Ava’s aunt let Ellie in and sent her up to Seth’s room.

“Hey,” Ellie said softly as she stood in the doorway of the nursery.

“Hey,” Ava mouthed.  She was rocking a sleeping Seth.

“I’ll wait in your room,” Ellie said.

“No it’s okay I think he’s out,” Ava answered sounding relieved.

Ellie watched as Ava walked to the crib and lay Seth down.

“Can I peak?” Ellie asked a little unsure.

“Sure,” Ava answered smiling.

“He looks so sweet and little.”  Ellie said softly.

“I know.  It’s weird how much you can love someone that doesn’t even know who you are,”  Ava answered.

“He knows you.  Maybe not your face yet but he knows your voice.” 

“You think?”  Ava asked.

“Yeah I read it online.  A baby recognizes its mother’s voice from birth.” 

“Wow! That’s cool.  So you been reading up?” 

“Yeah,” Ellie answered.

“Lets go to my room,” Ava said when Seth stirred a little.

Ellie followed Ava to her room. 

“It’s only 8:30 how long will he sleep?”  Ellie asked.

“Till about 12:30 or 1:00.  Then he’ll eat and lie back down then sleep till ‘bout 5:45 or 6:00.”

“Man that’s harsh,”  Ellie said with a wrinkled nose.

“It’s not that bad.  He used to get up every 2 hours.  That sucked.”  Now it was Ava’s turn to wrinkle her nose.

“Here,” Ava said as she walked into her closet.  She came out with an arm load of clothes.  “Pick what you want out of these.  I know you don’t like my little cutesy tops but take anything else you want.”

“I’m not sure this can be called little,” Ellie said holding up silky purple maternity top.  

“You have a point there,” Ava returned.

“Alright tell me about what happened with Marco,” Ava said as Ellie began to dig through the pile of clothes heaped on the bed.

“That actually went well.  We talked, he apologized and told me why he reacted like he did.  So we’re cool.  He even gave me a book.”

“What kind of book?” 

“Some pregnancy book,” Ellie said with a smile.  “He said he would be right beside me though all this craziness,”  Ellie said rolling her eyes.

“That’s so great Ellie.  Is he…”

“NO!” Ellie shouted before Ava could finish. 

“Okay calm down.  I know he’s gay and all but stranger things have happened,” Ava said with a shrug of her shoulders. 

“Trust me it’s physically impossible for Marco to be the father.”

“Okay just asking.”

“Back to the book,” Ellie said trying to finish her story.  

“The baby book?”  Ava asked thinking the story was over.

“Yes!  My mom saw it and now she knows.”

“Oh shit,” Ava muttered softly.

“No it surprisingly went well too.  She blamed herself for awhile but I think she is over that now.  She even told me she would tell my Dad for me.  But I told her I have to do that myself.”

“When are you going to tell him?” 

“He’ll be home in 2 weeks.  I’m just going to wait until then and tell him face to face.  I just don’t want to do it over the phone or e-mail you know?” Ellie asked still trying to convince herself that would be best.

“Yeah I know what you mean.”

“Ava, can I ask you something personal?”

“I guess,” She answered a little unsure.

“How did your parents take the news?  I mean you do live in Canada now.  Did they kick you out?”  Ellie asked hoping to maybe relieve her fears a little.

Ava sighed.   “That’s a long story,” she finally said a sadly.

“Well I’ve got all night.  Well actually I’ve got till 10:00 so I have an hour.” 

Ava hated talking about why she left home.  She hadn’t even told her aunt everything.  But Ellie did trust me with her secret. So I guess I can trust her with mine.  Ava thought and then she began her story.