Page 119 of A Kingpin's Weakness
S3 and Seth rode all the rides laughing, yelling, throwing their hands up like they didn’t have a care in the world, and I sat on the sidelines with a camera in one hand and a funnel cake in the other, lowkey jealous.
I wasn’t mad, not really. Watching them was its own kind of joy. I’d gotten some beautiful photos of them: S3 mid-laugh, Seth holding his hand at the top of the coaster, their matchingshirts soaked from the water rides. Moments like these made my chest tighten in the best way. It was what I didn’t know I’d always wanted: this life, these memories, this family. The baby wasn’t even here yet, and everything already felt different.
I took another bite of my Oreo-covered funnel cake just as I saw Seth and S3 walking toward me. Seth had S3 on his back, both of them grinning like little kids.
“You can eat that, but you can’t eat fruit?” Seth asked, squinting at my plate like I offended him personally.
“I ate the fruit,” I replied, licking powdered sugar from my thumb. “I just ate it with a turkey leg.”
He smirked, and S3 slid off his back to sit next to me.
“Stormi, can I have some?”
“I got you one,” I said, handing him the plate I’d been hiding for him in the stroller wagon. His eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
“Disney and sweets” he said, smiling so wide it stretched across his whole little face.
Seth pulled me into his arms, pressing a kiss against my lips like he’d been waiting to all day. “I’m glad your appetite’s back.”
“Me too,” I whispered. “Thought this baby hated food.”
“You ready to tell him?”
I looked at Seth, surprised he hadn’t already slipped up. He almost did three different times earlier, but I gave himthelook, and he locked it in. Still, I knew he was bursting at the seams.
I took a breath. “Yeah.”
Seth turned toward S3. “Hey, Jit. Come here, we got something else for you.”
S3 perked up, mouth already smeared with powdered sugar. I reached into the stroller wagon and pulled out the gift bag I’d packed with everything I knew he loved.
He grabbed it with both hands like it was made of gold. “Presents!”
He started pulling things out fast; his favorite snacks, a couple Spiderman toys, the coloring book he begged me for last week. Then he paused. He held up the tiny t-shirt and stared at it.Big Brother.His brows pulled together, confused.
He looked back in the bag and saw the matching cup that said#1 Big Bro, then turned toward us slowly, eyes wide and unsure.
“…Am I a big brother?”
“You’re going to be one,” Seth said, his voice a mix of proud and soft.
S3 blinked. “How?”
I bit back a smile as I knelt down next to him. “Because I’m pregnant.”
“With a brother?” he asked, looking straight at Seth.
“Yes,” Seth answered without hesitation, like he had some inside info from the womb.
“Or a sister,” I corrected, giving Seth a look. “We don’t know yet.”
S3 was quiet for a moment. I held my breath. My heart was racing harder than when I told Seth. I needed this to go right. I needed S3 to feel safe, included, seen because this wasn’t just about me and Seth. This baby was about all of us.
“How do you feel about that?” I asked gently.
He looked down at the shirt in his hands, then back at us. His little face lit up slowly.
“Happy,” he said. “All my friends are big brothers or little brothers, but not me.”
