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“I think Aunt Kitty would have taken me in.” She looked bewildered and Karl didn’t know if it was because of his anger or the stupidity of her near cross-country drive. He didn’t really care.
“You were going to drive across the country based on the uncertainty of the verb think?”
“And I was going to let you know when I got there. I wasn’t going to keep information about Jelly Bean from you.”
“Jelly Bean?” Tilly’s voice asked. Karl looked up to see Tilly, Dan, Renia and Miles crowded in the kitchen doorway.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know there’s a baby,” Tilly said, her face radiating the innocence only youngest siblings could achieve.
“Does Mom know?” Renia asked.
“No,” Karl growled. “Mom doesn’t know. Vivian didn’t want her to know.”
“It’s bad luck to tell people before the third month,” Vivian said, defensively.
“I’m going to be an aunt,” Tilly exclaimed, before glancing at Renia. “Again. I’m going to be an aunt again. How far along are you?”
“Seven weeks.”
The room was silent as they did the math. Karl had avoided all questions about how he and Vivian met and got married, but everyone in the room knew he’d gone to Las Vegas alone for a conference and now everyone knew Vivian had gotten pregnant sometime during that week. A month later he’d been introducing her to people as his wife when nary a soul had met her before.
“Miles?” Renia asked her husband. “Why don’t you look as surprised as the rest of us?”
“Sarah and I ran into the happy couple at the library. Karl was holding What to Expect When You’re Expecting like it was a land mine he’d fished out of a Cambodian swamp and was afraid to put down.”
“And you kept this from me?”
Miles shrugged. “Wasn’t my secret to tell. If I’d known how good the secret was…”
“Neither Vivian’s life nor mine is a soap opera to be dissected.” His sisters stopped their chatter, but neither looked particularly apologetic. “Thank you, Miles, for trying to maintain my privacy.”
“Hey, it was worth it to be here at the great reveal.”
Now that his family was all here, he could think about something more concrete than his feelings for Vivian. “Let’s focus on Mom’s care. Even though the doctor said her recovery would be quick and she could go back to work soon, I think someone should stay with her. Maybe help out at the restaurant. Work is killing me right now, so I can’t be here for her. Miles, Renia and Dan, you have the freest schedules. Can you guys care for Mom?”
* * *
WHY COULDN’T KARL see the obvious solution? “I can do it,” Vivian said from her chair, her voice not quite rising to interrupt the arguing family members standing above her.
“I’m scheduled on a trip to visit some of our producers,” Dan said. “But if I can get those postponed, or I can get someone else to cover them, I can definitely help Miles and Renia.”
“I can do it,” Vivian repeated. She really should stand up and assert herself, but she was too exhausted.
“I’ll set up an online calendar,” Miles offered. “Then we can coordinate schedules online and sync them with our phones…”
Vivian opened her mouth to repeat herself again and was interrupted by Renia. “You men are so busy trying to manage the situation that you’ve not heard Vivian offer to stay home with Mom.”
“Can you help at Healthy Food, Mom’s restaurant, too?” Tilly asked. “Edward can manage the restaurant in Mom’s absence, but they’ll need someone to work the register.”
“I can work the register.” After two weeks of perfecting her cooking and walking down every street in the Loop, Vivian was grateful to have an opportunity to be useful and working again.
“She is not working at Healthy Food, nor is she staying home with Mom.” Karl’s voice didn’t leave any room for argument, but Renia argued anyway.
“She’s not fit,” her husband said, finally.
As much as she wanted to let his words slide right off her back, they stung. She’d lived in his apartment for two weeks and not done anything but feed him and look for a job. What exactly did he think she would do to his mother?
