Everyone laughed since Bailey was completely serious.
“I can’t wait until Lark has her litter,” Bailey said once the laughter died down. “That way, she can have fun with us.”
Farah rubbed her growing bump. “I suspect she’ll be busy caring for her litter.”
“We’ll ditch Raven with the babies while Lark has fun with us. She’s the better sister anyway.”
Raven leaned over to Bailey and whispered, “Lark talks shit about you when you’re not around.”
“Don’t buy it,” Bailey said, waving her off. “Lark is a sweet pixy with eyes like stars. You’re the rotten skank version of her.”
“Why are you two fighting so much?” Tawny grumbled.
“We’re not fighting,” Bailey balked. “You’re too sensitive, Tawny. I mean that in a nice way because of how I’m a nice person.”
“She really is,” Raven said.
Tawny glared at them both. “Blondes.”
“Yeah,” Maddy said, caressing her blonde locks. “We’re so awful that the rest of you look bad in comparison.”
Bailey and Raven high-fived Maddy while Tawny switched seats to sit next to her sister. Watching their easy confidence, I felt lost in the conversation.
Eventually, I daydreamed while they shared sex stories and in-jokes. During their louder moments, I decided my outing wouldn’t end with my pretty nails. Though I told Mom and Dad I would come home afterwards, I drove to Lark’s house.
The dogs ran to the door when I arrived and followed me around until Lark woke from her nap.
“Surprise,” I said, helping her out of bed. “Raven will be over later. First she wanted to be alone with Vaughn.”
“Did you guys talk a lot about sex? That’ll get her worked up every time.”
Nodding, I smiled while propping her feet up.
“I will get you lunch then I’m going to do your nails.”
Lark wiped her sleepy eyes and smiled brightly. “I want to be pretty just like all you cool kids.”
“It won’t be long before you can go out and have fun again.”
Lark rubbed her belly as I made her lunch. She was still caressing the bouncing bump when I returned.
“They’re kicking like crazy,” she said, placing the plate on her stomach. “I don’t think they’re going to make it to my due date.”
“It’ll be okay,” I said softly, though I worried too.
Lark enjoyed her salad while watching Judge Judy. Once she finished eating, I sat on the table with her feet resting on the pillow on my lap. We decided on painting the nails on her left side blue and the ones on her right side pink.
“When the babies come,” she said, smiling as I painted her toenails, “I’ll be in the hospital for a few days at least. My in-laws want to have us stay with them for a week or so afterwards. My OB says he only does C-sections for multiples, so I know I’ll be dealing with the pain of that. Anyway, while I’m on the mend, you can have a vacation.”
“I can help if you want.”
“Aaron and his family have everything planned, so I’m going to let them run things. Once I feel like me again, I’ll be the boss again,” she said, giving me a wink. “I’m sure I’ll be overwhelmed with two of them ganging up on me. So yeah, I’ll need your help once we’re home.”
“I’m good with babies,” I said, blowing on her toes. “I freaked out when I had mine, but I’m not like that anymore. I watch babies at church all the time.”
“You were just a kid when you had your baby,” Lark whispered. “I would have freaked out too.”
“It’s hard to move around once the C-section starts to heal. I remember it hurt more the second day than the first. I also remember that people made a big deal out of me not getting constipated.”
Lark laughed. “How romantic for Aaron to spend our first year worrying about my pooping.”
I smiled. “He’s going to look so sexy holding a baby. I remember thinking Kirk was so scary even though he was always nice to me. Then I saw him carrying around Sawyer and he never seemed scary again. Big strong guys holding babies are really sexy.”
Lark adjusted on the couch. “Don’t make me horny please. I have no outlet. Orgasms are off limits.”
“Why?”
“It can bring on labor.”
“Oh. I didn’t learn much about pregnancy when I was pregnant. I just did what people told me to do. I never even felt like the baby was mine.”
Lark placed her hands on a pillow while I painted her fingers.
“Because you knew he was going to be adopted?”
“No,” I said softly. “When I felt him moving around in me, back before I came to live in Ellsberg, I assumed he would die. A part of me kept thinking that even after he was born.”
Blowing on her wet nails, I held her gaze. “I was messed up back then.”
“It’ll be different when you’re ready. Hell, I wasn’t ready, but I had met the man of my dreams and was in love. Ready or not, we’re having our babies soon.”
“Not too soon hopefully.”