June 5, Two days later

Juliana's Point of View

Today is the day of the UN ball—which is technically a charity gala—and since I'm off rotation at the hospital for the next two days, I had a lot of time to kill earlier. Jalil was at work, Sonali was out with her boyfriend, and Parvati and Raja were at school. Even my in-laws were at the local embassy, taking care of things for tonight.

I kept busy by tidying up around the house, but that kept me occupied for a so long. When that was finished, I took Gizmo and Widget for a long walk to around the nearby park. Eventually, I got hungry, so I stopped over at Chelsea Market to pick up some new foods to satisfy my pregnancy before finally heading home to have an early lunch.

A little later on, Rick called me saying that LJ still didn't have a lengha choli yet and he didn't have the faintest idea where to find one. Luckily, I did and offered to help him and LJ out by taking him over to the Little India shopping neighborhood that my family and I frequent. LJ was very surprised to see me at her classroom at noon (today was her first day back at school), but she was excited to go shopping.

LJ was even more excited when both of her parents gave the okay for her to spend the night with my family since she was probably going to be exhausted by the time the event was over. Once an overnight bag was put together, I took LJ back to my house, but it wasn't time for Parvati and Raja to come home from school yet, so LJ played with my dogs while I made her lunch. We even watched a movie together.

The entire time, though, I could feel my baby tuning over inside me, and a thought formed in my mind that I couldn't get out: what if this baby or the one Amaya is carrying is a girl?


Everybody's getting ready to go now, and Aayushi is going to help me with putting my sari on, but it's hard to concentrate because the baby being super wiggly.


"Juliana, are you alright?"

Aayushi, dressed in her favorite orange sari, was giving me a curious look.

"I've been better."

"Does it have something to do with that baby bump you've been trying so hard to hide?"

I sighed heavily, disappointed that she guessed before Jalil and I had the proper chance to tell her and Sanjay about it.

"It does, yes."

She became gleeful. "This means that Sanjay owes me fifty dollars!"

"What?" I protested childishly. "First you threaten to bring back the infernal swear jar system, and now you and your husband are betting on whether or not I'm pregnant?"

"You got it."

I smirked as a new thought occurred to me, and she suddenly looked worried.

"What now?"

"It's about Amaya."

"How's she doing? I should visit her tomorrow…"

(Aayushi and Amaya are very close)

"She's also pregnant."

Aayushi looked happy but confused. "That's wonderful, but didn't she just have Keiko?"

"Yes, but her current pregnancy is a surrogate pregnancy… for us."

Now she was excited, but she schooled her emotions. "Sweetheart, I'm thrilled to pieces for you and Jalil, I'll congratulate you later because we really have to get ready to go now."

After changing into the petticoat and skirt components of my outfit, Aayushi helped me put on the actual sari since I was a little rusty and it was a long process.

(I wonder how many people tonight will think I'm Indian instead before I tell them I'm actually African-Canadian-Swedish?)

Just as Aayushi was finishing with my sari, LJ wandered in.

"Ana, Mama Aayu, what should I do now? Sonali helped me get dressed, but she's helping LJ with her outfit now."

I showed her a silver traveling case that her parents had included in her overnight bag and then gestured to a chair by the bed.

"Would you like it if I did your hair for you?"

LJ hesitated. "Yeah, but I don't want to ruin my new lengha choli. This dress really pretty."

"If you get a wrinkle in it, I'll straighten them out for you." Aayushi told her with a wink. "I know all the tricks."

Now LJ seemed relieved and let me help her onto the chair. "Okay, Ana! You can do my hair!"

"How would you like it?"

"Up in a bun, like yours!"

"We can make that work," (I began undoing the plait in her hair and combing it out) "But do you have any special reason why?"

She immediately blushed and giggled. "Raja said me and him are gonna dance 'cause that's what you do at a ball."

"You want it done up because you don't want it in your face?" Aayushi suggested.

"Yep!"

"Then sit tight, and I'll have your hair all fixed up soon!"

As I continued to comb out LJ's long thick red hair and style it, she asked me a question.

