“Group baking project tomorrow afternoon,” Hadley announced.
Sage nibbled on her bottom lip, and I knew my girl was choosing her words carefully. “Are you gonna move in for good?”
Hadley gave a small jolt. “I’m just staying for a little while, Goose.”
Sage’s shoulders slumped a little. “It would be fun if you were here all the time.”
I squeezed Hadley’s shoulder but kept my focus on Sage and Birdie, trying to read their expressions. “She’ll be here a lot, though.”
“More than usual?” Birdie asked.
“More than she used to.”
“Because you’re boyfriend and girlfriend?” she probed further.
I fought the urge to laugh. I was thirty years old. The idea of calling someone mygirlfriendseemed ridiculous. But I was committed to Hadley and wanted her to know that. “We are. Do you guys have any questions about that?”
Sage leaned forward, elbows on the coffee table. “Are you gonna get married?”
Hadley made a sort of strangled noise in the back of her throat.
I pressed my lips into a firm line to keep from laughing. “This is pretty new. It takes time to figure out if you should marry someone. So, we don’t know yet.” But the question had visions flaring to life in my mind of Hadley walking towards me in a white gown. Of a little boy with her white-blond hair, and my dark eyes.
“So, you don’t make a mistake like you did with our mom, right?” Sage asked softly.
All visions promptly flew out of my head as I zeroed in on my daughter. “Your mom and I were young when we got married—”
“‘Cause she got knocked up,” Birdie cut in.
I sat up straighter, my hand falling off Hadley’s shoulders. “What? Where did you hear that?”
Birdie shrugged. “Susie’s mom at school.”
I muttered a curse. These small-town gossips needed to get a life. “Your mom and I didn’t know each other well enough to get married, but I wanted you to have the best life possible, so we tried.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Your mom was sick. She has a disease that makes it hard for her to make good choices.”
Sage tore at the corner of a paper towel she’d been using as a napkin. “That’s why she got in the accident?”
“It is,” I told them.
Tears welled in Sage’s eyes. “Why didn’t she love us enough to make good choices?”
Hadley was moving before the question had a chance to truly land in my brain. She pulled Sage onto her lap, and my daughter burrowed into her. “Goose, it has nothing to do with you. This is such a hard lesson to learn, especially when you’re still so young. But how people act often has nothing to do with us. It doesn’t mean we’re unlovable. It means they have something broken inthem. So many people love you. Your dad, me, every single Easton, but what’s most important is that you love yourself. Think about all of the things that make you amazing. Your kind heart. That beautiful brain. How you see the world. All of that makes you the most worth loving.”
Part of me knew that I’d loved Hadley all her life. That love had shifted and changed over the years. From protective big-brother figure to friend and then to something more. But in this moment, seeing her pour that kind of truth into my daughter’s heart, every doubt was swept away. I loved this woman with everything I had, and I was never letting go.
“Love you, Hads,” Sage sniffed.
“More than all the stars in the sky.”
Birdie pressed into Hadley’s other side. “What about more than brownies with cream cheese frosting?”
She wrapped an arm around Birdie’s shoulders, laughing. “Even more than brownies with cream cheese frosting. And that is sayinga lot.”
“No kidding.”
A knock sounded on the front door, and I pushed to my feet. “I’ll get it.” I glanced quickly through the peephole, unlatching the lock when I saw Hayes on my front porch. “Hey, man. Come on in.”
Birdie hopped to her feet. “We’ve got brownies! You want one, Hayes?”