by JT Harding
“I do want you to. It’s just...” He sighed. “I stopped letting Kim read anything until it was actually in print.”
“It’s okay, Joe, really.”
“I stopped her because she always tries to make it better, and I can’t stand that.” Joe knew he sounded pathetic and stopped talking.
“I won’t do that,” Jenni whispered, her breath soft against his ear.
“Pa!” Ami’s high voice sounded and Joe heard her bare feet patter across the wooden floor. He turned in his chair, knowing he would have to come back to this later as Ami’s grin shattered his heart.
Jenni offered her hand and Ami lifted hers up high to take it.
“Up, Momma,” she said, and Jenni leaned and lifted her and rested Ami on her hip, Ami’s leg curling over the full bloom of her belly. It seemed as far as Ami was concerned Kim and Jenni were interchangeable, two Moms for the price of one. In a couple of months another voice would join their group, and whatever it was, boy, girl, they didn’t want to know, that child would have two Moms as well.
