“Aww,” Aurora said again.
Angeni didn’t know what to say. She was not aware of these Abraham Lincoln words, at least not consciously. Had they been sitting there in the depths of her subconscious, waiting to be put to use?
“I mean, your post is fine,” Sitka said. “Maybe just add a line to credit Abraham Lincoln?”
“I’m not sure that crediting an old white man is very on brand,” Aurora said, putting “on brand” in air quotes.
Angeni said, “I’m not a brand” at the same time Sitka said, “But he did say that.”
“Have any of the followers even noticed this weird ... coincidence?” Erik asked.
Reconsulting his phone, he scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, then said, “I don’t see any comments about this.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s kind of an obscure reference,” Aurora said.
“Well, I knew it,” Sitka said with a shrug. Angeni wished she would shut up. She was making Angeni doubt herself, and Angeni hated doubting herself.
“Are you a big Abraham Lincoln fan?” Aurora asked. “He was so important to ending slavery, right?”
Aurora looked so serious, so earnest. Angeni was horrified. There was a dreadful silence in the kitchen as they all stood there, waiting to see how Sitka would respond.
Angeni could feel all of them holding their breath before Sitka erupted in laughter.
“Oh my god, Aurora,” she said.
And then they were all laughing, and Angeni felt the tension slowly leave her body. That was all they needed—a laugh—for harmony to be restored.
“I’m sorry—I was just wondering,” Aurora said.
She was so clueless sometimes. Her naivete was both her best and her worst quality.
“Can you imagine if I really was an Abraham Lincoln superfan? Like, I had a fan page for him on Instagram?” Sitka said.
She was still laughing, so they all followed her lead. Freya was enjoying it most of all.
When her laughter died down, Sitka said, “On second thought, just leave the quote. You guys are right—nobody’s gonna notice or care. Or they’ll just think you made a slight tweak to a famous quote.”
“Is it really a famous quote?” Angeni asked.
Sitka just shrugged. “Guess not.”
“Erik, can you keep a close eye on the comments section today?” Angeni asked him.
Erik nodded, a grave expression on his face. He took his role as online bodyguard, patrolling Angeni’s social media feeds, very seriously. There had recently been a Reddit thread with strangers taking bets on when he and Angeni would “consciously uncouple” (most guessing before Freya turned two), and Erik could not get it removed, despite repeated engagements with the Reddit help center. He left comments on the thread, things likeI don’t know, guys, they seem solid to meandsounds like most of you just wish you had what they have. That just generated more wrath, and Angeni told him to just leave it, so Erik backed off. Eventually, people lost interest, and after a grand total of ninety-one comments, the thread was archived. It was still there for all the world to peruse, but people couldn’t add new comments. Erik assured Angeni that he checked every day for a new Reddit thread to patrol, but there was nothing.
“I’m thinking it’s time to release the birth story,” Angeni said, sitting on a stool across from Sitka at the island.
She had been waiting for the perfect time to share The Birth Story. Her community was clamoring for it, and she had repeatedly told them that she would share it if and when it felt right in her heart. It was so precious, she’d said. She wanted to possess it for herself and her loved ones, she’d said. Now, though, with engagement on her Mother Nurture posts slightly down—Erik checked the metrics weekly—it felt like the right time.
“I love this idea,” Erik said, as if it was his first time hearing it, though they had just discussed it the night before.
“The worldneedsto see this. It’ssobeautiful,” Aurora said, her eyes welling up.
Aurora had been there, at Freya’s birth. Angeni labored for hours in a giant birthing tub, with Aurora and Erik taking turns massaging her lower back and shoulders while whispering affirmations. Erik filmed the whole thing, which Jer, their resident video production expert, had spent weeks editing. What nobody but their community knew was that Angeni had actually delivered Freya at the hospital after the midwife, an elderly woman named Pearl who Angeni trusted implicitly, was concerned about the baby’s heart rate dropping. This would create issues with the Birth Story video, of course, as Angeni had no plans of telling her followers that she’d abandoned her home birth. She instructed Jer to show the laboring process, and then they would cut to Freya in her arms later, footage they got once Angeni and Freya came home from the hospital. If people complained about not seeing the actual delivery, Angeni had a planned response:Some moments of this life are sacred, meant to be held close to the hearts of those present. This was one of those moments.
“Are you thinking a written post, or are there photos or a video or what?” Sitka asked.
Angeni appreciated Sitka’s input. She was a decade younger than Angeni, hipper and more savvy about social media. This didn’t bother Angeni. She didn’t aspire to be savvy with a technology made to disconnect people from the natural world. For her, social media was anecessary evil, something to help spread the messages she was born to spread—her Human Design profile indicated that this was her calling, to guide people toward their inner truths and help them find meaning and healing.
