Ever After New York

Come Home.

(Jo's POV)

I sat at the opened bay window, letting the cool breeze circulate the room. Hero was set to come home in two days, and I couldn't be more relieved.

Having my mum here made up for my lack of company, but I still felt like I was alone most of the time. My mum was trying to distract herself from my dad to the best of her ability, and she did so by joining a yoga class.

She's met some friends there who invite her out for coffee every Thursday. She asked me to come today, but I politely declined.

I figured having some quiet time would be most suitable for my mood today.

Not that I didn't have enough of it.

"What should we do today, Jellybean?" I say to the baby. Jellybean had become a nickname I gave to the baby just recently. I figured that was easier to call him or her rather than 'it'. I also remember calling them that after seeing it's jellybean-like appearance during the first ultrasound. The name has kind of stuck at this point.

Jellybean kicks at my hand in response, and I smile down at it. "Reading it is."

Jellybean liked the sound of my voice, given that he or she was always the most active when I read to them or when I would have a simple conversation with someone. It's nice knowing that the baby loves me as much as I love them, and given that our relationship was this strong now, I could only hope it would be even stronger after they're born.

I pick up After Ever Happy from the windowsill and open the book to my bookmarked page. Because we were two months away from filming, I decided to reread the books to begin mentally preparing for my final run as Tessa.

It still amazed me that three years have passed since the first movie was filmed. Now, we were getting ready to film the final movie.

We've all come so far.

Especially Hero and I.

"Josephine?" I hear my mum call from the living room.

"What?" I call back to her.

"What're you doing?"

"Reading." I reply nonchalantly before returning my attention to the book.

"Can you come out here for a minute?"

I sigh before placing the book back on the windowsill. Once the bay window is sealed shut, I pad across the carpet towards the door.

The second I look up from the entry way, I see that my living room is filled with women.

"Surprise!" They all shout at me.

I stand in the doorway, a dumbfounded expression on my face as I scan across the mostly familiar faces: Anna, Pia, Khadijah, Inanna, Vanessa, Katherine, my mum, and two women who I have never seen before in my entire life.

I raise a brow at my mum. "Um..."

"We wanted to throw you a surprise baby shower!" My sister exclaims. "So, you would feel better and stop moping around the house."

"I'm not moping." I grumble before walking over and giving each of them a hug.

When I get to the women who I have never seen before, my mother quickly introduces them as Betty and Suzanne, two of her yoga friends.

"Hello." I say to them with a warm smile before shaking their hands.

"Congratulations." Suzanne says to me, brushing her platinum blond hair out of her face.

"I remember when my daughter had her first baby." Betty coos.

"You guys really didn't have to do all of this." I gush.