making it a big day for them, too.”
Janette let out a little squeal. “You named them? Who do I have?”
Annalise couldn’t suppress a grin at her sister’s excitement. “That’s Natalie,” she said. “Natalie, this is your Auntie Janette.”
“Natalie,” Janette cooed, holding her up so that she could look her in the eyes. “Welcome home, baby girl.”
Natalie blew a spit bubble.
“Thanks for being here,” Curt said. “It’s great to have a welcoming party.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not all,” Raúl said. “Janette’s been cooking since last night. You’ve got enough food to last a week, including a really excellent-looking pot roast for this evening.”
“Say you’ll stay and eat with us,” Annalise said.
“Are you sure?” Janette asked. “We didn’t mean to invite ourselves to dinner or anything. We just wanted to help you get settled in.”
“No, please stay,” Curt said. “We’re going to be in baby mode for the next six months. We could use all the adult conversation we can get.”
“Okay,” Janette said with a grin. “You’re on.”
They ate their dinner in the living room so that they could watch the babies in their carriers. Midway through dinner, Stephanie began to fuss. Everyone in the room moved toward her at once, then stopped and looked at each other, laughing.
“I’ll go,” Curt said, getting to his feet.
“If she needs to eat—” Annalise began.
“If she needs to eat, I’ll come get you,” Curt said. “But let me see if I can handle it. You stay here.” He liberated Stephanie from her carrier, picked her up, and left the room.
Her cries faded, but Annalise had to force herself to relax.
“You have no idea how weird it feels to have her taken away from me like that,” she said to Janette. “Even when it’s just Curt, and I know he’s doing what’s best for her.”
“That makes sense,” Janette said. “The two of you have been physically linked for months. Of course it feels weird to you now when you see that she needs something and she’s being carried away from you.”
Annalise saw the hint of sadness in her sister’s face.
She had meant to wait until Curt was present to discuss what they had decided last night in the hospital. But seeing Janette sad, she found herself unable to wait. If she could ease her sister’s pain at all, she wanted to do so.
And perhaps she could.
“I know you’ve always dreamed of carrying a child,” she said to Janette.
Janette’s gaze dropped. She nodded.
“We don’t need to talk about this right now,” Raúl cut in, and Annalise knew that he was protecting Janette’s feelings.
She appreciated it, and she was glad her twin had such a supportive husband.
But Raúl was wrong. This was something that should be talked about now.
“Are the two of you still talking about adoption?” she asked her sister.
“I don’t know,” Janette said. “We want a child, obviously, and that might be the best way for us to move forward. But at the same time… it makes me sad to think that our child wouldn’t be biologically ours. I know that’s kind of silly.”
“I don’t think it’s silly,” Annalise said gently. “It meant a lot to me, when the triplets were born, to see my features and Curt’s in their faces. William has my eyes.” She smiled at Janette. “Our eyes.”
“He does,” Raúl agreed. “I noticed that myself.”
“And Stephanie has Curt’s eyes and chin, but the rest of her face is mine,” Annalise said. “It’s really special to see our features blended together like that. I’d be sad if I had to miss out on that aspect of parenthood.”
Janette nodded, a few tears welling up in her eyes. “Adoption would be really good,” she said. “I don’t mean to be ungrateful. We’re lucky that it’s an option for us. But it isn’t the way I imagined things.”
“I had an idea,” Annalise said. “And if it isn’t what you want, Janette, just say so. You won’t hurt my feelings. But I wondered how you would feel about me being a surrogate for you.”
Janette sucked in a sharp breath.
“I know that might be too hard,” Annalise said quickly. “I know you dreamed of carrying your own child, and watching me do it instead might be painful. Maybe adoption would be easier. And if that’s how you feel, you should tell me. You wouldn’t hurt my feelings. But I wanted to make the offer, in case it was something you would be interested in.”
“You would really do that for me?” Janette whispered. “You’d put your body through another pregnancy… for