“Real places,” I say quickly. “Bigger than this. Close to a park, good schools, space for a nursery. We could go see a couple next week if you’re up for it.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “Brooklyn, huh?” she whispers, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “Guess we’re really doing this.”
“We are,” I say, certain now. Brooke bites her lip, still not convinced.
“How about Lealise?” I ask suddenly.
Brooke’s head snaps up, and she actually laughs. “No,” she says, shaking her head. “Why would you want our daughter to have aterriblename?”
“It’s not terrible,” I protest, grinning. “It’sunique.”
“Uh-huh,” she says, smirking. “Then let’s name her Sequa.”
I burst out laughing, the sound bubbling out before I can stop it. “She’dhateus.”
Brooke lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “She’ll hate us anyway.”
Chapter Thirteen
Brooke
“Hi, I’m Brooke,” I say, giving a small, awkward wave. God, I really need to stop doing this. At first it was just a joke, something to tease Matthew, but now it’s like muscle memory. I drop my stupid hand back to my lap.
“I’m about twenty weeks,” I continue. “And I’m married. My marriage is… younger than the pregnancy.”
That gets a few chuckles from the circle of women around me, and I let out a small laugh too. “Yeah, it’s kind of a shotgun wedding, as you may have guessed.”
There’s a ripple of knowing smiles and nods, theyget it, and it makes me feel a little less like I don’t belong here.
“My husband and I just moved to Brooklyn,” I go on. “I wasn’t actually going to come to this group at first. I told myself I didn’t need it. But the truth is…” I pause, twisting my fingers in my lap. “I don’t have a lot of support.”
A few heads tilt, their expressions softening, encouraging me to keep talking.
“I mean, I have my sister,” I say quickly. “But she’s never been through pregnancy. She’s got two kids, but they’re adopted, and they’re notany lessher kids, obviously. She’s just… she can’t really help me with heartburn or swollen feet or the creeping feeling that I’ve already failed before my kid’s even born.”
The words tumble out faster than I mean them to, and I try to lighten it up with a smile. “And my mom’s dead.”
The room goes silent.
I laugh, loudly, and awkwardly, the sound echoing far too brightly in the small room. “She was, uh… killed. By my dad. And I guess that’s… not really funny.” My voice trips over itself, and I can feel the heat crawling up my neck. “So, I’m gonna shut up now.”
There’s a long, weighted pause. I glance around, wishing I could rewind the last ten seconds and keep my mouth shut. But then Sheera, the woman sitting across from me, the one who showed me this room and who looks like she could go into labour any second, gives me a small, understanding smile.
“It’s alright,” she says, her voice surprisingly steady. “All of us have things that aren’t funny. But we laugh anyway, because sometimes that’s the only way to deal with them.”
I blink, caught off guard. She gestures loosely around the circle. “Look around. It’s just us. No instructor. No therapist. Just five pregnant women who don’t really have anyone else either.”
I let my eyes move slowly around the room, taking in each face properly this time.
The woman sitting to my left speaks up next. She has ink covering most of her arms and curling up the side of her neck, bold and beautiful. She gives me a small smile before saying, “I’m Becks.”
I smile back.
“My boyfriend and I…” she starts, then lets out a small laugh. “Though it might not look like it, we actually planned this.” She places a protective hand over her small bump, her voice gentling. “But now…” She trails off, taking a breath like, she’s steadying herself. “I love him. I really do. But when I found out I was pregnant, he left.”
The other women nod, like they’ve heard this before, but no one interrupts.
Becks tilts her head, like she’s trying to make light of it but can’t quite manage it. “He said he got overwhelmed. And he did come back. He really did. But now…” Her voice cracks just slightly. “Now I can’t shake the feeling that he could just leave again. That one day he’ll wake up and decide he can’t do this, and he’ll just… take off.”
