Stuffed as full as she had ever felt, Daisy stretched her arms up and twisted her body. She ran her hands along the sides of her stomach and said, “I shouldn’t have had that second slice of pie.”

Alex chuckled. “If Rosaline didn’t make such good pie, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“I’ve been eating Auntie Rose’s pies my entire life. The problem is not the pie.” Valerie rubbed the swell of her stomach. “The problem is having to share some space with the pie.”

Daisy looked around at the women in this room who had taken her in as their family. Alex had come home permanently about three weeks ago. She spent the last two weeks of Wade’s campaign with him and finished her contract by capturing the incumbent’s concession speech.

The door opened, and Rosaline wheeled in a cart with a teapot and several cups and saucers. “Tea, ladies?”

Daisy groaned. “You can’t possibly expect me to fit anything else in this stomach.”

Rosaline’s eyes crinkled in the corners when she smiled. “You should’ve seen what it was like to have three little guys making themselves at home in there.”

“Pshaw,” Valerie said, waving her hand in her mother-in-law’s direction. “All of your pregnancy stories feel like the old, ‘When I was a kid, we had to walk uphill both ways barefoot in the snow.’”

Everyone laughed. “That’s probably fair.” Rosaline shook her head. “I don’t mean to be that way.”

“Of course, you don’t,” Alex said. “I can’t imagine having three babies in here right now. You, woman, have every bit of my respect.”

Rosaline’s cheeks turned red. “By twenty-six weeks, I was in bed. I couldn’t have eaten a Thanksgiving meal if I had tried.” She poured herself a cup of tea and very gracefully perched on the edge of the cushion of the wingback chair. She wore cream-colored pants and a soft brown sweater. “I had to just snack and graze, like eat little meals all day long. But I was starving. All the time. And I have never been so thirsty, ever.”

Daisy snorted. “Me, too.” They all laughed. “Did you decide to keep working for Wade after he’s sworn in?”

Alex rubbed at her thigh almost absently. Daisy wondered if she could feel the scar from the shooting through her skirt. “I told him I was going to stay home for a couple months, but to keep me in mind for the inauguration. After that, I think I need to wait and see how I feel. He and I talked about after the baby. I think that would be a fun job, don’t you?”

Valerie raised an eyebrow. “You mean, being an official photographer for the President of the United States? I think it would be a hardship, but, you know, someone has to do it.”

Alex laughed. “I really enjoyed working with him and his wife. But right now, I need to focus on Jon and me, and on our family. It was hard to leave just a couple weeks after we got married. We’re just now getting into a rhythm with life.”

Daisy ran her gaze over Valerie’s face. She knew Valerie struggled physically with the way her body changed with pregnancy. After her fall from the second-floor balcony, she had required a hip replacement. She shifted in her chair and rubbed her hip. Daisy wondered what labor would look like for her. “Is the doctor going to let you go natural?”

Valerie nodded. “She says no problem. She said there might be some residual pain afterward that would require an adjustment to the prosthetic. But otherwise, we’re good.” She shifted again. “My hip aches almost all the time, though. I was told to expect that, but I didn’t realize how distracting it would be. I wouldn’t complain if this baby decided to come a little early.”

Daisy wondered when they would all have their babies with just two weeks between all three of their due dates. “Did the boys come early?” She asked Rosaline.

Rosaline set her empty teacup on the table next to her. “Pretty early. I was thirty-three weeks when they were born. They just finally got to the point where they were too big for me.”

“You should see the pictures,” Valerie said. “Her stomach was gigantic.”

With a nod, Rosaline said, “It was. Very uncomfortable. So, I went to a doctor’s appointment, and he sent me straight to the hospital, and they checked me in. None of the boys were a full four pounds, but Jon came close.”

Daisy tried to imagine having three infants but couldn’t picture it in her mind. “You must’ve been exhausted.”

Rosaline shrugged. “We had been trying for a long time. I had lost a couple of babies. Every single exhausted moment was precious to me. They were in the NICU for three weeks. My mom came and stayed a month after the boys came home from the hospital. So, by the time I had my groove, I’d had enough help to not feel completely exhausted.”

Alex grinned a sheepish smile. “Who was the best baby?”

With a chuckle, Rosaline said, “Oh, let’s see. Jon was the one who always needed me to touch him. He was fine as long as he was being touched, which wasn’t as much as he wanted since there were three of them. Brad did everything harder and hated failure. Ken was the one who was completely fine just to be left alone. It was a beautiful experience.”

Daisy gestured at Valerie. “Then you added another.”

“Yeah, same age, too.” She put a hand to her chest and sighed. “She was just three. I was so ready to take her on because her mom was my best friend. It made it easier, losing her, to have Valerie, to look into her eyes and see her mom in them.”

Valerie stood and walked over to Rosaline’s chair. Daisy felt a warm flood of emotions when Valerie leaned down and hugged her. Then Valerie stretched her arms above her head and shifted her weight from one foot to another. “I don’t ever remember not being in that pack.”

