Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

Alex was enjoying this, telling everyone that we were having a baby. He loved sharing the news, and I felt tears hit my eyes more than once as he proudly talked about how we’d already heard the baby’s heartbeat and how he thought we were having a girl because I wasn’t sick and any boy of his would already be wreaking havoc from the womb.

Alex’s sister, Kate, didn’t answer her phone, so he left her a message telling her to call him because he had news. I had a feeling that she was going to know exactly what he wanted to tell her, the way Ani had. I laughed as he tried to make his information seem really mysterious.

“Okay, just Trev left,” Alex said, taking a deep breath. “I’d call my aunt and uncle, but I have a feeling my mom has already called Aunt Ellie.”

“She seemed pretty excited,” I replied while Alex scrolled through the contacts on his phone.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “She loves kids, and grandbabies are even better.”

I smiled, but my stomach still churned with nervousness. This wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be, but the phone call I was dreading loomed. If Alex wanted to make only one more call, then it was almost my turn. I looked at the clock and realized that Alex had been talking to his family for almost two hours already.

“Trev?” Alex said, putting the phone to his ear. “Hey.”

He waited, leaning back in his chair until the front legs came off the floor.

“Yeah, I was just calling to tell you the news.”

He smiled.

“Really? Okay, sure,” Alex said. He held the phone out to me. “Morgan wants to talk to you.”

“What?” I whispered, not reaching for the phone. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered back jokingly. “Maybe she wants to congratulate you?”

I took the phone and put it to my ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, Sarai,” Morgan said. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” I couldn’t think of anything more to say than that.

“You freaking out?” Morgan asked, her voice low.

I glanced at Alex and gave him a small smile.

“A little,” I said. What an understatement.

Morgan laughed quietly. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“Yeah.” I glanced at Alex again. “It took a minute for it to sink in.”

“Been there, too,” Morgan replied. “Look, everything probably seems scary right now, but thankfully it takes forty weeks to grow a human, so you have time to figure it out.”

“Okay.”

“And you’ve got a good guy, which makes things easier. At the very least you’ll have someone to run to the store for late-night cravings. I don’t know how many times the corner-store guy saw me in my pajamas.”

I chuckled. She was so frank that I was instantly at ease. I also felt grateful. Unlike Alex’s sister, Kate, who I’d never met in person but who had already texted me a few times just to chat, Morgan was reserved. The fact that she’d asked to speak to me felt special, I guess.

“Just a few words of advice,” Morgan said. “Don’t join any mommy groups—those women are barracudas. Find a doctor that you like, because all sorts of weird shit is going to happen, and you want to be able to tell them anything without feeling self-conscious. And just so you know—because I didn’t—you’re going to come home from the hospital still looking about six months pregnant.”

“Good to know,” I replied.

“Oh, and if you’re interested in cloth diapering—”

“People still do that?” I asked in confusion.

“Yep. They still do it. I’ve cloth diapered Etta for years. Super easy, cheaper than disposables, and saves the environment.”

“It’s not gross?” I asked, intrigued.

“Your definition of gross is going to change dramatically,” she said, chuckling. “It’s really not a big deal. We used pockets on Etta for a long time, but I’ve just discovered flats and wool, and I’m in love. I’ve got an awesome hookup in Germany that makes the cutest baby pants and diaper covers that I can send you to, if you decide to go that route.”

“I only understood about half of what you just said,” I confessed. What the hell were pockets and flats? And why would I need wool?

“One thing at a time,” Morgan replied. “But I’m going to be honest: knowing another mom who cloth diapers would be awesome. I tried to get Ani to convert, and she acted like I was crazy.”

“Uh,” I said. It did sound kind of crazy. “I’ll let you know if we decide to do that.”

“Do what?” Alex asked, trying to eavesdrop.

“Use cloth diapers,” I replied. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, and I nodded.

“Just worry about getting rest and eating healthy,” Morgan said. “The rest will come in time. Everything happens in stages, you know? You don’t have to figure it all out at once.”

“Thanks,” I said, making a mental note to call Morgan the next time I was freaking out. She seemed to know exactly what questions I had without me asking.