ARIA POV
*five months later*
“Eva is going to be loud.”
Ella said it with the absolute certainty of a prophet and the sleepy seriousness of a now seven-year-old who had the certainty that the future was her personal responsibility.
Her small palm rested against the top of my belly, warm through the soft fabric of my nightgown. My daughter—because that was what she legally was now, what she had been in every way that mattered since the very first day our eyes collided—rubbed slow circles over the tight, round curve where her baby sister had been rearranging my ribs for most of the evening.
I giggled before I could stop myself.
I was too pregnant for dignified laughter.
Too pregnant for most things, honestly.
Standing, breathing, sitting down, getting up again, pretending my feet wer
