Page 89 of Scarlet Promise

I walk away and don’t look back.

Mainly because if I stay, I’ll start to cry.

Maize bounces upand down on her chair when she sees me coming, and I sweep the little girl up for a big hug.

“Doggy?” she asks.

I laugh. “Albert’s keeping Uncle Ilya company.”

“Doggy.” She frowns as I put her down, and then Isla gets up and hugs me, too.

“You know if we get a pet, you’re to blame.” Isla laughs. “Knowing Maize, she’ll want a catanda dog.”

I can see Albert with a cat friend.

We order some salads and pasta, including mac and cheese, Maize’s favorite. When Isla asks if anything’s new, I drop the news.

“Um, I’m pregnant.”

“Oh my god!” Isla screams and laughs and draws every eye to us, not that she cares.

Maize screams, too, not sure what’s going on, but getting into the fun and games anyway.

“Can you imagine the playdates our little girls will have?” Isla asks, basically jumping up and down the same way Maize did.

I grin. “Maize is three, and by the time the baby’s old enough for playdates, Maize might not want to play with a toddler.”

“Nonsense,” Isla says, spearing an olive. “Big sister, little sister dynamic, and you know it.”

“There’s also the slight problem that there’s a fifty percent chance I’ll have a boy.”

“They can have matching outfits! Oh, this is going to be so great. And how excited is Ilya? I bet his feet haven’t touched the ground yet.”

I hug myself.

“You have told him, right? He knows. I’m just beyond thrilled.”

“He knows,” I say. “And he’s excited about him or her?—”

“Her,” Isla says with a laugh and squeezes my hand. “It’s a pity you can’t drink, or we’d celebrate.”

“You can celebrate with booze. Maize and I can have a soda.”

“Soda!” Maize screams.

Isla sends me a mock dirty look. “I’ll do that toyouone day. She loves soda.”’

“One of the natural juice ones. They can make one,” I say.

When the waiter comes over, we order mimosas, a real one for Isla and a soda water and juice, one for me and one for Maize, much to her excitement at a grown-up drink.

Isla tells me about the schools near where Ilya’s mansion is, from preschool up. The state-funded ones as well as the private ones.

I lift my hand to my head. “The baby’s not a baby yet. It’s just dividing cells.”

“So? You should have been planning when it was sperm and unmet egg.”

I start laughing. I can’t help it, but one look at her face, and I can see she means it.