Her eyes started to glisten with her own tears. “I know how awful this must feel. I spoke to Molly and she’s going to do some digging at the hospital, see if she can find anything out about him. He was only covering for a week at Pres, but everyone had something to say about him, so there has to be more from Mercy.”
I heard some footsteps and we both turned to find Wolfie walking into the kitchen, holding Flossie.
“Hello! Freddie said she was coming over and so we thought we’d come. Thought a cuddle with Florence might help.”
I smiled weakly, wiping my face, and sat back on the stool as she handed Florence over. She’d grown, but she was still so tiny, her big navy eyes blinked up at me before she gurgled a bit then fell asleep. I watched her breathe, her little chest rising and falling, and felt my own heart rate start to calm.
Wolfie was right, this did help.
“Thank you, Wolf. I really appreciate it, and I really appreciate you both coming over.”
Freddie poured me some more water and placed some painkillers in front of me, along with some coffee. “We have to stick together; we know this life isn’t easy.”
We all turned around to see Jupiter standing in the doorway.
Jesus, why couldn’t he find some properly fitting pajama pants? They looked like they were about to fall down. And if he was always complaining about being cold, why didn’t he have a shirt on?
“Jupe, put some clothes on.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize we had company,” he grumbled at my snapping, walking through to the den and returning with a sweatshirt he pulled over his head.
“Whoa, that’s your brother? He is very easy on the eyes,” Wolfie muttered under her breath.
“Jupiter, these are my friends, Wolfie and Freddie.”
“Hello,” he responded, and then he frowned. “Are you holding a baby?”
“Yes, this is Florence.”
“Well, if there’s a baby here, I’m going back to bed. Once I’ve made a coffee.”
Freddie thrust a steaming mug at him. “Here, I’m making them.”
“Thanks.” He took it and sipped. “Not bad.”
She raised her eyebrow at him. “I’m going to be making breakfast if you want to stay.”
Before he could respond, a phone started ringing. He reached into his pocket, scowling at the screen before he answered.
“Hey, Matty. What’s up?” He looked up at me as he listened, his frown deepening. “Yeah, she is.”
The clawing started up in my belly again, like a wild animal desperate to get out, scraping my internal organs. Jupiter walked outside but didn’t close the door behind him and we could hear his voice rise in anger.
“What? WHAT? You had better be fucking joking! What the fuck, Matt?”
We all watched him storming up and down the backyard, his fist clenching. We listened in silence, knowing I was going to find out soon, and it was clear I wouldn’t exactly like it.
“No, she’s my fucking sister! No I haven’t. Of course I haven’t, are you crazy? You know me.”
He stopped pacing.
“Yeah, call me back.” He looked at his phone and typed out a text. “FUCK!”
He rubbed his hands over his head in frustration, glancing up to see that we’d witnessed his outburst. His eyes shut and he took a deep breath before opening them, and walked toward me into the kitchen.
He stood in front of us, then looked at me, and with incredible gentleness removed Flossie from my arms and handed her back to Wolf.
“Jupiter?”
