Page 57 of The Sweetest Chirp

“I’m sure it will. Give it another two days of antibiotics before you get worried,” Mom says, wrapping her arms around my waist. She hasn’t stopped touching me since I got home, and I understand. I’m the same with Arwen. Mom runs her fingers along the ends of my hair. “I love it, so much better than that poop brown.”

I snort at that as Ingrid nods in agreement. “I told her the same. She isn’t made to be all dark and broody.”

That has Mom and Maeve laughing since all of them, including Arwen, are dark-haired and gorgeous. Maybe that’s why I dyed my hair dark, so I could look more like them. Not that they ever made me feel like I wasn’t part of the family.

“No, she’s the pink diamond in our black diamond family,” Mom says softly, and I put my arm around her. When I look down, though, I notice that Arwen is wearing designer house shoes. I perk a brow at my mom as she walks around me to lean on the counter to tickle Arwen.

“Jesus, how much did you guys buy today?”

“Everything,” Maeve answers honestly. “If she wanted it, she got it. Her room is fully furnished with everything aprintsessacould want. From toys to clothes to shoes.”

I point to the Louis Vuitton shoes and shake my head. “I see that.”

“Ah.” Mom waves me off. “You can’t be upset about that. They are tradition. She needs her own house shoes, here and at my house.”

Figures she’d use the old Russian tradition of always having your own pair of house shoes at a house you are regularly invited to as an excuse to spoil Arwen. But really, why do I care? Let them spoil her. She’s theirs just as much as she’s mine.

“It’s not that I’m upset,” I say with a frown. “It’s that I don’t want her to love you guys more because you buy her everything.”

Maeve flashes a sneaky grin. “That’s a given.”

“We’re babas—we’re automatically the best,” Mom adds with a playful look on her face. She’s so happy, which, in turn, makes me so happy.

But really, these two are going to drive me nuts. Not that I expected anything less.

I roll my eyes playfully as Mom says, “Also, I bought a pair for her to keep at Thatcher’s, though we weren’t sure if she’d go there since he is staying here.”

Hell, I don’t know that yet either. “I saw that he came out of Arwen’s room this morning, in his clothes from last night,” Ingrid says, and I flash her a dark look.

Very aggressively, I sign,Wow, thanks for throwing me under the bus.

Ingrid just beams at me, showing me all her teeth, as Arwen signs,Aunt Ingrid, it’s not nice to throw people.

Ingrid nods.How rude of me. I’ll never do it again.

I give her a look. “Liar.”

She flashes me a grin as she moves to the fridge, and I notice that Mom and Maeve are watching me. They are begging for information, and while I know Thatcher had said to leave it to us, I can’t help but put them out of their misery. “Arwen didn’t want him to leave.”

Maeve beams as Mom gives me a wary look. “Did you want him to stay?”

Yes. “It didn’t matter. Like you couldn’t say no and bought Arwen everything she wanted, I can’t say no to her either.”

Mom eyes me but doesn’t say another word about it. It’s Maeve who says softly, “He’s missed you so, my love. I hope you know that.”

God, I miss you.

I’m right here.

Not the way I want you.

My stomach twists at the memory of his words. How his hat hung low over his eyes. A pair of brown orbs that captured mine in a heated hold. He towered over me, licking his lips while he looked directly at me. It made me feel like I was on top of the world. Like he never wanted to look at anyone but me. But surely that’s not true. He could have anyone he wanted. He has, and I never faulted him for it. Was I jealous? Beyond belief. But he wasn’t mine.

And when I wanted him to be, it blew up in my face like a bomb of epic proportions.

I look away, pulling at a string on Arwen’s little pants. “It’s complicated.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Maeve says gently. “Do you guys know what you’re going to do? Will you live together like before, with Arwen?”

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