Page 97 of Pitiful Lies

I mean, Angel is great. But I don’t think he’s into commitment. And I don’t think I can settle for less.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Maria,” I tell her, and I make goo-goo faces at Nico Jr., who is just about the prettiest baby I ever saw.

“Hey, how did you get hold of the precious one?” Maria asks, setting the tray with our drinks down as she makes a grab for him.

“No way. You had all this little guy’s attention when I was away. It’s time for him to bond with Auntie Sisi, now,” I say, refusing to give him up.

“Baby hog,” she snipes.

“You bet your fat ass I am,” I tease.

Anna comes back towards us, shaking her head, and the three of us burst out laughing.

“You’re both going to spoil him rotten. But, um, FYI, you aren’t going to have to fight over holding him for much longer. There will be one for each of you,” she says, biting her lip and her cheeks are bright red.

“What are you talking about?” Maria asks, sipping her drink.

I take a sip of mine and I moan in pleasure. I don’t know how she does it. But she’s made some sort of fresh fruit punch soda mocktail and it is fantastic.

The fact she serves them with brightly colored silly straws just makes me love her even more.

“Oh my God! You’re pregnant?” I shout, and Anna is nodding and crying, holding her hand over her mouth.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Again? Anna, how does this keep happening to you?” I ask, equal parts happy and surprised.

“Well, Sisi, when a daddy loves a mommy very much, he puts his penis inside her, and?—”

“Shut up!” I tell Maria and shake my head at her.

“You guys, I know it’s soon, and the doctor said as long as I was breastfeeding, I should be fine. But um, either I have like bionic eggs or Nico has super sperm, cause here I am, knocked up again,” she says, and her lip is trembling.

“Hey now.”

“Come here.”

I join Maria with baby Nico in my arms on either side of Anna. We have this group hug going on and we’re all sniffling by the time we’re done.

“Did you tell him?” I ask.

Anna is already nodding.

“Yeah, of course. He’s the first one I told. And he’s so happy. He says he can’t wait to watch the whole thing this time from day one. Then he kissed me and held me all night, and in the morning when I lost my breakfast.”

“Lost your? Ew! You have morning sickness already? That’s not something people made up?” Maria asks, scrunching her nose.

“Oh no, it is very real,” Anna says, and talks about how sweet Nico is with her.

My mind wanders as they talk about the early stages of pregnancy, but I am only half-listening. I wonder about children, and if I will ever have them.

Does Angel even want them? Would he want them with me?

The fact is, I’m not sure and I don’t know how to approach the subject. I mean, hell, we still never cleared up the whole him calling me wife in public thing.

“Okay, I don’t think we are going to get to talk much about the book we’ve been reading, but I am excited to tell you all, Luc and I made a date to celebrate our wedding. Since, you know, we got married in the freaking hospital,” she mutters, but her smile is wide as she starts detailing their reception.

“It’s going to be so beautiful. Oh, I am sorry. It’s these damn hormones,” Anna says, and yes, she’s crying again.

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