"Who's ready for another round of margaritas?" Danielle called from Harper's kitchen. 

"I am!" I called cheerfully. Okay, they may be virgin margaritas, but it was my only condition to have this girls night sleep over. I walked over to the breakfast bar and reached for the bowl of chips. "You know, Danielle," I started as I dipped the chips in the queso we ordered, "this was a really good idea." 

"Seriously," Harper added with a laugh, "we need to do this at least once a month." 

"What about the guys?" Jaime asked as she joined us in the kitchen. 

Harper sipped her margarita. "Please, the guys will do whatever we say. I mean look around," she waved her arms around her dining room, "here we are with the apartment to ourselves. The four of us. We got snacks, virgin margaritas, and oldies music playing." 

Jamie frowned as she raised her hand. "Okay, can someone please tell me why we are drinking virgin margaritas? I could only think of two reasons. Either one of you is pregnant, or one of you has become a recovering alcoholic and we are being nice." When the room went silent, Jaime's eyes widened. "Oh, my God! Who is it? Who's pregnant? Danielle, its you, isn't it?" 

"Hey!" Harper whined. "Why can't it be me who's pregnant?" 

"It's not me," Danielle answered.

"Wait, why can't it be me? I could totally be pregnant right now," Harper repeated with annoyance. 

Jaime ignored her and turned to me. Her mouth parted slightly before she smiled. "You? Really?" 

I grinned so wide my cheeks hurt. "Yeah, I'm pregnant." 

Jaime came and hugged me at the same time I heard Harper mutter to Danielle, "I don't know what she's talking about. I could be pregnant. Right?"

"Yes, Harper, you could be pregnant," Danielle answered with a short laugh. 

Jaime pulled away from me and looked directly at my stomach. "You aren't really showing yet. How far along are you?" Her eyes went wide. "Who's the father?" 

"Too bad we can't have real margaritas for this conversation," Danielle quipped before we all sat down at Harper's dining room table. 

I've known Jaime for as long as I've known Danielle. We met in college and I was as close to her as I was to all of my best friends. Even though this wasn't really a secret anymore, I didn't feel comfortable talking about it. Not until I was in my second trimester and both Ayden and Nate were home safely. At least I was approaching my second trimester soon. One out of two wasn't bad. I still had high hopes that everything was going to work out for the best. If it didn't...I didn't know if I would survive it. 

"So," Jaime leaned forward and urged me to continue, "tell me." 

I glanced around the table at the three of them. Having them all here seemed to make it easier to talk about this. I took a deep breath. "Well, you remember Ayden right?" 

She nodded. "Yeah, you said you kissed him. Or did he kiss you?" 

I waved the minor details away. "That doesn't matter. Anyway, so he and I kind of hooked up and started a secret...thing." 

Jaime's mouth dropped at the same time Danielle giggled and Harper slurped the last of her drink through her straw. "You had a secret affair with Ayden? The hot Army guy?" Her eyes got even wider. "Nate doesn't know does he?"

This is where things get complicated. "No, Nate didn't know."

"Was it a fling? Or...do you love Ayden?" 

"I love him," I answered immediately. 

"Awww," Harper cooed and I shot her a look before I turned back to Jaime. 

"I love him," I repeated, "and he loves me. I found out on my birthday that I was pregnant with his child." 

Guilt colored Jamie's face. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here for your birthday, Lanie."

I reached out and covered her hands with mine. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Jaime frowned and glanced from Harper back to me. "Harper mentioned you had to go to the hospital for something. But she wouldn't tell me what it was. Was it about the baby? Are you okay?"

Oh, boy. This was a whole other mess we were getting into. But the whole reason for this girls night was to update each other on what was going on.

"That's a little bit of a long story," I started. "One night I was talking to Ayden on the phone, and all of a sudden I heard a bunch of gunfire. The line went dead and we haven't been able to get in contact with him or text. A couple of Army Rangers showed up here and told us very little information. That's when I had a panic attack. Harper and Jackson took me to the hospital."

