Finding The One (Meadowview Heroes 1; The Meadowview Series 5) by Rochelle French Page A

eleven-month-old niece Gabbie in her car carrier. Her head throbbed. Milla would want to know details—all of them—and Trudy wasn’t sure she was in shape enough to answer her sister’s persistent questioning. The woman should have been a lawyer instead of an accountant—well, a full-time mom, now.
    “I know you’re there, Trudy,” Milla called out. “I hear you breathing.”
    No escape. She cranked the lock and flung the door open.
    “Sorry for barging in on you, but you wouldn’t answer your phone. Gabbie was up early so I decided to take a drive and come over here to bug you.” Milla pushed past Trudy and lugged the car carrier into the kitchen. “I’ve come bearing bagels. I can’t tell if you’re avoiding my calls because it was so good he blew your mind, rendering talk difficult. Or so bad you don’t want to tell your sis all about it. Either way, you’re dishing.”
    Trudy groaned. “The second option. But I will take a bagel.” She followed Milla into the kitchen, then set about making a pot of coffee and toasting the bagels while Milla chatted about parenting and pregnancy stuff, obviously trying to distract Trudy.
    “I know these are your favorite, but I don’t know how you can eat stuff like this”—Milla waved a cinnamon-raisin bagel in the air—“and not puff up like one of those porcupine fish, like me.”
    Trudy grimaced. “After the whole Tubster Trudy event, I decided life was too short not to enjoy the food I love. My hips aren’t sure they thank me, though.”
    Milla swept her gaze over her sister’s form, then frowned. “You look healthy to me. When are you going to get over that whole event? It happened years ago. Move on.”
    Right. Easy for her to say. Milla’s entire self esteem hadn’t ruined by nasty online comments, now, had it? “Leave judgment up to God.” Trudy mimicked the stance and tone of their former preachy foster father.
    Milla laughed. “What was Foster Dad Number Three’s name, anyway?”
    “Don’t remember, don’t care. He was just one of many faces that passed through our lives.”
    The smile on Milla’s face faded. “Not having parents sucked.”
    The mood had grown dark, and regret swept over Trudy. She shouldn’t have mentioned their orphaned status. “Sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
    “Maybe not having a family is why Jarrod and I keep popping babies out right and left. To fill that void.”
    Emotion filled her at the mention of her sister and brother-in-law’s multiple pregnancies. A metallic taste filled her mouth. She’d bitten the inside of her lip. She’d known for years she needed to confess to her sister that the surgeries she’d had weren’t for an appendectomy, the way Milla thought. But she’d never be able to say the word, hysterectomy . To tell Milla the truth. And now wasn’t the time.
    “Nah,” she said, injecting levity into her tone, “you and Jarrod are super horny for each other. That’s the reason why you end up pregnant all the time.”
    “Speaking of horny…” The light had come back into Milla’s eyes. “I want to know all about last night. It couldn’t have been that bad.” She motioned to the baby, asleep in the car seat. “Gabbie fell asleep in the car. She’ll nap for a while. It’ll give us time to talk.”
    Trudy smiled warmly down at Gabbie, taking in the baby’s deep dimples and rosebud mouth. At mention of her name, the baby opened her eyes, bestowing an angelic grin upon Trudy, who smiled back and blew a kiss. Gabbie’s eyelids fluttered, then eased downward until her lashes lay on her cheeks.
    A dull ache formed in Trudy’s chest. Longing. Yearning. Pining. And to be truthful, envy. How easy it was for her sister to create life. How impossible it was for her to do the same.
    “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Milla asked softly.
    Trudy nodded. She sucked in a breath, then spoke. “Where are the twins and Betsy?”
    “Lana and Laura are with Jarrod.