Rosa opened the door before they even knocked.
“Finally!” she exclaimed, pulling Maggie into a hug before Maggie could even introduce herself. “I’ve been waiting to meet you!”
“Mom, just let her breathe,” Evie said, laughing.
“I’m just excited!” Rosa turned to Maggie, hands on her shoulders, studying her face. “Evie’s told me so much about you.”
“All good things, I hope,” Maggie said.
“Mostly,” Rosa teased. “Come in, come in. Everyone’s here.”
Inside was chaos in the best possible way.
Evie’s three younger siblings immediately swarmed them—Maya, Carlos, and Sofia. Then cousins appeared. Aunts. An uncle. Children whose names Maggie didn’t catch but who seemed thrilled to have new adults to show their toys to.
Maggie met them all, shook hands, accepted hugs, tried desperately to keep names straight and failed within the first ten minutes.
But they were warm. Welcoming. When Evie introduced her as “my girlfriend Maggie,” no one batted an eye.
Maya just grinned and said, “Called it. I told everyone it was serious.”
Dinner was loud and chaotic, everyone talking over each other, passing dishes, arguing good-naturedly about everything from politics to whether tamales should be on the Christmas menu.
Maggie sat next to Evie, their thighs pressed together under the table, and felt something she hadn’t felt in years.
Belonging.
After dinner, Rosa pulled Maggie aside while they were doing dishes.
“Can we talk?” Rosa asked. “Just for a minute?”
“Of course,” Maggie said.
They stepped out onto the back patio, away from the noise.
Rosa studied her in the dim porch light. “You’ve got something on your mind. I can see it.”
Maggie smiled despite herself. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only to someone who’s known love,” Rosa said. “What are you planning?”
“I’m about to change everything,” Maggie said.
“Good things or scary things?”
“Both.”
Rosa’s expression softened. “Does it involve my daughter being happy?”
“That’s the goal,” Maggie said.
“Then I’m already on your side,” Rosa said. “But I can see you’re carrying something heavy. You want to talk about it?”
Maggie hesitated, then decided—what the hell. If she was going to be part of this family, she might as well be honest.
“I’m leaving my job,” she said. “At Oakridge. I resigned two weeks ago. I start at a new hospital in January.”
Rosa’s eyebrows rose. “Because of Evie?”
