Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Willow drove up to Silver Sky Ranch as her mom was coming out of the house, her ear pressed to her phone, her brow furrowed.
She was pulling on her raincoat, distractedly trying to jostle doing that with holding the phone and her bag.
“It’s Logan,” she called as Willow jumped out the car and Martha held up a finger for her to wait as she listened to what was being said on the other end of the line.
Willow froze waiting for the news, her body rushing cold with dread, but then she suddenly saw her mom’s face soften into a smile as she raised her hand to her mouth and said, “Oh, thank goodness.”
“What? What’s happened?” Willow urged, the world restarting again as she felt a frantic scrabbling to know what’d been said.
Martha put her hand over the receiver. “She’s had the baby. It’s a little boy. Mom and baby are both doing well.”
Willow pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, felt her eyes well and her legs weaken. The fear when she had sat with Bella in Dylan’s house had been so visceral, so all-consuming, that she hadn’t dared hope for this moment.
Martha was still on the phone. “Well, he’s a fighter like you and his mom, honey!” Then she was nodding. “I’m on my way, yes, I’ll drop by and get Bella’s bag. I’ll see you soon. Give my love to Bella.”
Willow found she was trembling, all the adrenaline seeping away. When her mom hung up, she said, “Are you sure the baby’s okay?”
Martha nodded. “He’s okay. Very tiny, but he’s okay. Breathing well and got a healthy cry, apparently.” She laughed and wiped her eyes. “My goodness,” she exhaled with relief. “That was scary.”
Willow nodded, the events still catching up with her. Martha came over and hugged her tight. “Well done, honey.”
Willow breathed in the comfort of her mom’s sweater, and said muffled, “I didn’t do anything really.”
Her mom pulled back and held her by the shoulders. “I think you did. And I hear Dylan did, too.”
Willow nodded under her mom’s assessing gaze and felt the awkwardness of their earlier argument creep back.
But Martha didn’t say anything about it, just hitched her bag on her shoulder and said, “I’m going to go to the hospital to meet my grandson.”
“I’ll drive you,” Willow replied, turning toward her car.
“No—” Martha reached out a hand to stop her “—you need to stay here and find your father.”
Willow frowned. “What do you mean, find him?”
Martha started walking toward the truck. “I haven’t seen him for hours. He wasn’t at the polo.”
“Why wasn’t he at the polo?” Willow scrunched up her face in confusion. “It was the charity match.”
“I know.” Martha shook her head as if as surprised as Willow. “I called him and he said he had work to do. And there’s no signal out there so he doesn’t know anything about the baby. Maybe he had some thinking to do…”
Willow wasn’t convinced.
“Whatever the reason, he needs to take his blood-pressure meds,” Martha went on, bleeping open the truck. “He won’t remember, so you need to find him.”
Willow narrowed her eyes at the idea of her dad’s medication. “Are you worried about him?”
Martha laughed almost despairingly as she opened the truck door and put her bag on the seat. “Willow, I’m always worried. It’s a reflex once you have children.”
Willow thought back to her dad saying how her mom had sat up in bed fretting about her. “I’m sorry I lied,” she said. “And I’m sorry I’ve made you worry.”
Her mom came back over. “Honey, I’m always going to worry about you—that’s my job—but yes, it would be helpful if you were a little bit more open with us.”
Willow thought of her mom’s unsubtle compliments about how good she was at teaching Zoey and her friends. “Yeah, but then you’re just going to tell me to stop doing what I’m doing.”
“And what is that exactly?” Martha countered. “Killing yourself on that darn stage. Working so hard you collapse. Willow, I don’t know why you’re pushing yourself so hard it breaks you—or who you’re doing it for—but I don’t dare ask for fear of you snapping my head off.”
Willow toyed with her hands, aware that she had, shamefully, been about to snap back a defensive retort.
Martha placed her hands on Willow’s upper arms and gave her a squeeze. “Watching you, it’s like you’re in constant battle with yourself, and I worry that you’ll never let yourself win.”
“I win,” Willow said on reflex, without even thinking about it.
“Just as long as you do, Willow.” Martha smiled, eyes creasing with fondness.
“That’s all I care about.” Then she gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Find your dad, tell him about the baby, remind him to take his pills. And remember, this listening business—the whole think-before-you-react mentality—it’s all new to him, so give him a chance.
” With a wink, her mom got into the truck and drove out the ranch.