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Zoe arrived at the restaurant, and I lifted my hand in a wave. She smiled and hurried toward us. I introduced her to Brent. She glanced at me with curiosity, but she took it in her stride and sat down. We made small talk until we placed our orders.
“I’m dying to find out more about you,” Zoe said when the food arrived. “Tell me about your life.”
“There’s not that much to add to what I already told you,” I said. I glanced at Brent.
“I think I’m going to add something to my order,” Brent said and stood up from the table. When he was gone, Zoe turned her attention to me.
“Is this the guy you didn’t see a future with?” she asked.
I nodded, feeling shy. “I changed my mind.”
“He’s very handsome. And he really cares for you.”
“You can see that?” My sister barely knew me, and she didn’t know Brent at all.
“Anyone can see it. He dotes on you like a lover and a friend.”
I chuckled. She had that right, at least.
“We’re still working out the kinks,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell Zoe about my pregnancy yet. My mom deserved to hear about it first. And I didn’t know how I felt about it, either. I knew I was going to keep the baby, but I didn’t know how I felt about everything that had happened. I needed more time to wrap my mind around it all. Until then, this was mine and Brent’s little secret.
My parents had met Brent last night. I had wanted them to get used to the idea of Brent before I told them about the baby. I had gone from a single career woman to a girlfriend and a mother-to-be practically overnight. It would be too much for my parents to take in.
My mom loved Brent. She had offered him coffee and the cookies she’d made since I was a child, then gushed over him as she pulled me into the kitchen with her to gossip about how good-looking he was.
My dad had grilled him about his job and his income and whether he was able to take care of me. He had been worried about his age until he had realized it was Brent Hooper he was talking to. He was more than happy that Brent would be able to look after me, after that.
The visit with my parents had been great, but I didn’t know how to tell them that I was pregnant. I didn’t know if that would go down as well as meeting Brent. Having a child was something completely different.
“Well, I think you should hold on to him,” Zoe said. “I don’t know him, but I’m a good judge of character and I think he’s good for you.”
“Even though he’s so much older?” I asked.
“Age is nothing, sis. Love trumps all.”
I blushed again.
Brent came back to the table and sat down.
“I have to say,” he said, “it freaks me out a little that you two look so alike.”
“It freaks us out, too,” Zoe said, and I laughed. It was weird sitting across from someone that was my mirror image since we hadn’t grown up together. But I was starting to feel more comfortable around Zoe. I was starting to like her.
“Tell me about your daughters,” I said. I wanted to know everything about having children, about being pregnant. “Was it a big change?”
“It was a very big change. Having kids changes everything. And sometimes it’s hard. They need so much attention, seeing that there’s two of them. But it’s the best thing we could ever have done.”
“But you planned it,” I said.
Zoe shook her head. “Actually, we didn’t. I didn’t want children. Chris and I were going through a rough patch, and I didn’t know if we were going to make it. I fell pregnant by accident.”
I glanced at Brent again.
“But we decided to keep them. I wasn’t going to do to them what had been done to us.” We thought so alike, I realized. We were cut from the same cloth, after all.
“And it was the best choice we could have made. They’re beautiful and full of life, and they gave our relationship a new life. Things couldn’t be better for us.”
She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “And now that I’ve met you, my story is complete. I want you to meet them.”
“Who?”
“My family. Chris and the girls. I think you’ll love them, and I know they’ll love you. I want my daughters to grow up with an aunt. It will complete our family.”
