Seth draped an arm over her shoulder. The gesture held a brotherly quality and felt comforting. “Sweetheart, your kid is obnoxiously adorable. Anyone would get attached. Heck, he had me at ‘I pooped my pants.’” He joked but neither of them laughed.
“Wes hasn’t talked much about losing Claire and Luke, but now that I know all of that, I promise to be more cautious.”
“I thought he was going to mourn himself to death, to be honest with you. The hardest thing I ever witnessed. Most of that first year, Wes stayed rooted in the rocking chair in Luke’s nursery. Basically, the only time he left that room was to run the five-mile trek through the woods to the cemetery to sit by their grave for hours at a time.” Seth rubbed his forehead, looking even more haggard.
“If it’s any consolation,” Sophia said, “I’ve seen a big change in him over the last few months. Wes looked empty when he first arrived, but he’s come to life. He goes out of his way for his patients and can give some old ladies in the community a run for their money in the spunk department.” She laughed under her breath. “But he has such a cool and understated way of doing it that most of the time people are oblivious to it.”
Seth chuckled, but his face remained in a grimace. “Yeah, the guy has dry humor down to an art form.”
“He’s doing okay,” Sophia reiterated, placing her hand over one of Seth’s clenched fists. The poor guy was riddled with worry for his brother. After a moment, she added, “I’d love to see him.”
“Just give him a few days to get himself sorted.” He rose to his feet and helped her do the same.
“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly. “But please get in touch with me if there’s anything I can do.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.” Seth gave Sophia a one-armed hug and waited for her to leave before moving back inside.
Resigned to giving Wes his space, Sophia decided it would give her some time to wrap her mind around the situation too. She arrived at her parents’ farm as the night sky settled around it. The smell of hamburgers wafted through the air, so she walked around to the backyard, where she found her dad by the grill. He was dressed in his favorite faded jean overalls and red flannel shirt with a straw hat pushed low on his head, the ideal picture of a Southern farmer.
“Hey, Dad.”
He flipped a few burgers and looked up through a steamy cloud of smoke. “Hey, darlin’. How was your day?”
“Okay. How was yours?” Sophia saw slices of cheese on the sideboard, so she busied herself with unwrapping them.
“Good. Got two cornfields harvested, and then the day got even better when my grandboy showed up to help me bale up the pine straw.”
“Oh, I bet he loved that.” Sophia finished unwrapping the cheese slices and handed them to him. “Is he inside with Momma?”
“Yep. I promised burgers if he’d take a bath.” He began topping each patty with cheese. “Little stinker didn’t want to take one.”
“Your bacon cheeseburgers would talk a cat into taking a bath.” She inhaled deeply and savored the succulent aroma of chopped bacon and ground beef. It had been her dad’s special way of making burgers for as long as she could remember, so she decided to wait until after supper to have a talk with her mother. No need in spoiling anyone’s appetite with the sad conversation that needed to be spoken. It can hold, she promised herself, while helping her dad load the burgers onto a platter.
After the burgers were devoured along with a mess of fresh home fries, Sophia’s dad grabbed up a mason jar and took Collin outside to collect fireflies just as he used to do with her when she was a little girl.
Sophia stepped over to the kitchen sink, picked up a dish towel, and began drying dishes. “Momma, can I talk to you about Isabella?”
Her mother didn’t answer right away, clearly taken aback by the request. It wasn’t that the subject of Isabella was off-limits. It was just that they rarely ventured to talk about her. “Of course, honey.” Lucy offered a weak smile while handing over a plate.
Sophia took the Blue Willow plate and slowly dried it. Her mother insisted on always using her fine china, no matter if the meal was prime rib roast or burgers. Sophia stacked it with the others and placed them in the cabinet. By then, she’d worked up some strength to delve into the difficult topic. “How do you bear the loss of a child?”
“You don’t,” Lucy answered in a small voice. She motioned for Sophia to follow her to the den.
“But—”
Lucy placed her hand on top of Sophia’s. “Sweetheart, losing a child is a wound that refuses to heal. You and Collin and your father are like salve. You soothe it enough so that I can tolerate my loss, but the wound still remains unhealed. Even after all these years.”
Sophia was only three and her sister, Isabella, five, when Isabella was diagnosed with leukemia. She made it two years before succumbing to the disease at the age of seven.
“What’s brought this conversation on?”
Sophia blinked the tears away and glanced at her mother. “Wes lost his wife and unborn child in an accident four years ago this month. I’m trying to understand how to help him.” She shrugged, feeling at a loss.
“I heard about that.”
“How can I help him? What helps you?”
Her mother shook her head. “I think you’re already doing what you can to help him. You and Collin seem to be a bright spot for him.”
“And that worries me too. I don’t want him to get attached to Collin.”
“What’s so wrong with that?”
“Because . . .” Sophia studied the portraits lining the mantel. Family. That was the story they told. “Wes isn’t family. I don’t want him settling into a false sense that he is and end up hurting him.”
“Oh, honey. That is a tough spot.” Lucy sighed. “Things are going so good with you and Wes, and honestly, I think it’s the healthiest relationship you’ve formed since the Sand Queens.”
Sophia arched an eyebrow as she stared at her mother. “How’s a false relationship healthy?” She’d been up-front with her parents from the start about the dating charade.
“I’m not talking about that part, but the true friendship part.” Lucy resettled on the couch and crossed her legs. “What really happened?”
Sophia had already filled her parents in about the identical twin shock. There wasn’t much she kept from them nowadays, since realizing the error of not confiding in them about Ty. “Seth and I had a long chat before I came over here. He pretty much warned me off. Said I’d just end up hurting Wes in the long run, and to tell you the truth, I worry I will too.” She straightened the lapel of her navy suit jacket, ready to be home and in yoga pants. “I can’t chance hurting Collin or him.”
Lucy reached over and patted her knee. “You’re scared, is all. Don’t allow fear to be your driving force. Sure, take what Seth had to say into consideration and be careful. Maybe put some space between Wes and Collin. You know I love seeing my grandson, so please take advantage of that. But don’t shut the door on you and Wes.”
“I know . . . I just want to help him,” Sophia whispered while her thumb rubbed the back of the anchor ring.