Page 41 of Eye on the Ball
“They kicked me so hard it woke me up! And then they floated me back up into the bed.”
“They did?” I took Rose her tea. “The babies can really do magic? I thought you were joking about that.”
“My granny says they’re ready to be born and start getting up to mischief.”
“Oh, boy,” Jack said, looking equal parts intrigued and horrified.
“Yeah,” Alejandro agreed, resigned. “Oh, boy, indeed.”
Rose’s phone buzzed so hard it jumped around on the table. We all looked at it.
“I didn’t know phones could do that,” I said. “What brand of phone is it?”
“It’s not the phone. It’s my granny. She’s expressing her … unhappiness that I left and haven’t been answering their many, many, many calls.”
“You told them where you are, though, right?” I was instantly worried. My Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike would go nuts if I just disappeared to somewhere unknown when I was pregnant.
“Yes! I told them. I said we’d be back this afternoon. I asked them to stop calling me, to give us just a tiny break from advice and hovering, and to be sure our daughter doesn’t make my cat float up to the ceiling again.”
Jack burst out laughing while handing plates of pancakes to everyone. “That would be something to see.”
“She’s just lucky Bob didn’t have to pee while he was up there, or she’d be grounded for life,” Alejandro muttered, spearing a few sausages.
“Juice?” I held up the pitcher.
After breakfast, Jack and Alejandro cleaned up the kitchen—my tiger loved to do dishes, go figure—while Rose and I sat out back and drank tea. My cat jumped up to sit next to Rose and purred when the garden witch petted her.
“She usually doesn’t like strangers,” I admitted.
“Well. Witches and cats.” Rose grinned at my expression. “Relax. She’s not turning into my familiar. Bob isn’t even my familiar. But our garden witch magic resonates with cats, so they like to be around us.”
I was ashamed to realize I felt a little jealous. Lou had been my constant companion for years. I loved her dearly, and now she’d abandoned me for the new person.
“She loves you more than anything in the entire world, you know,” Rose said casually, scratching behind Lou’s ears. “I’m just a temporary fascination.”
As if my cat understood our conversation, she rubbed her head against Rose’s hand, stood and stretched, and then jumped gracefully between the space between us and onto my lap. She promptly curled into an upside-down crescent moon shape and impatiently butted my hand with her head, as if to say, “Get to petting.”
So, I did. Lou promptly purred herself to sleep, her little paws crossed over her chest, in a position of total trust and love. After Lou had first showed up on my porch, bedraggled and emaciated, it had taken weeks before she’d trusted me enough to show me her belly.
“What would you like to do this morning before you go home?” I cast about for things in Dead End that a massively pregnant woman might want to do. Taking an airboat tour of the swamp seemed unlikely to appeal, especially since today Rose was dressed in a cute white stretchy jumpsuit over a rose-pink top.
White clothes and the swamp didn’t mix.
“Honestly, I don’t have anything special in mind. Just being able to spend this time with you, away from my family, has been amazing.” She sipped her tea, staring off into the distance. “I love them madly, but I needed a little space.”
“I’m glad you’ve been able to relax. Well, other than the poisoned popcorn bad-luck charm and the potential bar brawl. And the too-small bed, apparently.” I sighed. “Sorry about that. I admit I never thought of pregnant women when I bought the guest bed.”
She laughed. “Tess. It’s a lovely bed. Alejandro was exaggerating. He’s so worried about me and the babies. Hereallydidn’t want to let me come here. If he’d had his way, he’d have tucked me into a bubble for my entire pregnancy.”
“I’ve had to talk to Jack more than once about being overprotective,” I admitted. “What is that about?”
“It’s the alpha male thing.” Rose rolled her eyes. “He was so arrogant when I first met him, I wanted to float him into a thorn bush. But he was also so sexy I couldn’t resist him.”
I grinned. I understood both reactions.
“What would you normally be doing this morning?”
I glanced at the sky. Growing up as a farmer’s niece had given me a good sense of how to tell time by the sun. “I’d be on my way to church in half an hour.”