Read Online Always You by Crystal Hubbard - Free Book Online Page A

dinner tonight. Abigail, Ella and the twins had opened half their gifts before we found them in the basement under a mountain of wrapping and ribbons.”
    “Santa won’t look too kindly on that,” Chiara said absently as she lightly brushed her fingertips over Virginia’s silky black curls.
    “One of Santa’s elves took all the rest of their presents and hid them,” Cady said as she fluffed her own multi-colored curls with her fingers. “They’re going to be awfully surprised in the morning when they don’t have anything to open, the little brats.”
    “They aren’t brats,” Chiara said, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Virginia. “They’re angels.”
    “Angels with no appreciation for delayed gratification,” Cady said. “Are you all right?”
    Chiara looked up from the baby to see Cady peering at her, her eyebrows drawn together.
    “I’m fine.” Chiara quickly straightened and moved to sit on the foot of the bed. “I’m just a little tired. It’s been a long week.”
    “I’m sorry about your partner,” Keren said. He reached toward the rocking chair beside his night table and drew forth the navy pajama top he’d discarded. Chiara couldn’t help staring at the stack of chiseled abdominal muscles moving beneath her brother-in-law’s mahogany skin as he put the top on. The attic was always a bit too warm, as evidenced by Cady’s simple sleeveless cotton nightgown, so Chiara knew that Keren was dressing for her benefit.
    “When did you start wearing glasses?” Chiara asked, forcing her tone to be lighter than she felt.
    “About a month ago,” Keren grumbled. He pulled the glasses off, carefully folded them and set them on the nightstand.
    “Keren turned forty this year.” Cady hid a smile behind her loosely curled fingers. “They always say that the eyesight is the first to go.”
    “I see just fine, woman,” Keren stated emphatically. “There’s just too much fine print in the world.”
    “Lower your voice,” Cady said softly. “Let Wynken, Blynken and Nod get a good night’s sleep.”
    “What are you going to call the next one?” Chiara asked, shifting her gaze to the light flannel blanket covering Cady’s midsection.
    “No idea.” Cady set her hands over her abdomen, and Keren moved closer to her, to cover one of her hands with his. “It’s an inconclusive at this point.”
    “A what?” Chiara wondered.
    “My twenty-week ultrasound was inconclusive. The baby’s legs are folded, so the technician couldn’t get a clear picture of the gender.”
    “It’s a girl,” Cady remarked as Keren said, “It’s a boy.”
    Chiara wistfully gazed at Virginia. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “So,” Cady started, “what were you and Kyla shouting about downstairs?”
    Chiara stared at her, wide-eyed. “You heard us all the way up here?”
    “We heard you ,” Cady said. “You’ve always had a voice that travels. Kyla’s the trained actress. She knows how to moderate.”
    Chiara snorted. “I don’t know where she gets off telling me how to live my life. I’m not the only one who’s spent a lot of time away from home. Clara lived on the West Coast and you lived on the East Coast for years, and Kyla…that dumb chump traveled all over, too, filming her stupid Lifeguards television show. That movie she signed on to do in June took her across half the United States for four months, and not only that, she dragged Zweli and her baby along with her! At least when I travel for my job, I don’t uproot anybody! My job—” She caught up short, unable to defend anything about her job and the distance it had created between her and her family.
    “What is it, Chi?” Cady asked.
    Chiara shook her head, dismissing whatever she might have wanted to say.
    “You may as well tell us what the matter is,” Keren said. “Cady’ll pull it out of you one way or the other.”
    “Nothing’s wrong.” Chiara aimed her lie at the baby’s sleeping form.
    “We heard the waterworks, kiddo,”