I controlled my eye roll. “And?” I asked, still concerned.
He grinned, and the baseball stilled. “And you’re looking at Cape Carolina High’s new baseball coach.”
As impossible as it had felt only a moment before, I actually felt happy. I hugged my brother and slapped him on the back.
“Good for you, man. Good for you.”
He grinned at me, and the sparkle in his eye told me that, for the first time in a long time, my brother was happy, too.
“Okay,” he said, looking at me intently. “I did it. I moved on. It’s your turn.”
“Mace,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you are, bro.”
“No, but I need you to hear it. I’m sorry that I fought with you that night and I’m sorry that I broke your arm. I’m sorry that I ruined your life.” Ruined your life. I felt tears pooling in my eyes. I had ruined his life and now, it seemed, I had also ruined my own. “I think I give you such a hard time because if I’m mad at you I don’t feel as guilty for what I did. If I blame you for not moving on with your life, it helps me ignore that I haven’t moved on with mine.”
The way Mason was looking at me, I expected a smart-ass response. But, instead he said, “I know all that, Park. I’m your big brother. Of course I know.”
I nodded as he walked back out the door. My phone beeped. For hours, all I had been able to think about was that text that wasn’t coming. And now, as soon as it did, I wished it hadn’t.
I won’t do this. I’m sorry.
I dropped the phone onto the couch and flopped down beside it. Well, damn, of course she wouldn’t. It had taken me until right now to understand that I was asking this woman whom I loved to basically step into my dead wife’s position. Live in her house, work for her company, have her babies. It was absurd. It was insulting.
And now I was going to have to do something huge to prove that I understood where she was coming from. I was going to have to prove that I could fix it.
I picked up the phone again, wanting to say something to her. But no words came. Instead, I opened up my email and typed, to my father-in-law: I need to sell the house. It’s time. You have been so kind to me; you are my family, always. But I can’t move forward by doing the same things I’ve been doing. It isn’t fair to anyone. Thank you for allowing me to marry your daughter. Thank you for letting me work at your company. Thank you for being my family. I am forever grateful.
Not ninety seconds later, I got an email back.
Sell the damn house. I don’t care. But I can’t run my company without you, so suck it up. You have a big raise coming your way.
George
P.S. If you’ll stay on, I’ll give you my velvet slippers you’re so fond of.
I burst out laughing, and then the laughter turned to tears. I was sobbing, loudly, unabashedly, when I heard a small tap on the glass door in the living room.
“Amelia?” I asked as I opened the door.
She smiled and then, when she saw my face, her smile turned to concern. “What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “What’s the matter?” I repeated, louder. “Did you think that you could text me that you wouldn’t do this and that I would just be fine with it?”
Now she looked really confused. “Parker, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Your text…”
I thrust my phone in her face.
She read the text. She paused. Studied it. Read it again. And started laughing. Hysterical, tears running down her face, hands over her mouth, laughing. “Oh God,” she said, gasping for breath. “No, no, no. That was a voice text. It was supposed to say, I want to do this. I’m sorry.”
“I want to do this,” I repeated. Then I started laughing, too, with pure relief. Through my laughter, I said, “Well, you can understand my concern.” Then, getting it together, I said, “I want to do this, too. I’m moving out of the house in Palm Beach. I want to make a new life with you.”
She kissed me. Then she sat down on the couch and patted beside her. “Park, I’ve been thinking.”
She was suddenly very serious. And I was terrified for the fiftieth time in the last few hours.
“And?”
She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “I know I’ve always said I didn’t want children…” She trailed off, her gaze on the water beyond the door.
“Sweetheart, I know you don’t want children, and it was wrong of me to push you into that. I love you no matter what you want to do, and I shouldn’t have tried to change you. It wasn’t fair.”
She nodded. “Okay, yeah, but that’s not what I’m saying. Parker, loving you has changed everything. I want to have a family with you. And, honestly, at first, I wasn’t sure that this was the way. I wasn’t sure that I could have Greer’s babies, that I could have that reminder all the time of the life you had before me.” She paused and cleared her throat, wiping her eyes. “But Greer will always be a part of our story.”
My mind was racing. What exactly what she saying?
“Greer will always be one of the most important parts of your story, and if it weren’t for her, we never would have gotten together. So I think those babies are the bridge. They’re a part of you and a part of Greer, and if I carry them, they’ll be a part of me, too.”
I was stunned completely silent. “Amelia, are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? You don’t have to do this to make me happy.” I paused, trying to wipe the grin off my face, resisting the urge to say, But this would make me very, very happy.
“I want to,” she said. “I’m sure. I want to be a family, Parker. I want to have a future.”
I put my hands on her cheeks and kissed her lips. I put my forehead on hers and said, “Liabelle, that is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. And I agree. Those babies would complete this weird, convoluted circle.” I felt invincible. “And, Lia, I’m going to quit McCann.”
“Are you crazy?” she practically shouted. “You can’t quit McCann. We’re going to have a baby, for heaven’s sake. We need health insurance, benefits, salaries.” She paused and took a deep breath. “No one is quitting McCann.” Then she added, “Plus, they’re George’s grandchildren. We’re family forever.”
I nodded, laughing and pulling her close to me. “Okay, okay. You’re right. Health insurance is good.” Then I paused. “Wait. Are you only doing this so that I’ll be the last source for your frozen embryo story?”
We both laughed and then sat there soaking in the quiet, the view, the perfection of this moment when we decided to become a family.
“I’m scared,” she whispered. “What if it doesn’t work again? What if they don’t take?”
“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.” I leaned back and looked at her face. And I knew then that this woman who I had loved since I was fourteen years old just might marry me. I would ask her, I decided firmly. Now all I had to do was pray that she said yes.
Amelia
WRITTEN IN THE STARS