“Emery, I love you like my own.” Her grip on Emery’s hand was soft and weak, but her message was strong and clear. “I never expected to replace Rosie.”
“I know, I know. I just ... convinced myself you all were a family without me, and it was up to me to remember Mom.”
“How about we make a pact, you and me: to never forget Rosie. She’s the unseen guest at the dinner table, the one we add to conversations. ‘Didn’t Rosie love tacos?’ Or ‘This is Rosie’s recipe, one of our favorites.’”
“Or ‘Put on a Delilah Mead record. Rosie loved her music.’”
“Perfect. Do we have a deal?”
“Yes, we have a deal.”
The nurse entered on her rounds, so Emery escaped for a cup of coffee. It was hot and black, gut-rot, and after a few gulps, she poured it out.
“I’m sure she shot something into this tube to knock me out,” Joanna said when Emery returned to the room. “Until I drift off, I want to hear the updates while I have you all to myself. I feel rather lucky. How was the royal visit? I saw the news about trash on the beach. What happened?”
Emery released every detail in one seamless breath—how excited the town was, how down-to-earth but unmistakably regal and impressive the royal couple were, and how the ensemble Joanna sent was perfect for the first night.
“I have to see pictures,” she said, her words slightly slurred. “But when my eyes are open. Go on, what else?”
“The trashing? Still under investigation by government and local authorities. My royal collector’s edition of theSunday Royal Gazetteprinted without ads.”
Joanna sighed. “Tell me about the boy. Ava called him a ‘hunk-o-rama.’”
Well, that was one word for him. “Caleb Ransom. We met the summer Dad, Mom, and I were there. He was my first kiss, my first love. The moment I met him, I felt like I’d known him my whole life.”
“You love him now,” Joanna said. “I hear it in your voice.”
“Do I? He says he loves me. Said I’d stole his heart when we were sixteen, and if I wasn’t going to love it to give it back.” Repeating it out loud painted a reality of life without him—again. After four short months in Sea Blue Beach, she could not imagine a future without Caleb Ransom. “I’m scared, Jo. I could love him too much. Maybe I already do. What if I lose him? I’m not sure I could bear it. I know, I know, I can’t go through life fearing the people I love will die.”
“Then don’t, Em. Let the fear go. When I lost Eric, I lost my compass, my reason for being.” Joanna’s voice rebounded as she told her story. “We were so intertwined with each other as high school and college sweethearts. He was the only man I’d ever loved. But I had to grow up. I had to find faith and hope in God. I was a thirty-eight-year-old widow with two little girls. I resigned myself to being a dedicated mother and running our first café. Then I sat next to your dad at dinner.”
“He says there’s room in his heart for you and Mom. There’s room in yours for Dad and Eric.”
“The heart is a marvelous thing, Emery. Rosie gave him you. And now I have you. Eric gave me Ava and Elianna, and now Doug has two more loving daughters.”
“And Blakely?” Emery laughed softly.
“Oh that girl ... she owns all of us.” Joanna’s voice began to fade. “But what would the world be like without Blakely Quinn?”
“Yes, what would the world be like...” Emery rose up kiss Joanna’s cheek. “Night, Mom. I’ll be here when you wake up again.” She bent to her ear. “I love you.”
CALEB
“Cass?” He entered her Star Motel room Monday morning, hoping to see his sister out of the bathroom, composed, and sitting on the bed. But the room was dark. The bathroom door was shut. “I brought breakfast.”
He set the carry-out tray from Fat Boys Diner on the desk under the mounted TV. Bentley was in the room Caleb rented, working on some school assignments. Principal Tucker called Caleb this morning, wondering about Bentley since he was absent from the Friday night reception and now, school.
“Hismom wanted to go on an adventure.”
“Is he comingback?”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll ask his teacher toemail his assignments. He can keep up with learning nomatter what.”
God bless that man. And Bentley was thrilled.
“Cassidy, come on, please. Bentley is scared. He says you’ve been in there for two days.” Caleb backed up to sit on the edge of the bed, phone in hand.
