Chapter 354: Secret Keepers
Julian arrived twenty minutes later with Kyle in tow.
The kitchen erupted. Kyle spotted the twins and made a sound that was somewhere between a shout and a battle cry, launching himself toward the table with the full force of a four-year-old who had been separated from his best friends for an entire morning. Lily immediately began telling him about the baby—"It’s a secret, you can’t tell anyone, but Mommy Aria is going to have a baby and it’s making her tired and she has to eat special food"—while Leo typed added information on his tablet.
"Hold on." Julian stood in the doorway, his coat on, his expression moving from concern to confusion. "Baby? What baby?"
"Mommy Aria’s baby," Lily said. "She’s pregnant. It’s a secret, Uncle!"
Julian looked at Arianne. At Franz. At Gilbert, who sat at the end of the table. "And nobody thought to call me?"
Nate laughed. "You aren’t alone. I had to leave my bed early this morning when I heard the news, just to come here when I can’t reach either of them."
"We’ve been busy," Franz said. He had forgotten to call them. Since Gio’s call the night before, his attention had been elsewhere.
"Busy. You’ve been busy." Julian shrugged off his coat. "I had to find out from a five-year-old."
"I’m very good at telling news," Lily said proudly.
"You’re excellent at it. That’s not the point." Julian pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. "I spent all morning worried. I called three times. No one answered."
"We were—" Franz paused. "I’m sorry. We should have called."
"You should have." But Julian’s voice had already lost its edge. He was looking at Arianne now, his expression softening. "You’re all right? Really?"
"I’m pregnant," Arianne said. "I’m not dying."
"That’s—that’s good. That’s very good." Julian exhaled. "Congratulations. To both of you."
Kyle, who had been absorbing the news with the intensity of a child who understood something important was happening, tugged at Julian’s sleeve. "Dad. Can I be part of the secret? Lily and Leo are part of the secret. I want to be part of it too."
"You can be part of the secret," Franz said, "as long as you don’t tell anyone. Not your classmates. Not your teachers. Not anyone."
"I won’t tell." Kyle drew a cross over his heart. "I promise. I’m very good at secrets."
"Me too," Lily said. "We’re all good at secrets."
Leo typed: SECRET KEEPERS. The three children looked at each other with the satisfaction of co-conspirators.
Arianne looked at Kyle. "Why aren’t you at school today?"
Kyle’s expression changed. He looked down at the table. "I didn’t want to go."
"Kyle." Julian’s voice dropped. "Tell her what happened."
"Lily and Leo weren’t there." Kyle’s voice was small. "I didn’t want to be there without them. I got sad. Real sad. My teacher said I couldn’t call you, so I cried. For a long time." He looked up at Julian. "Dad came and got me."
Julian ran a hand through his hair. His son always had a way to test his patience.
"His teacher called after an hour. He wouldn’t stop crying. Wouldn’t eat his snack. Wouldn’t play with anyone. Just sat by the door asking for Lily and Leo." He paused. "So I picked him up and brought him here. I figured he needed to see for himself that they were okay."
Kyle nodded solemnly. "They’re okay. And there’s a baby. That’s good."
Julian ate with one hand and gestured with the other. "There’s one more thing. My grandmother called me this morning. Evelyn. Personally."
Arianne’s fork paused over her rice.
"She’d heard the rumors. The collapse. The hospital. She didn’t care about any of that—she wanted to know the real reason. What actually happened to you." Julian looked at Arianne. "I didn’t tell her. I said I’d speak to you first."
Arianne set her fork down. Her movements were slower than usual, intentional. Everyone at the table noticed. No one commented.
"She wants to see you," Julian added. "When you’re ready."
"I’m not ready." The words came out flat, honest. "Tell her—tell her what you think is appropriate. I’ll speak to her when I can."
Julian nodded. He didn’t push. No one did.
Nate leaned back in his chair. "Sam doesn’t know yet either. She’s going to be furious when she finds out everyone knew before her."
"Everyone didn’t know," Franz said. "Julian just found out, too."
"Where is she?" Julian asked. "I’m surprised she’s not here."
"She has a photo shoot today for a brand endorsement," Audrey answered. "She called me last night."
"Julian knew, and he’s already complaining. Sam will be worse." Nate shook his head. "She’ll demand compensation. Probably in the form of baby-related shopping privileges."
"She can have them," Arianne said. "I don’t know anything about baby shopping."
A hush fell over the table—the weight of her words settling over them. She didn’t know anything about baby shopping, or about being pregnant. She was twelve weeks into a pregnancy she hadn’t known about, and the dread was there, and she was trying to find her footing.
No one pushed. No one asked. They let the moment pass, and then Lily announced that she and Leo needed to update their secret-keeping strategy now that Kyle was involved, and the chatter resumed, and the meal continued.
Franz reached under the table and found Arianne’s hand. She let him hold it.
She took her time with the meal. The rice was bland but settled in her stomach without protest. The broth was the same. Around her, the family she had built—the family that had built itself around her without her permission—continued its noisy, ordinary life. The twins were in their pajamas. The children were guarding a secret with the ferocity of dragons. Julian was pretending to be annoyed about being left out. Gilbert was subdued, but the tension had eased from his shoulders.
Her grandmother’s message waited unanswered.
Arianne would deal with it later. For now, she ate her meal, listened to the children argue about beans, and let herself be exactly where she was.
