Chapter 44 #2
Then she turned and looked at Billy with complete composure. “Sorry we can’t stay longer. We have to get home to drive Griffin and his wife to the airport.” She gave him a sweet smile. “He married Juliette Serrant, in case you hadn’t heard.”
Billy scratched the back of his neck. “I hadn’t heard that he got married to Juliette Sorrant.”
“Serrant,” Mom corrected. “It’s okay. Ask Mindy. She’ll know exactly who she is.” Then she threaded her fingers through my dad’s and sauntered to the exit.
Billy looked at me and Holden, eyes wild, like he’d just witnessed his own exorcism. “You’re leaving too, right?”
Holden slapped the folder against his hand, expression hard. “We sure are.”
“What was plan B?” Billy asked hesitantly, eyeing the folder like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Oh,” I started. “Just a list of potential assault charges Maggie could file against Topher if need be.”
I heard Topher whimper in the closet.
“No worries.” Holden clicked his tongue. “I’ll keep it somewhere safe in case you change your mind about passing Maggie.”
Then we turned and followed Mom and Dad.
Billy jogged after us. “You can toss those papers. Just delete the file from your hard drive. I won’t change my mind.”
“I dunno,” Holden said, stepping out into the sunshine.
“I think Silas has proved that it’s better to keep some ammo in our back pocket just in case.
” He folded his arms, staring Billy down.
“But you might want to have a sit-down with your weasel of a boy before he does something that lands him behind bars. And don’t fool yourself into thinking your kid would never do something like that.
He already has.” His jaw pulsed. “I heard about everything he did to Maggie, and if he keeps this behavior up, it’s inevitable. ”
Billy’s expression turned murderous, but he kept his mouth closed.
“For once in your life, let down your pride and listen to what I’m telling you,” Holden said, voice full of concern. “Your kid needs a shift in trajectory before it’s too late.” He lifted his brows, making sure Billy knew he was sincere.
Billy didn’t nod, but the desire to kill Holden faded, a sick expression taking its place. Then he hoofed it back inside and slammed the door. Well, he tried. The pneumatic door closer stopped the door before it closed all the way.
“Did you actually type up a list?” I asked Holden as we walked across the parking lot.
He opened the folder to show me nothing but air. “I mean, I could’ve if y’all hadn’t called me last minute.” He shrugged. “But I was confident your mom had it.”
When we slipped into the back seat, Dad was talking to someone on speakerphone. “You have to keep Mom away from James. She means well, but she’s just making things worse.”
“Bro, I know,” Ashton said. “We had her in your basement playing pool, but the woman is an escape artist. She simply can’t stand seeing James in so much pain. It’s tearing her up.”
“Yeah,” Dad said. “But telling him he’ll get over Sage and find love again is not what he wants to hear right now.”
“Trust us,” Ash muttered. “We know.” Something in his tone said there had been drama while we were gone.
Dad cussed under his breath. “What did Mom do?”
Ashton sighed. “Gave James the whole spiel about how Willow needed a mother and he shouldn’t take too long to find another wife.”
Dad cussed again. But Mom cussed louder. I’d never heard either of them cuss as much as they had since the accident.
“No worries,” Tally sang cheerily. “James told her it was ‘none of her damn business.’ And ‘screw that, I’m never getting married again!’”
Mom gasped, then giggled. “Did he really?”
“Yes,” Ashton said, not nearly as chipper as his wife. “Mom boo-hooed like she thought James was the one going to hell. If we were Catholic, I’m positive she would’ve crossed herself.”
Holden snorted, staring out the window.
“Gramps and Granny are taking a walk around the farm right now,” Tally said. “And we’ve got Jane, Belle, Blaze, and Tristan guarding all the entrances to your house. We’ll keep Granny outside until you get back.”
Dad hung up and relaxed into his seat, but he did not look happy.
“It’s okay, Si.” Mom rubbed her free hand over his knuckles. “He just needs time.”
“That’s a good sign that James was so pissed,” I said, pointing out the positive. “At least we know there’s still some fire in him.”
Dad let out a long breath, slumping back against the seat. “Yeah. It is.”
Cars were parked all over the lawn when we got home.
It looked like every Dupree with a license had driven over to hug Griff and Juliette goodbye.
Mom was right; Aunt Peyton and Juliette hit it off from the get-go.
