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“Is that code for, ‘tastes like grass without honey’?”
Evie laughed and pulled the boxed of orange pekoe tea down from the cupboard. “I’ll make you regular tea, maybe.”
“Good plan.” Laney hugged her sister from behind, the Bean pressing into her sister’s back. “Why does Mom have raspberry leaf tea, anyway?”
“Leftover from when I had Ava?”
Evie turning that into a question totally gave her away and Laney squeezed more gently this time. “How far along are you?”
“Just found out two weeks ago.” Evie twisted her head, pressing their cheeks together, and the sisters shared a quiet moment of glee. “Hopefully it sticks and our babies will be the same age.”
“Wow.” Laney grinned. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. But we’re keeping it quiet. Mom might have guessed, because I’ve had two naps here in the last week, but she hasn’t said anything.”
“Mum’s the word.”
Evie twisted around and squeezed her sister’s hand. “Mom times two.”
“Oh, psssht. Kyle will be more the mom than I will.” As soon as she said it, she wanted to claw the words back. It wasn’t true. She already loved her Little Bean with all her heart. That surprised her more than anything. She’d never wanted this, not hungrily like her sister had. Not until she’d felt that tiny, growing thing inside her, and now it was her reason for being.
Evie saw right through her. Her sister winked and just handed over the tea. They talked about names and surviving fatigue, and when their mother came in, moved the conversation effortlessly to the farm and Claire’s plan to rent out the fields again for the growing season.
But after Evie’s husband, Liam, arrived with their three children, and they’d had a boisterous dinner, when Laney was alone in her childhood bedroom and texting now and then with Kyle, but mostly leaving him alone because he still hadn’t figured out the last bit of his first paper and he needed the quiet…that was when Laney’s thoughts turned back to the conversation with her sister.
Their babies might be the same age. But how close would they be, growing up in two different countries, a six-hour drive apart?
Eloping had meant that Laney didn’t have to have a bridal shower, but with two eager grandmothers and two overachieving aunts, the baby shower couldn’t be avoided.
And she was a lucky woman for it. Now that the whirlwind Sunday afternoon party was winding to a close, she was extraordinarily glad she’d acquiesced to her family’s request to spoil her just a little. She’d never felt quite so loved and fawned over. The baby had more sleepers and diapers and knit hats than he or she would ever need—although maybe just enough, if some of the spitting up stories were true. And Laney had been spoiled as well. Chocolate for now, wine for later, and promises from all to come to Chicago and help.
In an orderly, scheduled fashion, even.
That had brought tears to her eyes, although it seemed like it didn’t take much these days.
Now as the party wound down, she leaned back on her sister-in-law’s couch and took everything in. There was yellow and white tissue paper everywhere and the dessert table was mostly picked over. Laney herself had eaten enough lemon squares to push herself into that uncomfortably full feeling. Baby seemed to like the blast of sugar, though, and she realized she had an opportunity to be an exceptionally good daughter-in-law. She caught Kyle’s mother’s eye.
“Baby’s kicking, Eleanor.” She pointed to her belly. “If you want to feel it?”
They weren’t overly close, mostly because of geographical distance, but she liked her mother-in-law. The warmth in her chest increased as Eleanor settled in next to her and, instead of reaching straight for the belly, looked Laney in the eye instead. “How are you doing?”
She smiled, hoping it reached her eyes. “I’m good.”
“Is my son being insufferably overprotective?”
Laney laughed, the smile more real this time as she thought of her husband, hard at work and worrying about her at the same time. “A little. I like it, though. He loves this little person so much already. That’s amazing, right?”
“It is.” Eleanor dropped her hand, hovering her fingers above Laney’s shirt. “May I?”
Laney nodded and pointed at the most pronounced bump. “That’s either a head or bum, I’m not sure. It’ll roll in a minute. It’s pretty cool.”
“I imagine the drives back and forth will get harder soon,” her mother-in-law said quietly. “We’ll have to come to see you.”
But the baby was due at the end of April. Right in the middle of corn planting. Laney tried to swallow and couldn’t. Hot tears sprang into her eyes, and Eleanor made a gentle shushing sound.
“It’s fine.”
“Planting season…”
