“It’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do except live and remember them. Living our best lives is honoring them, because I know with every cell of my being that’s exactly what they’d want us to do. To live, to be happy, and to enjoy our lives.”
She sniffled, nodding, and remembered she was going to text Peyton. She hadn’t opened her text app yet when it rang.
Peyton.
“Hey,” she sniffled.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “Beck just texted me she had the baby.”
“Just… Yeah. I’m fine. Tamsin and the baby are okay. She’s…adjusting.” In the house, the howls were briefly interrupted by gasping, hitching breaths before resuming, weaker now, like the water had almost finished draining from the burst dam.
“You don’t need to bring her out here for a recognition ceremony for the baby,” he said. “Not right now. Do something small for her there with all of you. Once she’s feeling better, we’ll hold a larger one for all the new babies sometime late in the summer. Hopefully Trevor and Elaine will be able to come over for that, and then maybe be able to take her home by then.”
“Okay.”
“Love you, Dewster.”
Finally, something to make her smile. “Love you, too, Pain-in-the-ass-ton.”
He chuckled as she ended the call. Behind her, Ken laughed into her hair.
“‘Pain-in-the-ass-ton’?”
“Yeah. Started that when I was in high school. By then I’d come to understand how powerful I was and what my position really meant. Sometimes, when he irritated me, I called him that in private on the phone. Trent was ‘Dent’ or ‘Bent’. I was pretty brave when they were on the end of a phone line at the other end of the country.”
“I bet.”
After a few minutes the howls eased, and Dewi patted Ken’s arms. “Let’s go see.”
He circled the chair and offered her a helping hand up, which she really didn’t need but she knew letting him do things like that made him feel good.
Meaning it was worth it toherto do them.
Inside, Badger caught her gaze, looking grim, but he nodded.
Nami stood in the hallway just outside the bedroom door, so Dewi walked down to join her and watch, laying a hand on Nami’s arm.
“How is she?”Dewi silently asked using her Prime.
“She named her Maisie Rue. Have you ever heard anything so adorably heartbreaking in your life?”
Dewi gently squeezed her arm and released her. On the bed, Tamsin lay tucked in the crook of Duncan’s arm while Brianna sat on her other side. Tamsin still softly wept while cradling the baby against her, and Carl and Mateo were helping the doctor clean up the room.
Over their trip to Idaho at Christmas, Duncan had gone on a run with Tamsin, trying to help her process and deal with her grief. Both he and Badger had become stand-in fathers for her, not just because of their Prime powers but because as widowers themselves, they understood her grief and anger.
Dewi took a deep breath and let it out again, trying to rein in her own emotions. “If you guys want to go get some sleep,” she whispered to Nami, “go ahead. We’ll stay with her.” Nami looked completely exhausted.
“Thanks. Won’t even argue with you.” She headed down the hall, and Dewi knew for Nami to admit she was too tired to stay to help someone she considered family, it meant she felt beyond wiped out.
By mid-afternoon they’d finally coaxed food and water into Tamsin, and physically, both she and the baby were doing well. Little Maisie had already started latching on and the doctor pronounced her completely healthy.
Dewi hoped if they could help her through the next several days that Tamsin’s mothering instincts would kick in and she’d find the will to live, to stay alive for her baby.
Badger approached Dewi at one point and handed her his keys. “You and Ken should go home. You need rest and food.”
“How will you get home?”
