Opening the door to the apartment, she found her older sister sitting at the kitchen table, her phone in her hand. Her sister had aged a lot over the last couple of years. She was still beautiful, with dark brown hair in a cute pixie cut, big green eyes, and pouty lips, but Reese could see that she was tired. She ran a successful photography studio only minutes from the studio that was doing quite well. Reese knew that the stress lines on her sister’s face weren’t from the studio, or even from the daughter or husband she had at home. No, those lines were from the fact that she couldn’t have another baby.
Reese never thought Harper would care about that stuff, but when she met the man of her dreams, her ways changed. Reese always enjoyed the fact that she was more like Harper than her twin. She loved her twin, but Piper wanted rainbows and sunshine with a prince that would love her until her dying day. Piper was blessed with that, but it wasn’t what Reese wanted. She had tried that life. After it went to shit, she decided to go back to the life she learned from Harper. Harper used to be the most independent woman Reese had ever known. She slept with who she wanted, dumped them afterwards, and went on to the next guy. She never let her feelings get in the way and never looked for Mr. Perfect. She only wanted Mr. Right Now. Then, she met Jakob Titov, and all that changed. Within months, Harper was married and pregnant. Reese still couldn’t believe it.
Well, she could, because it had happened to her when she met Kevin Edds. Reese found herself completely entranced with him, hearing wedding bells and the pitter-patter of little feet. Out of nowhere though, it all came to a crashing halt. Reese was left heartbroken. She packed her bags and came home to go back to the life she never wanted. Afterwards, Reese decided that she would never get married or have kids. No, there were too many men and too little time. Plus, her sisters had children of their own, and she had a studio full of kids. She would be the awesome aunt, and then give the little kiddos back, before going to find someone to share her big bed with.
That was her plan, and she was completely fine with it. She even planned to go out that night but, with one look at her sister, she knew her night of tangled sheets and orgasms weren’t in reach. Instead, a big tub of Ben and Jerry’s Funky Monkey with her sister was, and that was just as good.
With a caring smile, Reese said, “Hey, what’s up? I wasn’t expecting you.”
Harper smiled, putting her phone down before looking over at her.
“Yeah, sorry. I needed to talk to you. I’ve had a tough day.”
Reese tilted her head to the side before crossing the apartment and falling into the chair beside Harper.
“What happened?”
“I had three newborn shoots and, after each one, I cried until the next one came.”
Reese’s heart broke. After having Ally, Harper had a long string of miscarriages before the doctors finally said she would never carry another child to term. Jakob was extremely supportive, but even he knew that Harper couldn’t take anymore and pushed for the tubal. She finally caved and got her tubes tied a couple of months ago. It was for the best. Each miscarriage took a little piece of Harper with it, and Reese hated seeing her sister so heartbroken.
Reaching across the table, Reese took Harper’s hand in hers and smiled.
“It’s tough, I know, but you have Ally and Jakob, and now we have Dimitri,” she said, speaking of Piper’s son. Dimitri was almost three months now, and the cutest little boy in the world. He had Reese’s heart from the beginning, just like Ally did, and Reese never knew she could love two little people so much.
“I know,” she said, wiping her cheek free of the tears that were escaping, “But I want a baby so bad. Jakob said that it isn’t a big deal, but he doesn’t understand, Reese. I feel like I’m failing him. He wanted a houseful of kids after Ally, and I can’t give him that.”
“But Harper, he’d rather have you than anything else. He loves you, no matter what. You know that,” Reese stressed.
She shrugged her shoulders, a sad look on her beautiful face. “I know, but I just want another baby. We’ve been looking into surrogate mothers, but I just can’t do it. I’m so scared they won’t take care of themselves, or what if they decide to keep my baby?”