“Well, yeah,” Kate replied. “We wanted to know what happened. Two birds with one stone, dude.”
“It was her idea,” Ani clarified. “I just went along with this middle-school three-way call.”
“Wah, wah. You didn’t exactly argue,” Kate snapped back. Then her tone changed. “How did it go, Trev?”
I took a deep breath and smiled. “Best possible scenario,” I replied.
“Yes!” Kate practically yelled.
“Oh, thank Christ,” Ani said.
“Morgan’s cool. Seems to have her shit together and from what I could see in the hour I was there, she’s a good mom,” I told them, relief making my voice light. “Plus, she’s totally open to letting everyone meet Etta.”
“Etta’s the baby’s name?” Ani asked as I heard Kate sniffle.
“Yeah, Henrietta.”
“No fucking way,” Ani muttered in happy disbelief.
“Yep.”
“That’s so cool,” Kate said, her voice wobbly.
“It was a trip,” I said, trying to find the right words to explain the experience I’d just had. “She was super cool about everything, invited me to have lunch with them, talked about Hen like she had no hard feelings whatsoever, said she’d be open to Etta knowing this side of the family.”
“Sounds fishy,” Ani said.
“What’s she look like?” Kate asked at the same time.
I frowned a little in confusion at her question, but answered anyway. “Blond. Brown eyes. She’s taller than Ani, but probably shorter than you—”
I stopped my description as Ani started to guffaw.
“Not the mom,” she chuckled. “She was asking about the baby.”
“Oh.”
“I’m guessing the mom is pretty,” Kate joked. She was laughing, too.
“You’re both assholes,” I muttered. “Etta looks like Henry. Pull out one of Mom’s old photo albums from when Henry first moved in with us, and that’s almost exactly what Etta looks like.”
“Awesome,” Kate said happily.
Ani was still chuckling. “Hopefully without the mullet,” she mused.
“Nah, her hair is still pretty thin, but it’s not a mullet. She brushes it out of her face constantly, though,” I said, smiling. “Like she’s totally irritated with the whole mess.”
“What’s she like?” Kate asked. “Was she shy, or did she like you right away?”
“Not shy,” I said, picturing Etta as she said hi to me. “But she wasn’t super impressed with me.” I laughed.
“That’s okay, we aren’t either,” Ani quipped.
“Is she talking a lot?” Kate asked, not through with her questioning.
“Not a lot,” I replied. “But some. She isn’t talking in full sentences the way Sage was at that age, but she makes her wishes known. Mostly a lot of gibberish with some recognizable words thrown in.”
“That’s normal,” Kate assured me. “Sage was an anomaly. That one’s a total brainiac.”
“She seemed good. Healthy and happy.”
“God, that’s such a relief,” Ani said. “I’ve been having fucking nightmares about all the potential horrors she could be living with since we found out about her.”
“Tell me about it,” I replied in commiseration.
“Did she say when we could meet Etta?” Kate asked. “We’re not busy this week. I mean, Shane has to work, but beyond that, we’re free.”
“Slow down, turbo,” I replied. “We didn’t make any plans or anything like that.”
“You didn’t?” Ani asked.
“I didn’t want to overwhelm her,” I replied defensively. “I was just glad she was okay with making contact.”
“That’s fair,” Kate chimed in quickly.
“You want to know the weirdest thing I found out today?” I paused for effect. “Morgan was actually one of our foster kids back in the day.”
“No shit?” Ani said in surprise.
“Yeah, about ten years ago, just for a couple months during the summer.”
“I don’t remember any Morgan Riley,” Kate said dubiously.
“She’s a year younger than Henry, I think,” I replied. “Blond hair? She only stayed for about two months, and her last name was Harlan.”
“Huh,” Kate said. “I think I remember her, but I had a summer job by then so I wasn’t around much. Do you know anything else?”
“Not really,” I said, trying to think of anything descriptive I could use to jog Kate’s memory without pointing out how gorgeous Morgan was. I didn’t need to flame that fire after the ribbing I’d already gotten. “Hen had a huge crush on her, though. I remember that much. He followed her around like a puppy.”
“Wait,” Kate said, drawing the word out. “Didn’t she have a really bad haircut?”
“How the fuck should I know?” I asked in bewilderment.
“You’re such a guy,” she snickered. “I think I do remember her! She was nice. Kind of quiet, but she got along with everyone.”
“I’m just pissed that Hen was so fickle,” Ani joked. “I thought he saved his unrequited love for yours truly.”
“Don’t worry, sis, he loved you best,” Kate said soothingly, her voice choked with laughter.
I fucking loved that we could finally joke about him again without feeling the need to clarify or hide our amusement. There had been a time, right after Hen died, when we’d all felt a little uncomfortable making jokes. It had seemed weird for a while, laughing when our hearts felt like they’d been torn out. Slowly, my family was healing. Thank God.