“And now?” she asks, as she moves to the drawer that houses the silver wear.
“It’s more.” I collect the napkins and fold them up the way my mother likes.
“Enough that you’d bring him here knowing how our mother is?”
“He’s going to be around,” I say with a shrug.
“Look at me.”
I glance up at her. “What?”
“Holy shit, you’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“What?” I squeak.
“Your skin is glowing, your knockers are more massive than usual. Damn!”
“Shut up.” I glance nervously at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Are you going to tell her today?” Rochelle whispers.
“That’s the plan.”
“She is going to have a freakin’ cow!”
“I know.” I exhale. I tried my best not to disappoint my mother over the years. I always felt like I had to walk on eggshells around her. She never agreed with my choices, and had no problem being vocal about her distaste.
“Are you happy?” Rochelle asks.
“We’re trying to get there. It was unexpected and we’re sort of ass over kettle right now.”
“I can imagine. My sister, the biker bitch,” Rochelle teases.
“You are so annoying.”
“But you love me, right?” she asks.
“Yes, brat,” I say, soaking up the familiarity of our banter.
“Whatever you decide, I’m behind you one-hundred. Mom may go off the rails, but it won’t last. She loves you, and she’ll adore any grandchildren that come her way.” Rochelle moves over and squeezes my arm. “Let’s get out there before your man loses his patience with the game of twenty-one questions I’m sure she’s playing.”
I rush through setting the table, careful to keep an eye and an ear on the conversation happening across the room in the living room.
“So, Skull. What do you do?”
&
nbsp; “I co-own the Chaos Bar and Grill with my best friend, Shadow.”
“Don’t any of you have real names?” my mother asks.
“Of course we do, but it takes respect and trust to learn them.”
Boom. Get her baby. I mentally cheer him on as the conversation goes back and forth with thinly veiled barbs.
“Respect, that’s an interesting word.”
“Hmm,” he says