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“It could have been dust in his eyes”

“It wasn’t”

Aurora sat back

Vivi Ann looked down at her swollen belly “I asped in surprise as a craotten her breath back when another one hit; this one hurt even more

“Are you okay?” Aurora asked, leaning forward

“No,” Vivi Ann gasped “It’s too early”

Vivi Ann had never been one of those people who thought about the bad things that could happen in life When she heard people say, Life can turn on a diet better On the rare occasions when hts did cross herelse She’d learned early on that optimism was a choice When asked about the buoyancy of her outlook she replied jauntily that good things happened to good people, and she believed it

Now she knehy people often frowned at that answer They knehat she had not yet learned: Optimism was not only naïve Often it could be cruel

Bad things did happen, even when you did everything right You could get married when you fell in love, conceive a child in the bed of that love, give up every habit that endangered your child, and still give birth six weeks early

“Can I get you anything else?”

Vivi Ann roused herself enough to open her eyes She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying here with her eyes closed, replaying it all in her head “Have Dad and Win come by yet?”

Aurora stood by her bed, looking sad In the last few hours her sister’s poufed-out bangs had fallen flat across her face and her makeup had faded Without all that, Aurora looked thin and worn-out “Not yet”

Vivi Ann smiled as best she could “It means a lot that you’ve been here for all of this, Aurora I forgive you for stealing my birthday tiara”

Aurora brushed the still-damp hair away from Vivi Ann’s face “I never stole your stupid tiara You’re the princess in the family”

“I wish they’d let ain He’s so tiny” That last word broke a piece of her control away; fear rushed through the crack She reached over to the bedside table and picked up the pretty pink scallop shell she’d kept in her purse for years It was as close to her et