Chapter 44
forty-four
HARPER
I arrive at the diner on time and do a quick glance around, but I don’t spot Finn. I tried to make it so that I arrived right on time so that he’d be here before me, but no such luck.
There’s one couple I don’t recognize in the diner, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re Finn’s parents, but when the man laughs at something the woman says, I know right away that it’s his dad. They look so much alike besides the few decades separating them.
Rather than stand awkwardly, I decide to go over and introduce myself. “Hi, are you Len and Kathy?”
They turn and look at me in unison. The woman’s eyes fall to my stomach and her face lights up in delight.
“Harper?” She slides out of the booth and pulls me into a hug. “Oh, it’s so great to meet you finally. How are you feeling?” She pulls away, but holds onto my shoulders, looking down between us at my swollen stomach. “How is the baby?”
“Give her a chance to answer at least one of your questions before you fire more her way, Kath.” I turn toward the voice and see that Len is now out of his seat too. “It’s great to meet you, Harper.” He holds out his hand, and I shake it.
“Great to meet you as well.” A genuine smile forms on my face. All of my trepidation about today and whether Finn’s parents would like me melts away. Finn is clearly cut from the same cloth as they are, which means they’re going to be warm, welcoming, and wonderful people.
We all sit in the booth, them side by side and me across from them.
“How are you liking Lake Starlight? Did you just get in yesterday?” I ask.
Kathy nods. “We did, so we haven’t had too much time to explore, but it seems like a lovely town. Finn mentioned that you have a lot of family living here.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “My dad has eight siblings, and between them, there are twenty-six kids in total. And some of us are starting our own families now.” I lay my hands on my stomach.
Kathy’s mouth drops open. I think I’ve left her speechless, which, if I’m guessing right, seems like a hard thing to do.
“Wow. Finn wasn’t exaggerating.” Len shakes his head in disbelief.
“No, he wasn’t. Most of them live around here, so yeah.” I shrug and look around. “I’m actually surprised that no one from my family is here by chance.”
They chuckle, then Maci is beside the table, offering me a decaf coffee. I slide my cup to the edge of the table so she can pour, then she pulls a couple of creamers from the pocket of her apron and sets them on the table.
“Are you guys ready to order?” she asks.
“We’re actually expecting Finn, so we’ll probably just wait to order until he gets here.”
“Sounds good,” she says with a smile and turns to leave.
Kathy frowns at the watch on her wrist. “It’s not like him to be late.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” I say, checking my phone.
He’s almost ten minutes late now, and he hasn’t texted. Unease settles in my stomach, but I push it away, instead deciding to use the time to get to know Finn’s parents a little better.
We chat for another fifteen minutes, but I can tell that all three of us are preoccupied with where Finn might be.
“Maybe I should call him,” I say when there’s a natural break in the conversation.
“Please do,” Kathy says, worriedly tapping her finger on the table.
I pull up his contact and call him, but the phone rings until it goes to voicemail.
I look at Kathy. “No answer. I’ll try him again to be sure. Maybe he just got hung up at a call right before his shift ended.”
But before I can dial him again, the bell over the door rings, and we all turn, expecting to see Finn. But it’s not Finn. It’s my uncle Kingston, and the way he’s searching the restaurant tells me he’s not here for breakfast.
I know immediately from the way he scans the place with a frown that something is wrong. When he spots me, he heads straight over. I’m standing beside the table before he arrives.
“What’s wrong?” I barely rasp the words out through my rapidly closing throat.
My uncle glances at the booth behind me.
I gesture with my hand. “These are Finn’s parents, Len and Kathy.” Then I turn to look at them and explain. “This is my uncle Kingston. He works for the Anchorage Fire Department, but he knows everyone at the station here in town.”
With that news, they’re both out of the booth too.
“Is it Finn?” Len asks.
My uncle sets his hands on his hips. “There was a call at the abandoned factory just outside of town. Finn was rescuing a teenager inside and had to carry her out of the building. The stairs he had to use gave way.”
Kathy and I gasp in stereo.
“Is he okay?” Tears fill my eyes.
“They’ve brought him to the hospital. I don’t know much more than that.”
Kathy cries out, and my knees wobble underneath my weight. My uncle must notice because he steadies me with a hand to my arm.
“I’m here to take you guys over there.”
I nod numbly, barely registering the sound of Kathy’s tears. It’s not as though I didn’t know Finn has a dangerous job. I guess I just didn’t think about what that meant. I didn’t think of all the what-ifs every time he walked out the door for a shift.
“C’mon, I’m parked just outside,” my uncle says.
We make our way to the door, and within a few minutes, we’re pulling up at the emergency entrance of the small hospital. Kathy and I are out of the truck practically before the wheels have stopped turning. We arrive at the check-in desk together, Len right behind us.
“My son was brought in here. He’s a firefighter,” Kathy says.
“Finn McDonald,” I add.
The nurse’s mouth tightens, and she stands. “Let me check with the doctor.”
“Is he okay?” The words are nearly impossible to push from my mouth.
“Give me a moment.” She disappears behind the doors that lead to where the patients who have been called back are.
“Oh god.” My hand instantly goes to my belly.
If something has happened to Finn, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Our time together has been too short. And I didn’t get to tell him that I love him.
I was too afraid to put myself out there in case he didn’t feel the same.
I didn’t want him to feel pressured to feel that way because we’re having a baby together.
Jesus, what if our baby has to grow up without their father? The thought brings hot tears to my eyes.
When I come out of my thoughts, I realize that some of the guys from the fire station are here too. I’m about to go and see if they have any more details when the nurse comes out from behind the doors, another nurse at her side. She looks vaguely familiar.
