“Chyna, you’re back!” Cherry threw open the door and was smiling until she saw me. “You’re crying.”

I walked into her arms, her protruding belly pressing against my stomach. Somewhere along the way over, I’d let the floodwaters loose, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop. “I’m a mess.”

“Come inside. Come on. Let’s get you settled on the couch and then we’ll figure out what’s happening, okay?”

I let her lead me inside, but I was already spilling my guts. “I’m miserable. I’ve been trying to fight this situation with Blaise, but I can’t. I went to him, and he told me he wants all or nothing, but I can’t give him all because…what if he turns into his father? What if I turn into our mother? And I can’t give away who I am. He made me leave. He made me leave his house, and I feel like I’m dying inside.”

I spit it all out on a wail, and by the time I was finished, I was on the couch with my head in my sister’s lap. She stroked my hair while I sobbed against her pregnant belly. Mid sob, I stopped to pat it and say hello to my nephew.

“This is big. I can’t even remember the last time I saw you cry, even when we were children. You don’t cry.” Cherry pressed her hand to my head. “Nope, no fever.”

A hiccup escaped before I sat up and wiped my face on my sleeve. “There’s something I never told you.” I took a deep breath as I contemplated where to begin. I wasn’t sure how Cherry was going to take what I wanted to say.

“Sis, not long after we turned eighteen, I…I went to look for our mother.” I waited to see how she would react to that statement.

“Don’t tell me you found…” Her words trailed off, and her face became ashen.

“She’s dead. She died when we were small children. But I learned a lot about her from people who knew her.” Gauging Cherry’s reaction, she was stunned but curious. I had decided at the time that I would wait for a good time to tell her, but then there just never seemed to be a good time.

“I know this is going to be bad,” Cherry whispered. “If it was good, you would have told me a long time ago.”

“After our dad died, our mother was just in a string bad relationships, one after another. Cherry, it sounded like she was a magnet for loser men and dysfunctional relationships. The state took us away from her because she was so beaten and broken by men that she wasn’t able to stand on her own two feet and take charge of her own life. She was literally controlled by one man after another until she was destroyed. She couldn’t even protect her own children.” Cherry had tears in the corners of her eyes as she absently caressed her belly.

Cherry swallowed hard. “Well, it’s not like it comes as a great shock. We knew we were removed from her home by the state.”

“Ever since I found out, I think I’ve been terrified that I would somehow follow in her footsteps.”

“Like how? You thought you’d abandon your kids because of a man?”

“Well…”

“Are you serious?” My sister’s jaw dropped. “Chyna! You are nothing like that! There is zero chance of you abandoning your children because of Blaise. Zero. And there’s no chance Blaise would ever do anything but try to build you up. He’s a good guy. He just wants to protect and love you. And for fuck’s sake Chyna, you deserve that! It feels good. What I have with Cezar feels amazing. I want you to have it, too.”

We were silent for a few minutes. It made sense when she put it that way. Blaise may have some old-fashioned ideas about gender roles, but he never tried to tear me down no matter how I treated him or what I said to him.

“I don’t know what to do now. He made me leave. He kicked me out.”

“Didn’t you tell him how you feel about him?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t. I was terrified, Cherry.”

“Cezar vouched for him, and he’s known him for centuries. I’ve spent a lot of time with him lately, too. He’s nice, Chyna. A little rough, but his heart is definitely in the right place. He’s good to Sky’s nephews, and he built me a crib because he wanted to thank me for teaching him how to use the washing mach—” She stopped and covered her mouth. “Oopsie. Anyway, he’s nice.”

“You taught him how to use a washing machine?”

“Oh, crap. I wasn’t supposed to tell you. With this baby brain, I can’t be trusted. He’s been coming over here every day. Ever since he got kicked out of his cooking class.”

“Cooking class?”

“Oopsie, there I go again. He enrolled in a class at the Lafourche Parish Community Center. Then, he got expelled when he had a little mishap and almost burned the place to the ground. So, Cezar taught him to cook. Sky’s nephews, Nick and Casey, helped teach him how to clean. I’ve been showing him how to work the washer and dryer, separate whites and colors, and fold things so they don’t wrinkle. And, really, isn’t it just like a man to need lessons on that? Pick up the clothes, put the clothes away. You’d think it was rocket science to these dragons.”

“He cooks?”

“Yeah, and he’s pretty good.” She took my hand. “He learned all that for you. He wants to be a good mate for you. He calls you his queen. It’s so cute. He is not a loser. He’s a keeper, Chyna.”

My mind was racing. I felt like she’d just dropped a bomb on my already war-torn world. “But…I don’t understand.”

“He doesn’t just want to be with you. He wants to please you. He learned how to do all of that stuff because he wants to be better for you.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why he sent you away after all of that. Something must be wrong.”

“I do. Because I wouldn’t commit to him. I wanted it to stay no strings. I wanted to keep him as my booty call.”

“Oh, Chyna.”

I sat up and curled into myself in the corner of the couch. “He said all or nothing. I just couldn’t make myself say yes to ‘all’, so I let him think I wanted nothing.”

“But you don’t want nothing, do you?”

“No. I feel like my insides are being ripped apart constantly, Cherry. I killed plants while I was in Florida. I got fired. Fired. Me. I can’t eat right, and I can’t sleep. I dream of him when I do sleep and...”

“And?”

“And I could feel how much it hurt him every time I walked out the door. I felt it and I left anyway.”

“So, apologize. Make it up to him. He’ll forgive you, Chyna. You’ll forgive yourself. I was terrified of being with Cezar. I’m sure you remember. And you had such great advice. Thank god I eventually took it ‘cause look at us now. We have a baby coming soon. We’re a family. It’s time I gave you back your own advice. You were right. It doesn’t matter how broken we are, we can have happy endings.” She stood up suddenly and planted her hands on her hips. “You’ve been miserable for weeks, and I’m not going to sit here and watch you suffer because you’re chickenshit. Go and get your happily ever after.”

I gaped at her.

“Yeah, I’m getting my mom voice ready. So, you’d better listen. You can sit here on my couch and cry until we all float away, or you can go back to Blaise’s and tell him how you really feel. You can have amazing makeup sex, and you can start your life with him. You get a man who can cook and clean and, more importantly, a man who’s willing to work on himself for you—because he loves you. It all starts with telling him the truth.”

I shook my head. “He doesn’t love me. He barely knows me.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t love him?”

“I—” I stopped myself from giving the automatic answer and unfolded myself from the couch. “Oh, gawd.”

“Say it. Say that you love him. I know you do because I know you. You wouldn’t act this way if you didn’t. You’ve probably loved him since the first time you saw him. This whole mate thing is a real doozy.”

“I…I...” I swallowed. “I have to go.”

She smiled. “Damn right. Go get your dragon.”

With tears still streaming down my face, I opened the door to find a heavy rain shower had started outside.

“Chyna, before you go, I just have one question…Mom was an exotic dancer, wasn’t she? I mean, that explains our names, right?”

Leave it to my sister to make me laugh. “Actually, there’s no explanation for her giving us stripper names. None that I could find.”