My eyes well with tears when I see my mom. She looks so different...older. My mom is shorter than me with long, curly brown hair. She turns and looks at me, sensing my stare. She smiles, grabs the suitcases and runs to me with my sister behind her. "Oh, Ciara!" she yells, waving as she runs. I want to run but I can't—I'm already crying uncontrollably.
My mom puts her arms around me and hugs me tight, My stomach press against hers and I realize how stupid it was to think I could hide my pregnancy. She pulls away for a moment and looks at me. "You're pregnant?" she murmurs before hugging me again. I bury my face in her neck and cry, not caring about anything. After a moment, I hug my sister, Eva. She’s almost as tall as me even though she’s only seventeen. The only similarities we have are the same brown hair and same brown eyes. Eva is much paler than I’m, and she is slim and lanky in comparison to my wide hips. I don't know how long we stand there hugging each other, crying, before we finally pull apart. My eyes are swollen and I have a runny nose, but I’m smiling.
I missed them so much.
"You're pregnant," my mom repeats, clearing her tears. She reaches out and places her hand on my stomach. "Ciara—how? Why didn't you tell me you're pregnant?"
I sigh. I'm going to end up telling her, anyway. Might as well get it over with right now. “Mom, I’m sorry. This baby isn’t—"
“It’s mine” Evans interrupts, stepping next to me, putting an arm around my waist as he looks down at me. "It’s ours." He smiles at my mom. "I’m Evans Leonard—it's really nice to meet you Mrs. Damien"
My mom is surprised but she shakes his hand anyway. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you, too, but…" she looks at me. "Is he your husband? Did you get married, too?"
At the words of husband and married, Evan's body tenses.
"Mom, no."
My mom is very, very traditional. She still believes in marriage before sex; growing up, I believed that too, but as I got older, I stopped caring. Everyone has babies before getting married now—some never even get married—and it’s just a normal thing.
Her face falls. "Is he your boyfriend?"
I look at Evans and he nods. "Yes," I answer, turning back to my mom. "We got together and…I just sort of got pregnant."
Wow. This is bad. This is really bad.
"Listen, can we talk about this tomorrow? It's late and I'm really tired," I say before she can say anything else.
She nods. "Okay." We start walking toward the car. "Why are you dressed so nice?"
"We were at Flora's wedding."
"I'm sorry you had to leave."
I roll my eyes. "Like I was going to stay after knowing you guys were here."
She smiles and yawns, which makes me yawn. We get in the car; Eva rests her head on my mom's shoulder and falls asleep immediately. I’m suddenly very tired—too tired to even worry what's going to happen when we get to the condo or in the morning when Mom asks more questions. I rest my head back and close my eyes.
I don't realize I’d fallen asleep until Evans shakes me gently. "Ciara." I open my eyes and meet his gaze. "We're here," he says, helping me out of the car. My mom wakes Eva up and we make our way to the elevator.
"This is a beautiful place," my mom murmurs as we walk.
I rest my head on Evan's shoulder. "Yeah." Evans leads us to the condo; he's talking to my mom, but I can't make out the words. I just want to go to bed.
"I'll be right back," Evans tells my mom, reaching for my hand.
"What are you doing?" I ask when he leads me into his room.
"I'm your boyfriend, remember? We're supposed to be sleeping together." He teases, unbuttoning the jacket I’m still wearing.
"My mom—"
"I'll settle them in your room," he interrupts. "You need to sleep. I'm afraid you're going to pass out any second."
I don't have the energy to fight him, so I let him unzip my dress and put me in one of his shirts. I get in bed without another word and fall asleep the moment my head touches the pillow.