“Hey Lollipop, are you ready for dessert?”
My stomach flips, and while Sadie sprints to her mom in anticipation of sugar, I follow behind in anticipation of the big reveal. The regular cupcakes are sitting in the larger pink box, waiting to be consumed in celebration, and the special cupcake is sitting on a plate in front of Sadie’s seat.
“C’mere, Lollipop, this one is for you,” Delilah says, picking Sadie up and setting her in the chair.It’s unnecessary, and I know it kills her back, but Delilah has been picking Sadie up any chance she gets these days. I get it, there’s a short window left where Sadie is her only baby. “Before you dig in, you need to know that this cupcake is very special. Miss Pattie made it just for you.”
“How come?” Sadie asks, eyeing the treat like a lion sizing up its prey.
“Because, Sadie Girl. There’s icing in the middle of the cupcake, and when you bite into it, that icing is going to tell us if the baby in Mama’s belly is a boy or a girl.”
“That’s right, Lollipop. If there’s pink icing inside, that means you’re going to have a baby sister. And if it’s blue?—”
“It’s gonna be pink. It has to be, Mama. I need a baby sister so bad!” Sadie grabs the cupcake and peels off the liner in a hurry, and though we all giggle at her enthusiasm, I mutter a little prayer to the goddesses that she gets what she wants. I don’t care what the baby is so long as they’re healthy, but a disappointed Sadie will break my heart.
Sadie takes a comically large bite, smearing white icing and pink and blue sprinkles all over her mouth. The seconds drag on like hours while the six of us wait for her to reveal the inside of the cupcake. Butterflies take flight in my stomach, and just when Ithink the anticipation might actually kill me, Sadie sets the cupcake down to reveal…
“I’m gonna have a sister! Oh, this is the best news ever, Mama! I know I said I would love a brother, but I lied. Boys can’t even play soccer right.”
Like a flipped switch, tears pour from my eyes at the sight of the light pink icing spilling from inside the vanilla cupcake and staining Sadie Girl’s teeth. Delilah falls into my arms, her tears wetting the front of my shirt. The Hudsons and Stephen and Dottie all clap and cry and encompass us into a group hug that lasts a lifetime.
“We’re having a girl,” I whisper, just loud enough for Delilah to hear. My cheeks ache from the force of my grin, but it doesn’t matter.
“We’re having a girl,” she nods through happy tears.
“Oh my god, we have to have a photoshoot! Ivy, Delilah, let’s go!” Dottie Lynn exclaims.
“Aren’t those just for the mom?” I ask, and Dottie huffs.
“They’re for the parents of the baby. Are you or are you not living with my sister-in-law and planning to raise this baby together?” She crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow at us. And now the whole group is staring at Delilah and me expectantly, even Sadie.
“Way to put us on the spot, Dottie Lynn,” I mutter, running my hand over the back of my neck.
“Yes,” Delilah answers after a beat. “Ivy and I are raising the baby together. We’re together.” She takes my hand in hers and squeezes tight, resting her head on my shoulder. Stephen mutters something that sounds an awful lot like, “It’s about damn time,” and I fight the urge to flick him in the forehead, since he’s one to talk. It took him years to make Dottie Lynn his again, and we all had to sit around and watch him act as the town sad boy for the decade that she was away.
Suzanne and Henry both offer their congratulations and well wishes, but my gaze drops to Sadie. She’s staring up at me from under her long, dark lashes, those brown eyes wide as saucers.
“Are you my Mama’s girlfriend, Vee Vee?”
“I am,” I say, kneeling down without letting go of Delilah’s hand. “Is that okay with you?”
Sadie purses her lips. I can practically see the wheels in her brain turning, thinking over this new information and completely oblivious to the anxiety coursing through me while I wait for her approval. It isn’t until a smile spreads across her face, all chubby cheeks and covered in icing, that I’m able to take a full breath again.
“You really are staying here forever,” she says.Not a question, a statement, and one that warms me from the inside out. I don’t have a chance to confirm before Sadie launches herself at me, flinging her arms around my neck and burying her face into my skin.
“Forever and ever, Sadie Girl. We’re a family, remember?”
“See? You’re a family; you need a photoshoot. Lucky for all of you, I’m a wizard with a smartphone camera. Follow me.”
Dottie Lynn takes Delilah and me by the hands and drags us across the yard and through the gaping hole in the old fence. Sadie follows along, and there in the field of wildflowers, the three of us pose in the light of the late summer sun while Dottie snaps a thousand pictures of us.
“Sadie, jump on Ivy’s back. Perfect. Now Ivy, grab Delilah’s hand and walk towards me. Amazing!”
“Dottie Lynn would have loved working at the Penny’s photo studio back in the nineties,” I mutter to Delilah out of the corner of my mouth, moving my body as Dottie says.
“You bet your ass I would. Now hush up and pose!”
And later that night, when she sends them all to me, I set my favorite photo—the one where I’m on my knees in front of Lilah, cradling her belly while kissing her bump—as the lock screen on my phone.
“We look pretty damn good together,” Delilah says, peeking over my shoulder.
