Whether or not she actuallywantedthis baby? Whether she loved them already, beyond all reason… that had never even been a question.
Akemi blinked, really seeing the ocean in front of her for the first time since hanging up the phone. This gorgeous view had been the backdrop of her childhood, and sometimes she was blind to it when she had so much on her mind.
She had to make a point of reallylooking, rooting herself in the present andseeingthe dark cliffs and sparkling ocean.
The crash of waves soothed her. It was a sound closer to her heart and soul than any childhood lullaby.
She walked into the kitchen just as Dawn was shuffling off towards the stairs.
“Mom, wait.” She reached a hand out, speaking without thinking.
Dawn turned to her, and Akemi saw a flicker of worry beneath the cloud of suffocating grief that was smothering her mother.
A new possibility sparked in her mind.
Their mom loved babies. Like, madly truly beyond-all-reason loved them.
Was there any chance that the promise of new life could outshine the grief that was dragging her under?
It was worth a shot.
“Mom, everybody…” Akemi took a few steps forward, glancing between her mom and her sisters. “I have some news.”
6
Anne
“A baby?” Harper shrieked.
The family was in an uproar of shock and congratulations following Akemi’s big announcement. She had gotten them all to move into the living room and sit down, and then she’d told them that she was nearly halfway through her pregnancy.
“We’ve never had a baby before!” Hayden said.
Dawn’s expression softened, and she almost smiled. Relief washed through Anne at the sight of emotion on her mother’s face. For a moment, she looked like herself again.
“This house has seen hundreds of babies,” she told her granddaughters.
“Like a million years ago,” Harper protested.
“We didn’t meet them,” said Hayden, “so it doesn’t count!”
“It most certainly does count,” Dawn said quietly.
“What are you going to name her?” Harper shouted.
Akemi laughed. “I don’t know yet.”
She looked so small, sitting on the oversized sofa with her feet tucked up under her long skirt. Her face was completely unlined, and her sleek black hair was cut at an edgy angle.
Between her youthful face and the fact that she was a full head shorter than her sisters, it was easy to get stuck thinking of her as the baby of the family… even now that she was in her late thirties and expecting a baby of her own.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” Pete asked.
“I don’t know that either.”
“I vote boy,” he said, and Harper booed. “This family has plenty of girls already!”
“So, wait,” Oakley said, wide-eyed. “Are you moving home?”
