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“Do you think we should tell them the tech made a mistake?” I murmured to Xavier, who just grinned. “That we have no idea what the sex really is and won’t find out until the baby is born?”
“Do you think I want to tell Lea she might be wrong in front of sixty members of her closest friends and relatives?” he responded. “I’d still like to be able to make a third baby with you, Ces.”
My jaw dropped. “You’d like towhat?”
Xavier just offered me his patented shark-like grin—one of many that was appearing more and more frequently. “One day, maybe.” He leaned in close so his scent of fire, salt, and man could drive the shock off my face and replace it with pure desire. “Woman, I’d make a dozen babies with you, if you were willing.”
Before I could reply, he nipped my ear, then delivered a kiss to my cheek that somehow managed to be chaste enough for our family audience and still set the rest of my skin alight.
“Congratulations!” Lea and Katie said together, which prompted the rest of the crowd to offer varying iterations of the same thing in Italian, English, and Spanish as Nina and I both leaned over to blow out our candles. Then they all blew up in applause the way only people from this neighborhood, causing both Nina and me to laugh so hard we almost started crying while Xavier and Matthew looked on with the proud expressions of expectant fathers. I even caught my overprotective brother offer Xavier and handshake and a slap on the back—a far cry from a fistfight in the Mediterranean.
A bit of guilt pulled at my stomach as I watched Xavier accept this kind of love for maybe the first time in his life. Whenever we had these moments, it would hit me just how much I had taken from him the first time. The parties and celebrations, first steps or smiles, or just the opportunity to be part of a family like this. The kind of family Xavier had, in his heart, always wanted.
And then, like it always did, the feeling passed when he turned to me, blue eyes shining with love and forgiveness, and squeezed my hand. Because he knew what I was thinking. Just like he knew that while neither of us could change the mistakes of the past, we could look to the future and love each other as best we could, moving forward.
We could make that choice every day for each other.
And we did.
* * *
Two slicesof cake and several toasts later, I was watching Xavier and Matthew engaging in a rousing game of tag with the littles in the backyard when Joni came to stand next to me.
She tossed back what smelled like a very strong rum and Coke to my oversensitive nose, then leaned her forehead against the sliding glass door and heaved a great sigh that clouded half the pane of glass.
Joni was never much for subtlety.
“You okay?” I asked with a hand on her shoulder.
I’d noticed something had been off all afternoon. Usually, Joni was the life of the party, flirting with half the boys in the neighborhood and several of their fathers too. Today, however, she’d been pouting in the corner for a while now, giving one-word answers when approached, ignoring all five of the Ramirez boys, and casting nasty looks at Lea and Nonna every few minutes. Most likely, Lea and Nonna had vetoed an inappropriate wardrobe choice or maybe embarrassed her in front of one of her friends.
But instinct told me it was something more. Just like Joni wasn’t one to avoid the spotlight, she also wasn’t one to hold a grudge for longer than thirty minutes.
My baby sister sighed again. “I just got some really,reallybad news this morning.” She cast another long look at Nonna across the room. “Look at her. Laughing away like she didn’t just toss me to the curb this morning like yesterday’s trash.”
“Nonna kicked you out?”
I frowned toward Nonna, who was in classic gossip mode with her best friend, Mrs. Castanetta. That didn’t sound like my grandmother at all. She wasn’t exactly easy on us, but she’d provided a landing place our whole lives. Granted, Joni was the baby and maybe needed to be pushed out of the nest a bit, but she was still only twenty-four, and New York was expensive. Maybe I was jaded, but we’d all assumed she’d just live with our grandmother until someone put a ring on it and housed her somewhere else.
“Yep,” Joni replied bitterly. “I’m officially homeless. Nonna’s getting rid of the house.”
My head snapped back to my sister. “She’s selling the house?”
A pang of fear lodged itself deep in my gut. Even though I’d probably never live here again, the thought of this place no longer being available was scarier than an act of revelation.
Joni shook her head. “Even worse. She’s renting it so she has a little extra cash-o-la coming in while she frolics all over Europe like a ho.”
Fear melted into annoyance. “Joni! Don’t talk about Nonna like that.”
“Oh, please,” she snarked, tossing back another mouthful of Coke-flavored rum. “What do you think she’s going there for? The good pasta? She spends three whole months there this fall, comes back for Christmas, then jets back for another three months until the shower and my downfall. She’s obviously met someone. Or someones.”
“Or maybe she’s reconnecting with her family for the first time in decades,” I said back. “She’s spent most of her life taking care of kids and grandkids. It’s about time she takes care of herself. You can’t really hold that against her.”
“But what am I supposed to do?” Joni whined. “I only just went back to work at the lounge, but they haven’t even promoted me to bartender yet. I barely make enough to pay my cell phone bill, much less cover rent anywhere within two hours of the city.” She snorted. “Watch me have to move to like Buffalo or something just to survive.”
“What about dance?” I asked. “I thought that’s what you were working toward. You’ve been out of surgery for six months now. Are you still doing your PT exercises at home and everything?”
Joni shook her head. “I—I just can’t risk it. It’s not going to happen for me anymore.”
