Chapter 2
Janey’s belly fluttered with nerves as they pulled into the driveway of her childhood home, and she saw her parents standing in the doorway waiting for them.
Joe put his warm hand on top of her cold one. “It’s going to be fine. You know they want this for you as much as I do.”
“It’s true. They do, but they’ll be sad, too.”
“It’ll be okay, Janey. I promise. Let’s go get it over with so we can move forward with our plans.”
She nodded and released her seat belt to get out of the car to fetch Vivienne from her seat while Joe got PJ. Both their kids had light blond hair, like their parents had as children, as well as their father’s hazel eyes.
“Let’s go see Grandma and Papa,” Janey said to her daughter.
Viv let out a squeal at the words Grandma and Papa. Her parents gave all their grandchildren their undivided attention when they were with them, and the kids adored them.
At the front door, Linda took Vivienne from Janey while Big Mac relieved Joe of PJ.
Seeing her parents as grandparents to her children was one of the most joyful things in Janey’s life.
The thought of what she’d come to tell them threatened to break her heart.
But she and Joe had made their decision and were ready to implement it.
They just had to tell everyone, and that was the hard part.
“What’s going on?” Linda asked, laser-focused on Janey.
They didn’t call her Voodoo Mama for nothing. She always knew when something was up.
“We were hoping we could talk to you for a minute,” Janey said, glancing at Joe.
He put his arm around her, reminding her they were a team and were in this together.
Thank God for him. She had that thought many times every day. When she recalled how close she’d come to marrying the wrong man…
“You’re not pregnant, are you, Princess?” Big Mac asked.
“No, Dad!” Janey laughed. “I told you we’re done with babies.” Her daughter being born on the ferry after PJ’s calamitous birth had cured her and Joe of any desire for more kids. They’d tempted fate twice. That was more than enough.
“Oh, thank you, Jesus,” Big Mac said. “You two have already used up your share of my blood pressure medicine.”
“Hush, Daddy. Your blood pressure is fine.”
“Not when my baby girl is in danger, it isn’t.”
“I’m not in any danger.” Janey followed them to the family room, where they put the kids down to play with the toys Big Mac and Linda had gotten for their grandchildren to have at their house.
“How about an ice cream sandwich?” Linda asked PJ, who got excited at the words ice cream no matter how they were presented.
He went with his grandmother to get treats for himself and his sister while Big Mac sat on the floor with Vivienne, the way he had when Janey and her brothers were little. “Just tell us what’s going on so we can stop worrying about it.”
“It’s nothing bad,” Janey said, glancing at Joe.
He sent her a warm, loving smile. His support had made so many things possible for her, and his sacrifices had gotten her halfway through vet school. “So Joe and I have been talking, and it looks like we’ll be going back to Ohio this fall so I can get back to school.”
“That’s great news, honey.” A big smile stretched across her father’s handsome face. “You know we’ve wanted that for you since you were a little girl bringing home injured birds and squirrels to nurse them back to health.”
“It’s just…” She looked down at her hands as she tried not to give in to the tears that’d been plentiful since they made their decision a week ago.
In the back of her mind, she’d hoped that OSU would tell her it was too late for the fall, but they’d welcomed her back with open arms. “It’s harder to go this time around. ”
“Because you have two little ones,” Linda said, tending to both kids as they made a disastrous mess with the half-size ice cream sandwiches.
“Who are deeply bonded to you, Carolina, Seamus, their aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. Not to mention how bonded we are to everyone.” Despite her great desire to have this conversation without them, tears slid down her cheeks anyway. “It’s going to be really hard to leave.”
“It’ll be hard for us to see you go,” Linda said, “but don’t worry about the kids. They’ll be fine as long as they have you and Joe. Years from now, they won’t remember being away from here. They’ll only remember the love they always had from everyone around them.”
“I know, and we’ve talked about that. They’re too little to realize they won’t see you guys or the others for a while, and that’s a blessing.”
“That’s why I encouraged Janey to do this now,” Joe said. “They’re still young enough to roll with it. When PJ starts school, that’ll complicate things even more.”
“That’s very true,” Big Mac said. “I remember making vacation plans after Mac started school without giving a thought to the fact that he couldn’t go then.
