The View By the Shore (Seascape Shores #3)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Edie Lancaster stared at the two pink lines—one slightly fainter than the other—with more than just words getting trapped in her throat.

This was a lot to take in. Despite her best effort to process exactly what she was looking at, her brain lagged behind, not understanding.

Like she could reboot herself, she shook her head. Clamped her eyes shut. Hard reset.

Her eyes popped back open again and to her surprise, those pink lines remained.

So, this was really happening. She sniffed softly in an attempt to keep her welling emotions at bay, but the threat of tears still flooded her eyes as a filmy blur. When she tried to swallow, the back of her tongue prickled.

She shook her head once more. Blinked again. Somehow managed a full gulp this time.

This couldn’t be.

She couldn’t be…

“Are you okay?” From across the wood-scarred table, Hannah analyzed her mom under a strained brow line, arms woven over her chest like a security blanket. Or possibly a shield.

“I’m…” Edie couldn’t process the word she had attempted and failed to utter twice now. “I’m…”

Hannah’s interlaced arms loosened, but only a fraction that would hardly be distinguishable to anyone but Edie.

Mothers knew these sorts of things, though.

They could read their child’s body language like a book.

“You’re upset.” Hannah tensed right back up, ready to deflect.

But Edie wasn’t upset by this surprising news, contrary to her shocked expression.

Unfortunately, her daughter couldn’t read her quite as well.

“No, sweetheart. No. I’m not upset—”

“Because you and Dad were barely older than I am when you had me,” Hannah rallied, clearly prepared for the inevitable backlash with a speech of her own.

“I’m aware you still think of me as your little girl, but I’m a grown woman and have been for some time.

And I know I talked about taking time off of school to make music with Casey, but we’ve decided it’s best if I finish this last semester instead of deferring it.

Once I have this baby, it’ll be that much harder to make myself go back and get my degree.

It’s obviously not how we planned things, but we’re really excited about this—”

“So am I, sweetheart.” Edie slipped her hand across the kitchen table to free her daughter’s and take it into her own. “So very excited.”

Hannah froze. “You are?”

“Of course, I am. Surprised, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thrilled. If this is what you want, then it’s what I want for you, too. I’m just having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I’m going to be a grandmother.”

She intentionally squeezed Hannah’s hand, a gesture of reassurance that instantly softened the worry lines bracketing her daughter’s eyes and mouth.

“There are so many variations on the word these days,” Hannah offered with the sweetest smile. “Gran. Grammy. Heck, I’ve even heard Glamma. You can take your pick. We aren’t choosy.”

It wasn’t the title that made Edie stop short.

Grandma Edie would suit her just fine. But becoming a grandmother at forty-five hadn’t been in the envisioned timeline of her life.

Neither had setting out as a professional photographer though, either.

Or finding herself smack-dab in the middle of a confusing love triangle with two men she could easily see a future with.

She definitely did not have that on this year’s Bingo card.

Honestly, the news of this baby was the only thing to bring any sort of certainty into Edie’s currently chaotic life. Because when it came down to it, nothing was more important to Edie than her family. Absolutely nothing.

“How far along are you?”

“Almost thirteen weeks.”

“You’re already out of your first trimester?

” How had Edie not known? She’d prided herself on her close relationship with her daughter.

And to think Hannah had been pregnant for over three months without her knowledge.

Had Edie really been that wrapped up in her own hectic schedule to miss such a monumental change in her grown daughter’s life?

“Yep. Turning the corner into my second trimester and thrilled about it. That morning sickness was no joke. I’m finally beginning to feel like I’m on the other side of it. I’ve kept down breakfast every day for the last week, which is a huge accomplishment.”

“So that food poisoning you had at Camille’s wedding…?”

“Not food poisoning at all.” Hannah made a face. “Honestly, I feel really bad that I blamed it on that since Morgan did such a beautiful job catering the event. But I needed an excuse, and it was the only believable one I could come up with.”

Edie made a mental note to stop by Sugar Blossom Bakery later to give her friend this information.

The poor baker had twisted herself into knots over Hannah’s upset stomach that day.

Worried others might come down with a similar bought of sickness that caused Hannah to miss the cake cutting, first dance, and even the bouquet toss.

