Page 25 of Through the Storm

“Double. Nephew. Or niece.” She grabs my arm. “I’m going to be a double aunt.” She throws her hands in the air. “Do you understand howiconicthat is?”

“Ella,” Rebecca says flatly, “sit down before you injure yourself.”

“I willnot,” Ella declares.

And then I start laughing. Like, real laughing. The kind that sneaks up on you and knocks the air out of your lungs. My stomach hurts, my eyes sting, and for the first time in days, the tightness in my chest actually eases. I forgot how this felt.

Ella beams. “See? Joy. I bring joy.”

“Okay, okay,” I wipe at my eyes but I’m still laughing. “But this doesnotmean you get to be worse than you already are.”

She blinks. “Worse?”

“Yes,” I say. “You are already at maximum.”

Rebecca snorts into her glass.

“Look, I appreciate your love and how much you care. But I cannot take it anymore,” I tell her. “You absolutely cannot escalate.”

Ella presses a hand to her chest. “Wow. You get pregnant, and suddenly you’re very sassy.”

“Yes,” Rebecca agrees. “We call that growth.”

Ella sighs dramatically and flops back into her lounger. “Fine. I will attempt to be normal.”

I give her a look.

“For you,” she adds. “No promises about anyone else.”

I laugh again, softer this time. “Thank you.”

Rebecca sets her glass down and leans forward, her tone shifting. “Okay. Jokes aside… what exactly happened? Why are there othercandidatesif you finally got with the guy you wanted? Was he disappointing?”

Ella whips her head towards Rebecca so fast I’m worried she might’ve broken her neck. “Bex! Please don’t start. He’s my cousin!”

“He wasn’t disappointing inthatway. But he kind of disappeared on me. He never called me. Or even texted me after our night together. So I spiraled. Hence the other contenders.”

I say it like a joke, but shame still crawls up my throat.

Ella nods like this makes 100% sense, and I love her for it.

Rebecca reaches over and squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry, Katy. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Of course you didn’t. And he might be acting all cute now, but I get why you wouldn’t trust him after that.” Ella adds.

“Thank you for being on my side, even when he is your cousin,” I say to her.

“Of course,” she declares. “But just so we’re clear,” she says, already smiling again, “this is also my baby now.”

I groan. “See? Already worse.”

Rebecca grins. “Yeah. But at least you’ll never have to do this alone.”

CHAPTER NINE

ben

MY EYES