CHAPTER TWELVE
Though her husband had passed away a couple of years earlier, Elsa still bustled around making sure everyone who passed through the doors of her café left happy.
"Nathaniel!" Elsa came around the counter and grasped him by the shoulders to pull him down for a kiss on each cheek. "I'm so sorry to hear about your garage and house. But you're okay. That's the most important thing."
"Can't argue with you there," Nate said with a smile. "And no one else was hurt either."
"They catch the ones who did it yet?"
Nate nodded and pointed to his face. “I actually got to help with that.” He gave her a quick recap of what had happened.
"Good." Elsa gave a firm nod of her head. "People like that need to face the consequences of their actions."
She led him over to a booth and after he was seated said, "You need a menu? Pot roast is the special tonight."
"Sounds good to me." After she had left, Nate leaned back in the booth, stretching his legs out. He pulled his phone out and scrolled through email and social media while he waited.
"Hey, Nate."
Nate looked up, surprised to see Megan standing next to him. He straightened, setting his phone on the table. "Hi, Meg. How's it going?"
"Good." She gestured to the other side of the booth. "Can I sit down for a few minutes?"
"Sure. Have you eaten?"
She shook her head as she sat down, her eyes widened when she looked at him. “What’s with the face? Lily didn’t clock you, did she?”
Nate laughed. “She’s never hit me before. I doubt she’d start now—even if she wanted to.” He gave her the short version of what happened. “So what are you doing here?”
"I was across the street and saw you. Just wanted to see how you were doing. What with everything going on."
"By everything I assume you mean the fires and Lily coming home?"
Megan nodded, her red curls dancing with the movement. She regarded him seriously. "I'm sorry you're having to deal with so much at one time.”
"I know about the MS, too."
Megan's light blue eyes widened. "Lily told you?"
He shook his head. "Will did. He figured I should know."
She nodded. "I thought you should, too. Lily felt differently."
"I guess I was in good company since none of her family knew either." He tilted his head. "But you knew."
"Not at first. Like everyone else, I was trying to figure out what happened when she broke off...your engagement and took off for Europe."
"But eventually she did tell you," Nate pointed out.
"Yes. I basically forced her to. I told her I was coming to visit her and flew to London. She had no choice but to tell me how to get to her place. She was a bit of a mess so it didn't take too long to get the truth from her."
"It was a shock. Of all the scenarios I'd run through my head, that hadn't been one of them. After all, she was young and, by all indications, healthy."
Before Megan could reply, Elsa appeared at the booth. She set a plate in front of Nate and another in front of Megan.
Megan smiled at the older woman. "Thanks, Elsa.”
Elsa laid a hand on her shoulder. "You're welcome. I'll send someone with drinks for you."
Though it felt a little awkward, Nate offered to pray for their meal. Once they were done, a waitress approached them to bring them water and asked if they wanted any other drink.
"I'm good with the water, thanks." Nate picked up his fork as Megan also declined a drink. "Did you hear that Jessa had her baby?"
"No, I didn’t. Is everything okay?"
"Cami said that aside from just being small, he looked good. He'll have to stay in the hospital a bit." He cut a piece of meat and said, "I'm surprised Lily didn't let you know."
"I've been giving her a bit of space to get reacquainted with her family. I'm the easy one to be around since I've known about the MS longer. She needs to learn to be around her family."
"Today was a rough day for her.” Nate frowned at the memory. “She had difficulty walking, I think."
Megan nodded. "It seems that's something she struggles with when she gets overtired or stressed."
"Have you been around her when she's been like this before?"
"No, but she told me about it. That was early on. It seemed that she learned to read her body pretty well and had relatively few symptoms or relapses brought on by her own actions."
"Yeah, this was out of her control today."
Megan lifted her glass and took a sip, her gaze curious as she watched him. "You seem to know a fair bit about how she's handling things."
"Once Will told me what she was dealing with, I made it my business to be informed.
And she also explained to us a little bit about how she faces each day.
I know something about dealing with a debilitating illness day in and day out, but with my mom, each day just seemed to be progressively worse once she got past a certain point. There were no good days after that."
