“What! What is that?” I exclaim.
“It is happening!” she squees, shoving her way into the tiny bathroom with me and slamming the door shut.
I’m jealous as she hops up onto the bathroom counter with ease, not even thinking twice.
“Tell me! When did he ask you?”
She rolls her eyes for dramatic effect. “Just yesterday! We went on one of those tourist tours, you know? Through Manhattan with all of the teenager field trippers and Germans and Japanese trying to get to the Empire State building? You know?”
I nod tightly. “You bet I do. I can’t wait to do stuff like that again.”
For a moment she pauses, pouting. Her hands reach out to pat me gently on my gigantically swollen abdomen.
“I need you boys to hurry up and get the hell out of there, you hear me?” she hollers at the twins in my womb. “Your mama and I have a lot of margaritas to catch up on. Double time!”
“Boy, do we ever! Margaritas sound absolutely delicious,” I sigh hungrily, practically able to taste the crushed salt on the rim of the glass.
“All in due time, sweet cheeks,” she pouts reassuringly. “I promise! It will happen!”
“I know, I know…” I say for the millionth time. “But enough about me. You went to the top of the Empire State building?”
“Oh! Right! So we just move along, doing our tourist thing, and we get to the binocular things? Whatever you call them? The ones where you put money in and then you can see the Statue of Liberty and stuff?”
“Oh yeah, classic.”
“Isn’t it, though? Well, he pushes me toward one machine in particular, but it won’t work. I put in another quarter, and it still doesn’t work. I start banging on top… No dice. Apparently I was making quite a spectacle of myself, because security came over!”
“Did you get ejected from the Empire State building? Please say yes. That would totally make my day.”
“Well… No. Sorry. It was all part of the plan! The security guard came over and gave the machine a good punch, and the thing cleared up, but when I looked through it, there was a note at the end! And the note said, Will You Marry Me? And I pretty much just lost my everlovin’ mind right on the spot! Isn’t that beautiful?”
“Aww, sweetie! It really is! I am so happy for you.”
She gazes down at her hand, twisting it so the rock catches the
light. It’s kind of huge, really. More than I would’ve guessed.
But Mona is obviously over the moon. It all worked out just the way she wanted it.
“Okay, let’s get you off your feet, big mama!” she announces. “This bathroom is tiny!”
When we reenter the dining room, the guys are apparently all sharing the news too. Carson flashes Mona a sweet, sincere smile. She lights up all over again like a bank of fireworks.
“It smells good. Are you making chili?”
“You know it… I have had such a craving for chili for the last month! I feel like I could eat it every day.”
“That’s because you’re having twins,” she offers sagely as she walks into the kitchen.
Immediately she grabs a spoon from the rack and starts tasting everything, smacking her lips together appreciatively. She doesn’t re-season every single dish, so I must have done a pretty good job this time.
“Oh my God, this is so good!” she exclaims happily.
“Wow, I am so glad to hear you say that! It didn’t seem like a lot of work when I was planning it out.”
Gratefully, I sink into the chair in the corner, happy to know that Mona can keep everything going. She’s not much of a cook from scratch, but she definitely knows what’s good.
“Honestly, I think this is all just about done. You want I should get the boys to bring everything to the table?”