“Not so bad, thank you, Mrs. Madden.”
“That’s good to hear. Darius said you were sick all the time in the beginning, has that gotten better?”
“Yes,” she says and rubs her hand over her rounded stomach.
Jealousy runs through me, and I back up and sit on the arm of the couch. I don’t get the pleasure of feeling my kid in her stomach anymore.
“It’s not long to go now, have you got a birth plan ready?”
Right up till dinner is served, it’s all baby talk, and I slip away unnoticed to help Ma.
“See, it’s not so bad, is it?” I whisper to her.
“The day’s not over yet,” she smirks, and I shake my head.
“Dinner’s up.”
I pull out a chair for Amelia and catch Grandma trying to hide her grin. I’ll be hearing about this later, that’s for sure.
“This looks lovely, Freya,” Mr. Haynes says taking his seat.
“Thank you. It’s nice to hear my efforts have been worth it. The most I get out of the boys is grief because I’ve cooked vegetables.”
Mr. Haynes smiles warmly and looks to me. “Amelia said you have two younger brothers.”
“They’re at their grandmothers on their dad’s side today,” I explain and pass the potatoes to Amelia.
“We share the holidays,” Mom cuts in and I arch my brow.
She couldn’t bring herself to say a single word to Amelia when I first brought her around and now, she’s all mouth with Amelia’s father.
To my side, Amelia loads her plate and I raise my brows when she adds an extra side of peas.
“What?” she asks noticing I’m staring.
“You sure you’re going to eat all of that?”
“Yep,” she says popping the P. “And I’ll probably have seconds too, because I’m hungry all the time.”
“Yes, she must’ve eaten an entire pig’s worth of bacon over the last couple of days,” her dad says.
“I remember when I was pregnant with Darius, I couldn’t get enough of fries dipped in strawberry milkshake. Haven’t had it since and when I think about it now, it turns my stomach,” Mom says.
“I haven’t seen her eat so much in her whole life,” her dad says, and I dig into my turkey.
“You said to give the baby what it wants, and all she wants is food,” Amelia says and shoves a spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth.
I’m starting to think my kid is going to come out the size of a small house. Dinner is comfortable and I help Amelia over to the couch and backtrack to the kitchen to do the dishes. It’s the least I can do after Ma did me proud today.
Once I’m done, everyone’s content to watch the TV with their full stomachs. Amelia has fallen asleep, and Ma shakes her head.
“Let her sleep.”
I sit out on the porch and light a smoke. One thing I’ve learned today is that regardless of what goes down between me and Amelia, our families will be able to come together to raise this baby.
24
Amelia
