“Little late for that,” I pointed out. “And besides, I don’t think you’re going to need anything in the way of an excuse, are you?”
“Yeah, fair point.” She flashed me that cocky smile I shared with her, that self-assurance a family trait. The two of us put on the radio and cooked together as it played, listening to the bad old hits and the news and the weather. I couldn’t remember the last time I had cooked a meal with my sister. When we were younger, we would sneak into the kitchen early some weekends and cook for our father. I knew he probably preferred the housekeeper’s near-gourmet skills, but he would eat our food happily and make like it was exactly what he’d been craving.
We served up enormous plates of eggs, bacon, and toast and carried them to the dining table. Soon, it was laden down with coffee and orange juice and food and everything anyone could possibly need for a good breakfast. At that moment, Jolene emerged from her bedroom, yawning and running her hands through her messy hair.
“Good morning,” she greeted Cleo and me before rolling herself up to the table. “This looks amazing. Is this what you have every morning?”
“Oh, no.” I waved my hand. “Most of the time, I just stick to coffee. But we’re celebrating, aren’t we?”
“I thought we were just celebrating last night,” Jolene pointed out, and I grinned.
“Well, this is your welcome breakfast.” I gestured toward the food in front of us. “Consider it a welcome from Cleo and me.”
“Well, it looks fantastic.” She smiled at me. “Thank you so much for this.”
“Let me just go get Amaya, and then we can—”
“I’m up.” Amaya’s voice came from the doorway to the bedroom, and I turned to find her standing there, looking a little wobbly on her feet. “And don’t wait for me. I’m not feeling so good this morning. I’m going to go lie down.”
“Are you sure?” I furrowed my brow, and she nodded before turning to vanish back into the room.
“Morning sickness?” Jolene asked quietly as soon as Amaya was gone. I nodded.
“She’s been really suffering with it these last few days,” I replied. “I think the best we can do is let her rest.”
“More for me,” Jolene joked, and the three of us laughed. It sucked to see Amaya in such discomfort, but she wouldn’t want what was going on with her to get in the way of Jolene finally being here after what felt like a lifetime of planning. We tucked into our food, and when I was finished, I left Cleo to wash up as I headed through to see how Amaya was doing.
“Baby?” I stuck my head around the door, and she was lying curled up in bed.
“Yeah, a baby is exactly why I’m feeling like this.” She gave me a look. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“Is it bad?” I asked. She nodded and winced as she struggled to sit up.
“Yeah, I just feel like crap, that’s all,” she sighed. “Whenever I exert myself a bunch one day, I feel like I have to pay for it the next one. Doesn’t feel fair. I just want to come out and have breakfast with the rest of you, but I can’t even look at that stuff without feeling like I’m going to throw up.”
“Hey, I know my cooking’s questionable sometimes, but I didn’t think it was that awful,” I joked, and she managed a smile, although I could tell it was paining her. I reached out to hitch her upright, and she wound an arm around me and let out a groan as though all this movement was more than she could deal with.
“Come on, you should go for a shower and then come out and spend some time with the rest of us,” I told her. “It’ll do you good to get your mind off it.”
“The rest of us?” She furrowed her brow. “Why? Who’s here?”
“Cleo stayed over last night,” I replied furtively, and she raised her eyebrows. It was the happiest I’d seen her all morning.
“Oh?”
“And it seems like things between her and Darla are really kicking off,” I continued. “She wouldn’t tell me much this morning, but I think they’re falling for each other. She stayed over here just to spend more time with her, so that’s a good sign.”
“That really is.” Amaya sat up and turned her feet off the bed, planting them on the floor below and taking a deep breath. “All right, I think I’m ready to—”
Before she could finish what she was saying, she slapped a hand over her mouth and sprinted to the bathroom. The sudden change would have been comical if I didn’t hate seeing her like this. I wanted to gather her up in my arms, to make it all better, to take some of the pain of this pregnancy away from her for a while, but I just had to sit tight and suck it up, no matter how much it sucked.
I hovered by the bathroom door and hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts about the pregnancy. I wanted the baby, but I hated how much pain it was already putting her through. I decided to give her some privacy, and I headed back through to the kitchen to make up a tea Nonna had sworn to me helped with morning sickness. Amaya had screwed her nose up at it when she had caught a whiff before, but I had a feeling there wasn’t much she would turn down if it meant it would take the edge off her illness for the time being.
She emerged though at last, and Jolene let out a cheer. She smiled at her sister and slumped into a seat at the dining table.
“That bad, huh?” Cleo asked, furrowing her brow, and Amaya nodded, massaging her temples.
“Yeah, that bad,” she replied ruefully. “But I feel better now, and it’s supposed to get better as the pregnancy goes on.”
“Here, I made you that tea.” I put the mug down in front of her. She picked it up, smelled it, and then shrugged and took a sip.
“Actually, that’s pretty good,” she admitted, and the four of us crowded around the table to talk about what we were going to do that day. And as I sat there with my sister and my fiancée and my sister-in-law-to-be, I knew that this was the family I had always been waiting for. Yes, we had taken a few wrong turns in getting to this moment, but it was here now, and that was all that mattered. This little family of mine was perfect, as perfect as it could be until our newest arrival joined us, of course. I let my hand rest on the back of Amaya’s neck, and she smiled at me, as though the exact same thoughts were running through her head as well.