It was a huge shock to our system that we couldn’t do whatever we wanted anymore.
You’re wise to get this done before that’s a factor.
And if I could just add… I can’t wait to call you Dr. Cantrell.
I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”
“I know you have.” Her dad had been furious with her ex-fiancé, David Lawrence, when he’d talked her out of going to vet school after college.
David had made the argument that paying off loans for med school and vet school would kill them financially.
“And Doc Potter is getting closer to retiring whether I’m ready to take over the practice or not.
He sort of gave me a bit of an ultimatum this summer.
He said, ‘If it can’t be you, Janey, it’s gonna have to be someone before too much longer. ’”
“After he said that,” Joe added, “I asked Janey how she’d feel about someone else taking over Doc’s practice. That sort of got her seriously thinking about finishing school.”
“I keep telling myself it’s only two more years, but that seems like a lifetime right now. I’m homesick, and we haven’t even left yet.”
“You’ve always been such a homebody,” Big Mac said. “Remember how you wanted to come home every weekend when you were at UConn?”
“I do, and I remember how mean you were, because you wouldn’t let me.”
“For two reasons. One, I had to go get you, which meant leaving my precious island to drive two hours each way, and two, I wanted you to make friends there and enjoy the college experience.”
“I did make friends there, and I did enjoy the college experience, but this is the first I’m hearing that your precious island was more important than your precious daughter.”
“She got you there, hon,” Linda said, laughing.
“Now you know very well that nothing was or is more precious to me than my precious daughter, but I wasn’t going to Connecticut to get you every weekend—and then taking you back two days later.”
“Instead, you made me suffer away from my beloved island.”
“I saw the pictures you sent your mother. You were not suffering. It’s a wonder any schooling got done.”
Janey could’ve play-bickered with her father all night, but Vivienne had a meltdown that led to Joe scooping her up to get her out of there before PJ could start up, too.
Linda produced a wipe from somewhere and had the kids cleaned up in no time.
That was just one of many reasons she’d miss her mother. Both her parents had a way of pitching in right where they were needed before Janey even knew she needed them. And then she was sobbing all over her mother.
“I’m such a big baby,” she said, sniffling.
Linda patted her back and held her the way she had since Janey was a little girl with a skinned knee.
“You’re doing the right thing, sweetheart.
Even though it’s hard right now, you’ll be so glad you did it.
” She pulled back and pushed the hair from Janey’s face.
“Think about what an amazing example you’ll be setting for your own daughter by showing her there’s no limit to what she can do if she dreams big and works hard. ”
“Your mom is right, Princess,” Big Mac said. “It broke our hearts when David talked you out of vet school the first time around, and we understood why you took a break after you had the babies, but now it’s time to go back and finish what you started. You’ll always regret it if you don’t.”
Janey wiped her face and held her arms out to her son, who was studying her with his little brows knitted with dismay. “You guys will come visit, right?”
“Try to stop us,” Big Mac said.
“Telling you our plan makes me feel better. It’s been so stressful trying to imagine doing this with two kids and the menagerie.” They had a squad of special-needs pets who would travel with them to Ohio.
“Joe will be right there with you to help with everything, and it’ll go by so fast,” Linda said. “You’ll be back for next summer before you know it.”
“I want to blink and be back.” She kissed PJ on the top of his head. “Let’s go rescue Daddy from your sister, buddy.”
“Daddy!”
“He loves his daddy. Thanks, guys, for, you know, every single thing you’ve ever done and continue to do. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you.”
“No need to worry about that, sweetheart,” Big Mac said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
They walked her out and stood in the doorway to wave them off as Joe backed their SUV out of the driveway.
Janey waved until they were out of sight and then broke down into tears again.
“I was hoping you’d feel better after you shared the news with them,” Joe said.
“I do feel better. It’s just hard to know I won’t see them for months. That the kids won’t see them.”
“We’ll see them. We’ll FaceTime every week, and they’ll come visit.”
“I know. It just won’t be the same as having everyone right here.”
When they got home, Joe took Viv from her. “Go take a bath. I’ve got this.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t. Go take some time for you.” He kissed her cheek. “And then we’ll have some time for us.”