Everyone stares as I take my seat and put the napkin back in my lap.
Before I can say anything else, Carolina taps her glass with a knife. “So, before we have any more earth-shattering revelations today, we thought we’d add ours.”
Rand holds out a hand for her as they both stand. Oh, this should be good.
Rand looks nervous.
Luke glares at our new brother-in-law. He’s still pissed he didn’t get to go full-on Sabervention with the guy.
Carolina clears her throat. “Here’s the thing…”
“We’re pregnant!” Rand interrupts with a yell.
“Sweet OPRAH! Another geriatric pregnancy in the house!” Wysdom shouts and hops out of her chair.
There’s clapping, tears, hugs, and congratulations as my family surrounds the happy couple.
I don’t even notice I’m white-knuckling the chair until Aaron’s hand gently pries my fingers off the armrest.
“You’re going to tear those off if you grip them that hard, Camellia,” Aaron whispers to me.
We’re the only ones sitting in our seats.
I yank my hand out of his. “That would be my business, Sparky.”
Aaron leans closer and grins. “The fact that you keep using my nickname tells me you aren’t ready to throw out our friendship either. So, why don’t you go over there, congratulate your sister, and then we’ll have a nice lunch. After that, you and I are going to talk. Something we should have done more than twenty years ago.”
He eases away from me and takes all of the oxygen in the room with him. I clutch the wine glass in front of me and down it all in one go. I cough. Wine is not supposed to be chugged, but beggars can’t be choosers.
“Isn’t this wonderful,Mija? Another grandbaby!” Mama hugs me as I stand.
My heart clenches in my chest, and the backs of my eyeballs burn.
