CHAPTER 1
Natalie Nolan
“Have I mentioned I’m glad you came to your senses and moved here?”
I grinned into the mug and took a sip of my tea. She’d only mentioned that about a dozen times since I’d arrived a couple weeks ago.
“Yes, but you can tell me again.”
“I’m so, so, so, so glad!” She laid it on thick with a big smile, and she sat down so we shared a corner of her kitchen island. “My baby sister, finally in the same state as me.” She opened her giant messy planner that kept her life organized. It had countless Post-its and colorful tabs sticking out of it. “Now I just gotta find a date we can all get together for dinner.” She slid her pen down the dates of this week, then the next.
She was a busy woman.
Hell, everyone in the family was busy. Chloe ran a bed-and-breakfast, her husband was a successful author, and the kids… They were all grown up now, ’cause Chloe had startedearly. The twins had a year left in high school, which was freaking nuts.My eldest nephew, Gage, lived in Vancouver and worked all the time, and the second eldest, Gray, had recently turned Chloe into a grandmother. Gray and his boyfriend were in the middle of adopting two boys, and my sister could not be happier.
Actually, her stepdaughter had given birth to twins not too long ago either, so make that four grandchildren.
She had everything up here in rainy Washington.
I was still on the fence. I’d left New York for a tiny town north of Seattle.
Then again, New York hadn’t really suited me either.
“Okay, I give up,” Chloe sighed. “It looks like the next day everyone’s in town is for Jayden’s birthday in September.”
That was okay. “He’s turning nine, right?”
“Nine, goin’ on nineteen—that sweetheart.” My sister was a big fan of the boys, obviously.
When I’d first heard that Gray and Darius were adopting, I’d automatically assumed babies. My nephew had always wanted a big family, not unlike the one he’d grown up in.
I wasn’t what one might call the jealous type, and I would never begrudge Gray all the happiness in the world. That said, when my nephew, at the age of not even twenty-two, suddenly settled down with a nice man and two kids, you could say it’d lit a fire under my ass.
I didn’t care about the nice man, but I wanted children, and my biological clock was ticking like crazy.
At thirty-four, I’d contemplated not having kids at all. I’d been semi-content in my shoebox of a Manhattan apartment, and work stole all my time. And now, just a year later, hello, baby fever.
Maybe I would never get as far as Chloe; she had the big house and the marriage dreams were made of, and that was okay. As long as I could start shopping for baby shoes and onesies soon.
I had a plan.
The smell of the apple pie Chloe had in the oven wasnotgoing to help me with that plan.
“When are the twins comin’ home? I need them to eat that pie before I cave,” I said.
Chloe glanced over at the oven then back at me and raised a brow. “One slice won’t kill you, doll.”
Right, but myplan.
I smiled, more than a little excited, and figured now was a good time to break the news. “Here’s the thing. You know how you’ve been on my case about having kids since I was basically in kindergarten? Well,nowI’m ready.”
Her eyes widened and brimmed with hope. “No! You’re not jokin’, are you? You can’t joke about that with me, Nat.”
I smirked. “I’m not joking.”
“Oh, this is amazing!” She flew out of her chair and hugged me.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I hugged her back. I’d had a feeling she’d be happy.
