“I know,” she says, cutting me off. “But when you’re my age, there’s nothing more important than family. I want to surround myself with these babies for as long as I possibly can. Before you know it, they’ll be going to kindergarten. I want to do it. Let me, Gracie.”
“I’m not going back to work for a while, and when I do, it’ll be part time.”
“Then I’ll take the baby part time, along with Cora.”
“Are you sure you can handle three kids?” I ask and immediately regret the question.
Ma raises her eyebrow, the same way I do to everyone else when I want to challenge a bullshit statement. “You want to rephrase that?”
“I… Uh…” I shake my head and plaster on a fake smile.
Ma turns her attention to Ryder after a huff. “Are you okay with that, Ryder? Me watching the kids?”
Ryder shrugs. “Not a problem here. Cora will love that. She adores you.”
“I adore that little girl too. It’s nice to be able to spoil someone who can actually talk back to me.”
And oh my God, do the two of them talk. My mom has finally found her soul mate for the gift of gab. The two of them can chatter for hours, bouncing from one topic to another, and none of it makes sense, but that doesn’t stop them.
“It’s set, then. When you head back to work, the kids will come to our house.”
“Pops?” I ask because he hasn’t said he’s on board with it. “You want this?”
He grabs my hand and gives my fingers a squeeze. “It’s been too quiet around the house since you moved out, Gracie. Between your mom and me, we can handle the kids, and it’ll allow us to feel young again.”
“I am young,” Ma says to him.
“You’ll always be young in my eyes,” he tells her, schmoozing her like he always does.
“It’ll give us a chance to spoil all the babies without you or Franco making a stink.”
“I won’t make a stink,” I promise her. They spoiled me rotten, and I turned out okay. I expect them to do the same with their grandchildren. It would be weird if they didn’t.
“I’m going to set up a little nursery.”
My father rubs his forehead, muttering something I can’t quite make out under his breath.
“The babies need somewhere to sleep when we watch them,” she explains, somehow justifying the obscene amount of money she’s about to spend. “You want them to sleep, don’t you?”
Dad nods. “Of course, dear.”
Ma looks to Ryder. “Does Cora nap?”
Ryder lets out a loud laugh, startling the baby. “I wish.”
“Okay. Then we only need a crib.”
“Only,” Pops whispers.
Ma takes a finger and rubs the baby’s cheek to calm him from Ryder’s loudness. “Can I take the kids on field trips?”
“I guess,” I say, but right now, I’d probably agree to just about anything.
“I promise I’ll drive. It’s safer that way.”
My father grunts. “I drive just fine.”
“When you can find your glasses,” she teases him. “But I’m not risking the lives of my babies to those wonky orbs inside your head.”
