Page 8 of Milk & Cookie

I hold up one hand and shake my head when he opens his mouth to speak. “I know you’re going to say I always fall fast, and I’d agree, but this was instant, Daz. As in, I saw her, and I fell. Our eyes met across the room, and it hit me like a truck. I thought I knew what love was before, but this girl has brought a whole new level of intensity. If there’s an exact match for me in this world, I may have found her. I think… I think she’s mine.”

He runs his tongue over his teeth. “I see,” he says, as if he really does understand and is finally taking me as seriously as I want him to. “Who is she?”

“Her name is Frederica.”

Daryl raises his eyebrows. “Fred? The baby-making hippy girl?”

I frown. “The what, now?”

3

FRED

Irush through the back door, shed my gym clothes in the laundry room, and pull a towel around me before rushing into the kitchen, to swoop my squawking Raven from Mom’s arms. “Who’s a hungry girl?” I ask.

Raven looks at me and snuffles back her next sob, to latch onto the breast I free for her.

“I tried to settle her with oatmeal and four different kinds of fruit, but she wasn’t having any of it today. Comfort food is what she’s after.” Mom nods, as Ravee guzzles back breastmilk.

“I hope she isn’t coming down with something. Maybe she was just missing me?” I kiss the soft, dark tufts on her head and breathe her in. “Mama’s home now, and she’ll be here all day.”

“The girls said they were too busy for breakfast, but they’ll be hungry soon, no doubt. They’re in the next room, creating worm habitats,” Mom says and kisses my forehead. She grabs her bag and swings it over her shoulder. “Enjoy your adventures.”

“We will.” I wave Raven’s hand at Mom. “Bye, Gammy. Thanks for running the morning shift. Ooh.” I follow her out to the back porch. “I almost forgot. Remind me later to tell you who I met at the gym today,” I say with a grin.

Mom straddles her bicycle and stops. She searches my face and snorts. “If your smile is anything to go by, it was your next baby-daddy.”

Unable to keep from beaming, I shrug. “I’ve got a good feeling about him, but we’ll see.”

She sighs and shakes her head. “It amazes me, how fast you manifest your desires, my girl. You say what you want one day, and it shows up the next. You’re gifted, you know.”

“I was a well-nurtured child, trained to follow my intuition.” I bow my head in gratitude.

“Just use your powers for good. And be careful,” she says, setting her foot on the pedal. “Trust your gut, make your expectations clear, and stick to them. You know what the wrong kind of man can be like, so make sure he’s not that. Wouldn’t want to jeopardize what we have.”

My smile slips, but I catch it before it fades completely, and then nod. “I know what I’m doing, Mama. Don’t worry.”

She responds with a small twitch of her lips, before setting off down the road for town.

“At least I think I know what I’m doing,” I whisper to Raven. “I haven’t really felt this way about a man before. It was strange, being close enough to touch him, but keeping my hands to myself, when intuition told me to do otherwise. You and your sisters had better get ready for this family to grow, because I can feel where this is headed, and we’re going to get there fast.”

Raven blinks her big blue eyes at me and continues to suckle, as if I didn’t mention anything life changing, but my bones are telling me something big is coming. And his name is Vince Monaghan.

I pause in the doorway to the next room and observe the mess of soil, grass, leaves, and sticks sprawled across the huge, formal dining table. Morrissey pushes her hair out of her eyes, smearing dirt across her forehead with mud-caked fingers, and Luna, who has mud all around her mouth, looks delighted to be squishing even more of it between her fingers.

“Looks like we’re having a ton of ever-loving fun in here, girls,” I say with a chuckle. “Gammy sure knows how to keep you happy. Doesn’t she?”

Luna grins at me with dirt-coated teeth, and I wrinkle my nose. “Don’t eat dirt for breakfast, Lulu. You’ll have no room for pancakes.”

Morrissey stops looking under things and lifts her head, eyes sparkling. “Pancakes?”

“Mm-hmm. But not until you two get cleaned up, so come on. Family shower party. Mama needs to wash up too.” I switch Raven onto my other breast, turn the record player on and move the needle to the jaunty jazz album I had on last night, and then take Luna by the hand, to help her down from her chair. “You too, Morrie Von Grubbington the Third,” I say in a firmer tone when Morrissey continues to move moss and rocks around the table.

She giggles. “That’s not my name.”

“No?”

“I’m Morrissey Isla Beckett.”

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