Page 1 of Choosing You

ChapterOne

“Holy crap, that’s a lot of babies. It looks like a nursery threw up in here. And smells like it too,” Sloane Donovan murmured as she scrunched her nose. Thankfully, none of her relatives had spotted her yet, so she took a moment to just observe.

Her sister Hailey had her baby just three weeks ago. Her cousin Billie had her baby five weeks ago. Then, there was her other cousin, Chloe, whose baby was two months old, while Chloe’s twin sister Ashlynn’s baby was five months old.

And right now, they were all in Hailey’s living room.

This was a spur of the moment trip; she was here the day her beautiful little niece was born but felt the need to come and visit again.

Which wasn’t a simple task considering it required two flights and taking time off from work.

Still, she’d been in a funk lately, and ever since Hailey moved to Sweetbriar Ridge, she really missed her.

“Oh my God! Sloane!” Hailey cried out excitedly, causing all the babies to start crying. “What are you doing here?” She apologized to their cousins as she scooped up her daughter and quickly walked into the kitchen to greet her properly. “Why didn’t you call me?”

Rather than answer, she carefully reached out and took her crying niece into her arms. “Hey there, my sweet Layla,” she said softly. “Don’t cry. Aunt Sloane is here.” Gently, she rocked and swayed until the crying subsided. Then she grinned at Hailey. “Face it, I’m magic.”

“That you are. Now let me hug you.” And she carefully did so they didn’t disturb the baby. When she pulled back, she was smiling. “I love that you’re here, but…why?”

It was far too detailed to get into at the moment, so she lied.

Sort of.

“Work’s been a bit of a beast lately and I just needed to get away for a few days.” Then she glanced toward the living room. “So, um…what’s going on here today? Are you celebrating something?”

Her sister smiled, shaking her head. “No, silly. We’re having a playdate!”

“A playdate? Seriously?”

Hailey’s smile dimmed slightly. “Yes, seriously. What’s wrong with that?”

“They’re babies, Hales. Infants. They’re too young to play!” she explained with a small laugh. “And some of them can’t even hold up their own heads! I mean…come on. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say because her sister burst into tears.

Panic hit, and Sloane didn’t want to jostle Layla now that she was calm, but she also needed to comfort Hailey and…

“What in the world is going on in here?” her cousin Billie quietly asked. She was always the calm and levelheaded one in the group, so it was no wonder that she noticed and came over to them.

“Sloane thinks we’re stupid!” Hailey sobbed.

“I didn’t say anyone is stupid,” she sweetly argued. “I just thought that an infant playdate seemed…weird.”

That’s when Billie’s eyes welled with tears.

Oh, no…

It was time for damage control, so she carefully placed her niece back in her mama’s arms before saying, “I’m really sorry. This is all like…so not where my life is right now. I didn’t mean to insult anyone, okay? I just really wanted to come and visit and spend some time with you. The last thing I want to do is make you cry.”

For a moment, no one moved or said anything, but then—thankfully—Hailey gracefully maneuvered herself so she could effectively hug Sloane while holding Layla.

Whew…

“Okay, so we’re all good,” Billie stated with relief before joining in the hug.

That’s when Sloane started to cry.

Everything was a blur after that for a few minutes. By the time she got herself together, she was sitting on the sofa in the living room with her sister and cousins all sitting around her and watching her with a mixture of confusion and sympathy.

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