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A few smiles moved around the table as Adriana and I took our seats.

Tone reached for the coffee pot, but Archie placed his hand over it before she could lift it. Without a word, he pushed a cup of tea toward her instead.

Tone looked at him. “I was going to have half a cup.”

“You said that yesterday.”

“And I had half a cup.”

“You had two half cups.”

“That is still technically half a cup… twice.”

Raze frowned across the table, somewhat irritated. “Since when does Archie decide how much coffee you drink?”

“Since Tone became incapable of making sensible choices before breakfast,” Izzy blurted.

Raze’s eyes narrowed. “Why can’t she have coffee?”

No one answered.

His gaze moved from Tone to Archie, then down to the tea sitting in front of her.

Archie turned his head slowly toward Izzy and gave her a frosty glare.

The room went silent. Izzy frowned. “What?”

Tone closed her eyes.

Raze looked between them. “Did I miss something?”

“You missed several things,” Tone bit out.

Archie rested one arm along the back of his wife’s chair. His expression remained calm, but something almost amused moved through his eyes.

“Perhaps now is as good a time as any,” he murmured close to Tone’s ear, though the whole table could hear.

Tone turned on him. “You think?”

“You said you wanted the family together.”

“I meant after breakfast.”

Gianni lowered his fork and shot my sister a curious look. “Tone?”

She looked around the table. Whatever retort had been ready disappeared. Her eyes shone. For a moment, I saw the girl she had once been, many years ago. Barefoot in the corridor. Furious at the world. Following me from room to room because she refused to accept that I didn’t want company.

Then Archie took her hand beneath the table and lifted their solidarity to the table.

She looked at him, and the woman returned. Wife. Mother. The centre of a family I had left her to hold together without me.

Tone cleared her throat.

“I’m pregnant.”

There was a single, momentary pause before the room erupted.

Mikayla was out of her chair first, followed by Neve and Samira. They surrounded Tone before she had time to stand, touching her shoulders, her face, her hair, each speaking over the others.