“You’re going to bribe me with food?”
She nods. “Is it working?”
“You got the job.”
She fist-pumps the air in triumph. “Worth every bit of traffic.”
I snatch the bag from her hands before she has a chance to hold the dessert ransom for any other reason. “I still think it’s ridiculous Grandma wouldn’tlet me have this while I was pregnant. Cheesecake is safe.”
“You know how she is,” Dad says, placing his hand on my blanket-covered leg. “She is overprotective.”
“My body needs this to survive,” I say as I open the first container, salivating the moment the smell of the turtle cheesecake hits me.
“You’re always so dramatic,” Mom says.
I point at my sister with the plastic spoon. “Have you met Zoey? She’s all drama, all the time.”
“Hey.” Zoey makes a move like she’s about to steal the bag away, but even in my tired state, I’m too fast for her.
“No. It’s mine.”
“Always greedy,” she whispers.
“This is the life,” Dad says, ignoring our bickering. “I’m a grandpa.”
“I don’t feel like a granny,” Mom says.
“You don’t look like one either,” Dad says to her, his gaze traveling a little too slowly up her body.
“I’m trying to eat,” I tell him, digging into the cheesecake like I’ve never eaten before.
“You want to share that?” Oliver asks, reaching out like he’s going to take my spoon, but he thinks better of it when I glare at him. “Guess not.”
“You can have the plain one in the bag.”
“Better than nothing,” he says and pulls out theslice of plain cheesecake, which I am more than happy to sacrifice because it is my least favorite.
“Sorry we’re late. Your grandfather is a…” Grandma says as she walks into the room, but her words die as soon as her eyes land on the baby. “I forgot how little they are when they’re born.”
“You had four of us,” Dad says.
“It was a wild time in our lives, honey, and I’m old. My memory isn’t as good as it used to be.”
Grandma peeks over Mom’s shoulder. “She’s perfect.”
“She is,” Mom says.
“Do we have a name?” Grandpa asks.
“Harlow Rose,” I tell him between cheesecake bites.
“Welcome to the world, Harlow Rose,” Grandma says to our little girl. “I can’t wait to spoil you rotten.”
I watch my family, the people who raised me, knowing that I have the luckiest child in the world. She will never know loneliness with the Gallos in her life. She’d also never know peace and privacy either. That is the trade-off, but it’s totally worth it.
Oliver slides onto the bed next to me. “They’re happy.”
“There’s a baby,” I tell him. “That always makes them happy.”
