Cassie looked radiantly happy as she replied, “I’m awesome. Flynn’s awesome. Ruby’s awesome. And I was actually going to text you both about meeting this morning because there’s something really important that I wanted to share with you before anyone else.”
Lola instantly knew. In fact, given the way Cassie was glowing, Lola would have guessed her sister’s big news immediately had she not been so caught up in her own joy.
Ashley beat her to the punch. “You’re pregnant!”
Cassie nodded, and the three of them fell into a group hug, tears of joy in their eyes and on their cheeks.
“How long have you known?” Lola asked.
“I’ve done approximately eighteen tests since last night. All of them said the same thing, that Flynn and I are going to have a little brother or sister for Ruby!” Cassie looked radiantly happy. “I don’t want to tell too many people for the first few weeks, until I see my doctor and know that everything is okay, but I had to tell you guys.”
“It’s amazing news, Cass. And am I right to assume that Dad will be walking you down the aisle soon too?”
“Flynn and I almost knocked each other over diving to the ground to propose. I had actually been working out for a while now how I wanted to propose to him, and it turned out he’d been doing the same thing. But doing it this way, when we’d just gotten the best news ever, was absolutely perfect.”
Ashley passed their coffee cups around. “Here’s a toast to my two favorite sisters.” Cassie and Lola both laughed, as they were Ashley’s only sisters. “To two women I love so deeply and dearly—may you both be this happy forever.”
They tapped coffee cups, then sat in companionable silence, sisters who knew each other better than anyone else in the world. Sisters who had been with each other through thick and thin, bad times and good. Sisters who would always be there for each other, no matter what.
Lola couldn’t wait for Duncan to meet Cassie and Ashley on Friday. Just thinking of him brought a new smile to her face.
Safe in the knowledge that he would be at the airport by now and out of his car, she finally sent a reply to his earlier text. I can’t wait to see you on Friday. I’ll be counting the minutes. And I love you too. Before hitting Send, she drew a heart on the screen, with her name written through the center of it, as a graphic signature.
She was delighted when, a few minutes later, he sent back a text with a drawing of his own. It was a map of two illustrated hearts, with the suit-wearing heart from Boston heading straight toward the dress-and-heels-wearing heart in Bar Harbor.
CHAPTER TEN
Duncan’s focus was laser sharp during the workweek. The first thing he did was thank Gail for giving him Lola’s drawing class as a birthday gift. She was clearly pleased that he’d enjoyed it so much and said she couldn’t wait to see his next map. He spent the rest of the week giving his new employee, Anita, all the tools and information she’d need to fill his shoes at the helm of his company in Boston—and quickly—so that he could begin his new life in Bar Harbor with Lola.
For the past five years, he’d deliberately kept his company small so that he knew every detail of every deal, with Gail as his only full-time employee to help manage the office and assist with clients. He would never again let himself become so overloaded, or hire so many people to work for him, that he missed seeing crimes committed directly under his nose.
Not that he could imagine Anita ever doing anything illegal. She had graduated from Harvard Business School five years earlier and was enthusiastic, open to listening to new approaches and new ideas. She also had experience running her own startup, which she’d sold in her late twenties. Married with a young child, she was more than capable of having a full-on career and a well-rounded personal life. At last, he was ready to let go of the reins he’d held so tightly for the past five years.
Ready to start anew.
Fortunately, Anita was thrilled at the chance to take on the extra responsibilities Duncan wanted to give her. Throughout the week, they worked long hours while Duncan brought her fully up to speed on the finer details of each client. But even while he was working, Lola was there with him in his head and heart—both in the sweet digital doodles she sent him several times a day and when he simply closed his eyes and thought about her.
For the first few days back in Boston, the rush of falling in love with Lola was enough to keep the darkness from his past from creeping back in. And late in the evenings when he finally found time to sit at his drafting table, he was hit with a rush of inspiration. He knew exactly what he wanted to draw. Not a map this time, but a family tree. Lola had joked over dinner their first night together, while she was telling him about her family, that he wasn’t there to draw the Maine branch of the Sullivans. He knew how much she’d love having exactly that, though. So he began his research of family trees and started sketching out ideas in pencil.
Unfortunately, as the days passed the familiar regrets and remorse, along with his fury at himself for having blindly trusted his brother, eventually came slipping back in through the cracks. Several times while on a video call with Lola, he came close to confessing everything. But each time, the thought of losing her stopped him cold.
When and how could he tell her the full truth without risking the love he’d only just found?
All week, the question plagued him. Worse still, with each day that passed, he felt more and more like he was lying to her by omission.
On Friday night, after dinner with her parents, he’d tell her everything. And hope like hell that she wouldn’t run, that she’d somehow find a way to forgive him for his past mistakes.
If anyone could find the good in someone, surely it was Lola.
Meeting her was the luckiest thing that could ever have happened to him. And more than anything, he wanted to be a permanent part of her world. A bright and beautiful world where, in the face of love, nothing seemed insurmountable. Not even the darkness from one’s past.
Come Friday morning, knowing he wouldn’t have the patience or focus to sit in his office while he counted the minutes until he was back in Bar Harbor with Lola in his arms, he decided to drop by the offices of several clients for face-to-face meetings.
His last visit of the day was with Dave Fischer, who had recently hit a rough spot in his research. Eight years ago, Dave’s daughter had been born with a birth defect that left her without a right arm. A mechanical engineer before her birth, Dave decided to shift his focus into robotic limbs. His company had been Duncan’s first investment five years ago.
Dave looked up from his bank of computer monitors when Duncan knocked on the door. He smiled in greeting, but Duncan could see that his smile was forced. He could also guess from the bags under Dave’s eyes that the other man had been staring at his computer screen for hours on end, rather than getting the rest he needed for his brain to work at top speed. “It’s been a while since I dropped by your lab. I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
Dave shook his head. “Nice of you to go out of your way like this. I wish I had better news for you, but I’m afraid I still haven’t figured out why this last round of prototypes is a total bust.”
Before Duncan could respond, Dave’s daughter came running out, obviously having spotted him in the doorway to her father’s backyard lab. While Katie usually wore her prosthetic in public, when she was just hanging around the house, she often went without.