Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Crisis averted,” Adrian said, making her way into the room. “I found the bird seed and brought it to the staff to fill the little flute things for everyone to throw after… what is this?” she asked, her gaze finally landing on me.
“I think she has food poisoning,” Sofia said. “I’m ordering ginger ale, saltines…”
“Oh, God,” I groaned, jumping up in my silk robe that had been provided by the venue, and rushing into the bathroom to dry heave over the toilet.
“Add some ginger drops to the order, Smush,” Adrian said, running the tap, then coming over to me to press a cold cloth to the back of my neck.
“Ginger?” she asked. “For… oh. Oh,” she added, eyes going wide as I climbed back onto my feet, feeling a cold sweat spreading across my skin.
“When did you know, hon?” Adrian asked, following me out to the seating room, but veering me toward the couch, pushing me until I lay back down.
“Today for sure,” I admitted. “I was feeling off for a day or two. But this was the second my eyes opened. And then I did the math, and…” I said, waving a hand.
“Were you sick with Judah?” Adrian asked, sitting by my feet, and rubbing my legs.
“No. I wasn’t sick at all. Mostly just tired and hungry.”
“I wasn’t sick with my boys, either,” Adrian said. “But these girls,” she said, waving toward Sofia. “They had me living on the bathroom floor. The only thing that helped was to keep saltines on my nightstand, and the second I woke up, I choked a few down. I tried not even to move my head before I had them in me.”
“I will have to give that a try,” I said, pressing a hand to my wobbly stomach.
“The ginger drops will help. And lots of small sips of water. I know one of the girls was so sick that her doctor actually prescribed some meds because she was losing so much weight, so keep in mind that might be an option too,” Adrian said. “Does Aurelio know?”
“No. I haven’t even taken a test yet. I wanted to be sure. I don’t want to get his hopes up if this is just a stomach bug or something.”
“Well, how late are you?” Sofia asked.
“Just shy of two weeks. We were so busy with the wedding plans that I didn’t even notice…”
“Okay. Well. Let’s get a test too,” Sofia said, reaching for her phone again.
“Smush!”
“I’m texting Elisa. She’ll probably think I’m the one knocked up. She won’t tell anyone.”
Less than half an hour later, I’d sipped some water, sucked on some ice chips, and chewed a few ginger drops.
The cold sweat had eased. As had the sloshing sensation in my stomach.
If it kept up, I was pretty sure I could summon the energy to get myself pretty and go through with the day I’d been dreaming about for months.
“Truth time,” Elisa declared as the alarm on her phone sounded.
Taking a deep breath, I walked into the bathroom to check the status of the stick sitting on the box.
Elisa had opted for a digital test.
And right there in the window was the word we’d all suspected, but wanted confirmed.
Pregnant.
“Well, that is probably the best wedding gift you could give to Aurelio,” Adrian said, all watery-eyed as she wrapped an arm around me. “Judah is going to be a great big brother.”
Now that Judah had been around other children all the time, thanks mostly to the extended Grassi family, he’d been asking why he didn’t have any siblings, since everyone else had several children.
He was over three now.
It was a good time to have a baby.
But I’ll admit that having morning sickness during my honeymoon didn’t exactly sound like a good time.
“Yeah,” I agreed, sucking in a deep breath, and staring at myself in the mirror.
“You’re happy, right?” Sofia asked.
“Completely,” I agreed. “Though I’m a little upset that I might not be able to keep all the food down tonight,” I admitted.
“Small price to pay,” Adrian said, hugging me long and hard.
Adrian was another thing I was thankful to Aurelio for.
After losing my own mom, I worried that I would never again know a motherly figure, that my son would never know a grandmotherly figure.
All those worries evaporated as soon as I got to know the matriarch of Aurelio’s family, though. She was everything you imagined when you thought of the perfect mother-in-law and grandmother.
She was an amazing cook. She adored kids, and was always more than happy to take the kids to give their parents a break. She never butted her nose in your business, but she was happy to give advice if you asked for it. She didn’t judge if the house was messy or you were giving the kids junk food. And while she adored her sons, she didn’t have that creepy bond with them where she believed that no woman could be as worthy of her sons’ love as she was.