CHAPTER 146: Telling

POV: Selene Castellano

Maya screamed.

It wasn't just a little noise, it was a loud, fierce scream, one that came from deep within Maya, a scream that was so intense it caught Kofi's attention, making him suddenly appear in the kitchen doorway, a dish towel clutched tightly in his hand, almost like he was ready to defend himself.

“What happened,” he said.

Maya pointed at Selene.

Kofi looked at Selene.

Selene looked at her stomach.

Kofi put the dish towel down.

He broke into a genuine smile and said, "Ah, congratulations."

“You’re not screaming,” Maya said to him.

"I am keeping it to myself," he said. "We've already talked about this."

They were all gathered at Maya and Kofi's place, the four of them standing around the kitchen counter, when Selene dropped the bombshell - and since then, Maya hadn't stood still for a second.

She was twisting the cap off a bottle of champagne, her movements sharp and deliberate, like she had to keep her hands busy.

“How far,” she said.

“Eleven weeks,” Selene said.

“Eleven weeks and you’re only telling me now.”

“We wanted to be sure.”

“I’m your sister.”

“You’re the least subtle person alive,” Selene said. “ If I’d told you at six weeks the entire foundation would have known by seven.”

Maya opened her mouth then closed it.

“That’s fair,” she said.

Kofi got drinks for himself, Avalon, and Maya. He also found some sparkling water for Selene, and put it in front of her without saying a word.

Maya noticed.

She said something to him, but Selene couldn't make out what it was.

He smiled.

They stayed for two hours.

Maya had a lot of questions, and she asked every single one of them. Selene did her best to answer the ones she knew, and when she didn't know something, she just said so. Maya was okay with that, and she listened to both the answers and the "I don't knows" with the same excitement and curiosity. She didn't get upset or disappointed when Selene didn't have an answer, and she just kept on asking and learning.

As time passed, Kofi and Avalon found themselves at the other end of the counter, engaged in a softer, more intimate conversation. It was a rhythm they had fallen into over the past year, two people who had initially thought they wouldn't get along, but had discovered a surprising affinity for each other. Their conversation was like a gentle hum, a frequency that only they could hear, and it was something that had developed naturally, without effort, as they had grown to appreciate each other's company.

Selene watched them from across the room.

Maya's eyes followed hers, and she nodded in agreement, "He's perfect for Avalon."

“Yes,” Selene agreed.

“Avalon needed a friend who wasn’t on his payroll or related to him.”

“He has James.”

Maya made a clear distinction between the two relationships, saying 'James is a colleague who became a friend,' whereas 'Kofi is just a friend' - a subtle yet significant difference in her eyes.

Selene looked at her sister.

“When did you get so wise,” she said.

“I’ve always been wise,” Maya said. “ You just weren’t paying attention.”

Margaret cried.

Selene had expected composure. Margaret was composed in all situations. It was her defining characteristic, the professional steadiness of someone who had held things together for decades.

She cried anyway.

She took a moment to collect her thoughts, then began to speak again, "Nene would have—" but her words trailed off, leaving her sentence unfinished.

“I know,” Selene said.

Margaret's voice was laced with a mix of sadness and amusement as she said, "She knew, all right." She paused, collecting her thoughts before continuing. "I remember reading her notes from years ago, where she'd written that she hoped Avalon would finally stop waiting around for life to catch up with him." Margaret's eyes welled up with tears, but she quickly wiped them away, her expression firm. "And you know what the worst part is?" she added, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "She'd have been absolutely unbearable about being right, wouldn't she?"

“Completely insufferable,” Avalon agreed.

Margaret looked at them both.

“Good,” she said firmly. “ This is good.”

Driving home that evening Selene felt lighter than she had in weeks.

The tough issues weren't completely solved yet. The oversight committee was still waiting for its first big challenge. Two community partners were keeping a close eye on things from afar. And the process of fixing the displacement bond was only just getting started.

All of it still there.

But underneath it, constant, a heartbeat.

“Tired?” Avalon asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Good tired or bad tired.”

"I'm exhausted," she said with a smile, "but it's a good kind of tired, the kind that comes from a day that's been completely filled."

He drove.

She leaned her head back.

“Avalon.”

“Yes.”

“Do  you think Elena would have made a great big sister?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Yes,” he said. “ She would have.”

Selene thought about it, but not in a sad way, just as a fact. She would have been really good at it, that's what she believed.

He reached over.

Found her hand.

Held it the rest of the way home.

She lay there in the darkness, his arm wrapped around her, the apartment silent and still, the cold December night outside.

She put her hand on her stomach.

Felt nothing physically, too early for that.

"Hello," she whispered, the single word carrying a depth of emotion that hadn't been there before, a subtle shift in tone that spoke volumes about the change in her feelings.

Eleven weeks.