Change of Heart (Fostering Love 2)

“Me too.” Aunt Ellie gave Uncle Mike a kiss and then headed toward Ani’s SUV.

“Catch you on the flip side,” Ani said to Trevor, her voice shaking.

“You’re going to do great,” he assured her, pulling her into a tight hug.

She passed me on the porch on her way to the car but didn’t look my way once. I almost reached out to stop her, but I met Trev’s eyes and fisted my hands by my sides instead.

“I’m going to take my truck so I can drive back down in the morning,” Trev said.

“I’ll ride with you,” Mike replied, walking away.

“Looks like it’s me and you,” my dad said. “Take my truck?”

I nodded and followed him to his truck, climbing into the passenger seat.

The ride was long as we followed Ani all the way up to Seattle. Dad was quiet as we listened to country music playing from his stereo, and I was really glad for that. I wasn’t sure I could choke out anything resembling actual words. My hands were sweating so badly that I left a damp spot on the thighs of my jeans by the time we arrived at the hospital, and by the time we parked the truck, I was shaking.

“Hey,” my dad called as he opened his door, but I stayed rooted to my seat, not even bothering to take my seat belt off. “You okay?”

“Yep.” I nodded jerkily, staring at the cement wall in front of the truck.

He shut his door again and leaned back on the seat, shooing someone away from his window with a shake of his head.

“You wanna tell me why you’re pretending to be a statue?”

“I’m fine.”

“You know,” he said after a minute, settling more comfortably into his seat, “when Katie was born, I was a mess.”

I didn’t reply.

“I was shaking and sweating like you would not believe. One of the nurses finally had to give me one of those scrubs tops because my T-shirt was soaked all the way through,” he chuckled.

I stayed silent.

“Normal to be nervous.”

Still nothing.

“It’s going to be all right, Abraham,” Dad said gently, making my throat tighten.

“If something happens, it’ll destroy Ani,” I finally choked out, still staring out the windshield.

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

“You don’t know that,” I said so quietly that I wasn’t sure if he heard me.

“Okay, say it does,” he mused, making my head snap toward him. “You wanna be out here when it does, or you wanna be inside with her?”

I fumbled with my seat belt and threw open the door, barely hearing his “That’s what I thought,” before slamming the door behind me.

“Where do I go?” I asked in confusion, looking around the garage.

“Come on, elevators are over here.” I followed him to the elevators and then through the hospital and to another elevator, finally ending up on the maternity floor where everyone was already waiting.

I searched the room for Ani, but she wasn’t there.

“Ani went back to the room to be with her sister,” my mom informed us as she came to give my dad a kiss. “No baby yet.”

I didn’t say a word but moved toward the far wall, dropping into an empty seat and clenching my shaking hands in front of me as I tried to block out the room.

* * *

It was hours before we heard any news. According to my mom, first babies usually took a while.

At some point, another family came into the waiting room and sat down in a little cluster. It looked like it was a mom, a dad, and their teenage son. They didn’t ask the nurse to see anyone, just sat down silently and seemed to be waiting.

Then finally, Ani came walking down the hallway, looking at the floor.

Everyone in our family surged to their feet.

She was almost on top of us when she finally lifted her face, and the expression she was wearing made me want to drop to my knees.

“It’s a girl,” she announced, tears falling down her smiling face. “And she’s beautiful.”

My mom stepped forward and wrapped Ani in a tight hug, whispering something as Ani nodded against her shoulder. Then Mom let go, and the rest of the family swarmed in, hugging and laughing.

Ani glowed.

Finally, when everyone else had gotten their hugs, she turned to me.

“Thanks for coming—”

She didn’t get another word out before I’d pulled her into my arms, lifting her off the floor as she hugged me back.

“Congratulations, Mama,” I choked out, inhaling the scent of her neck.

“Thanks, Abraham,” she replied, running her hand over my hair.

“Everything’s okay?” I still wasn’t letting her go.

“Everything’s perfect.” She continued to run her fingers through my hair, settling me. “You’re shaking.”

“No I’m not,” I lied, setting her back on her feet.

“Can you call Alex? I think Mom’s calling Katie, and Trev texted Hen.”

“Sure,” I said with a completely awkward nod.