301 Perfect family
That evening.
It felt as though they had gone through the list of all the restaurants in Imperium but they couldn’t decide where to go for dinner.
In the end, Zaria laughed at their predicament. “You know this always happens when we try to choose a restaurant while hungry. We should have selected one this morning.”
Ximena groaned on the other end of the call. “That’s right. And there is always only one way to end this. Do you want to come over to my house?”
Zaria was a second away from agreeing when she remembered something. “Hold on, didn’t we promise Rosaly she would be able to join us the next time we cooked together? This is our chance!”
It was Ximena’s turn to chuckle. “You put her above so many things, have you realized that?”
She was teasing, but Zaria was serious. “I wasn’t even thinking. It’s what mothers do, I guess.” She instantly realized she had overstepped and referred to herself as Rosaly’s mother and blushed. “Step mothers, but still.”
“I’ll be right there. Which wine should I bring? Oh, should I bring tequila as well?” Ximena chirped in excitement, making Zaria growl.
“I hate you.”
.....
That earned her a round of laughter from Ximena, then the latter hung up. She set her phone aside and was glad to change out of the jeans she had chosen for dinner. Most clothes were becoming uncomfortable lately. She could still fit in many of them but she was oddly aware of how their textures felt on her skin. It was as though her senses were heightened, causing immense discomfort at the slightest roughness.
Once the jeans was out of the way, she was happy to change into a pair of silk pajamas, one out of the many that Desmond had bought when he caught on how she felt. He was so thoughtful that she sometimes wondered if she deserved him.
With her hair twisted in a bun at the top of her head, she finally made her way downstairs where Rosaly was playing with her dolls.
“Do you want to cook with me?” She asked in a hushed voice, careful so Desmond wouldn’t hear her.
Rosaly nodded excitedly. “Can daddy come?”
“He can, but later. Let’s wait until Ximena gets here, shall we?” She played with a lock of Rosaly’s hair as she spoke, then immediately wondered whether she should have waited to tell Rosaly the news. The little girl looked like she was going to explode in excitement and would have run to tell her father all about it if she didn’t say to wait.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before Ximena arrived, carrying a large bag of grocery in each hand.
“Did I miss a lot?”
“We were waiting for you.” Zaria smiled as Rosaly sprinted through the living room to hug Ximena’s legs.
The little girl was full of energy and she got along with nearly everyone she met. One had to be a literal monster to get on her bad side, Zaria thought. Then she shook her head almost instantly. Even a monster would receive enthusiastic affection from Rosaly.
“Hi there, little ballerina,” Ximena placed her bags on the table and picked Rosaly up to hug her.
Rosaly was excited to ask a billion questions, starting from the ones she had asked Zaria and Desmond unsuccessfully, and morphing to more personal ones.
“Uncle Zeus said you will be my godmother when Zaria marries daddy.” She blinked. She was not just relaying the news. She wanted to find out if it was true and although she didn’t show it, she was hopeful that XImena would say it was true.
“Uh…” Ximena glanced over at Zaria nervously. She had agreed to be the godmother of the child Zaria was carrying—that wasn’t even a topic for discussion. But with Rosaly, she didn’t know where she stood. When Zaria nodded, she confirmed Zeus’s rumor with a smile mirroring Rosaly’s. “I will be, if you want me to.”
She hugged Ximena joyously but then asked, “can one person have two godmothers?”
“I don’t see why not. No one said there had to be only one.” Realizing the topic was starting to steer in a direction Zaria wouldn’t be comfortable with, she put Rosaly down and opened one of her grocery bags. “I bought you some chocolate candies. You can only have one every day.”
Rosaly nodded obediently but only an idiot would think that rule would stick. Unless they were too far for her to reach, she would steal one or two candies at a random time until there wasn’t any left for the next day. And even if they were out of reach, one would have to put their foot down to avoid being lured into helping her get to them with those big innocent eyes that sparkled when she pleaded for something.
Once they had brought the grocery bags to the kitchen and put everything in its place, they took their places at the kitchen counter.
Rosaly was on a high chair where she was allowed to inspect the ingredients that fascinated her.
“Don’t touch the chillies, you don’t want them anywhere near your eyes or nose.” Ximena warned just as she reached to poke the red chillies. Then she lowered her voice and whispered, “but if you want to get them into the eyes of mean kids, that’s a different story.”
A deep voice suddenly spoke up at the door, nearly startling the life out of them. “First you bribe my daughter with chocolate candies, then you lure my fiancée into the kitchen where she shouldn’t be, and now you want to teach my daughter violence?” Desmond sounded unimpressed.
They knew he was in the house but didn’t expect him to come down to the kitchen. Zaria quickly set aside the onions she was chopping, pushing them to Ximena, and skipped over to him.
“We missed you!” She exaggerated, planting her lips on his cheek as if to prove her point. He didn’t buy it.
“What are you doing in the kitchen? Didn’t we have an agreement about this?” He would have spanked her if Rosaly and Ximena weren’t here.
“What do you want me to do? Stay in bed all day rubbing my belly?” She rolled her eyes.
“You can do that.” He looked like he was seriously considering it, which freaked her the hell out.
“Listen, one more word about me not cooking or doing house chores and you will have to spend the next seven months sleeping on the couch.” She threatened.
He chuckled at her serious expression. “You know that wouldn’t happen. You will miss me too much.”
“Don’t tempt me, Mr. Fort.” She made the best impression she could of a growl, which only came out more hilarious than intimidating.
“While I would love to tempt you, I think there is something else I can do for now.” He pointed his chin at the onions she had pretended Ximena was chopping so he wouldn’t go on a rant about sharp objects.
And so, Desmond rolled his sleeves, washed his hands and chopped the rest of the onions. He squinted at his handiwork then at Zaria’s and shook his head. “Mine look like shapeless lumps.” Zaria’s were perfect little dices he wouldn’t believe were hand-chopped if he hadn’t seen her do it.
“It’s okay. They taste the same.” Ximena took the chopping board from him and glanced around for a task he could do without accidents. When she found the strawberries she intended to use when making dessert, she turned to him just in time to catch him stealing a kiss from Zaria. Rosaly was still fumbling around, inspecting a piece of celery like she was about to fire off a question about it.
Her gaze had flitted back to Desmond and Zaria. They didn’t need to be in each other’s arms for their love to be obvious. Heck, they probably didn’t even need the wedding. They were already a family of three, soon-to-be four, and the vows were merely a formality. They would do anything for each other. She knew that even without hearing them say it at the altar.
Once again, she felt envy creep in like a vine taking root deep inside her and twirling its way around her heart, squeezing so hard it hurt. She was not jealous—she was happy that her friend had found this much happiness. It was just sad to remember that she would never have that kind of bond with anyone and a family was off the charts. The ringing of the doorbell was a welcome distraction.
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