46. Epilogue Katy
46
Epilogue Katy
3 years later
“ H ow’s my favorite Mama-to-be feeling today?” Blake pushes Nicole’s shoulder and pouts as we find a table to sit at.
“Blake, will you let Katy have her moment? You get doted on enough by two partners. Besides, you have months to go, and she’s got weeks.” Nicole leans over and rubs my very large baby bump. The three of us are having coffee at the cafe inside Annie’s building during my lunch break.
Two months after Viktor proposed, we had a little backyard wedding. Annie offered me a job at the nursery in her building, and I accepted it without a thought. I still want to return to school and get my teaching degree, but while I’m young and our children are little, this job provides me with all the experience and opportunities I need. She also offered Viktor a permanent security job, which meant he could be in the same building as me and our children every day, and he said yes before she even finished her offer.
“Have you told her yet?” Nicole sips her pumpkin spice latte and eagerly awaits my answer. I rub my belly and shake my head.
“Do you think she’ll be mad?”
“Not at all. She loves you, and she’ll love it.” Blake pulls me in for a hug, making me feel more confident about my decision. “Are you going to wait until he’s born? Make it a big reveal.”
“That was my plan. Should I tell her beforehand? Will it be too much of a shock? I’m totally overthinking this, aren’t I?”
I sigh and pick up my lemonade. Naming babies is so hard, especially when their names are so meaningful.
“It’s going to be a wonderful surprise, and you know it.” Nicole squeezes my hand in reassurance. “You’ve already asked Justin, and he’s the Spencer guru. Now, how’s my favorite niece?”
“You know, Nicole. You’re going to give me and my kids a complex if you keep referring to all things Katy as ‘you’re favorite.’”
Nicole uses one hand to cup her mouth, pretending to direct her comment to only me, and sings, “Drama Queen” while looking at Blake. I laugh as Blake sticks her tongue out at Nicole and enjoy their interaction.
“Anyway. Let me redirect my question to spare someone’s ego. Is Owen excited to have a little brother?”
“No. He wanted another little sister. He’s absolutely enamored with Justine and is worried a little brother will try to steal all of his legos.”
I got pregnant right after our wedding, and Justine joined our family with blond hair and blue eyes like her daddy. He’s her favorite person, besides her namesake, her Uncle Justin. I’ll never forget the look on Justin’s face when I handed my newborn daughter to him at the hospital and told him her name.
It was better than any mac n cheese he ever made me.
Nicole looks at her watch. “Is Meghan joining us today?”
“Not Meghan anymore. It’s Lainey, remember?” Blake reminds Nicole. “She goes by her middle name now. New hair, new name. And no, she said she had a lunch date.”
Nicole and I look at each other with smiles and say, “Sawyer.”
After a little whirlwind of an affair with Chip and Patrick, who knew , Meghan took a life sabbatical. She confessed to me one night about her home life, and it was about as crappy as mine was; only hers involved physical abuse as well as mental. She took money she had been saving and experienced life how she wanted with all the freedom she needed.
When Meghan returned, she had dyed her hair a pretty shade of brown and decided she wanted to leave behind her old life, including her first name. My strawberry blonde friend Meghan became my brunette bombshell, who dropped her first name and chose to go by her middle name, Alaina, but wanted to be called Lainey.
Sawyer is the hottie she’s been dating for over a year, and there’s definitely a ring in her near future.
“Sometimes I’m jealous of young love.” Blake gets a dreamy look on her face, and Nicole pops her in the knee.
“There was almost an orgy in my driveway the last time I babysat for you guys because you couldn’t even leave before your hands were all over each other. Your sex life is fine.” Nicole rubs Blake’s baby bump. “More than fine if this is any indication.”
I love my weekly meetups with the girls.