But so did Belle, Jane, Emily, Maddie, Sophie, and every other female in the family.
Hard for them not to like a woman who begs to give them makeovers every other day.
Bronco looked like he couldn’t breathe whenever she walked into the room.
And he hadn’t even hit puberty yet. So yeah, she’d become a fast favorite.
When I stepped inside, eager to break the good news to Magnolia, all I saw was a sea of teary-eyed faces, huddled around Griffin. Juliette must’ve been doing some last-minute packing because she was nowhere in the group.
I hurried through the crowd and to the great room, where I knew Magnolia would be. At any given moment, you could either find her begging James to hand Willow over or watching them nap together—like she was fascinated at the sight.
Sure enough, she sat at the edge of the couch, chin resting on her knees, gazing at my brother and his baby girl.
I’d teased her the first time I found her in this exact spot, wearing a similar smitten expression.
She said she couldn’t help herself. James and I looked so much alike that all she saw was me, holding one of our future babies.
Yes, we were less than three weeks into this relationship, and we spent every evening planning our future together.
Marriage, babies, the house we’d build once she was done with residency.
We’d already begun drawing up plans. Unlike with Nova, it didn’t make me want to run.
If anything, I fell more in love with Magnolia every second we dreamt together.
I took her in, the sun cascading through the two-story tall windows. Her freckles dotted her cheeks like the first stars in the night sky. Her pink lips were barely parted, watching Willow sleep against James’s chest, a softness in her eyes.
I scratched the back of my neck, and her head snapped up.
Our eyes locked. All the way home, I’d had this dumb idea to wear a forlorn expression and make her think for a split second that we’d failed and she would have to endure Billy and Topher for another rotation.
But after all the heartbreak I’d put her through, I didn’t have it in me to ever hurt her again. Not even in jest.
A smile twitched at the corners of my mouth. That’s all it took for her to thrust her fists into the air and wave her arms around like we were at a UVA football game, and a touchdown had been scored. But she kept her audio off, careful not to wake Willow.
“It worked?” James whispered, eyes watery, voice emotionless. That’s the way he’d been ever since he woke up in the hospital and learned Sage was gone. The tears were always there, on the edge of spilling out.
But then he gazed down at Willow Sage Dupree, and the way he looked at her told me he’d be okay. He’d find a way for her. She was half Sage, and she had his whole heart.
“Yeah, it worked,” I whispered, and crossed the room.
Magnolia shot to her feet and tackled me in a ninja-quiet hug. “I can’t believe you changed Dr. Adam’s mind,” she said, gazing at me all starry-eyed like I’d really done something.
“It was all Mom.” I grinned. “And you gotta start calling him Billy like the rest of the family.” I spit out his name like it was cow manure in my mouth.
“Facts. Mom finally played the naked pic card, huh?” James tried to shift in the chair and winced. “’ Bout time.”
“Here.” I adjusted the pillow that was causing him problems. “Do you need anything?” I was surprised Mom wasn’t in here fussing over him already.
” But then I glanced through the window to see her and Dad in the backyard, talking with Granny and Gramps.
Mom held Granny in a tight embrace. Granny’s shoulders shook as she cried.
Magnolia guided me onto the couch. “I have to tell you something—”
“Just remember, she told me first,” James said. His words were playfully bossy, but too hollow to sound natural.
Magnolia turned to face me, eyes bright. “James and I have been talking a lot about Sage and the difference an early diagnosis would’ve made for her.”
My brother’s expression went hard. “It would’ve saved her life.”
Turned out, Sage had a heart attack in the ambulance from the stress of not knowing if James was going to make it. It was a miracle they’d delivered Willow safely.
Unlike Billy, the cardiologist called when he found out and offered his condolences. He was sick with himself, but he couldn’t have predicted a car accident. He assured us that under normal circumstances, Sage would’ve made it through the delivery fine.
Magnolia slid closer, excited about whatever she was about to tell me.
“I think…” She nibbled her bottom lip as she drew over the lifeline on my right hand.
“I might want to specialize in family medicine. Maybe I could open my own practice here in Seddledowne,” she said really fast. “Then we can live near your family and my dad. And I can be the kind of doctor who’s an actual first line of defense, the way family doctors should be.
” She bounced on her cushion. “What do you think?”