The nurse from behind the desk speaks before we can pummel her with questions. “Allie here will take you back to see him and explain what’s going on.”
All our attention moves to the nurse named Allie. “I can’t take everyone back there,” she says, looking around the waiting room.
“We’re his parents,” Len says, stepping up behind Kathy and me and placing a hand on each of our shoulders. “And this is his girlfriend.”
The word sounds so foreign in relation to Finn and me, though it’s accurate. It just sounds so juvenile.
“All right, you three come with me.” She walks toward the doors and we quickly follow.
“Is Finn okay?” I ask as she leads us down a hallway.
“He’ll be okay,” she says, and a surge of relief washes over me.
“He has some cracked ribs, and he’s going to be sore from head to toe from the fall.
He also has a mild concussion. We’re going to keep him overnight for observation, make sure nothing else presents, but he should make a full recovery. ”
From where she walks beside me, Kathy takes my hand and squeezes.
I swear I’ll never again take for granted Finn’s and my time together.
Allie stops outside a door and motions for us to go in. “He needs to rest, so you can’t stay long.”
I nod and step inside, still clutching Kathy’s hand. As soon as she sees her son lying in bed, she rushes ahead to embrace him, and he winces in pain.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Kathy backs up, flustered when she realizes she’s caused him pain.
Finn’s gaze meets mine, and the look we share, the feeling that passes between us without words, lets me know that I was silly for not telling him sooner how I feel. Len walks in past me and greets his son, telling him he’s relieved that he’s okay.
Then it’s my turn.
I don’t even realize I’m crying until Finn says, “Aw, Harp, don’t cry. C’mere.” He raises his hand as much as it seems is comfortable with his ribs, and I rush forward.
Since I don’t want to hurt him, I don’t crawl into the bed and mold myself to him as I really want to. Instead, I lean over the bed and cup his face with my hands and bring my forehead to his. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You scared me,” I whisper.
“I scared me too. All I could think about when I felt the stairs give way underneath me was you and the baby and how I had to make it home to both of you.”
His words set my tears off heavier this time, and they drip on his face.
With a grimace, he raises his one hand and gently wipes the tears from my cheek. I move back a bit so that I can meet his eyes.
“I love you.” The words burst out of me. “I should have told you before now, but I was scared you didn’t feel the same way or might feel pressured to feel the same because of the baby, but after what happened today, I can’t keep it to myself anymore.”
Finn shakes his head. “I can’t believe you stole my thunder.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I had fully planned to tell you that I love you. As soon as I woke up and realized I was still alive, that’s all I wanted to do.”
“You love me?” I whisper.
“You’re so easy to love, Harper. I never stood a chance.”
I want to crawl into his lap and make out with him, but given his ribs, I settle for placing a gentle kiss on his lips. “Don’t you dare scare me like that again. I can’t have the man I love putting his life in peril all the time.”
His eyes gleam with humor. “No promises.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye has me remembering that his parents are in the room with us. Guess it’s a good thing I couldn’t climb onto his lap and make out with him.
I force myself to back up from the bed, my cheeks hot with embarrassment. “Sorry.”
But Kathy and Len are grinning at us.
“Are you kidding me? Nothing could make me happier right now than what I just witnessed.” Kathy’s smile lights up her entire face.
“We’re so glad you’re all right, son. What happened out there?” Len asks.
Finn tells us about the call and how after he fell, the next thing he remembers is being transported to the ambulance. “The doctor told me that the girl is okay and that Shane, the other firefighter, made it out.”
“That’s good news,” Kathy says, pulling up a chair beside the bed.
Len brings another one over and motions for me to sit, which I do. Finn immediately holds his hand out so that I can hold it.
“Since I didn’t make it to breakfast, I never got to hear what you’re doing in town,” Finn says.
His parents share a look before Len clears his throat then shoves his hands in his pockets. “Your mother and I have decided. We’re selling the resort.”
My attention goes to Finn to see how he’s going to take this news. His face is laced with concern.
“What? Why?” Finn asks.
“It’s time. It’s been a struggle for years now, and your mom and I don’t want to struggle anymore.” He shrugs.
“But you didn’t want to ever sell it.”
Len glances at me for a beat before returning his attention to his son. “We didn’t want to sell it to a big conglomerate. But we were approached by Harper’s Uncle Wyatt, who made us a good offer. It will allow us to retire, and that feels right since we’re going to be grandparents.”
“That’s why Wyatt was asking me all kinds of questions that day when I was at your dad’s,” Finn says to me.
My uncle owns the Glacier Point` Resort here in town, as well as some other resorts around the country. It makes sense that he might be interested in acquiring Finn’s family resort.
“Are you guys sure you want to do this?” Finn asks them, obviously not sold on the idea.
Kathy nods. “We are. That’s why we’re in town.
To meet with Wyatt and sign the papers now that our lawyer has looked everything over.
It will be nice not to have to be tied to the resort for so many months of the year and have no time for anything else.
To not have to worry during the offseason about what the coming months might be like.
The stress of it was getting to be too much. We’re too old for that now.”
Finn looks between his parents. “What are you guys going to do with your time then?”
His mom grins. “Well… we had this crazy idea that maybe we’d move here.”
Finn’s eyebrows rise up to his hairline. “Lake Starlight?”
“Only if it’s okay with you two. We want to be close to our grandchild, not thousands of miles away.”
He looks at me as if trying to gauge my reaction. Obviously, I don’t know his parents well, but they seem like lovely people, and I have no doubt they’re going to love our child.
“That sounds wonderful. But you might feel different once you meet my family,” I say, laughing.
Finn squeezes my hand, and I can tell by his smile that he’s excited about this development and just needed to know I’m onboard.
And I am. I’m onboard for whatever life throws our way, as long as we’re in it together.