AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My phone rings with an incoming call from my mom, and I cringe. Micah promised not to say anything, so I could tell her and our dad myself, but me knocking up Sienna’s twenty-one-year-old sister isn’t a conversation to be had over the phone.
Since it’s Mother’s Day and I can’tnotspeak to her, I hit accept. “Hey, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day.”
“Thank you. How are you?”
“Good. Busy as usual.”
“If you keep working the way you do, you’ll never meet anyone,” she chides, and since I don’t want to touch that subject with a ten-foot pole, I quickly change the subject by asking about their trip.
After she tells me about the places they’ve visited since the last time we spoke, she lets me know they’ll be home in the next few weeks, making me promise to come over for dinner once they’re back. And when we hang up, I wonder how the hell I’m going to tell her that I’m finally giving her the grandbaby she’s been begging for, only it’s out of wedlock and with a woman she views as family.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELLIE
“Happy Birthday, Auntie Ellie!”London and Brooklyn shout as they run into my room—well, my old room that’s now the guest room, which is supposed to be converted into the new baby’s room. Which reminds me: I need to find somewhere to live. I love my sister, but after being gone for four years, I feel like an outsider. Lincoln used to come around, but he’s been MIA since I came home, Micah’s been quiet since he told me on Mother’s Day that Lincoln doesn’t want me and never will, and Sienna is overcompensating for both of them by being overly nice and attentive.
I’ve also walked in on them having sex in the middle of the night...Twice—once on the kitchen counter and another time on the table. Yeah, I definitely need to get my own place.
“Wow,” I say, sitting up and taking the gifts they’re holding from them. I read the card that Sienna must’ve helped them write, then glance up at her standing in the doorway, smiling softly, watching as I open the gift. It’s a whitewash picture frame with adorable little blue footprints all over it, and on the bottom,it readsLove at first sight.Inside is the sonogram of my little blob from when I was in the hospital.
My finger runs over the image as tears prick my eyes. I haven’t heard from Lincoln since the day everything was revealed and he walked out. I’ve considered texting him and telling him that I can draw up papers for him to sign away his rights, but I keep hoping that maybe he’ll come around, since Micah said he was certain he’d do the right thing.
“Auntie Ellie, are you okay?” London asks, shaking me from my thoughts.
I glance up at her and wipe my eyes. “Yes, thank you for this gift. It’s the best gift ever.”
“London said our new baby is hers because she’s older,” Brooklyn says. “Can your baby be mine?”
Sienna chuckles, and I can’t help but crack a smile. “Only if you’ll share him with me,” I tell Brooklyn with a wink.
“Of course!” she says. “Mommy says sharing is caring.”
“C’mon, girls,” Sienna says. “You need to get ready for school.”
“But my belly hurts,” London complains.
“Mine too!” Brooklyn agrees.
“Probably because you’re both hungry,” Sienna says.
After the girls wish me a Happy Birthday one last time and run out of the room, Sienna steps farther inside. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay.”
“You have your checkup today, right?”
“Yeah.” Since I moved back here, I needed to change doctors, so I decided to go with Sienna’s OB, whom she loves. I’m going to meet her today and have a checkup at the same time.
“If you want me to go...”
“I appreciate it, but I’m okay going alone.” It won’t be the first or the last time I go by myself. It’s something I need to getused to. Even if Lincoln comes around and wants to be in the baby’s life, at most, we’d be co-parenting.
“I know you’re okay going alone,” she says, stepping into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed, “but that doesn’t mean you have to. It’s okay to let people in.”
“Like who? Lincoln? Since he found out about the baby, he’s been avoiding me like the plague.”
“I think he just needs a little time to sort through what he’s feeling. But I’m here.”
