My brain immediately went to, On my date? but then I remembered the other momentous occasion on my plate, which was finding out the flavor of the belly sprout. I didn’t recall ever inviting Devi along, but I wouldn’t mind having her there, either. I just had to make sure Mom was okay with it.

And I had to see if Mormor planned to go. Devi deserved fair warning. She could wear some Kevlar or maybe a magical medallion to keep the evil away.

I tromped downstairs. Mom and Mormor were in the living room, both knitting. Mom hadn’t been a knitter before we’d moved in, but she’d picked it up as an activity she could do with her mother that usually wouldn’t devolve into arguing or shoe throwing. Mormor was big into crafts and kept her stash of craft stuff in the spare bedroom upstairs. It was thirty years of accumulation, from pastels to paints to stencils to yarn to woodcrafts. She had wall-to-wall craft cabinets that made Michaels look pretty amateur hour.

I’d been given glimpses of the place before Mormor had quite literally locked me and everyone else out of her she-cave. She hoarded acrylic craft paints like Smaug with his gold.

Mom’s knitting needles clicked furiously. She glanced my way, tossing her head to get her too-long blond bangs out of her face.

“Hey there, peaches.”

“Hey. Can Devi come with us to the ultrasound tomorrow? Her mom gave permission.”

“I don’t see why n—”

“Am I invited?” Mormor interrupted. I flinched. I’d figured Mom would have already brought it up to her, but apparently I’d figured wrong.

“Of course you are,” I said.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner? I’m very busy you know,” she said.

“Because reading Better Homes and Gardens can wait an hour while you come see your great-grandkid,” Mom replied. “I was supposed to invite you and I forgot, but I also planned on you going, so...”

Mormor sniffed. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

“Can you not, Ma? Don’t punish Sara because I screwed up.” Mom’s eye twitched. That was the precursor to loud noises and verbal bombardment. Maybe instead of aerial shoes, there’d be aerial knitting needles, which sounded a lot more dangerous.

Like tiny javelins.

“We’ll go tomorrow, it’ll be cool,” I said, trying to keep the peace before someone got murdered. “I’d like you there, Mormor.”

It was a lie. It was such a lie, but what else could I do?

Fortunately, it appeased the beast. Mormor relaxed, her knitting returned to a craft and not a potential blood sport. “Well, I have to go then, if you’d like me there. No need to get testy, Astrid. All you had to tell me was Sara wanted me there. Why wouldn’t she want her Mormor there?”