Which was too bad, really. Edie would have preferred her daughter catch that bundle of flowers rather than have it thrown into her own hands.

She could still conjure up the confusing image of both Josh and Cal’s hopeful faces when the roses landed right in her open palms.

She shuddered, stowing away the memory. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“Not yet, but the doctor said we could find out as early as later this week if we wanted to. But I’m not sure we will. Casey wants it to be a surprise.”

Oh, this was definitely a surprise.

While Edie overcame her shock relatively quickly, she wondered if this conversation was going as smoothly one beach house over.

She couldn’t be so sure. Tabitha had been noticeably less stressed since turning down the position as Chief of Surgery at Seascape Shores General, a decision she flipped back and forth on like a pancake on a hot griddle.

Even though she’d ultimately declined the title she had worked her entire professional life to achieve, she was still the head trauma surgeon, a consuming job that had the tendency to occupy her thoughts even when she wasn’t in the OR.

In recent months, she had appeared to strike up a healthy work-life balance, but Tabitha hadn’t factored being a new grandmother into the equation. Edie could only imagine her dear friend’s reaction. On second thought, she wasn’t sure she could.

While Edie’s musings carried her away, Hannah’s phone buzzed on the table between them. She slipped her hand from her mother’s to click the screen.

“Casey?” Edie guessed aloud.

With her thumb between her teeth, Hannah nodded as she studied the text. “He asked if he could come over and talk with you. Something about needing your help with his mom.”

“Of course, sweetie. Absolutely.” But Edie didn’t know if she could be of any assistance. If Tabitha’s reaction to the surprise pregnancy announcement wasn’t a good one, she doubted she had the power to change that.

Twenty years of friendship did have some influence, but Tabitha was a determined—if not admittedly stubborn—woman. If she hadn’t received the news well initially, there wasn’t much Edie could do to remedy the situation.

“He’s coming over now.” Hannah placed her phone face down onto the table, a grimace tugging the corners of her mouth. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m about to be sick.”

Was it more of that morning sickness? Or were these nerves breaking through?

“Tabitha will come around—”

Bolting back from the table, Hannah rushed in a blur toward the half-bath down the hall of Edie’s beach house, her bare feet clapping over the tiled floor with every hurried step. Edie thought to go after her daughter, but the knock on the front door changed her course of direction.

“You can get that,” Hannah called, her voice muffled. “It’s just Casey.”

“Are you sure you’re okay in there?” Edie came close and pressed an ear to the wooden bathroom door between them.

“I’m fine, Mom. Just a little nauseous. It will pass.”

Hannah was right. She was a grown woman, and it was due time that Edie started treating her like one. But Edie would always be her mother. That would never change. She would gladly hold Hannah’s hair back fifty years from now if she needed that motherly comfort.

Another knock sounded softly from the front of the house, not impatient in nature, but persistent.

“Coming!” Edie hollered, her fingers finally lighting on the handle as she reached the door.

Casey stood on the front stoop. “Edie.” He forced an unsure smile. “Hi.”

“Hey, Case. Come on in.” She took a step back to give her best friend’s son some room to cross the threshold.

In the months following Casey’s horrific car accident, he’d regained most of his mobility, in large part due to his consistent work in physical therapy and his tenacious spirit—no doubt passed down from his mama.

It was so good to see him doing so well.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Edie said the moment he was inside.

Was she beaming already? Because she definitely couldn’t contain her joy, and she had a feeling the smile stretching across her face looked more goofy than anything.

But it couldn’t be helped. She was bursting with pride.

Grandma. She could hardly believe it. “I couldn’t be happier for the two of you.

” With outstretched arms, Edie folded the young man into her embrace and held him tight.

“I take it your mom hasn’t come down from the shock of the announcement? ”

Casey stepped back. “I haven’t told her yet.”

“Oh.” Edie had just assumed Casey’s SOS text had to do with Tabitha’s poor reaction and his need for a little help with damage control. Shame on her for jumping to that conclusion so quickly.

“I was actually coming over to enlist your help with the announcement.” Casey’s smile was more confident now.

That definitely piqued Edie’s interest. “Really? What do you have in mind?”