Surprises come in small packages

[onlytolerable]

Remember, Alexandrie Berthier used to say, you simply must make time for yourself. The fine spring day finds Sophie settled at a table overlooking the green taking her arrière-grand-mère's* advice to heart. She closes her eyes a moment and enjoys the sun warming her cheeks before pushing aside cup and teapot so she can admire her handiwork. That buttery yellow yarn she'd been saving knits rather nice, even if she does say so herself.

She picks up her needles and swiftly casts on stitches for the second tiny baby bootie, all the while humming a lullaby under her breath.


[*great grandmother]

Comments

[onlytolerable]

"As I understand it, the best way to get pregnant is not to want to get pregnant." Her needles swiftly add length to the tiny sock. "I'm afraid you're doomed for disappointment. Better to work on your own."

She smiles wistfully. "Or wait fifteen years or so. Cadogan and I made a pact to fill the world with ginger if neither of us have spawned by the time I'm forty. Apparently we're a dying breed."

[headfollowheart]

She wasn't so sure that Sophie had the right of that, but she also figured there was nothing quite as annoying as your newlywed friend telling you that of course you'd get married just like her and have children. So Zoe just made a noncommital humming sound.

"I think I learned from one of my biology tutors once that red hair's a recessive gene," she says, and her eyes gleam a little. "You should torture Adrien a little, you know."

[onlytolerable]

Maman had always bemoaned the red hair running in the family. Her brows raise. "How do you mean? Talk about Cadogan babies? I'm fairly certain he meant adopt."

[headfollowheart]

"No, no, no." She nodded at the booties with a little grin. "Just...don't tell him it's for Irene and Peter right away. Let him sweat over it a little. For fun."

[onlytolerable]

She laughs a little. "He'd probably head for the hills before I had a chance to tell him the truth."

[headfollowheart]

"Well, I don't know." At first thought, sure, that should be exactly what Adrien did. "I mean, he took charge of Sitara, didn't he? Would you have expected him to do that?"

[onlytolerable]

"I--actually, yes." Adrien needn't be afraid to show all the love inside him to Sitara. "For all I bemoan his faults, he has his virtues, too. He wouldn't run, but I'd imagine he'd want to. We're casual."

Those words or something similar have been her mantra for the past ten months, repeated to friends and curious alike and whispered to herself when needed so she wouldn't ruin everything by wanting more.

[headfollowheart]

Even casual must get complicated after a while, Zoe thinks. And Sophie and Adrien...well, Adrien had been taking Sophie to parties since last August. That was just a few months shy of a year by now.

She wondered if Adrien really felt casual about it.

"Well, he doesn't have to worry about it, really," Zoe says with a smile. "Since it's Irene and Peter. Has she picked out names yet?"

[onlytolerable]

"Hopefully not! I suppose it's strange, but I don't want him staying with me out of some misguided sense of duty. How awful." Relationships are complicated. She should ask Zoe how she managed to deal with Victor's obvious interest in Elani early on, only that would require confessing just how very lost she felt at times. It would all be so much easier had she hadn't held herself apart for so long. Zoe probably had had teenaged boyfriends and everything.

Babies are a more welcome subject. "Nathalie Elaine Christine for a girl. Christian Patrick Nicolas for a boy. Poor dear hasn't escaped the multi-name curse."

[headfollowheart]

She'd had one teenage boyfriend. A brief rebellion - rock star type in the Clubs. Charlotte had, of course, been furious and it had been over quickly. As for Elani...mostly she'd ignored it, and it had eaten away at her for some time.

Then one day, she realized that Victor and Elani hadn't ever had what she had with him.

"If...when I have children," Zoe corrects herself, "One middle name each. And Melissande isn't getting repeated, ever."