Jacinta
The peaceful ride to Bun in the Oven is just what I need to get my head on straight again. When we arrive, Riku parks near the back of the store in the staff parking so we can enter through a back door. He goes first to make sure his sister has cleared it like she promised, and it’s not long before I hear him calling me.
“What are you doing, you idiot? You can’t call her Jacinta. It’s Ms. Summers,” I hear a female voice hiss at him, and I don’t bother smothering the grin that breaks out on my face. His sister speaks to him like I do my brothers. It warms my heart. God, I just get all the feels from family moments.
“It’s fine. I asked him to,” I reassure the petite Japanese girl as I step out from behind the curtain that blocks off the stockrooms from the front of the store. Riku is standing with her and a blonde woman. “There are three of us, so it just made more sense for him to call us by our given names. It would be confusing if my sisters were in the same room as me. Hi, I’m Jacinta.” I offer a hand to the girl, who startles in surprise, but she recovers and grabs it to shake.
“Jacinta, this is my sister and her wife, Aimi and Lacy Andrews.”
We exchange greetings and niceties, but my attention is torn away from the women. “Oh my god! This is amazing.” I see the two women exchange a grin as I take in the riot of color and texture. “I was expecting the typical sterile baby store with whites and pastels, but this is something else.”
The storefront is huge. It’s separated into sections, kind of like Ikea, with full nursery setups in each themed area. From where I’m standing, I can see a circus, zoo, music, sports, and vehicle themes, but there are many more to be explored. Each one is an explosion of color with options that cover everything, from wallpaper and vinyl stickers to rugs and bedding.
“Tell me about all of this,” I demand, and thankfully, they understand what I mean. I didn’t mean to slip into my bossy voice, but I’m just so excited and want to learn about all of it right now.
“We only stock a small range of the major ticket items a baby would need, so cribs, strollers, changing tables, and feeding chairs. There are only a couple of options,” Aimi explains before Lacy takes over.
“We personally tested everything when we were deciding on inventory and asked ourselves why we would buy things we didn’t like. In our store, all of the major items come in black or white base colors. From there, you can go crazy with your theme because, let’s face it, that’s the fun part of having a baby. We have fifteen different themes on display and another fifteen options available to look at online.” We walk over to an ocean display as Lacy tells us more.
“Everything you can see has been designed by either Lacy or Aimi,” Riku adds, sounding proud as punch of his sister. It’s so fucking cute and just makes him even more attractive that he wants to show off what his sister has accomplished.
I push my finger at a mobile, making it move around, watching the various fish and other sea creatures dance back and forth. “How am I ever going to decide on what to buy my family members?”
Oh shit.I spin around and look at Riku for help. I just told two complete strangers, not bound by confidentiality, about our family expecting babies.
“It’s okay, Jacinta. Lacy and Aimi know how to be discreet,” he reassures me, and the two women nod their heads.
“Of course we do. Nobody will be hearing from us that you’ve been shopping here. We can even put an alias on your order so that none of our shop assistants know either.” Aimi sounds quite fierce about it, which helps me relax again.
“Well, okay then. For now, I need to outfit two nurseries. Shit, I don’t know anything about babies. Would you put two in the same nursery? Or would you have one for each of them if you’re having two babies?”
“That’s okay. That’s why we’re here to help. We’ve got years of experience and a child of our own. So, twins?” Lacy heads back to the checkout desk and picks up a notebook and pen.
I bite my lip, still not entirely sure I should be sharing this sensitive information with these two women. I can see security cameras throughout the room, and I’m worried about the footage.
“Look, if it would reassure you, we would be happy to sign NDAs. Would you like to get your lawyer to send them over to us?” Lacy asks, and Aimi gives her brother a little push.
“Go and turn your cameras off too, please. That might make Ms. Summ—Jacinta feel better.”
“No, it’s okay. I trust you, and if this goes well, I may have a proposition for you.” Their business would be the perfect place to sell our maternity clothes and childrenswear. We could even help them with expanding if they decided to grow their business.
“Oh, you’ve got your business face on. That’s how Lacy looks when she’s making plans.” Aimi waves her hand between the two of us. “Like two peas in a pod,” she teases.
“Not twins.” I return to the previous subject. “My brother is expecting a baby with another woman. I expect you will read about it in the gossip columns eventually, but we’ve kept it very hush-hush for now. Basically, the woman took a used condom and artificially inseminated herself with what was in the bottom of it.” The two women exchange a horrified glance.
“Are you serious? That sounds like something out of a soap opera.” Lacy sounds disgusted, and I think Aimi is speechless, which are both totally appropriate ways to feel. I’m pretty sure I went through both of those stages before I accepted that this would actually be part of our family history now.
“Welcome to the life of being a Summers. It gets worse. She’s been accused of attempted murder and will go to jail for a very long time, but they want to wait for her to go full term so that she doesn’t do any harm to the baby. She’s due in three months, and my brother Kai will get full parental rights.”
“Okay, baby one.” Lacy writes down. “Boy or girl or not sure?”
“A girl,” I tell her, and she makes a note.
“And the second baby?” Aimi asks. I can see she’s dying to hear the rest, but not in a gossipy, want to share with the world kind of way.
“My sister Harlow.”
“Who’s not your blood sister and is in a relationship with all six of your brothers,” Aimi continues.
