Then she turned and saw me. “Mommy, you’re awake.”
“I am,” I said, pushing myself up with a smile. “And I see Snowy is awake too.”
“She was awake before me,” Helena informed me. “She likes Christmas.”
“That makes sense.”
By noon, the apartment was full in the best way. Coats hung over chairs, shopping bags sat near the door, pastries crowded the counter, and coffee warmed everyone’s hands. Aster and Gwen arrived earlier than expected and brought half the outside cold in with them.
Gwen came in first, already talking before she had finished taking off her scarf. “I’m warning everyone now. Any ugly photo of me between today and the wedding gets deleted. Immediately.”
Aster stepped in behind her and shut the door with her hip. “She says this as if she didn’t approve every angle of her own proposal photos. I quote, ‘My left side is happier today.’”
Gwen pointed at her. “And my left side was right.”
Aster looked at me. “She made me retake a picture of her holding coffee yesterday because the cup was ‘ruining the mood.’ Again, I quote.”
“It was the wrong cup,” Gwen said, offended.
I laughed and hugged them both. The familiarity of their noise in my apartment made something in me unclench before I could stop it.
Helena, who had been watching from the rug, sprang up at once. “Auntie Gwen!”
Gwen dropped to her knees with both arms open. “There’s my favorite little troublemaker.”
“I’m four now,” Helena announced proudly. “I’m not little anymore.”
Gwen pressed a hand to her chest. “Excuse me. Who approved this?”
“Me,” Helena said.
Aster bent to kiss Helena’s hair.
“I can still be flower girl,” Helena added, very serious.
Gwen gasped. “Then all is forgiven. You may continue growing, but only under supervision.”
Helena threw her arms around Gwen again, and Gwen hugged her with all the drama she brought to everything. Then she looked up at me over Helena’s shoulder and said, “She’s grown. This is unacceptable. Make her stop.”
I smiled despite the tightness still sitting somewhere under my ribs.
“I’ve tried,” I said. “She doesn’t listen.”
Helena pulled back and frowned at me. “I listen.”
Aster lifted a brow. “When?”
Helena thought about it for a second. “When I want.”
“That is not how children work,” Aster said, setting the coffee carrier on the table.
Gwen ignored her and looked at Helena with great seriousness. “Also, I need everyone here to remember that I am getting married in April. This is now the most important fact about me.”
Helena turned to me at once. “What’s April?”
“A month, sweetheart.”
“A wedding month,” Gwen added, pressing a hand to her chest. “My wedding month.”
