

After a quick stop to the entertainment room, Rossalyn led the way up the stairs to the two rooms she had designated for her office space. She spent the next several minutes going over the plan she had drawn out with the contractor about how she wanted the office to be set up. The plan involved him constructing a wall into bookshelves behind where she planned her desk to be located.

After they went through all of the plans for the office the contractor stepped off to the side to confer with his coworker about schedule and timeline for the job to get completed. Once he was finished with the phone call, he returned to where Josiah and Rossalyn was waiting for him to give them the estimate.

"We should be able to get this done in a few days, no more than a week. I have the cost for the materials and labor here for you, as best as I can estimate. If we run into any complications, this would obviously change." Jason handed the paper over to Josiah for his approval.

"This should all be fine. When would you be able to start?" Josiah asked after taking a minute to look over the sheet with Rossalyn looking over his arm curiously.

"We should be able to start Monday morning, would that work for you guys?" Jason asked.

"That would be perfect. Thank you for coming out so quickly." Rossalyn answered after a nod from Josiah.

Once the contractor left Josiah excused himself to his own office telling Rossalyn he was expecting one of the guys any time. Rossalyn went to the entertainment room to finish the drawing for the designer that would meet them the following week when the room was getting close to completion. She felt oddly relaxed as she worked on the design for her office. It would be the first space in the house that was completely her own.

The next few days went smoothly as they worked on getting into some kind of routine for their married life. They settled the plans for their welcome home party for that Friday, not only because it worked best for them personally, but because they didn't want George attempting to weasel himself into an invite at the get together that was planned with the guys. It wouldn't be possible to avoid George forever for Rossalyn, but Josiah wanted to delay it as long as possible. He had a deep instinct telling him that George had ulterior motives for proposing the arranged marriage that had little to do with their tentative peace. He had learned to listen to those instincts.

The day of their party guests started arriving around eleven in the morning. Josiah had arranged for a catering company to provide a barbeque for his men. He had about two hundred of his men and their families in attendance. It was a massive undertaking, but somehow they had managed to greet everyone and introduce Rossalyn to everyone that arrived. He knew that Rossalyn had to be utterly overwhelmed but she was taking it in stride and wasn't showing signs of strain at the large number of people that were overrunning their estate.

They had the pool open and had even had bouncing houses for the kids to play delivered and set up for the day. They mostly stuck close together along with Chelsea, Jessica, and Sarah hanging close to Rossalyn as moral support for all of the introductions happening. They seemed to know when she was getting overwhelmed and would whisk her off to 'show her something she just had to see right then' to ease the sting of pulling her away from a conversation. Rossalyn was never so greatful to three people in her life.

"Where are all the kids?" Rossalyn asked the three women who were currently hiding her in the kitchen where there would be no guests venturing.

"They're being watched by some of our friends. We knew that you'd need us more than the kids would. They're having a blast, don't worry." Jessica answered from her perch on the counter.

"Yeah, I think Josiah decided to throw me in the deep end with this a bit. He handled most of the planning and didn't confess the amount of people that would be here today until this morning. If I had any way to return the favor I would, but something tells me that it would be impossible for me to find something on this scale to throw him into." Rossalyn said with a dark look out the window to the crowd of people overrunning the estate.

"Yeah, it would be really hard for that to happen. But I've found making him be present for prenatal appointments would be pretty affective. I made my husband come with me for each appointment. He made the mistake of asking why he had to go if I was the one that was pregnant. I was like well I didn't get myself pregnant so if I had to suffer so did he." Jessica laughed then shrugged. "He was not a fan of watching me being poked and prodded. I got treated like a princess each time I was pregnant. Not that I'm not when I'm not pregnant, but I got extra care. No never crossed his lips when I asked for something, no matter what time those intense cravings hit."

"I'll keep that in mind, for sure." Rossalyn said giving her a smile, but a deeply thoughtful look crossed her features drawing the attention of Sarah.

"What is that look for?" Sarah asked curiously.

"Well, I am a little late." Rossalyn admitted but was quick to add when she seen three identical looks of excitement cross the faces of her friends, "It isn't unusual for me to be a little late when I've been stressed. So don't ring the pregnant bell yet."

"How late are you?" Sarah asked raising an eyebrow as she looked her sister-in-law over carefully.

"Two weeks. But like I said it isn't completely unheard of for me to be late." Rossalyn said.

"Well have you ever been that late before, even when you've been stressed?" Jessica asked then shared a barely repressed gleeful expression with Chelsea.

Rossalyn gave a long sigh. She knew that she was going to have to acknowledge the fact soon, it wasn't like if she ignored it, it would go away. But she was hoping the years of using birth control would have taken longer to wear out of her system. She finally answered, sounding resigned, "No, I haven't ever been this late."

Squeals of excitement filled the kitchen, to which she immediately shooshed them when the staff came into the kitchen to find out what the noise was about. "I'm sure Josiah will be pissed if he finds out I told you guys my suspicion before him." She whispered, glancing over at the door looking a little nervous. They'd been gone for a while and she wouldn't be surprised if Josiah didn't start looking for her soon.

"I doubt that, but we'll keep it to ourselves until there is an official announcement." Jessica promised, but all three of them had almost identical looks of elation on their faces.

"Thank you. I appreciate that a lot. I actually need a favor from you Sarah." Rossalyn said gesturing for them to come closer to her. "We will want to keep this real tight for a while at least. So I need you to get me a test and bring it to me tomorrow."

"We can all come over and you can take the test and have moral support, for whatever answer you get." Jessica suggested.

"That would be great. Josiah has the meeting with George tomorrow evening so we could have a girl's night. Perfect cover." Rossalyn agreed, feeling even more greatful for them.

"Awesome! I'll pick it up tomorrow then meet you here around seven?" Sarah suggested.

"That'll be fine. Josiah isn't planning on being at the club until around eight, but that isn't a big deal." Rossalyn agreed.

"What is Josiah doing?" Josiah's voice rang out through the room suddenly making the four women jump and look around guiltily.

"Leaving the house for us to have a girl's night tomorrow?" Rossalyn answered, though her inflection made her words into a question rather than a statement.

"Oh.....yes.....Josiah will be doing that. Figured I'd come track my wife down since she has been missing from the party for a while." He said slipping his arm around her middle. "You ready to get back to the party now?"

"Yeah, we were literally fixing to head back out there." Rossalyn said then gave the other ladies a wink as she let Josiah lead her back through the door and into the party.