“You were a pack,” Rosaline laughed. “Oh, what days.” She gestured with her hand at Daisy, then Alex. “You girls, knowing I’m about to have three more babies to play with, I can’t explain how that fills me.”

“You’ve certainly waited long enough,” Valerie said.

The door opened, and Ken strolled into the room. “Dishes are done,” he announced. “Brad’s putting the last platter away, and Jon took out the garbage.”

“And your father?” Rosaline inquired.

“Oh, he and Buddy supervised like I can’t explain.” He glanced toward Daisy. “Ready to go?”

“I am.” She pushed herself to her feet. Rosaline got up, too, and hugged her. “I enjoyed cooking with you today.”

“Likewise,” Daisy said, breathing in the floral scent of Rosaline’s lotion. “With all of you.”

After hugging Valerie and Alex, she preceded Ken from the room. Out in the foyer, she gathered her jacket and purse. Brad and Jon came and said goodbye. “We still have to do Thanksgiving again,” Ken said.

“Hardship, having extended family in the same town,” Brad said on a laugh.

Daisy nudged Ken. “Not until tomorrow.”

“True. Give my stomach time to reset.”

They left the house on a wave of cheer, confirming plans and bidding farewell. On the drive home, she leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. Another mountaintop day. “I think that was the best Thanksgiving ever.”

At a red traffic light, he kissed the top of her head. “I agree. I think they’re only going to get better from now on.”

Ken sat back and watched as Daisy looked in the mirror, turning sideways. The ball gown’s red lace top fell off her shoulders, tying just under her breasts in a red satin bow, then falling in loose waves to the ground. She’d thrown the red heels across the room in frustration and now wore a pair of nude ballet slippers.

She turned from the other direction and looked that way, finally slapping her hands over her eyes, a sound of frustration escaping from her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” he finally asked, coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her. The faint floral scent of her perfume wafted up and filled his senses. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of the way she smelled.

“I’m a fat cow.”

He spun her around and pulled her hands off of her face. She had tears in her eyes, but none fell down. “You,” he said, kissing each temple, “are not,” he added, in between kissing her eyelids and nose, “a cow.”

For a moment, she paused, then she gasped and looked at him. Mirth filled her eyes instead of sadness. “But I’m fat.”

“No.” He put his hands on either side of her stomach and leaned down, pressing kisses along the top of it. The baby moved and shifted under his hands. “But you are very round.” He straightened and looked down at her upturned face, overwhelmed with love and desire for her. “And incredibly sexy and beautiful.”

She pouted out her bottom lip. “I don’t feel beautiful. Or sexy.”

“That’s okay.”

He straightened and stepped back. She ran a hand down the front of his tuxedo shirt. “Speaking of sexy,” she said with a coy grin.

He picked up her hand and pressed a kiss to her wrist. “We need to get downstairs. You’re not going to distract me.”

“Fine,” she snorted.

They left the bathroom and went into the bedroom of their hotel suite. The red wrap that went with her dress lay across the bed. “Since we’re staying in the hotel, I don’t think I’ll need that,” she said, picking up the end of it and letting it fall back to the bed. “No reason to have to keep up with it.”

“Smart.” He went into the main room, scooped the tickets for tonight’s Presidential Inauguration Ball off the table, and slipped them into his jacket pocket. “Do you want me to hold your phone?”

She looked at it, plugged in on the desk, and shook her head. “Nah. No reason. You have yours and a pocket.”

“True.”

As they headed toward the door, she said, “You know, you and your brothers turn heads enough looking so much alike, being so tall and handsome. Now you all three have very pregnant wives on your arms. People are going to think we’re some weird cult or something.”

He thought about the stares they received in the lobby yesterday. “Daisy, people always think something.” He put his hand on the doorknob but turned to look at her. “I think you look incredible. You’re healthy, glowing, and that color looks amazing on you. Quit worrying about what people think.”

She let out a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve never been good with attention. And lately, I’ve gotten a lot of it.”

He opened the door, and she slipped her arm into his. Together, they strolled down the long hallway to the elevators. When they turned the corner, they nearly ran into Brad and Valerie. The men shook hands.

Valerie wore a silver gown that fit tight across her large stomach, and had a slit up the leg to mid-thigh. She accented the gown with a chunky necklace made from clear glass beads and a pair of clear acrylic shoes with silver soles. Her dark skin shone against the silver material.

“Oh, I wish I had the courage to dress like that. You look amazing, and I look like I’m wearing a tent,” Daisy said, brushing her cheek against Valerie’s.

“You do not look like you’re wearing a tent,” Valerie said. She put Daisy at arm’s length. “I love it. Beautiful. And the color.”

Brad asked Ken, “Is Jon already downstairs?”

“Yeah. Alex has worked the inauguration all day. I think she came up about two hours ago, changed, and went back down. Jon’s been with her in case she needs him.”

They stepped into the empty elevator. “You know,” Daisy said, looking up at Ken, “a year ago, if you told me I’d be married, pregnant, and going to a presidential inauguration ball tonight, I’d have laughed in your face.”

“Imagine how different life would be if I hadn’t come to your office looking for a way to spend my money.”

She giggled and squeezed closer to him.