Page 96 of Good For Me

She throws up her hands in exasperation. “It’s not every day one of my babies has a baby!” she says. “It’s beenkillingme that your dad knew and I had to pretend like I didn’t.” She grabs my hand, a slightly manic look in her eyes. “I need details, River.Details.”

I laugh, extracting my hand. “Okay, crazy lady, chill out. What was the first question?”

“How far along is she?”

“Almost eighteen weeks.” I tell her about going to visit the doctor Rose recommended and seeing the ultrasound. Predictably, she gets a little teary when I describe seeing the baby for the first time. Hell, I get a little teary, too. Nothing in my life has ever felt like that moment in the doctor’s office.

“And Jasmine? How’s she handling everything?”

“She’s pretty freaked out.” I think about telling my mom that Jas still isn’t sure she wants to raise the baby, and feel sick to my stomach. Confiding that to my mom would feel like betraying Jas, somehow. And honestly? I think there’s a part of me that worries that my mom—a woman who loves motherhood more than anything else—will look at Jas differently if she knows.

Which is ridiculous. My mother is the most empathetic person in the world. But knowing that doesn’t ease the worry. Jas means so much to me, even after such a short amount of time, and the thought of my mom not liking her just kills me.

“This wasn’t part of her plan, you know?” I say instead. “She’s in school, she has all these goals and ambitions and a baby makes all of that harder.”

She nods, her expression softening. “That poor girl. She must be scared to death. Does she have family?”

“Not much.” I tell her about Jasmine’s grandfather raising her and about his passing. By the time I’m finished, I’m pretty sure my mom is ready to go over to Jasmine’s apartment and drag her back here where she can force her to accept some motherly hugs and a few home cooked meals.

“She’s close with her cousin,” I continue. “And a few of her grandfather’s friends have become a surrogate family to her, but her circle is pretty small.”

“The farm must have been overwhelming for her,” Mom says drily.

“She did pretty good, though.” I picture her on her skateboard, surrounded by the adoring kids. Cooking with my uncles in the kitchen. Dancing at the wedding. I feel strangely proud, thinking about how well she fit in with our crazy family.

Mom snorts. “I’d say so. I overheard CeCe recruiting the other Littles. They’re trying to come up with a scheme to get Jas to date you.”

“Oh, God,” I mutter, closing my eyes. “That girl is relentless.”

“Speaking of Littles.” Mom leans forward, her expression turning serious. “When are you going to tell your brothers and sisters?”

“Well Rose already knows,” I say. “I’m not sure about Fox.” I rub the back of my head. “I was hoping to talk to Violet and Ash when we’re done today. Unless you think it’d be better coming from you?”

“I think it should be you.”

I nod. “I’ll tell Fox and the twins for sure. But, uh, maybe you could tell everyone else?” I give her my best hopeful puppy dog expression—not that it ever got her to give me anything when I was a kid. Jas asked me once if there was a woman alive immune to the River Ransome charm. The answer is sitting in front of me. My mom has never taken shit from any of her kids.

But she takes pity on me today. “I’ll tell your aunts and uncles.” She rolls her eyes. “But I’m pretty sure all the cousins will know within a few minutes of your little sister finding out.”

“That’s fine. I just don’t want to have this same conversation twenty more times.”

My mom grimaces. “Oh, hell,” she mutters. “Do you have any idea how much shit your uncles are going to give us about being grandparents?”

I laugh at the horrified expression on her face. “A fair amount, I’d bet.”

She moans a little. “They’ll be relentless.”

“Just remind them that you’ll always be younger than them even if you have a dozen grandkids.”

She smirks. “Knowing your Uncle Cash, as soon as that baby is here he’s going to start pressuring Will and Wyatt to give him grandkids. He won’t want to get behind.”

I’m sure she’s right—there’s literally nothing Cash won’t be competitive about.

“You sure you’re not upset about this?” I ask.

She studies my face. “I’m not upset, River. I’m a little worried—but I’ll always be worried about you. You’re my kid.” A strange expression crosses her face, like the reality of all of this is truly sinking in. “And I guess that’s something you’ll understand soon enough.”

Before I can wrap my mind around how insane that is, my phone rings. A quick glance at the screen shows me Jasmine’s picture. I feel my lips turning up at the shot of her. I’d taken it last week at the farm. She’d been sitting with my mom and Rose after the rehearsal dinner, looking so relaxed and beautiful in the setting sun it stole my breath. I’d raised the phone to get her picture but she’d looked up at the last minute, scowling when she saw what I was doing. The resulting photo is her narrowing her eyes at me in such a classic Jasmine expression of annoyance I know I’m never going to want to change it.