Drawn into Love (Fluke My Life 4)

The picture looks like the stick-figure family I drew for her a long time ago, which she hung just inside the front door of the house as soon as we moved in. I read the title: MADELINE BECOMES A BIG SISTER. My stomach suddenly feels funny, like a million worms are squirming around inside it.

“Open it and read it to us, honey,” Dad says.

I open to the first page and read out loud, then turn and read the second, then the third. On the fourth page, I stop and look between my parents. “I’m going to be a big sister?”

“Yes!” they both say at the same time.

“I’m really going to be a big sister?” I get up on my knees and turn around to look at both of them.

“Yes.” Mom laughs, and Dad smiles.

“Oh my god!” I shout, standing up on my bed. I jump up and down, making Merida hop off onto the floor. “I’m going to have a baby brother.”

“Well, we don’t know what we are having yet.” Mom grins.

I smile, then jump again.

“I’m going to have a baby brother or sister!” I yell.

“I take it you’re happy,” Dad says.

I fall on top of him and hug him as hard as I can.

“Yes, so happy.”

“Good.” He kisses the top of my head. When he lets me go, I hug Mom, but I do it more carefully.

“I love you, sweetheart,” she whispers.

Just like every time she tells me she loves me or calls me sweetheart, my chest gets warm.

“I love you, too.” I rest against her side, then touch her stomach and smile.

A little under nine months later, Luke Edward Fremont came into the world. Upon his arrival, his sister drew a new family portrait that included him. She also made sure that in the picture he was crying, since he seemed to do that a lot.

LORIE

As soon as I see the yellow envelope in my mailbox, my hands shake with excitement. I pull it out and tuck it under my arm, then go through the rest of the mail as I head into the house. It’s mostly junk mail, which I toss on the kitchen island. I head down the hall toward my office. I go right to my desk and take a seat, smiling. These updates are few and far between. Each one hurts, but they also help with the loss I suffered more than four years ago. With a deep breath, I carefully open the flap of the envelope and pull out the single photo inside. Tears instantly fill my eyes. My beautiful girl. She looks so happy, so content tucked under her husband’s arm with a very chubby boy on her hip, a beautiful almost-teenage girl leaning into her opposite side, and a very ugly dog at their feet.

“I’m happy for you. Happy that you found your family,” I tell the image before I carefully put the picture back in the envelope and tuck it away with the rest of the letters I’ve gotten over the last few years. Once I’m done, I leave my office and head to the kitchen to make dinner for myself. I do it smiling.

Three years ago, I did something I never would have had the courage to do before I watched Courtney stand up for herself. I left my husband and moved into my own place, and I have never been happier.