“Okay,” Grayson said, as much to himself as to the baby. “Okay, let’s get settled.”
He nudged the bag inside the front door with his foot, and then followed it, pulling the door shut behind them.
It was only once they were ensconced in the warmth of the house that the baby seemed to realize he had been left behind.
His little face scrunched up.
“You’re okay,” Grayson told him.
But the baby began to wail, his whole body going stiff with fury.
“I know,”Grayson murmured, instinctively rocking the boy in his arms.“I know. Nobody wants us. But we’ve got each other now.”
Leo howled unabated, his angry wails echoing off the walls of the too-big foyer.
But for some reason the sound didn’t irritate Grayson the way everything else seemed to do lately.
“We’ll just walk until you feel better,” he told the boy, pulling him up on his chest and patting him gently between his tiny shoulder blades as he began to pace up and down the center hall.
And even though he knew his entire life had just been turned upside-down, Grayson somehow felt more grounded holding the baby than he’d felt since coming home.
3
EVANGELINE
Two weeks later, Evangeline hopped off the bus in the old neighborhood and hunched up her shoulders against the cold.
She probably should have just gone back to the house in Society Hill, but when the children’s mother offered to pick them up at the zoo to take them to a friend’s house, Evangeline decided to take advantage of being on this side of town for a visit with Rory.
It was Saturday, and she deserved a little time back on her own territory. She’d been having this feeling more and more lately, like she was out of place.
But once again, living uptown was influencing the way she saw her old haunts. The old block felt dark and empty now compared to the beautiful historic homes with their painted shutters and flower boxes.
But at least there were a few windows here with Christmas lights in them. And the family renting the first floor of the big duplex had a plastic snowman out front.
I wonder how long that will last,she couldn’t help thinking to herself.
When she and Rory were kids, every one of these houses was decked out for the holidays. And the grandmas who seemed to spend most of their lives holding court on the porches were the first line of defense against the vandals and petty thieves who ran rampant these days. If any kid set a toe out of line in their sight, those women knew your full name and weren’t afraid to use it.
Now those porches stood empty.
The whole world is changing,she thought to herself as she jogged up the front steps.I just have to let it go.
She and Rory wouldn’t be moving to a better neighborhood anytime soon with prices what they were in Philadelphia. It would probably be pretty hard just to sell Grandpa’s place, even if they wanted to.
And since Rory made his living with the garage, the whole idea was silly anyway. For better or worse, this was home.
She stepped into the open garage, smiling at the sight of her brother hard at work on a motorcycle. There was another bike leaning against the garage wall waiting its turn. It was an expensive one, but it looked like someone had banged it up pretty badly. At least Rory was staying busy.
“Whoa,” Rory said, looking up from his work. “What happened to you?”
“The zoo,” she said, laughing when she remembered what she probably looked like.
The youngest kid in the family had basically pouredan entire hot chocolate over her as soon as they stopped at one of the kiosks for a snack. Even after drying herself off as best she could while keeping an eye on the kids in the bathroom, Evangeline had spent the day sticky.
“Go on inside,” Rory said. “Get yourself cleaned up.”
“Back in a sec,” she told him.
