Page 1 of Surprise Quadruplets for the Mob

Chapter 1

Abby

Icatch myself smiling as I scroll through my phone, searching for the most adorable pink decorations I can find. After years of wishing, hoping, dreaming—and with so many tears and doctor bills along the way—my sister, Maggie, and her husband are finally weeks away from bringing home their adopted baby girl.

She won’t have Maggie’s dark blond hair or our family’s signature blue eyes, but that little adopted girl will be family no matter what. It’s become my mission in life to make sure my sister gets the best, cutest, most perfect baby shower imaginable. Which requires a lot of pink. Like, a lot.

“Abby, you know you don’t have to do all of this,” Maggie calls from the couch, the dark circles under her blue eyes betraying the long nights she’s spent worrying and praying and crying. They really have been through hell and back over the past few years. My heart breaks every time I think of the lengths they’ve gone to in order to become the parents they were always meant to be.

“Of course I do.” I glance over at her, puffing a strand of dark brown hair from my eyes as I glance over, but still keeping half my attention on my phone as I scroll through websites looking for decorating inspiration. “I want this to be special for you, sis.”

“I know you do, and I appreciate it. It’s just…” Maggie swallows hard, hesitating a moment. “Is it bad that I’m still afraid to get my hopes up? After everything we’ve been through,I just don’t think I’ll be able to take it if something else goes wrong.”

Damn, my heart breaks all over again. She deserves this happiness more than anyone, and I wish there was something more I could do to ease her pain.

“You really have been through a lot. Too much. More than anyone should have to deal with. This time will be different, though. You’ll see.” As much as I believe those words, I know there isn’t anything that will really, truly ease her mind. Not until she has that beautiful newborn baby in her arms.

“I should be more optimistic, but after so many failed IVF attempts and all the paperwork, all the red tape, all the rejections…” Maggie trails off, tears welling in her eyes.

“Hey.” I cross the room and sit down next to her on the sofa, taking her hand. “You’re going to be a mom, Maggie. It may not happen the way you originally planned, but it’s going to happen. You’ll have everything you’ve dreamed about and more, and it’ll make all the awful shit and tedious red tape worth it. I promise it will.”

Maggie sighs, nodding slowly. “You’re right. I’m going to stop worrying and stop doubting and just…let it happen. And in the meantime, I should probably be helping you plan this shower.”

“Let me worry about the baby shower, okay?” I give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You focus on getting ready to bring your little girl home.”

“God, there really is so much to do. So much to prepare for,” Maggie agrees with a small smile. “Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Promise me you won’t go overboard with the decorations,” she teases, a hint of her normally cheerful self shining through. “I don’t want our guests to think they’ve walked into a Pepto-Bismol commercial.”

“Hey!” I snort-laugh and give her a playful shove. “I have impeccable taste, thank you very much.”

We laugh together for a minute, and I give her a tight, long hug before I get up from the couch to finish my planning. “Just try to imagine the cuteness,” I call back over my shoulder as I walk into the dining room. “We’ll have pink streamers draped from the ceiling over here, and maybe a few clusters of pink balloons framing the entryway. Actually, yeah, a lot of balloons in the foyer. That’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

She isn’t answering me, but that’s okay. It might even be for the best if she lets me handle all the details while she takes a little time to relax and de-stress.

“Mags,” I call out as I scroll past a few more pictures on my phone. “What about pink cupcakes? Like, a tower of strawberry cupcakes with pink frosting? Doesn’t that sound cute and delicious? Maybe even different shades of pink. Oh, I’m liking this idea more and more already.” I switch apps to make a note on my ever-expanding shopping list, only belatedly realizing she still hasn’t answered me. Not even to tease me again about all the pink. “Maggie?” I crane my neck to look back into the living room. “You okay in there?”

When she finally answers, her voice is strained, almost like she’s crying. “Could you come here for a second? Please?”

“Coming right now,” I say, trying and failing to keep the worry out of my tone. She’s still sitting on the couch where I left her, but her face is pale and she’s clutching her phone to her chest.

“Mags? What’s wrong?” My stomach twists itself into knots as a million horrible possibilities rush through my mind.

“The adoption agency just called,” she chokes out as tears begin streaming down her cheeks. “The birth mother changed her mind. She’s keeping the baby.”

“No.” I sink down onto the couch next to her, feeling the weight of her heartbreak as if it were my own. I wrap my arms around her, holding her close as she sobs into my shoulder. “No, no, no. I’m so sorry, Maggie.”

“What am I…what am I going to do? I-I can’t go through another round of IVF. And even if I could, my health…my age…”

“Hey, don’t think like that,” I say fiercely, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “You are going to be a mother. We’ll find a way. I promise.”

I don’t know how we’re going to make it happen, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her give up now. Not after she’s already been through so much and has come so far.

“I just want it so bad,” she cries, dashing at her cheeks as fresh tears spill over. “More than anything else in the world.”

“Then we’ll figure something out, just like we always do. Just like we’ve done our entire lives. You’re not alone in this, sis. I’m here for you, no matter what.”

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