A year after we buried little Adaira, a very different Lily and an all-too similar John announced their second child.

Even the world-weary, clear blue eyed girl perked up as she related her preparations for her child, again, firmly convinced it would be a girl.

"I just know she's going to make it. Of course she will. We'll name her Delia." She seemed to be trying to convince mostly herself.

The baby did live, but Delia seemed a poor choice of name for the bright eyed, robust little boy in her arms.

I'll be forever thankful that infants don't remember their first moments, because if that child knew how his mother cried over him, it would break his tiny heart.

"Lily, he's alive, he's healthy, he's ours!" John pleaded with his wife. She only thrust the baby into his arms and wept.

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So it went, Tannin and I were settling into a house, a real house that was ours. Apartment behind us, a new life ahead. I spun in circles through the bare entryway, diving into the thick carpet that greeted us from the living room.

"It's real, Tannin. It's ours!" I proclaimed as he laughed and spun me around.

Lily and John devoted their time to his bakery, he worked long hours in the back, frequently leaving Noethe in our care as Lily operated the front. I loved the little boy who was smart and quiet. He built rickety buildings from the blocks we'd gotten him for his birthday and scribbled all over his coloring book with different shades of blue and green. I loved watching him work, with his tiny pink tongue just poking out of his mouth. I could always feel Lily's resentment when she came to pick him up, as he showed more reluctance leaving me than he did leaving her that morning. I tried to ignore it.

Tannin and I decided to try for a child of our own by the time Noethe was two. It wasn't a difficult decision for either of us, but we found it difficult to make it happen.

We barely got any alone time together, if he wasn't working, I was taking care of Noethe, and if it was night, both of us were too worn out to initiate anything. But we weren't in a hurry as we knew we still had Noethe, even if he wasn't ours.

John told me they were expecting once more, another boy, he said. I extended my good wishes to him and Lily, telling them I would be more than happy to take care of the new baby as well as Noethe. Lily didn't respond and John only shrugged.

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"Sage, Lily is in labor! Will you please take care of her?" John begged frantically on the phone. Little Aron wasn't due for another two weeks, and John was away, helping his father move into his retirement home.

"Yes! I'll be right over!" I answered, downing the last of my coffee as I shoved my feet in my shoes and scooped up Noethe on my way out the door.

"Guess what, buddy?"

"What?" He responded in his limpid little voice from his car seat in the back.

"Mummy's going to have her baby today, you're gonna be his big brother!" I told him, wondering where on earth Noethe is supposed to go as I take care of his mother.

"I don't want to be a big brother, I like it to just be me and you, Auntie." He pouted. I smiled.

"You'll get used to him, I promise that we'll still have plenty of time to have fun together, does that sound good?"

"I guess. How does he come out of mommy?" He queried in a way only an just-over-three year old can do. I stifled a laugh as I thought a way around the question, but eventually ended up just telling him that it was complicated and he'll find out soon. Which he didn't like but at least I don't have to explain it to him...

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Baby Aron had a thick mop of curly, strawberry blond hair to go with his clear, pale complexion. He looked like a devious little cherub and I liked him the moment he started grinning in my arms.

"Hi Aron, I'm Auntie Sage, and this is your big brother, Noethe." I told him, carefully moving him into the arms of the boy peering curiously over my shoulder in the chair next to me.

"Careful, bud. Hold his head up for him, he can't do it himself yet." I tell him.

"He's okay, but I don't like it when he cries. He's too loud." My companion remarks. I laugh.

"You know you cried quite a bit when you were this age." He scowled at the baby and huffed.

"I didn't have a big brother to make sure I was okay." I smile again.

"No you didn't." I ruffle his curls.