Chapter 22: Mothers Like Ours Rowan She was wet. Water dripped from her hair onto the dry, cracked earth at her feet. Her nightgown was clinging to her skin, showing off her shapely curves in their entirety. I fought the urge to reach out and touch her, to cover her, but Kacidra grabbed my arm and yanked me backward. “Rowan, don’t,” kacidra said firmly, her face pale and flushed with concern. Hanna was looking at me, her deep brown eyes wide and flaked with gold. A wave of unease washed over me as I looked at her, the feeling cutting through the intensity of the bond we had yet to act on. “Hanna?” Kacidra said in a tone I had never heard from her before. She looked almost motherly as she gazed at her sister, her eyes cloudy with despair. Hanna didn’t answer. She kept her eyes on me, reaching out her hand with her palm up toward the sky. “Don’t touch her Rowan,” Kacindra warned, sucking in her breath as she stepped between us, taking Hanna lightly by the shoulders and turning her around, the two of them walking slowly out of the field of solar panels and into the woods. “Come find me later, Rowan. We need to talk!” Kacidra’s voice echoed as she disappeared from view. – *** Maeve Gemma moved out from behind the desk in her office, flipping through the pages of a thick, paperback book. “Are you.. nauseous?” “Nope.” “Are you… having back pain?” “No.” “What about food avessions?” “Not at all.” “Hmm…” She leaned against desk, her eyes scanning the book’s contents. It had been a week since Aaron and I slept together in the library. I was still reeling from it, processing it. Thankfully things were good between Aaron and me. He was attentive and playful like usual. There wasn’t a sheet of awkwardness between us. And, I hadn’t given Gemma the details about our night. For some reason, I was desperate to keep it to myself, to cherish it. My heart squeezed as I sat down and looked up at the massive book she was holding. It was about pregnancy, I realized as my eyes flitted over the cover and title that was broken up by Gemma’s splayed fingers. If I was pregnant, Aaron would be leaving soon. I didn’t want to even think about it. “Does your mouth taste like metal?” “What?” Gemma shrugged, closing the book and setting it on her desk. “It’s obviously too early to know, right?” “It’s only been a week since….copy right hot novel pub