Page 119 of My Brother's Best Friends

“That bad, huh?” Alex asks, looking at Callie.

“Honestly, I was ready to forgive all the nasty stuff she did,” Bryan’s soft-spoken wife says. “But when she made a move on my husband… after everything that happened?—”

“Oh, right, I heard about that. Yuck,” I exclaim.

“Yuck!” Laney mimics me, about to turn her bowl over.

I stop her just in time, making sure she keeps eating. “No, honey, this isn’t yuck, this is really good and tasty…”

“Tasty…”

Callie giggles. “Yes, so… that’s that with Melanie. I cut her off completely. I’m pretty sure our parents haven’t spoken to her in a while, either. It hurt me deeply, but we’re better off without her in our lives.”

She went through a rough time after Melanie’s lies came out. It really devastated her to realize that her sister wasn’t a good person. The whole thing with Bryan was the last straw in what must have been a very heavy burden over the years.

“Are you sure you don’t want any wine?” Alex grumbles. “Just hearing your sister’s name makes me want to down a whole bottle…”

“Hey, the past is in the past,” Oscar politely reminds him.

“Hold on,” Janet says, drawing focus back to Callie. “You love our reds the most. What gives?”

Callie sighs deeply, then looks at Bryan, reaching for his hand as she exclaims, “We’re pregnant!”

I look at Laney first, clapping my hands. “Yay! Laney! You’re going to be a big cousin.”

Laney looks up, not understanding but enjoying the attention nonetheless.

“Congratulations to the both of you!” Oscar says. “And if you want, we’ve got lots of barely used baby stuff to give you. They grow up so fast…”

Kellan’s eyes light up. “That’s right—the crib, the rocker for late-night feedings?—”

“Hang on!” I object. “Are we really drawing a line at Laney, here?”

My husbands look at me, love and enthusiasm sparkling in their brown eyes, but they don’t have a comeback for this. They’re understandably speechless, yet I know they’re seeing the logic behind my argument.

“My sister is right,” Bryan decrees. “We’ll get new stuff for ours.”

“In fact, you’ll probably need it for your own if you do decide to make your family bigger,” Callie chimes in. “With a triplet incidence in the Anderson family, there’s a high chance you’ll be blessed with at least a couple of twins down the road.”

“Oh, God, I didn’t consider that,” I gasp.

Oscar gives me a gentle nudge. “You can always say no.”

“We’ve got room here aplenty,” I tell him.

And just like that, a quiet agreement is made. Soon enough, I think we’ll have the pleasure of promoting our darling Laney to Big Sister. Which is wonderful, because the only way from where we are is up. Up and happier than ever.

EPILOGUE II

MAKAYLA

“Mommy, get my dog,” Laney says from her car seat, her sentences growing more complex by the day.

“Give Mommy a second,” I mutter, reaching behind my seat for the stuffed dog—right as my water breaks. I can feel it leaking all over my seat, soaking the fabric and staining my pants. It must have been that sharp turn I took when I was looking for the toy. “Oh, crap, crap, crap!” I gasp, realizing what’s about to happen.

I plant myself in the soaked seat, close my eyes, and force a few steady breaths. Still parked outside the grocery store, I grab my phone and hit the group call…

Silly me thought I had plenty of time and that it would be no big deal to pop out and get a few supplies for the weekend.

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