Chapter 19
ELYSE
"Are you sure about this?" I asked, watching Drew load his golf clubs into the trunk. "I know how much you've been looking forward to this tournament."
He closed the trunk and turned to face me, his expression resolute. "I'm positive. Ben can take my spot. It's just a friendly competition, and Holly needs us here."
It had been three days since my conversation with my father, and Holly's mood had darkened considerably. She was going through the motions—still working at Jenna's bakery, still taking care of Eden—but the light had gone out of her eyes. Last night, I'd heard her crying softly in her room.
"I appreciate it," I said, wrapping my arms around him. "I think we need a family day."
Drew kissed the top of my head. "Exactly. I was thinking we could take Paige's boat out. Maybe that would cheer her up."
"That's perfect. She loves being on the water."
We had borrowed Paige's pontoon boat a few times since Holly arrived, and those days had been some of her happiest. Something about the open water seemed to calm her, make her more willing to talk.
"I'll pack a picnic," I said, already mentally inventorying the refrigerator. "We can stop at that little cove she likes."
Drew nodded, checking his watch. "She should be up soon. I'll go tell her the plan."
Inside, I assembled sandwiches, fruit, and slightly lopsided cookies Holly had brought home from Jenna's bakery, packing everything carefully into our cooler. I was just adding bottles of water when my phone rang. It was Grace.
"Morning, sunshine," I answered, tucking the phone between my ear and shoulder as I continued packing.
"Hey, you," Grace's smoky voice replied. "I was just checking in. How's Holly doing with the news about her mom?"
"As well as can be expected," I sighed. "She's withdrawing a bit. Drew canceled his golf tournament so we can take her out on Paige's boat today."
"That's a good plan. Water heals."
I smiled at the echo of my own thoughts. "That's what we're hoping."
"Listen," Grace said, her tone shifting slightly, "I know this is a difficult time, but I wanted to see if you've given any more thought to what we talked about at Cat's."
My hand stilled on the cooler lid. Of course. The intervention about my side business following cheating husbands.
"Grace, I—"
"Just hear me out," she interrupted. "I understand why you do it. Better than most, maybe. But is it worth risking what you have with Drew? With Holly?"
I closed my eyes, remembering the man who had recognized me at the beach. How easily that could have gone sideways, especially with Holly there.
"I'm being more careful," I said finally. "And I've cut back."
"Cutting back isn't the same as stopping,” Grace pointed out gently. "I worry about you, Elyse. We all do. And now you have Holly to consider."
The mention of Holly landed exactly as Grace had intended. She knew exactly which buttons to push.
"I know," I admitted. "I'm working on it. Really."
"That's all I ask," Grace said, her voice softening. "Now go enjoy your boat day. Give Holly a hug from me."
After hanging up, I stood motionless in the kitchen, Grace's words echoing in my mind. She was right, of course. My amateur detective work had always carried risks, but those risks felt different now that Holly was in the picture. If something happened to me, it wouldn't just affect Drew anymore.
"Earth to Elyse," Drew's voice broke into my thoughts. He was standing in the doorway, Holly beside him. She was dressed in her bathing suit with a t-shirt over it, one of my golf hats pulled down over her pink locks.
"Sorry, just finishing up the packing," I said, forcing a smile. "Are we ready to go?"
Holly nodded, some of her usual animation returning at the prospect of a day on the water. "Uncle Drew said we might see dolphins today."
"If we're lucky," Drew agreed. "And we usually are."
Twenty minutes later, we were at Paige's dock, loading our supplies onto her pontoon boat. Drew handled the lines while I helped Holly arrange our towels and bags.
"Do you want to help drive today?" Drew asked Holly as we pulled away.
Her face lit up. "Can I?"
"Absolutely. Come sit up here with me."
I watched them from my spot at the back of the boat, Drew patiently explaining the controls while Holly listened with uncharacteristic concentration. The sight of them together, heads bent over the steering wheel, made my throat tighten with emotion.
This is what matters. Not the satisfaction of exposing cheaters, not the validation from grateful wives. This—my family, right here—is everything.
We cruised for nearly an hour before finding our favorite cove, a secluded spot where the water was calm and clear. Drew dropped anchor while Holly and I set up our picnic on the boat's center table.
"This was a good idea," Holly said, biting into a sandwich. "Thanks for bringing me."
"Are you kidding? You're the best boat companion," Drew told her. "Your aunt gets seasick if the water's too choppy."
"That was one time," I protested, throwing a grape at him. "And it was practically a hurricane."
Holly laughed, the sound lightening the atmosphere instantly. "You guys are weird."
"We prefer 'charmingly eccentric,'" Drew corrected, catching the grape and popping it into his mouth.
After lunch, Holly slipped into the water, floating on her back with her face turned up to the sun. Drew moved to sit beside me, his arm wrapping around my shoulders.
"She seems better," he observed quietly.
"This was exactly what she needed," I agreed. "What we all needed."
We watched as Holly flipped over and began swimming in lazy circles around the boat.
"I've been thinking," Drew said after a moment. "We should talk to her soon about the adoption idea. Before she starts making too many plans for the fall."
