Gio

“What?”

“It’s a reveal.” Annie fills me in. “We cut the cake and the color tells us the sex of the baby.”

“Huh,” I mused. “So you don’t know?”

“Oh,” she blushed. “I know.”

“No one else does though.”

Gian chuckled beside me.

“Well…” She looks away from me.

“Annie?”

“I mean, not many people…”

“We all know.” Gian claps a hand on my shoulder. “She can’t keep a secret.”

“So I’m the only one who doesn’t know the gender of my own baby?”

“Come on,” Gemma whines again. “If you cut the cake you’ll finally know.”

I heave a sigh and follow her outside. The party is more than small, there are at least fifty people out in our backyard drinking beers and eating. They cheer when I walk out, I’m not mad, it feels good to be acclaimed.

“Where the damn cake?” I ask.

Gemma leads me over to a decorative table with a small cake on it. She hands me the knife and a plate. I take Annie under my arm.

“Ready?” she asks.

“Ready.” I tell her, and we slice into the thing.

“I have a gift for you.” I tell Annie, who is reclined on the couch with her feet lifted on the to ottoman. She’s tired after being on her feet and talking to so many people, but she’s a champion about it.

“What’s that?” She smiles.

“Well, you have to get up to see it.”

She groans in response. “Come on,” I tell her.

It takes a few minutes to get her off the couch and into my car. It feels good to be behind the wheel of my Porsche with Annie next to me. I drive her downtown to the historic district in the city.

“What are we doing here?” She asks as we get out of the car.

“You’ll see.” I wink.

I lead her down the sidewalk to one of the houses. Once upon a time she told me this was her favorite house on this street. “What do you think?” I ask.

She looks confused. “I mean, it’s cute.”

It’s a brick house with an arched doorway and crescent moons cut out of the shutters.

“It’s ours.”

Her face spins to meet mine. “What?”

“It’s ours. It’s the one with the crescent moons in the shutters. You told me you loved those.”