Jamie gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand. "You must have been terrified. Are you sure you and the baby are okay, though? Have you found out any new information about the boys?"

Harper leaned forward as she answered Jaime. "We reached out to Ryan. We hope his dad can talk to some of his old connections over there and get us more accurate information."

Speaking of Ryan...Harper and Jackson filled me in on their little secret meeting with him earlier today. At first I was a little annoyed that they didn't tell me, but I understood why Harper did what she did. She was thinking about the baby and she was right. Besides, I trusted her to tell me if there had been any information: good or bad. Of course, Jackson was first to give me his input and say he was against the whole thing. I smiled when he told me that. He and I sure did develop quite the unique friendship during all of this.

"The baby and I are okay," I reassured Jamie. "We just have to watch my stress and blood pressure. The doctor wants me to make sure I'm eating pretty good as well. But we're okay.

"Oh, good," Jamie said with a relieved sigh.

Harper, Danielle, and I all looked at each other with understanding. Now that all my dirty laundry was out in the open, it was time for Jamie to tell us what's been going on with her. We all knew she's been dealing with something, we just had no idea what it was.

"Jaime, what's been going on with you?" I asked quietly. "We gave you your space, but we're all very worried about you. We just want to help."

Jaime cleared her throat and her eyes went to the bowl of fruit on the dining room table. She never took her eyes off of it. After several moments of silence, she finally said, "My mother has breast cancer."

The room was so quiet, you could a pin drop. Harper, Danielle, and I had our suspicions as to what it was, but we never in a million years thought that Jamie's mother would be sick. Jamie's mom, Cherise, was always the fun mom. She was the one who would play drinking games with us and dance harder than us at a concert. She was a kid at heart and it seemed impossible to see her any other way.

"How bad is it?"
"Why didn't you come to us?"
"What can we do?"

All of our questions came in a rush of support. Jamie still continued to stare at the damn fruit. Knowing Jamie, if shr looked over at one of us, she would probably burst into tears. I didn't blame her. I was all too familiar with emotions getting the best of me.

Jamie wet her lips. "She received a double mastectomy a month ago. That's one reason I've been so out of the loop with you guys. I wanted to tell you, I swear I did, but she made me promise not to. She told me that she knew all of you would come to her aid and do anything to help her." Jaime shrugged. "She just wanted a little time before you guys knew. And..." Jaime's eyes flicked to Harper.

"And you felt uncomfortable telling me because of Jackson."

We could see the pain in Jaime's eyes, and it was hurting each of us. "I remember you telling me how he was after she passed. I know it's still really fresh for him and I didn't want to upset him. Or you."

Harper got up from the table and came around to kneel in front of Jaime. "Listen to me, Jaime." Harper's voice was soothing but still had a hint of that stubbornness we all knew too well. "You shouldn't ever feel like you can't come to one of us. Yes, Jackson lost his mother and it still hurts him. That doesn't mean he and I wont be there for you and support you. What if it was reversed and it was my mother?"

When Jamie laughed, I could tell she was trying to hold back tears by the sound of it. Of course, by the sniffling that went around the dining room table, it appeared all of us were holding back tears.

"You're right," Jaime said as she and Harper got to their feet. Danielle and I did the same and the four of us gathered in a group hug.

"No more secrets, you guys," I told them. "We're sisters. If we don't have each other, then we're just stuck with the guys!"

The dining room erupted with laughter. This is just what I needed. This is what we all needed. Everyone is usually always going through something. It's important to make sure that you lean on the people who are there for you. In this case, it was my sisters. They may not be my sisters by blood, but they were my sisters in every way imaginable. And I was lucky to have them.

"Time for karaoke!" Danielle called and the rest of us groaned.

She ran over to the karaoke machine and turned on the same damn song she always chose when we get karaoke.

As If You Seek Amy by Britney Spears filled Harper's apartment, I realized two things. One: tonight was going to be an oldies night with karaoke whether I liked it or not. Two: there was nowhere else I'd rather be.