"I'm telling you I met a contractor," she said, avoiding eye contact.

"I think you're getting a little red in the face," Mia said, grinning from ear to ear.

"It's hot in here."

"Mom, your hands are shaking. Are you interested in this guy?" Evie prodded.

"I am interested in him coming over and giving us an estimate tomorrow," she said, still not looking up from the dough.

"I think we're embarrassing her," Mia said. "But you can't blame me. I haven't been around for any of your dating escapades. At least tell me whether you're interested in this guy?"

“Okay, fine. He's cute. What's the big deal?"

"No big deal. But I can't wait to meet him. Is he going to be my brother-in-law?"

Kate picked up a handful of flour and blew it straight into Mia’s face. Of course, Evie thought that was hysterical, which started a much larger food fight than any of them had anticipated.

They would spend the next couple of hours cleaning up the kitchen and trying to wipe away the explosion of flour that had consumed almost every surface.

Kate sat in the armchair, her mother's blanket pulled around her. Even though they had never met, she was starting to get accustomed to the smell of her.

The journal from the time period that she was pregnant with Kate sat in her lap, closed. Kate took a sip of wine and finally picked it up.

Everybody had gone to bed, only she sat up in the darkness, a small table lamp beside her.

She hadn't been able to sleep for some reason. Cooking her mother’s recipes with her sister had brought up a lot of feelings she didn't expect to have.

In a way, she was going through some kind of grief that she hadn't expected. When she thought about it logically, it made no sense. She had never met the woman, yet she felt a void.

She has been raised with a mother, even though she had no idea they weren't biologically related. She had had the mother and daughter bond with someone, or so she thought. But this was different. This felt like a part of her was missing, yet was so close within reach that she could almost touch her.

Finally, she opened and read the first couple of pages of the journal. They were from the time that her mother had found out she was pregnant. She could feel the fear in her words. What must that have been like? To know that her parents were not going to approve, what kind of turmoil must she have felt every single day?

Today, I found out I’m pregnant. I know we should've been more careful, but we are so in love. I haven't told him yet, and I don't know how he's going to feel. What do boys say about things like this? Will he leave me? Will he be forced to?