Hetero

It was warm in the kitchen. Clouds of condensation were beginning to fog up the windows, behind which on the street the lights were blurred orange spots of light, and every now and again a car would rush past and there would be the solid whoosh of the early afternoon rain still lying at the side of the road. The rain was spitting gently against the windows, no more than a gentle rattle on the panes, and inside there was a radio that had been left on drifting through, the creak of chairs, the scrape of cutlery on crockery, the melody of pleasant conversation.
"Riley, honey, can you pass Uncle James the sauce?" Riley, sitting dreamily only half-involved in the conversation nodded vigorously at her Mom and pushed the jug across the table to the slender blonde man chatting animatedly.
"Thanks, honey," he grinned, pausing momentarily to send a broad smile her way, pausing for the first time in the evening allowing the room to fall into unexpected silence as he picked at a carrot on his plate. Riley's gaze drifted back towards the window but she was shaken out of her reverie by the same commanding voice. "Are you okay, Riley?" He asked, laying down his fork and fixing her with a searching look.
Riley, in turn, looked around the three other faces sat at the table, her Mom to her left, frowning, her Mom at the end, frowning but smiling, her remaining uncle sitting as diminutive as he usually did, chewing reflectively.
"I...I'm fine," she said slowly, knocking out a slightly nervous laugh and reaching for her water as she nodded. "I'm fine. School's kinda tough right now is all."
"Mmm. A lot of work?" James asked, resting his elbows on the table and blinking reassuringly at her.
"Yeah."
"And she's about to get a whole lot more work," her Mom piped up, smoothing back her dark cropped hair. "Riley just made the soccer team."
"No way!" James exclaimed, prettily applauding and reaching out to squeeze Riley's arm. "That's so great, sweetie. Isn't that great, Matthew?" He asked, turning to his husband who smiled slowly and nodded. "Following in your footsteps, hey, Carol?"
"Oh, I don't know," she responded, fixing her sleek dark hair to the side with a pin as she looked over at Riley. "I wasn't so talented, not naturally. But our Riley has it all. Coach says she's gonna go far."
Riley watched as her parents' hands met across the table, briefly embracing, eyes meeting with a flash of such warmth that it made her blush and look away. Mommy Carol and Mommy Paula, just as she had always known them.

Riley silently went back to her food, and Paula after a few moments piped up,
"It's so nice to have y'over, boys. We don't hardly get together as much as we aughta. Just to have you over mind, no need to celebrate anythin' or nothin'."
James and Matthew exchanged a look bursting with private excitement at the seems of their smiles, and they looked over at their hosts at the same time, sat back in their seats a little and took each other's hands once more. Riley's Moms too exchanged a look of surprise.
"Well," Matthew started in that peculiarly quiet voice he had, and promptly re-directed the authority of the announcement over to his other half.
"We actually wanted to ask you ladies a question," James said. Riley raised her head, interested by the tone of his voice.
James shifted a little in his seat. "We've decided to have a baby. Paula-- we want you to be our surrogate."
A moment of crisp silence and then an explosion of noise, choked congratulations, chairs scarping on the floor as everyone got up to embrace each other riding on the wave of shared euphoria that comes just after good news and before reality sets in.
"I'd love to, I'd love too-- oh my God, James, Matty..." Paula had tears in her eyes and Carol's were already trickling down her cheeks.
Riley could feel that same heat on her cheeks returning now. It made her uncomfortable to see her mothers like this, tears running down their faces. They seemed vulnerable, and they were not. Uncle James and Matty cried all the time, but her Moms did not. Running a finger underneath the collar of her shirt, lifting it away from her chest, fluttering a little breeze across her hot skin. Her gaze drifted towards the window again, and she jumped as she felt the vibration of a phone coming from across the table. She looked towards Carol who was whispering with Matthew a few feet away, and after a few more seconds of ringing, she snatched up the phone and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, uh, Carol? This is, this is David, are you--"
"Um, Uncle David, actually this is Riley."
"Oh-- oh, Rey, can you get your Mom on the phone please? Is s-she there?"
"U-huh," Riley responded, reaching out and catching her mother by the sleeve who sent her questions with her expression before Riley mouthed,
"It's Uncle David," and Carol nodded, still none the wiser, and answered it, wandering over the window to talk in private.

Everyone else had settled down again around the table, and Riley took her seat once more. She gently pushed her plate away, jumping a little when another hand was laid across hers, a heavier, stronger one. She looked into James' eyes as he murmured,
"You know baby, if you wanna talk about something, I'm always here. And you can always make an appointment and come into my clinic too. I know your Mom being pregnant will be a big thing in your life but I'm sure she'd want you to know that--"
Riley found herself shaking her head, implacable and eager to get him to stop. "Thanks, Uncle J, but everything is fine. Like I said, I'm just a little tired. " She paused and smiled just to show willing. "Promise."
They both turned as Carol sat down at the table slowly, laying her phone in front of her firmly but thoughtfully. Paula settled down beside her, winding her arm around her shoulder as Carol said,
"Well, I wasn't expecting that."
"What, honey?" Paula murmured.
"That was my brother. He's coming to stay with us for a while."
"What? When?"
"He flies in tomorrow," she replied, leaning back in her chair, looking a little stunned.
"Did he say why?" James cut in, and got a shrug in reply.
"Not really. But I think something's happened with him and Luke," Carol said with a gentle sigh.
"Riley, can you clear the table for us, honey? I think everybody here's done," Paula said, sending Riley a look that demanded rather than suggested. Riley got up and did as she asked, clattering the plates loudly enough to mask the quiet conversation the adults quickly launched into. She felt like there were lots of things happening. And yet she couldn't really feel it.