Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Otto’s call,” he said quietly, his gaze on mine. “Probably one of the best and scariest calls of my life.”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“I was really fuckin’ glad you called,” he continued. “But also scared outta my mind that you were, wonderin’ what could’ve happened that would make you finally reach out.”
“I should’ve sooner,” I replied. I’d also had a lot of time to think about that. I should’ve called Esther years before. Should’ve somehow contacted her when they’d first started discussing me marrying Caleb. I just hadn’t thought that things would happen so quickly. I’d thought I’d have more time.
I couldn’t regret it, though. If I hadn’t married Caleb, I wouldn’t have the girls, and that wasn’t a scenario I wanted to contemplate.
“You wouldn’t have Ariel and Diana, if you had,” he replied, reading my mind. “Or that new one.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked softly, his gaze on my belly.
My hand went unconsciously to the solid curve of it. “No. That’s not really something we do, finding out the sex beforehand.”
“They do,” he corrected. “You’re not one of ’em anymore. You could ask now.”
I shrugged. “It’s kind of exciting not knowing.”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’ll wait until he or she is born.”
“What do you think it will be?”
“Probably another girl,” I said ruefully, turning back to the kettle as it started whistling.
“Look who’s awake,” Esther called out as she came into the kitchen. “She wasn’t happy that Auntie Esther was the one getting her out of bed.”
“Good morning,” I called, walking over to get my sleepy two-year-old from my sister. “Sorry, I didn’t even hear her.”
“No worries,” she said, kissing Diana as she handed her over. “I only heard her because I was walking past your door.”
“Did you wake up and Mama wasn’t there?” I asked Diana as she scowled at me.
“Sissy,” Diana groused. “Want Ari.”
“She’s coloring. You want to go color with her?”
“Yeah.”
I put her on the floor, keeping my hands on her until she’d caught her balance. Diana was never at her best in the morning. I’d never known any kid as grouchy and out of sorts as she was when she woke up.
“Don’t take the paper off,” I warned as she toddled into the living room.
“I don’t think there’s any paper left on those crayons for her to shred,” Esther said ruefully as she poured the hot water into my mug and grabbed one for herself.
“She calls the paper jackets,” I explained to Titus. “She peels it all off no matter what I do.”
“At least she doesn’t eat ’em like Rumi used to,” Titus replied with a smile as he sat back down at the table. “My mom used to ask if he’d eaten them and he’d tell her no while he had crayon stuck between his two front teeth. It was so gross.”
Esther giggled. “I need to find out a way to bring that up in casual conversation.”
“Do it,” Titus agreed. “That may be a story Nova hasn’t heard yet. She needs to know what she’s gettin’ into if she procreates with him.”
“I hope they have babies,” Esther replied. “I know she wants some.”
“They’ve been married for a long time, haven’t they?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Titus nodded. “Five or six years? Something like that.”
“Just hasn’t happened yet,” Esther told me quietly, laying her hand on my back as she went to sit with Titus. I heard the words she hadn’t said and my stomach twisted. I really liked Nova. What must it be like for her to be around me and Esther having babies when she hadn’t been able to? She’d been so kind to me. It wasn’t fair that some women got pregnant so easily and others didn’t.
“So, you’ve got an appointment this afternoon?” Titus asked Esther.
“At two,” my sister confirmed.
“They gonna take that baby out yet?” he teased.
“That’s not quite how it works,” Esther replied dryly, gesturing for me to sit with them. “But I think he’ll be making an appearance soon.”
“I thought you had another month?”
“That’s just a guess,” Esther said, rubbing her belly. “They never really know. Flora came three weeks before my due date and I’m only four weeks out now.”
“Ariel was born on her due date,” I said, smiling at my sister. “Diana was three days after hers.”
“Ugh,” Esther said, laughing. “I can’t imagine going past it!”
“It wasn’t so bad,” I mused. “I didn’t know any different with Ariel, I just assumed that having the baby on the due date was how it went.”
Esther scoffed good-naturedly.
“And with Nana I wanted her to stay put as long as possible since Ariel was already such a handful already.”
“What about with this one?” Titus asked, smiling softly.
“Ask me in a couple of months,” I replied, smiling back at him.
“I can’t believe we’re going to have two babies in the house soon,” Esther said, grinning huge. “It’s been a while! We wanted to wait a while after I had Flora, but we never planned on waiting this long. We just kept thinking, let’s try in the fall, in the spring, next year would be better—you get the idea.”