“I didn’t know.” It was the truth; she had never heard much about that night. Nobody wanted to talk about what had happened after the crash. Mostly her.
“You weren’t conscious then, or for months afterward.”
“I will have to thank him.” She remembered the sadness in his eyes when she talked about Hanna and Henry.
“I have many times,” Patrick confessed.
Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and said, “Sam is taking me to see my mom today. I’m not replacing you and Mom; I just want to meet her, see what she’s like.”
“I knew one day you would want to. You just needed something to push you in that direction. You’re taking Sam?”
“I don’t want to go alone, and he’s so nice. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nothing for me to mind, Natalie. If something happens between you two, I will not be upset. I actually think you two have a lot in common.” His words shook her. During the two years of her relationship with Jason, he was indifferent to it the entire time. But for some reason, he seemed happy if anything happened with Sam.
“But you know that if something happens this week, I’m going to wait at least eight years to tell you about it. In payback.” She laughed as he joined in when he made the connection.
“When you get back, we’ll all have dinner. I can properly introduce you to Faith and the boys, and you can bring Sam if you want to. If something happens.”
“That’ll be great. I want you to be happy, Dad. If she makes you happy, I’m okay with anything you decide.” She fought back tears of happiness.
“Right back at you, kid.” He tapped her leg.
“I have to get some stuff for my trip.” She gave her dad a hug and went into her bedroom. As she picked out some more clothes she would need for the trip, she thought about her dad’s reaction to her and Sam being more than friends. Would he really be okay with her dating one of his friends?
When she had her stuff together, she headed back to Sam’s, but when she got to the patio, her dad was still sitting in the chair she left him in. His face was sad as he looked at the green grass in the yard.
Sitting down again, she asked, “Are you okay?”
He turned to her. “Yeah, I’m okay. Yesterday I thought I was giving you away, but now I’m giving you away today.”
“You’ll have me forever,” Natalie said.
“No, after today I will share you with her. Giving you to a husband was easier than giving you back to her. Here’s the movie I made. It doesn’t include any wedding stuff as I haven’t had time to work on it lately.” He placed a disk in her hand. Natalie looked at the disk that contained her life—nobody’s life was as documented as her life had been.
Hugging her dad as they both cried in the backyard, she wondered if he was right, and their relationship would forever change after today. But she knew it would change, especially if he and Faith moved on with their relationship. Was it possible that they had already spent the last night under the same roof? Eating a quiet meal together? That they hadn’t even noticed that it had happened? She didn’t want what they had for so many years to change but knew it already had.
With everything she had, she pulled out of his arms and headed across the yard to Sam’s house. The walk was short, but at the property line, she turned around, and he waved at her. Smiling at him, she turned and went through back door and into her future.
CHAPTER6
Natalie and Samdidn’t leave Landstad until after lunch. It had taken them longer than expected to get their stuff packed and Sam to get his house ready to be gone for almost a week. They were going to take his truck but then realized it was still wet on the inside from the day before. So, Natalie had gone home to get her SUV. Now they had loaded it and were finally off.
They chatted easily as the flat countryside rolled by, neither taking much notice of the green fields surrounding them. That was what North Dakota looked like in the summer: flat and green, and they were both used to it. After two hours, they crossed into Minnesota, but the landscape didn’t change much for a while.
“We’re going to get there late, aren’t we?” Natalie looked out the window as farmland started to turn to small lakes and swamps.
When she had made it back from her dad’s, she had been in tears, but not the gut-wrenching tears of the previous day. Though she hadn’t shared what she and her dad had talked about, Sam could tell she was more at peace about the almost wedding.
“No, I changed the reservation a little after you left this morning. I said we would be there from Tuesday to Saturday.” He hoped she wouldn’t be mad at him for not talking to her about it first. After all, it was her trip, not his.
“What are we going to do until then?” Her green eyes bored into his.
He turned away from the road. “My parents have a cabin in Brainerd. I thought we could stay there. Have a few days between the wedding and the meeting.”
“On a lake?” was all she asked.
“Yes.”