"Ana, where were you born?"

"In a place called Regina."

"Where's that?"

"In a bigger place called Saskatchewan."

"Skatchachewin'? Saskatoon?"

"Close enough. Do you want to guess where it is?"

She thought hard. "New York or California? I live here, but I was born in Los Angeles…"

"Saskatchewan is actually in Canada, a country up north of the United States."

"You come from another country?"

"Indeed I do."

"Then why do you sound like Mama Aayu? She's from India."

Aayushi answered her. "That's because I've known Juliana for just over half her life."

"Whoa."

"When you spend that much time around someone, you pick up things like a new accent."

"That's totally super cool!" LJ chirped. "Mama Aayu, please can I ask you another question?"

"Sure."

"Is Ana's family still in Regina, or are they here?"

My heart clenched as I remembered what happened to my family twenty years ago, so I distracted myself by finally twisting LJ's hair into a bun and securing it with a hair tie and attaching a white flower hair clip.

"That's another story for another day, dear little friend," I helped her off the chair and steered her towards the full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door so she could see herself. "Because you are all ready to go! What do you think?"

LJ squealed happily. "I look so pretty, Ana! I love it!"

"Do you have your shoes on?"

She lifted up the long skirt of her emerald green dress as best as she could to show off her new beaded sandals.

"Uh-huh!"

I opened the door and motioned for her to go if she wanted.

"Good girl. Now go find Raja and make sure he isn't lollygagging."

LJ giggled. "Lollygagging is a funny word."

"Do you know what it means?"

"Joking around, stalling, hiding a mess…"

"Excuse me? What's this about a mess?"

LJ's eyes widened in alarm as she realized her faux pas. "Nothing, Ana! I'm gonna go find Raja now!"

Aayushi and I watched as LJ leave as quickly as possible.

"That child is really something else." My mother-in-law remarked. "Slightly whimsical, but definitely unique."

I massaged my baby bump, smiling when I could feel the baby pressing up against the palm of my hand.

"That's the most accurate way to describe Lily, although 'enigmatic' is another word that's applied for as long as I've known her."

"Lily can't be more than five, Juliana! How is she enigmatic? How long have you known her?"

"Since she was three and needed some looking after at the hospital while her biological mother had an operation. Lily is very near and dear to my heart and she knows it."

"You talk about her like she's yours."

I shrugged. "Taking care of her today got me to thinking…"

"Oh?"

"Taking care of Lily today really, really makes me hope that both of the babies are girls."

Aayushi raised an eyebrow. "Two more daughters? You and Jalil already have Sonali and Parvati! What about Raja? Wouldn't he at least want one brother?"

I shook my head, thinking of his meltdown. "He's crossing his fingers for sisters."

"That child is also something else."

"You have no idea… the things Raja does on a daily basis are causing Jalil and I to go grey prematurely."

"Having grey hair builds character, and it makes you look distinguished." (Aayushi has lots of grey hair) "Now come on—we need to go! The limo is due any moment!"

I blinked in surprise. "Limo? What limo?"

"What do you think we were taking care of at the embassy today?"

"Not a limo…"

"A stretchlimo, actually." She corrected. "The embassy is paying for it."

"A stretch limo?" I echoed. "Good Lord! What else would you have picked?"

Her tone became one of exasperation. "If I had time to explain all the perks of being a foreign ambassador the United Nations, we'd be here all night, missing the event. Do you want that?"

"No."

Just then, cries of surprise were heard from downstairs, along with…

"Guys, guys! Come quick and look!"

"Is that a limo?"

"It's long…"

"Who cares! That's an actual stretch limo, and it's parked here!"

My personal favorite came from Raja and LJ in tandem: "WE'RE GONNA RIDE IN A LIMO!"

Aayushi turned back to me, looking smug. "Are you done lollygagging?"

"Quite."

"Fantastic!" she chirped. "Let's go downstairs now before someone sends out a search party!"

And we did, Aayushi lecturing me about how high to hold the long fabric of my royal blue sari so I didn't accidentally trip; me thinking about what the night had in store.