Page 81 of When Our Stars Aligned

Aly looks up at me. “I assure you, I am not biologically a Parker. My parents, aloof as they are, are my actual parents. I had my DNA done back in college just to make sure.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Aly.” My dad pulls her into a hug. “Emma’s nursing the twins right now… I, uh, wanted to give them some privacy.”

“So glad I didn’t walk in on that!” I announce loudly.

“I heard that!” I hear from inside the room. “I just finished. Get in here!” Emma yells from her bed. I grab Aly’s hand and lead her into the room.

Emma is sitting in her hospital bed with two bundles, one in each arm. Her dark hair is up in a messy bun, her eyes have dark circles underneath them, but besides that, she looks radiant for just giving birth.

“Come here!” she says with a grin. “I have one for each of you. The one with the purple headband is Lily and the one with the pink headband is Rosie.”

“Oh my gosh! They’re beautiful!” Aly gushes at the two little cherubs dressed in soft white onesies with headbands bigger than their heads.

“Here,” Emma says to Aly. “Take Rosie. Jax can take Lily. I think she just pooped.”

Everyone laughs as the joke breaks any possible tension in the room. Then I scoop up Lily and realize my sister wasn’t joking.

Emma throws her head back against her hospital bed and laughs hysterically. “The…look…on…your…face!” She grabs her belly.

“Oh! Give me my grandbaby.” Mom grabs the baby from my arms. “Aly, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Eve.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Aly replies, and I watch her gently rock Rosie…or is that Lily? Yeah, I’m going to have trouble telling these two apart.

My mom, sister, and Aly begin chatting about the babies and other things. Aly’s body language relaxes as she becomes increasingly comfortable around my family. I know my momis already in love with her. She’s all but pulled out the baby pictures of me. Wait…never mind.

“Mom! Can you stop it, please?” I whine. “And who carries actual photographs around anymore?”

“You’re old, honey,” Mom chides. “We didn’t have cameras on our phones back then. Oh! Look! Here is Jaxon in the bathtub! He was just the cutest. The warm water must’ve relaxed him cause every time I put him in the tub, he would pass gas.”

“Mom!” I yell.

“The water would bubble up—”

“MOM!” I yell louder, earning a laugh from everyone in the room. I can feel my face turning a deep shade of red. While I’m embarrassed at my mother’s antics, I do appreciate that Aly seems at ease with her.

“Don’t worry, Jax.” Emma giggles. “Grant’s mom pulled out the home videos when I met his parents for the first time.”

“Don’t remind me,” Grant groans.

A gasp near the door has all our heads turning towards the sound. My uncle Chris and aunt Maria stand stone-still, staring at the beauty sitting next to my mother.

“Aly?” Aunt Maria says with a shaky voice.

“Oh my! You’re all grown up now!” Uncle Chris says as they bound towards her.

“You’re so beautiful!” Aunt Maria says, placing a strand of stray hair behind Aly’s ear. You can see the tears forming in her eyes. They pull her into a hug. I can’t see their faces, but I can hear my aunt sobbing and muttering something in Italian.

I stand there in awe of everything. How emotional Aly is seeing my aunt and uncle for the first time in years. How happy my aunt and uncle are to have Aly back. You can feel the love radiating through them all.

The sound of laughter from behind me brings me out of my thoughts. I turn to see Emma and Grant whispering and giggling together.

“What?” I look at them.

“Don’t you find it funny that your girlfriend refers to your aunt and uncle as Mamma and Papa?” Grant asks with a smirk.

“Huh, I didn’t until you mentioned it.”

“That’s some backwoods type stuff right there and it’s hilarious.” Grant claps me on the shoulder.

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