AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nope, not allowed to say that either,” I tell him, “that’s mine.” Zara and my father laugh as he steps aside when Zoe comes forward with my mother. The two of them with tears streaming down their faces.
“I can’t believe it,” my mother says, hugging her first.
“I can, and I couldn’t be happier,” Zoe states. “Also karma, she was a horrible child. She cried for everything. And I mean everything. The light was on; the TV was too loud. I didn’t feed her quick enough. There was always something to make her mad or upset.”
“What are you talking about?” Viktor refutes. “She was the perfect child.”
“That was Matty,” Zoe corrects, then looks at Zara. “Sorry, it’s true.”
“Told you I was perfect,” Matty gloats to Sofia as they stand side by side in each other’s arms, with RC between them.
“Don’t listen to your mother,” Viktor says, going to Zara, “you were the best baby.”
“That’s because she was a daddy’s girl,” Zoe mumbles, and I roll my lips.
“She always will be.” Viktor holds her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that are streaming down her face. “Forever.” She sobs in his arms, and my father has to put his hand in front of me to stop me from going to her. I look over at him, and he shakes his head. “I couldn’t be happier for you,” he tells her, and she face-plants in his chest. “So proud of you.” I look up at the sky, wondering how long I can let this go on for before I pull him away from her and take her in my arms. I know that this is her father, but it’s now my job to comfort her. It’s my job to take care of her. It’s my fucking job. “He’s not good at sharing.” Viktor tries not to laugh as he motions toward me with his head, making everyone laugh. “She was mine first.”
“She’ll be mine last,” I declare, struggling with the fact I don’t even know what the fuck this relationship is called at this point.
“The throwdown,” Matty jokes, and we all laugh, but Viktor lets her go, and she comes over to me.
“A girl and a boy,” I tell her. “It really is a?—”
She puts her fingers on my lips to stop me from saying it. “It’s a surprise.”
“It’s a surprise,” I mumble from behind her fingers.
“I’m going to have another brother and a sister,” Colson cheers from beside us. Zara lets me go so she can hug him and pull him to us.
“The best big brother.” She leans down and kisses his head.
Everyone walks away from us even Colson, who runs up to Viktor and asks him about skating. He puts his arm around him and tells him that he has to come and visit him so he can take him to a game.
“Can you believe it?” I stand with her in my arms, not ready to let her go. Never wanting to let her go.
“I can’t.” She looks up at me. “I thought for sure when I saw the blue hat, we were having two boys,” she admits, “but when I saw the pink.” Her smile gets even bigger. “I don’t think I could have been happier. I thought I was going to fall to my knees.”
“Sweetheart,” I remind her softly, kissing her lips, “when are you going to learn that I’m never, ever going to let you fall.” I kiss her again. “I will always catch you.”
She raises her hand up to my chin. “I’m starting to get that, Cowboy.” She smiles, and there in the middle of I don’t even know how many people, it’s just me and her. Just the two of us and the words I love you lingering on my tongue.
33
ZARA
I turn from my side toward the door and flip the white cover off myself and slip my feet out and into my plush pink slippers by the bed.
The silence from outside is not so silent anymore when I hear a car horn go off. The blaring is what woke me up about ten minutes ago, and it’s still going on. Even when I walk down the steps toward the kitchen, all I hear is that fucking car alarm going off over and over again. “How has no one heard that?” I ask myself as I take orange juice out of the fridge. I shake the plastic bottle and unscrew the top, drinking straight from the bottle. I’m aggravated this is even an option and pissed that I’ve come home and again nothing has been said.
My phone rings from upstairs and I think about running to it, but I drink another sip of orange juice instead. I walk over to the bread box, grabbing a bagel and slipping one in the toaster before walking to the fridge to get some cream cheese. “Let’s see if this is going to go over well today.” I look down at my belly. “It’s fifty-fifty these days.” I can love one thing one day and then the next day not so much. Or maybe I just want to eat toasties in the morning and am too lazy to make them.
The phone rings again from upstairs at the same time the toaster pops the bagel up. I grab a plate and go through with smearing the cream cheese on it. Sitting on the stool after taking a bite of it, I wait until I swallow it to decide how I feel about it. “It’s not horrible,” I tell the emptiness of the kitchen, “not great either.” I take a sip of the orange juice. I finish the whole bagel , and when I walk upstairs, I carry the bottle of orange juice with me.
I put it down on the bedside table beside the phone and see the two calls have been from Gabriel, also with a text message.
Gabriel: Morning, Sweetheart, no picture this morning.
“No,” I tell the phone as I make the bed. “There is no picture this morning,” I mumble. “You want a picture, come and get it.”
