“Callie, your dream!”
“Came true. Yeah. Should’ve doubled down on birth control,” she mutters.
“I’m going to be an aunt!” My heart feels close to bursting with happiness. “Great Gaea, this is thebestnews in theentireworld!”
Calanthe finally grins, a soft pink blooming on her cheeks.
I throw my arms around her neck. “How far along are you?”
“Just over two weeks. I went for my first ultrasound this morning. That’s why I phoned you a dozen times, left you a hundred messages to call me back, before finally hoofing it over. I wasdyingto tell you.”
“I’m sorry my phone was off.”
She hooks her chin on my shoulder and pats my back.
“How excited is Tarian?” I whisper.
“He’s delirious with happiness. And so freaking smug. I swear, when the doctor told us there were three heartbeats,Tarian acted like having multiples was some kind of masculine achievement.Men.”
I snort, finally pulling away, but only to look at her tummy.
“Can you believe I’m already showing?”
“Well, youaregrowing three— Is that why you’re eating every tomato you come across?”
She nods. “Tomatoes are my kryptonite these days. Mom was telling me that she craved them as well during her first trimester.”
I shake my head, smiling from literal ear to ear. “I’m guessing she knows?”
“Yeah.”
“What about Fiona?”
“Haven’t told her yet. Mal knows, though. He was at the house when I peed on ten sticks.”
For some pathetic reason, I almost ask if Ines was there too, but Ines, last I heard, is still in Atlantis.
Calanthe tugs on her T-shirt, which looks painted on and about to rip. Her ginormous boobs stretch the bleeding heart logo of a band, making it look more like a cracked egg than…
The inside of my mouth suddenly goes dry as the heart bracketed by initials on Cillian’s shoe lights up my lids, followed by the inscription on the cookbook.
RR ?? QH
Dear Reevey… Love always, Quinn.
Quinn.
Reevey.
My buzzing ears fill with what Cillian once told me:My mother remarried.
“Elle, are you all right?” Calanthe asks.
I pull away from her. I don’t know how I get back to Gael and Alexander, but I’m suddenly standing in the aisle between theirseats. “The wife… The one who was married to Chairman and Patriot. Did they have a kid together?”
“No,” Gael says, drawing my heart back into its appropriate cavity. “Caruso Jr. is from a prior union.”
“I don’t mean Caruso’s son.” My heart wanders around my chest again. “I mean Levy’s and whatever her name is.”
