Page 87 of Storm in a D Cup

‘Of course, sweetheart.’

But once we got home, she didn’t stomp all the way up to her room, but lingered in the kitchen instead.

‘Would you like a snack?’ I offered. If I offered a chat along with it, I’d lose her. So I played it cool. I’d get there.

She shrugged. ‘Yes, please.’

So I pulled out the flour, eggs, chocolate and sugar and made a thick cream to eat with biscuits. To hell with my diet, my daughter needed me.

‘Here,’ I said. ‘You keep stirring this while I pull out the biscuits.’

‘OK,’ she conceded, taking the wooden spoon from me, her eyes downcast. She wanted to talk, I could see it on her face. But she’d have to do it of her own volition.

‘Where did you learn to cook, Mom?’ she suddenly asked.

‘Nonna Silvia and our aunts taught me.’

She nodded. I had never hidden anything about my real mother and Marcy from her.

‘It must have been difficult, not being able to connect with your mother,’ she whispered. ‘To not be able to trust your stepmother to not hurt you.’

I put the biscuits down. ‘Do you not trust me, honey?’

She looked up. ‘Of course I do, Mom. I trust you with my life.’

It had to be really, really bad between her and Angelica if she was being so nice to me all of a sudden.

‘And Angelica, does she not trust her mother?’

‘Oh, she does. But she’s very strict.’

‘More than me?’

Maddy chuckled softly, and my heart lifted. So there was hope.

‘You aren’t that strict, Mom. You’re only trying to protect us from harm.’

What I wouldn’t do to scoop her up into my arms. My arms ached from the effort to not hug her and kiss all her fears away. But still, it was too soon. I needed her to come to me, to understand she needed her family, no matter how hip and cool she thought she was.

*

Besides experiencing an unfamiliar sense of elation the first thing the next morning, I experienced something just as surreal. My period was in its eighth day of absentia. Nowthathad never happened before. Could it be? I doubled-checked the date and performed an auto-diagnosis.

Breasts? Sore, but that had been a given lately.

Appetite? I could eat a horse. As usual.

Mood swings? Come on, you should know me by now. And yet, I knew it wasn’t what I was hoping.

When I found Julian, he was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands.

‘Hey, honey, how are you feeling?’ I asked and he looked up, his eyes unfocused. This Joey thing and possible custody battle was taking its toll on him too, I realized. There was so much he needed to figure out still.

Julian groaned. ‘I’m freaked out. Confused, scared.’

‘I know…’

He shook his head. ‘The fact that Joey and Maddy could’ve gone with some jerks out of naivety, how can I protect them from that?’