Six months later…

“So tell me, how are you really?” Evie Maldono asked.

Rolling her eyes at her best friend, Lexi tried to keep her anger at bay. “I’m fine. I keep telling everybody I’m fine. Why won’t you guys listen to me?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I know you. There is absolutely no way that you’re just casually taking this all in stride.”

Lexi took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “No, you’re right, I am stressed out. You know what’s stressing me out? You guys are asking me every damn day, every damn hour, almost every damn minute just how the hell I am. It hasn’t changed, and if something does change you will most certainly be one of the first to know. Until then, my standard answer is ‘I am fine.’”

Evie held up a finger for Lexi to wait and dug into her purse, pulling out a notepad and pen. “Here, let me write this down. I want to make sure I don’t forget it.”

A giggle bubbled in Lexi’s chest, but she wasn’t about to give in that easy. “Go ahead and be a smartass, but you have two options: you can sit there and be my friend and stop asking me how I feel or you can leave.”

“So, ice cream? Chocolate?”

That time Lexi couldn’t stop the laugh that burst from her lips. “Yes, actually, ice cream sounds fantastic.”

“Great! I’ll be right back.” Evie rushed out of the room.

Relaxing back on her pillows, Lexi looked up at the ceiling, then out the window, then back to the shadows dancing on the ceiling. She was bored out of her mind and wondering how she was going to get through the next, at a minimum, six weeks. She’d be thirty-two weeks by then, and while that would still technically be a premature baby, the doctors were saying that would give her baby a fighting chance at surviving. Obviously, the longer he stayed in her womb, the better. The odds of her going forty weeks were minuscule.

Evie walked back into the room which a huge bowl of ice cream, both vanilla and chocolate.

Her best friend knew her well. “Damn, what makes you think I can eat all of that?” Lexi tried not to smile.

“Who says this is for you?”

“Because if it was for you it would be raspberry ice cream since that is your favorite.” Lexi tried to peek at what was in the bowl.

Grinning, Evie tilted the bowl so she could see and burst out laughing.

“I stand corrected. Are you going to share?”

“Of course.” Evie pulled two spoons out of her back pocket. “I come prepared.” She climbed into bed with Lexi and held out a spoon to her. “Dig in.”

The two friends ate in silence. After years of being there for each other, they knew what the other needed and knew the best way to make the other feel better.

“So, when is Dr. McHottie getting here?” Evie asked.

“What would Anthony say if he heard you?”

“Well, first he’d roll his eyes, then he’d say something sarcastic in that sexy British accent about how I was becoming one of the Troublesome Trio. To which I would reply, since one of them is my biological grandmother, I’ll take that as a compliment. Then he’d give me a look, I’d probably laugh and smack him on the ass, then we’d fall into bed and make some hot, sweet monkey love.”

“That sounds about right—especially the part about you becoming more like the Trio.”

“Hey, there are worse things I could be than like one of them, in their seventies and running circles around people half their age. Besides, I’m trying to get you ready for when they visit. Your doctor is kind of sexy, and you know how they get around men. They’ll be coming up with ailments for him to examine them.”

“He’s a pediatric surgeon. Those ladies are far from pediatrics.”

“They’ll make some kind of comment about how they thought he said ‘geriatric’ surgeon.”

“True—they always find one way or another to turn things around to flirting.”

“Are we calling it flirting now?”

“It’s the mildest term I can come up with at the moment.”

“Then flirting it is.”

“When do you think they’re going to make a trip out here?” Lexi asked.

“I think they’re waiting until closer to when the baby comes. They’re going to have their bags packed so they can be out here in a moment’s notice. Plus, if they wait until after the baby comes, their roles as grandmothers can be played out.”

“They do love that role.”

“They excel at it. They can’t wait for another baby to spoil. Trust me, I hear from them all the time about when are Anthony and I going to get down to the business of baby-making.” Evie rolled her eyes. “Grams even pulled Anthony aside and gave him a lecture on what he needed to do to make sure his swimmers were as healthy as possible. That conversation took him days to get over. Poor guy.” She laughed. “But he knew what he was getting into when we got married. After all, Grams did knock him out with a frying pan the first time she met him.”

“I’m pretty sure the Trio has scared all of our men at some point or another. Remember the time Leigh burst into the bedroom when Noah and I were in there and proceeded to sit down and give us Kama Sutra instructions? Noah had to drive an hour, one way, to the closest store that was open in the middle of the night so he could buy new locking doorknobs for the bedroom.”

“They certainly know how to kill a mood.”

“Don’t tell them that—they’d say they were only trying to enhance it.”

“I could do without that.” Evie shuddered. “Anyway, I’ve been doing some research on sacrococcygeal teratoma…”

“You might as well call it SCT, since we’ll be talking about it often.”

“Do you want to start with the worst case, or be all optimistic?”

“As it stands right now the tumor is a Type I, which means it is all outside of the baby’s body, and it is made up of fluids and solids. We’re lucky in that it is slow growing. They are estimating it could be anywhere from eight to twelve centimeters when I give birth. Considering it could end up as large as the baby, I will take the smaller one.”

“What are they doing for you and the baby? Why couldn’t you have stayed closer to home?”

“You know Noah: he did his research, and interviewed all the top pediatric surgeons in the country and thought Dr. Halston would be the best. And since he kind of is a package deal with his wife Dr. Ellison Halston, who was also on our list, he thought it would be best if we were here. I honestly can’t blame him, although I do miss our girls something fierce.”

Evie reached over and rubbed Lexi’s belly. “I’m trying to be strong for you, but I’m scared. If the tumor gets too big, it could put stress on the baby’s heart, and you could mirror his symptoms. Things could go wrong quickly.”

“Which is why one of the Dr. Halstons will come by and check on me, not to mention us going into the office weekly. I know the signs to look for. They are similar to pre-eclampsia—vomiting, hypertension, and edema. If any of those start on me, we have to get to the hospital right away.”

“I miss seeing you all the time.”

“Please,” Lexi scoffed. “Half the time you’re in London and don’t see me.”

“This is different. When I’m in Ipswich, you’re supposed to be there. And yes, I realize I sound like a spoiled brat. I am.”

Lexi’s lips twitched. “I still love you.”

“I love you too.” Evie put her head on Lexi’s shoulder. “So, how are you doing?”

Lexi shook her head. “Fine, I’m fine.”