The Royals Next Door

Finally, after we tour the lagoon and go past some of the nicer houses along the water, I take them back toward the opening of the harbor, stopping at an island in the middle, near the ferry terminal.

“I love coming here,” I tell them as I try to pilot the boat toward the shore. Joey and I used to come here a lot (we also had sex on this island, but that’s neither here nor there). “Makes me feel like I have my own private hideaway, like I’m Robinson Crusoe. Or Tom Hanks from Castaway. Minus the volleyball.”

“You can’t get enough of one island, you have to come to another?” Harrison asks wryly, leaning over the side and observing the bottom as the water gets shallow. “Watch out for that rock.”

He’s pointing to the left, so I swing the boat to the right and accidently gun the engine. Everyone is thrown back with a collective “Whoa!” and I manage to get the nose of the boat right onto a patch of white shell beach and kill the engine.

“Sorry!” I exclaim, turning around to give everyone a sheepish smile. “I’m so sorry.”

Harrison is just shaking his head, but Monica is laughing.

“Woo, that’s the most excitement I’ve had in a long time,” she says, pressing her hand against her belly. She’s been wearing long and flowy shirts and dresses every time I’ve seen her, though now that I’m staring at the small bump on her stomach, I’m starting to realize why.

I look to Eddie and notice him staring at me in concern.

I quickly turn around, blinking.

My god.

Is Monica . . . pregnant?

Or is that just a food baby? Because lord knows I get that after I eat a bunch of cheese (doesn’t stop me from eating cheese, of course, nothing will ever stop me).

I decide to mind my own business. If she’s pregnant or bloated, it’s never anyone’s place to ask, and I’m sure if she’s the former, it will come out in due time.

“Okay, let’s get out,” I say, trying to ignore it. I go to the bow and attempt to climb over it onto the shore, but Harrison has already jumped off the boat, narrowly missing the water, and he’s standing below me, holding out his hand.

“Here,” he offers.

“I’m fine,” I tell him, trying to push his hand away. I wish my legs weren’t so short, because this looks like quite the leap. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea.

But Harrison has his own plans. He reaches over and grabs me by the waist and literally hoists me in the air like I weigh the same as a bag of feathers instead of a sack of potatoes.

He gently places me on the ground, and there’s a brief moment when I’m up against him and he’s staring down at me and I swear there’s a glint of something fiery in his eyes, a tic along his jaw. Then he quickly looks away and steps back, clearing his throat.

“Need help?” he asks Monica, going to her as she comes to the end of the boat.

What was that? I swear that look was something.

“Be extra careful with her,” Eddie warns Harrison, and something silently transpires between them, adding extra fuel to my little theory.

Mind your own business, Piper!

Harrison plucks Monica off the boat in the same manner, checking to see if she’s okay, and I start heading farther onshore. It’s a steep scramble over barnacle-covered rocks before an ascent up scrubby, dry hillside to a grove of arbutus trees at the top. Normally I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but now with what I might know about Monica, I’m a little worried.

I stop and turn around before I climb the first rock.

“Is this going to be okay?” I ask.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Monica asks.

Eddie and Harrison exchange a look over her head.

She notices and frowns at them. “What? I’m not an invalid. I’m fine.”

“Perhaps this is a little dangerous,” Eddie says gently, putting his hand at her elbow. “Maybe we should stay by the boat and let the two of them explore.”

“I’m fine,” she insists, giving me a weak smile.

“This is probably a bad idea,” I say.

“Why?” she asks again.

Eddie gives her arm a squeeze. “Monica, dear, I think we should tell her. She’s going to find out eventually. Everyone in the whole world will.”

She stares at me, and I can see her weighing options in her head.

Tell me, tell me, tell your friend Piper.

She licks her lips and then nods, looking up at Eddie, smiling gently. “Okay.” She nods at Harrison and then over to me. “I guess you’ll figure it out sooner or later. Piper . . . I’m pregnant.”

I burst into a grin. “I knew it!”

“You did?”

“I mean, I only figured it out in the last five minutes, but yeah, I knew it!”