“I remember when we first moved here after Joe’s father died and how worried I was about him growing up without a father. Part of me wanted to keep him all to myself, but I quickly realized that the more people who loved my son, the luckier he was. The same is true for Jackson and Kyle. Jace is one more person who loves them, but you’ll be their everyday father.”
“You’re right, love, as usual. The boys are lucky to have him in their lives, and we are, too. I was all set to hate his guts when he first came around.”
“I remember,” Carolina said with a huff of laughter.
“That didn’t go so well, because he turned out to be a decent sort of guy.”
“Who’s had some tough breaks in life.”
“Yeah.” Seamus glanced at her. “I guess he’s part of the family now.”
“Which is what’s best for the boys.” Carolina gasped when the faces of her grandchildren, PJ and Vivienne, appeared in the doorway, followed by their dad. “Get in here and see me, you guys!”
Joe came in, carrying the children, who giggled at her reaction to seeing them. “Remember what I said about being gentle with Grammy. She hurt her leg.”
Both children gave her sweet kisses and hugs while their daddy held them over her bed.
“I’m so glad to see you guys!”
“Grammy broke her leg,” PJ said solemnly.
“Grammy is a clumsy girl,” Carolina told him.
“How’re you feeling, Mom?” Joe asked as he handed the kids to Seamus so he could hug and kiss his mother.
“Hanging in there.”
“How’s the pain?”
“Better than it was.”
“Thank the Lord for that,” Seamus said as he bounced little ones on his knees.
“When are they letting you out of here?”
“They said tomorrow.”
“And what’s the plan for getting home?”
“We’re going to have the chopper take her back to the island, and the ambulance will take her home,” Seamus said. “It’s all arranged. Just waiting for the docs to give us the green light.”
“I’m so sorry to drag you guys home in the middle of your semester,” Carolina said to Joe.
“It’s no problem. I got one of the grad students to cover my painting class, and Janey will have some quiet time to study. We’re where we need to be.”
Dara Watkins eyedthe pregnancy test with trepidation. She was almost certain it would be positive, as the familiar signs of pregnancy were hard to ignore—sore breasts, a ravenous appetite even when she was nauseated and an overall feeling of things changing the way they had when she was expecting Lewis.
Her eyes filled with tears, which was another thing that’d been happening more often lately—emotions run amok and thoughts such as what right did she have to be expecting another child when Lewis was dead?
She shook her head and reached for the wand, determined to find out for certain one way or the other.
Like with Lewis, the second the pee hit the stick, it seemed to pop positive.
She laughed as she cried, torn between competing emotions—elation and grief and the staggering realization that this baby would never know his or her big brother. After wiping her tears, she disposed of the box and paperwork in the brown paper bag from the pharmacy but tucked the wand itself into her medicine cabinet.
Emerging from the bathroom into the bedroom, she found Oliver sitting on the bed, looking as anxious as she felt.
Dara nodded as she smiled, and he launched off the bed to wrap his arms around her.