Dad said our brother was coming soon. That we needed to be good and quiet so Mom could focus.
“She’ll need all her strength,” he said, kneeling down before me and Kelly. Kelly reached up and touched his face, and Dad snapped his teeth at Kelly’s fingers, causing him to laugh. “She’s being very brave. Can you be brave too?”
“Brave,” Kelly agreed.
“Stay here with Uncle Mark. When it’s over, I’ll come back and take you to meet him.”
And then he was gone.
Mark said, “It’ll take a long time.”
“Long time,” Kelly said, because he repeated everything everyone said all the time. It was annoying except when he did it to me.
Mark said, “But she’ll be okay.”
“Okay,” Kelly said.
Mark smiled, but he looked like a ghost.
It took a very long time.
We got tired of waiting, and when Mark put us to bed, I had forgotten all about it. Mark said Kelly and I could sleep in the same bed, and Kelly had toothpaste in the corner of his mouth.
We lay facing each other, our heads on the same pillow.
Mark kissed my cheek.
Mark kissed Kelly’s cheek.
“Good night, little cubs,” he said.
Kelly yawned.
Mark left the door open and the light in the hall on.
The sky outside was dark.
“Carter?” Kelly said.
“What?”
“Do we have to have a little brother?”
I didn’t know. I said, “I think so.”
“Oh. Can I hold him?”
“Maybe. You might have to wait.”
“Why?”
“Because babies are fragile,” I said, remembering the words of my father. “They’re little and fragile.”
“What’s fragile?”
I had no idea. “It means gross.”
His nose wrinkled. “Like farts.”