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Nate was curious as to why Megan had sought him out. Though she and Lily had been best friends, he and Megan had never become buddy-buddy. So her coming to him when Lily wasn't around was kind of odd. Finally, he just came right out and asked her.
She pushed her food around on her plate. When she eventually looked at him, he couldn't read her expression. "I was just concerned."
"Concerned? For Lily?"
She hesitated then shook her head. "For you."
Nate sat back. "Me? Why are you concerned for me?"
"I don't want you to get hurt again." Megan bit her lip. "Lily is very determined not to pick things back up with you. I don't want you to get your hopes up."
Nate had to admit, her words didn't sit well with him. In fact, they stung more than a little. He really had hoped that Lily would give them a second chance. "Why is that?"
"Her reasons are her own. I won't divulge them even if I don't one hundred percent agree with them. I just want you to be aware. If you two weren't living in such close proximity I wouldn't be as worried." Megan frowned. "Just...be careful."
"So how do I deal with her then?" Nate wasn't going to give up hope, but he didn't want to frighten her away by being too aggressive. Somehow he just wanted to show her that her diagnosis didn't scare him off, and he was going to be there for her...however she wanted him in her life.
"Don't try to do things for her. She needs to show that she's still capable of taking care of herself."
Nate gave a shake of his head. "That's the ironic thing.
I used to take care of her all the time.
I did things for her because I loved her and wanted to do them.
I always carried her bags. I lifted her into the truck since it was a high step for her.
I pushed the cart whenever we'd go shopping.
Now she would view those same things as me taking away her independence. All because of a diagnosis."
Megan smiled ruefully. "Yes, that's kind of what's happened. I don't understand the mental side of it all that much. I've just kind of let her take the lead and let me know when she needs me to do something."
Their conversation turned to other things as they finished their meal. Megan reached for her purse, but Nate said, "I've got this. Thanks for saving me from having to eat on my own."
"You're welcome. I just wish I'd had a better reason." She slid to the edge of the booth and stood up. "Thanks for the dinner."
Nate watched her walk away, his mind going over what she'd said. When Elsa returned a few minutes later, he handed her enough money to cover both meals plus a tip and then left the café. Though she hadn't told him what he wanted to hear, perhaps it was still something he could put to use.
Because he wasn't going to give up on him and Lily just yet.
~*~*~
Though the family members weren’t able to see or hold the baby, Lance had some pictures on his phone that he showed them.
Lily fought back tears when she saw the tiny little body hooked up to monitors and not where he should be.
Which was in his mother's arms. Though Jessa had cried a few times during their visit, Lily knew that in the days ahead, her sister and Lance would be strong.
They would stick together to do what had to be done for their little guy.
And they were all very aware that it could have been so much worse.
He could have had more problems than he did. For that, Lily was very grateful.
"So? You guys name the little dude yet?" Will asked from where he sat.
Tonight is was just the siblings and Lance in the room. The spouses—and Amy—had agreed to watch the children so they could go see Jessa.
Lance settled on the bed next to Jessa. "It took a little discussion, but I think we've come to an agreement."
They exchanged a look before Jessa said, "We've decided to name him Daniel Joshua."
A smile lit up Cami’s face. “Josh will be so honored.”
"Well, I am just relieved to not have to call him baby boy anymore," Violet said with a grin. "It might have stuck and then we'd probably end up with a rapper or something on our hands."
Lily was glad to see a smile on Jessa's face even if it was a small one. They didn't stay long since Lance and Jessa wanted to have a chance to see the baby again before Lance left for the night.
Violet and Laurel had brought their own cars, but Cami and Lily had come with Will. The drive home was quiet. Lily was still feeling the exhaustion the day had brought her. She longed for her bed and knew she wouldn't be staying up long once they got to the manor.
She saw Nate's truck in the driveway as Will pulled around to park in front of the steps.
Lily slid off the seat and paused for a moment to make sure she was steady before she walked up the steps and into the manor with Cami.
Nate wasn't in the kitchen, but instead of joining the others there, Lily told Cami she was going to her room.
Cami opened her mouth, closed it for a second and then said, "Sleep well. See you in the morning."