Change of Heart (Fostering Love 2)

She finally had permission to touch me whenever she wanted, and she was using it.

“Ani, I think your phone’s ringing,” Alex called from down the table. “Did you leave it in the kitchen?”

“Oh shit,” Ani mumbled, her hand sliding off my leg as she jumped to her feet. “Sorry, I have to get that.”

She left the room, and conversation started up again at the table, but I couldn’t focus. Who was calling her on the weekend? Everyone she talked to was already here. I watched the door, but it was almost twenty minutes before she came back in, looking completely shell-shocked.

“Ani?” my Aunt Ellie asked as I got slowly to my feet.

“What’s wrong?” Kate got up from her seat as well.

“Uh…” Ani looked around the table, then stopped with her eyes on my mom. “I’m going to be a mom.”

“What?” my mom whispered as she pushed herself up out of her seat.

“I’m adopting a baby.” Ani’s eyes watered as her face broke out in the biggest grin I’d ever seen, and everyone surged up from their places at the table and started talking all at once.

They were asking her the specifics, when she was getting the baby, who the baby was, and how it happened.

All I could do was stand there, my fingers clenching against the edge of the table as I watched her, white noise filling my head.

It was over. Jesus Christ, it had just started, and it was already fucking over.

And I was such a fucking idiot for letting any of it happen in the first place.

* * *

Dinner after that was filled with talk of Ani’s new baby.

A fucking baby.

What the hell was she thinking?

I knew from bits and pieces of her conversations with the people around the table that she was going to take her sister’s kid in. Apparently the girl had called Ani and asked her if she could, then called back a few hours later demanding an answer.

So many things could go wrong.

Ani’s hand fell lightly into my lap again, and I didn’t move it. My mom had asked me to keep our shit from her table less than an hour before, and I’d told her that I would.

I didn’t want to.

I wanted to drag Ani out of the house and fucking shake her.

That kid could come out with a whole host of medical problems. Her little sister could change her fucking mind. The baby’s dad could step in and say he wanted it. If she did this, she’d never escape her birth mother. She’d always be there in the goddamn wings, reminding Ani of how she’d thrown her own daughter away.

It was the most ridiculous plan I’d ever heard in my life, and I was practically vibrating with the need to start laughing as the shit show at the dinner table played out.

She didn’t even know if it was a boy or girl. Her house was a fucking disaster. She had zero experience with taking care of a baby and had a goddamn full-time job.

“Hey, you okay?” Ani asked, turning to me as my brother and Shane started clearing the table. Her eyes were shining, and she couldn’t seem to keep a smile off her face.

“Fine,” I answered with a nod, clearing my throat. What the hell was I supposed to say?

“I think I’m going to head home,” she said with an overwhelmed sigh. “Oh shit. I rode with Alex.”

“It’s all right, I’ll take you,” I said, the words flowing out of my mouth before I could change my mind.

“Ani,” my dad called as we stood from the table and started saying our good-byes. “You clean out a bedroom. Me and Dan’ll bring all the boys by tomorrow and get it finished up for you.”

“Are you sure?” Ani stuttered through her words. “It needs to be painted and the floors done and everything.”

“Well, we’ll get the walls done tomorrow. Come back the next day for the floors,” Uncle Dan piped in with a smile.

“Okay,” Ani said, her voice high. “That would be rad. Thank you.”

I ushered her out of the house before they could waylay her with anything else. I needed to get the fuck out of there before I blew. Now I had to go to her house for the next two days to prepare for a baby that I thought was a really fucking bad idea? There was no way my dad and Uncle Dan would let me out of it without giving me a huge ration of shit. I clenched my teeth hard as we climbed in my truck and drove back to Ani’s place.

I’d talk her out of it once we were alone and she wasn’t surrounded by offers of help and congratulations.

“Hey,” Ani called as I rounded the hood of my truck, jumping into my arms like a spider monkey. “I don’t know if being able to touch each other during family events is any better than not touching,” she said with a small laugh. “I’ve wanted you all day.”