Chapter 8 #2
“Not from him. Over the years, my mom has hinted at not being as surprised as she should’ve been when he bailed on the marriage. She never expected him to bail on us, though. Henry and Sarah, the youngest in our family, barely remember him living at home. They’re the lucky ones.”
That last part said a lot about how much his father’s desertion had affected him. Not caring who might be watching—or who might disapprove—Emma reached for his hand.
He glanced at her, seeming surprised by the public display of affection.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Shrugging, he said, “It was a long time ago.”
“Still…”
“Yeah. Still.”
Over the next few hours, Emma kept a watchful eye on the baby monitor and took several trips upstairs to check on Simone, who hadn’t moved.
Emma ate a sandwich that Grayson encouraged her to have after reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. They’d been far too busy to think about food, and the shock of returning home to find Simone injured had soured her appetite earlier.
At around eleven, Hannah stood to stretch. “Take me home, Nolan. I’ve had enough of this day and these people.”
Before anyone could object to her comment, she let out an odd sound that was followed by a rush of fluid that formed a puddle around her feet.
“Uh-oh,” she said, looking up at her husband with great big eyes.
“Ewww, gross,” Colton said. “She’s leaking!”
“Her water broke, you asshat,” Landon said.
Hannah seemed frozen in place by the unexpected turn of events. Next to her, Nolan seemed equally frozen.
“It’s too soon,” Hannah said frantically. “I’m only thirty-two weeks. It’s way too soon.”
“Hannah,” Molly said, her hands on Hannah’s shoulders. “Breathe. Take a deep breath. Now do it again.”
Hannah breathed the way her mother told her to, but she was ghostly pale and her big brown eyes were wide with fear. Her expression matched Nolan’s.
Everyone talked at once.
“Will the baby be all right?”
“Is Nolan going to faint?”
“He looks like he’s going to faint.”
“Game night causes labor. Good to know for the future.”
Molly pushed Nolan down to the sofa he’d only recently abandoned. “Put your head between your knees and breathe. Ella, get me some towels. Will, go warm up the Range Rover.”
“Um,” Linc said. “They have their own car… Just saying.”
“Does he look to be in any condition to drive?” Molly asked her husband while gesturing to her son-in-law, who had his head between his knees.
“Maybe we could take their car?” Linc asked hopefully.
“The Range Rover,” Molly said to Will. “Now. Charley, get their coats. Emma, you’re in charge of the dogs, if that’s all right.”
“Of course. Whatever I can do.”
“That would be a huge help. Thank you. Don’t anyone who’s been drinking even think about driving.”
“Yes, mother,” Lucas said.
Charley returned with the coats.
Molly got Hannah’s on her and told Will to help Nolan. “Let’s get them to the car. Can you walk, honey?”
Hannah clung to her mother. “I think so. It’s early. It’s okay if it’s early, right?”
“I had you and Hunter at thirty-five weeks, and you turned out fine.”
“Depends on how you define ‘fine,’” Lucas said.
“I had them at thirty-four weeks,” Molly said. “You can see the difference.”
“Hey,” Lucas and Landon said together.
“That’s not nice,” Landon said.
“Truth hurts,” Molly said, obviously making light to keep Hannah from freaking out.
It seemed to take the entire family to get Hannah and Nolan into the Range Rover, which Lincoln drove with Molly riding shotgun. Despite the teasing and bickering, every one of her siblings left to follow them to the hospital. Thankfully, it wasn’t snowing tonight, so they’d have clear roads.
“I need to be there,” Elmer said.
“I’ll take you, Dad,” Grayson’s mother said.
“Won’t say no to the company. It’s not every day a man becomes a great-grandfather for the second time.”
“Pictures,” Izzy said. “They’re going to need pictures.”
“Come with us, hon,” Hannah said to her daughter.
“Keep us posted,” Grayson said as he and Emma saw them off.
“You’re not coming?” his mother asked.
“I’ll help Emma with the dogs.”
“Right,” Hannah said with a twisted little smile. “The dogs.”
Grayson shut the door and locked it.
“She hates me,” Emma said.
“What? Who hates you?”
“Your mother.”
“She does not.” He put his arm around her and led her back to the family room. After he settled her on the sofa, he stepped around the game night carnage and threw another log on the fire before joining her. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s the way she looks at me, like I’m some sort of calculating gold digger out to land a daddy for my daughter.”
His smile lit up his eyes. “Are you a gold digger looking for a baby daddy?”
“No! I don’t need any of those things from you or any man.”
“I know that, and you know that, which is what matters.”
“It matters to me if your mom doesn’t like me.”
Sighing, he combed his fingers through his hair. “It’s not you. She has a twisted view of all things romance after what happened with my dad and then with Noah. She never liked the girl he married, and then she did exactly what my mother expected her to and hurt him badly.”
“What happened between them?”
“We have no idea. One minute they were happily married, or so we thought, and the next she was gone. He’s never spoken of it to any of us, but he’s different than he used to be.”
“How so?”
“He’s extremely withdrawn and antisocial. Even though he lives right down the street from Mom, she hardly ever sees him except at holidays and perfunctory visits in which he says nothing much of anything.”
“That’s sad. It sounds like he’s heartbroken.”
“Maybe so.”
“Have you tried to talk to him?”
“Many times, to no avail. When I was still in Boston, I made a pest out of myself, calling him all the time and talking about nothing for a few minutes. At least it was something.”
“It probably meant a lot to him.”
“Who knows? I keep hoping one of these days he might really talk to me. We used to be close when we were kids. We grew apart when I went to Boston and he got married.”
She could hear the unspoken regret in his words. “Maybe now that you’re back in town, you can bridge that gap.”
“I suppose we’ll see.”
“We should clean up this mess.”
“You’re right. We probably should.” He made no move to get up. Rather, he stared at her and ran his fingers through her hair. “I didn’t expect to get time alone with you in the middle of game night madness.”
“I didn’t expect that either.”
“I’m worried about Hannah and the baby,” he said. “Thirty-two weeks is early.”
“It really is, but they’ll get the best possible care. Hopefully, the baby will be fine.”
“I can’t imagine any other outcome. Poor Hannah has already had more than her share of grief in this lifetime.” As he spoke, he continued to play with Emma’s hair and stare at her mouth with obvious desire to kiss her.
She should send him home. She should go upstairs and sleep next to Simone in case she needed her during the night.
She should clean up the huge mess from game night.
She did none of those things. Rather, she licked her lips in anticipation of his kiss and then wrapped her arms around him as he came down on top of her right there on the sofa with the fire crackling in the background.