Page 147 of Gracefully Yours

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“It’s beenwaytoolong since we did this,” Angelina called from the kitchen, carrying in a bottle of wine and four glasses.

She was right—we’d let our book club activities fall by the wayside these past few months, ever since Daniel and I had dropped our wedding bomb on them. Sure, we’d all still seen each other—a ton—but there was something about our book club that always felt a little like home.

We’d sent the guys off to the bar for a round of drinks so we could talk books in peace, and without judgement. Even ifwe’d probably all reenacted spicy scenes from books with our guys, they didn’t need to hear us talking about it.

Not that I shared all of my tales with them. Some things were best left unsaid, like the details of our sexual encounter by the fireplace in the ski house we rented or what Daniel did to help me get pregnant.

Despite the passing years, it seemed like nothing had changed, and it transported us back to our college days.

“What’s on the agenda, Gabs?”

We’d always liked to switch it up and take turns choosing books. It was fun, but it was also the way I’d (lovingly) forced them all to read a series about a bunch of humans getting stranded on an ice planet with blue aliens. I didn’t care what anyone said—the world building was incredible, and they were enjoyable.

Gabbi was in charge of the pick for this upcoming month, and she had brought a few options—no surprise there.

Angelina started filling the glasses, and I quickly realized my error. Ever since we’d moved our once a week hangout from a coffee shop to one of our houses, we normally had a glass of wine or two. But now…

“Oh, I’m good,” I said, covering the top of the glass before she could fill it. “I’m not drinking right now.”

She shrugged. “That’s fine. More for me.”

But Noelle turned to me with a quirked eyebrow. “Why aren’t you drinking?”

“I—” My cheeks flushed. It was still early but—they were my best friends. If anything happened, I wanted them to know. I slid my hand over my abdomen, biting back my smile.

Her eyes went wide. “You’re—”

I nodded, my eyes filling with tears. Happy ones. “I’m pregnant. It’s still early—we just went to the doctor this morning and had the first ultrasound, but… Daniel and I are having a baby.”

“Oh, Charlotte. That’s amazing.” Angelina’s voice was full of emotion. “I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt.”

“Can we see?” Noelle asked. “The sonogram?”

I nodded, pulling it out of my purse. Maybe there was a part of me that expected this to happen tonight, and that was why I hadn’t taken it out of there when we’d gotten home earlier. Or maybe it was the fact that I couldn’t stop sliding it out and looking at it to confirm that this was, in fact,real.

Everyone slid closer to me, gathering around to look at the picture.

“Wow. Look at that tiny little bean. How far along are you?” Noelle gushed.

“Eight weeks. We were planning on keeping it a secret until I was out of the first trimester, but…”

“But we’re your best friends, and keeping secrets from us is impossible?” Gabbi asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Does anyone else know?” Angelina raised an eyebrow, and I’m sure she was thinking about her parents. Sometimes, it was still crazy to me she was actually my sister-in-law. I’d never once taken our friendship for granted, even when I’d been a shy freshman and she’d intimidated the hell out of me, but we’d been friends for so long that it was easy to forget who I’d married.

“My mom was there when I fainted, and when you combine that with the nausea and the morning sickness, I think it was pretty easy for her to figure it out. But other than that…” I shook my head. “We haven’t told anyone else yet.”

But somehow, this felt fitting—that these girls, the family that I’d made, were the first that I got totell. The ones who would grow up with my kid calling them Aunt, because even if we weren’t all sisters by blood, that was what they were to me.

Noelle squeezed me tight from my side. “I’m so happy for you.” Her eyes shined brightly, sparkling with unshed tears. “I know how long you’ve wanted this.”

“Don’t you cry,” I groaned. “Or I’ll cry too, and then I won’t be able to stop.”

She giggled. “You know, this is the kind of thing I always thought I’d miss out on not having any siblings. Being my sister’s maid of honor, getting to be an aunt, all of that. But I guess I got exactly that, didn’t I?”

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