I nodded, leaning into him. "I've been thinking the same thing. I don't want her to feel like she has to hold back because her situation is temporary."
"How about sometime this week? I'm not traveling so it'll be a great opportunity."
"That sounds perfect."
Holly swam back to the boat ladder and climbed up, water streaming from her hair. "The water is amazing! You guys should come in."
Drew grinned and stood up. "Race you!" he said to me, and before I could respond, he'd executed a perfect cannonball off the side of the boat, sending a spray of water over both Holly and me.
"Uncle Drew!" Holly shrieked, laughing. "You got Aunt Elyse soaked!"
"That was the plan!" he called back, surfacing with a triumphant grin.
Holly looked at me expectantly. "Your turn, Aunt 'Lyse."
I hesitated, torn between my natural caution and the desire to join in their fun. Grace's words from earlier echoed in my mind: Now you have Holly to consider.
Making a decision, I stood up and stripped down to my swimsuit. "Stand back," I warned, and then executed a dive that would have made my high school swimming coach proud.
The water was cool and perfect, washing away my worries at least temporarily. I surfaced to find Drew and Holly both staring at me with identical expressions of surprise.
"What?" I asked, treading water.
"That was an Olympic-level dive," Drew said appreciatively.
Holly nodded, clearly impressed. "I didn't know you could do that!"
I laughed, flipping onto my back to float. "There are lots of things you don't know about me yet."
"Like what?" Holly challenged, swimming closer.
"Like the fact that I was the regional diving champion three years in a row in high school."
"No way!" Holly's eyes widened. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
I shrugged, still floating. "It never came up."
"What else don't I know?" she pressed, genuinely curious now.
Drew swam up beside us. "She plays a mean game of backgammon. And she can recite the entire script of 'The Princess Bride' from memory."
Holly looked delighted by these revelations. "What else?"
"She makes the world's best sourdough banana bread," Drew continued. "And she once drove across three states to rescue a dog she saw on a shelter website."
"Eden?" Holly guessed.
I nodded. "She was scheduled to be put down the next day. I couldn't let that happen."
Holly's expression softened. "That's how you are with people too, isn't it? You see someone in trouble and you want to help."
Her insight caught me off guard. "I guess so," I admitted. "Sometimes to a fault, according to your uncle."
Drew mock-frowned. "I never said it was a fault. Just that it occasionally leads to... interesting situations."
Holly looked between us, sensing something unspoken. "Like what?"
Drew and I exchanged a glance. This wasn't the time to get into my side activities.
"Like the time I convinced your uncle to take in a 'stray' cat that turned out to belong to our neighbor," I said instead. "He wasn't pleased when Mrs. Garcia came looking for her precious Fluffy."
Drew laughed. "That cat had been pampered its entire life. I should have known it wasn't a stray when it turned its nose up at the perfectly good tuna I offered."
The conversation drifted to other topics as we swam and floated in the protected cove. Eventually, the sun began to lower in the sky, and we reluctantly climbed back onto the boat.
As Drew started the engine, Holly came to sit beside me, wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping down her back.
"Thanks for today," she said quietly. "I really needed it."
I put my arm around her, pulling her close. "We all did."
"I'm sorry I've been so moody the past few days," she continued. "It's just... hearing about Mom wanting to give up her rights... I always thought someday she'd get better and things would go back to normal."
My heart ached for her. "I know, honey."
"But there isn't really a 'normal' to go back to, is there?" she asked, looking up at me with eyes too wise for her years. "Even when I was little, things were never really normal with Mom."
"No," I admitted. "Your mom has been struggling for a long time."
Holly was quiet for a moment, watching the shoreline approach. "Do you think she'll ever get better?"
The question hung between us, weighted with hope and history. I chose my words carefully.
"I hope so, Holly. I really do. But addiction is a powerful force, and your mom has to want to get better. We can't make that choice for her."
Holly nodded, as if this confirmed something she'd already known. "I think that's why I got so upset. Not because she wants to give up her rights, but because... because I wasn't surprised."
The simple honesty of her statement broke my heart. I pulled her closer, resting my cheek against her damp hair. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
"It's okay," she said, and I could hear in her voice that in some ways, it really was. "I have you and Uncle Drew now. And Eden. And all your friends. It's not the same, but... it's good."
"It is good," I agreed. "And we're so lucky to have you with us."
As Drew guided the boat back to the marina, I watched Holly helping him navigate, pointing out markers and other boats, laughing at something he said. The casual ease between them, the trust and affection, filled me with a sense of rightness so profound it took my breath away.
This was my family. Not the one I'd expected or planned for, but the one I'd been given—the one we were building together, day by day, choice by choice.
And I knew with sudden, complete certainty that I would do anything to protect it.
Because nothing—not the satisfaction of exposing a cheater, not the gratitude of a woman I'd helped—nothing compared to this: the three of us, sunburned and tired, heading home together as the sun set behind us, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold.
Home. To our house, where Eden waited. Where Holly's photography books were stacked on the coffee table. Where Drew's golf shoes sat next to mine in the mudroom. Where all the pieces of our life together fit perfectly, unexpectedly, wonderfully.
It wasn't the life I'd imagined for myself all those years ago. It was better.