“Hello?”

“Hey,” I whisper softly, Aunt Ida Sue’s voice instantly bringing a warm rush of memories of my father.

“Hope? Is that you baby doll?”

“It’s me. How are you Aunt Ida?”

“Bad time to ask. Lotus Petal is driving me nuts. I swear you would think she’s the first woman in the history of the world to go through morning sickness.”

“Petal is pregnant?”

“Yeah, Luka knocked her up months ago. She’s starting to look like she swallowed a watermelon now.”

“Nice, Mom,” I hear Petal in the background.

“Just stating the obvious,” Ida Sue laughs, then she lowers her voice. “I was actually being nice, because she’s so damn touchy. She looks more like she swallowed one of those huge beach balls.”

“Oh gosh.”

“And you know how short she is. It’s not pretty. Dang girl waddles when she walks and she’s only about four months. By the time she hits month seven we’ll all be crying if her attitude doesn’t improve,” Ida Sue continues.

“I heard that!” Petal yells in the background.

“I meant for you to! I was hoping it would untie a knot out of your ass and make it enjoyable to be around you for at least a hot minute,” Ida Sue screams back.

“Maybe I’d be nicer if you’d quit trying to force-feed me your homemade morning sickness remedies,” Petal responds, to which Ida Sue sighs.

“I keep trying to feed her those drinks because they make her sleep. Honest to God, I couldn’t stand her otherwise. She’s so hateful.”

“She is! It’s like she’s having Aunt Flo visit every damn day,” this comes from the background, it’s one of my cousins—I think maybe Black.

“Bullshit. She reminds me of one of those Sumo wrestlers,” I hear an answer. I think this one is Blue. “She’s like six hundred pounds of anger hurling at you and you just know she’s going to squash you.”

“Pfft… maybe if the wrestler had a yeast infection in his back flaps and he couldn’t reach it to scratch,” Ida Sue grumbles.

“Blue Lucas! Did you just say I weighed six-hundred pounds?” I hear Petal cry in the background.

“Oh shit,” Blue mumbles, and he must be sitting close to Ida Sue because he’s lowered his voice but I can still hear him. “When does Luka pick her up and take her off our hands?” Blue asks his mom.

“Not for three more hours. If I was you I’d find a place to hide and I’d do it fast. Shit, I’m going to as soon as I get off the phone with Hope.”

“You talking to Hope? Hey honey,” Blue says, and I smile.

“Tell him, hi. Listen if this is a bad time—”

“Don’t you dare hang up. I never hear from you girls anymore! How are Charity and Faith?”

“Charity is stationed overseas. She’s reporting about the rebuilding going on in Jabar. I don’t hear from her much,” I answer, talking about my younger sister who works for a major news outlet. “And Faith is in Las Vegas. Last time she checked in she was working as a blackjack dealer in a casino.”

“That girl. She’s got too much of her father’s wanderlust in her. She needs to start settling down.”

“I don’t see Faith ever settling down, Charity either for that matter.”

“Well, I get it. I sewed a lot of oats until I found my Jansen.”

“Mom if you start talking about sex this early in the day—”

“Bite me, Black. I swear I don’t know how I had such prudish children. I’m ignoring you now and talking to my little Hope.”

I hear more talking in the background, but Ida Sue must have moved, because I can’t really make any of it out.

“Listen, Aunt Ida, I can call later. I didn’t really—”

“Nonsense. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“How do you know something is wrong?” I ask, because everything is wrong, but I thought I was hiding that fact. I guess I was wrong.

“Please honey. What do you take me for? You sound so sad you sound like someone stole all your puppies and made curtains out of them.”

“Curtains?”

“I don’t have to make sense all the time. You get the gist. Now tell me what’s wrong?”

“I was actually looking for White?”

“He’s not here. He took Kayla to the doctor.”

“The doctor? Oh no, is she sick?”

“Knocked up. I think I overdid it on the fertility drinks with those two. She’s having triplets.”

“Oh my God! You’re kidding?”

“Nope. They have three kids already what with the adoption coming through. I think White’s aiming to beat Angelina Jolie in the how-many-kids-can-I-have category.”

“Wow. They’re going to need a bigger house.”

“That’s what I said,” she laughs. “Do you want me to have White call you?”

“Could you? I really need to talk with him about something.”

“I’ll do it, baby doll.”

“Thanks Aunt Ida, love you.”

“Come see me and bring Jack with you. I miss all of you girls, you make me feel closer to my brother.”

“I might surprise you,” I tell her, smiling.

“Promises, promises,” she chides, laughing as we hang up.

I’m left staring at the phone and praying White calls soon. I need to have answers for Aden when I tell him the truth. Maybe if he knows who he is and I can answer his questions he might not hate me.

I say that, but I know it’s hopeless.

He’s going to hate me.