KristoFive days till Jolene moved in. Six weeks until the wedding. And about thirty seconds before I tossed my sister out of my office.“Really, Cleo, it’s going to be okay,” I promised her. “You need to calm down. It’s not that big a deal.”“Of course, it is!” she exclaimed, shooting a furious look in my direction. “I really liked this girl, Kristo. And now she’s just gone. Like that. I can’t believe it.”I ran my hand through my hair and tried to center myself. I had never much been good at this kind of thing, but it was my sister, so I would give it a go.“Come on, tell me about it.” I crouched down in front of where she had crashed dramatically into the seat in my office just a few minutes before. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”She wiped the tears away from her eyes and gave me a hard look.“You’re getting married soon,” she reminded me. “You don’t know what it’s like to have your heart broken.”I thought back to the moment when Amaya had walked out on me, when she had told me s
Kristo“I guess I should probably let you get back to work.” She sighed and dragged herself to her feet, as though it was some great trial to even pull herself upright. “And can you get me Darla’s number from Amaya? I guess we were a little distracted the first night we met, and I forgot to ask for it.”“Just drinks, huh?” I teased again.“Just drinks,” she repeated, but she was grinning like she was sitting on a secret. I gave her a quick hug and saw her to the door.“Take care of yourself, okay?” I ordered her. “I’m going to need you running properly these next few weeks. The wedding’s coming up, and then …”“And then we’re going to have to start putting shit together for the nursery.” She clapped her hands together in excitement. “Oh my god, I can’t wait to meet my little niece.”“Or nephew,” I reminded her. “We don’t know the gender yet.”“Yeah, I have a feeling.” She tapped her nose.“Just make sure anything you do get is gender-neutral,” I suggested. “Just on the slight chance y
Amaya“Oh my god, I can’t believe this is actually happening.” Jolene was practically dancing in her seat as we pulled up to the apartment building. I grinned in the rearview mirror. She had been saying that over and over again since we’d gotten into the SUV after loading everything she owned into the back. It surprised me how little she had, but then I remembered that up until a few months ago, the two of us had barely been able to afford to take care of ourselves. I noticed the charm bracelet on her wrist, glinting in the morning sunlight, and I smiled, knowing Kristo had given her something I would never have been able to treat her to.“No, me neither,” I replied. “You’re going to be living with me again. With us.”“Crashing your newlywed thing.” She grinned, chuckling to herself. “When do I start getting to throw wild parties when you’re out of town?”“Never,” I replied firmly, shooting her a look. “Come on, let’s get your stuff unpacked and head upstairs. There are loads we’ve go
Amaya“Yeah, I’m all right,” I assured Kristo, and then I lowered my gaze and let out a long sigh. “Actually, no.”“No?” He moved against me, clearly concerned. He wrapped his arms around my waist, letting his hand rest on my belly. He had fallen into a habit of it recently, even though we both knew the baby was way too small to feel moving yet. It made me feel grounded, being with him like this and knowing I could be honest, so I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair and decided to tell him the truth.“I just feel guilty,” I admitted. “About Jolene.”“What do you mean?” He furrowed his brow. “Aren’t you happy she’s here?”“No, it’s not that.” I shook my head. “I’m so happy she’s here, happier than I could ever tell you. But she spent so long up in that house all by herself while I was down here in the city with you.”“That was a choice you made for the both of you,” he reminded me. “You would have had to give up your career to stay at home and take care of her. You had to do it,
KristoI woke early the next morning before Amaya had so much as opened her eyes. She was sleeping restlessly, having been up and down in the night, ill with the baby. I had gotten up a few times with her, but she had waved me away and insisted I go back to bed.“One of us should be rested for tomorrow,” she told me, bleary and clutching her stomach. I shrugged, happy to go back to bed, the tiredness weighing heavy on my system.I leaned over and planted a kiss on her temple, being sure not to wake her up, and slipped out of bed. I went through the apartment to check on Jolene. I didn’t want her sitting there feeling like she was intruding on anything, but when I stuck my head into her room, she was sleeping soundly with her back to the door, her chest rising and falling slowly and peacefully. I decided to leave her to catch up on some sleep and slid into a long, hot shower. It had been a hell of a day yesterday, and I wanted nothing more than to spend the next few hours getting used
Kristo“Good morning,” she greeted Cleo and me before rolling herself up to the table. “This looks amazing. Is this what you have every morning?”“Oh, no.” I waved my hand. “Most of the time, I just stick to coffee. But we’re celebrating, aren’t we?”“I thought we were just celebrating last night,” Jolene pointed out, and I grinned.“Well, this is your welcome breakfast.” I gestured toward the food in front of us. “Consider it a welcome from Cleo and me.”“Well, it looks fantastic.” She smiled at me. “Thank you so much for this.”“Let me just go get Amaya, and then we can—”“I’m up.” Amaya’s voice came from the doorway to the bedroom, and I turned to find her standing there, looking a little wobbly on her feet. “And don’t wait for me. I’m not feeling so good this morning. I’m going to go lie down.”“Are you sure?” I furrowed my brow, and she nodded before turning to vanish back into the room.“Morning sickness?” Jolene asked quietly as soon as Amaya was gone. I nodded.“She’s been rea
AmayaI could have just crawled back into bed for a nap when the knock on the door came. I glanced over at Kristo, who had been reading a book quietly on the couch, and he shrugged.“Who’s calling on us now?” I asked, sighing deeply. I was so exhausted from the last couple of days, all I wanted was to relax and catch up on some sleep and hopefully not throw up anything I put in my stomach. The nausea had just begun to recede, but I was still taking it slow. Kristo and Cleo had taken Jolene for a walk around the neighborhood while I had tried to make myself useful at home and succeeded only in lying very still on the couch, hoping nobody would appear to disturb me.Kristo stood up, holding his hand out to me to keep me in my seat.“Don’t move an inch. I’ve got it,” he assured me. I lay there grateful my husband-to-be was so helpful. Damn, but if I hadn’t become a little pampered in this life that he built up for me.Before he could say a word, his grandmother swept into the room, not j
AmayaKristo drifted in and out, bringing us coffee and food where he could. I was still feeling a little under the weather, but I had been chugging a bunch of that apparently magical tea, and it was more or less keeping me on my feet. Besides, with the buzz of having everyone around, everyone focused on helping me get this damn wedding off the ground, I couldn’t let any of them down. As though realizing this, the baby seemed to decide to give me some respite, for the time being, a break from the nausea that had been plaguing me, and before I knew it, we had put together the most spectacular wedding I had ever heard of in my life.“Okay, so let me run through it from the top.” I clapped my hands together once I had everyone in front of me. Like me, they all looked a little ragged around the edges but kind of energized, too, like they could have spent another hour on the phone talking about the color of the flowers we were going to have at the ceremony versus those we were going to hav