Me: Are you and your baby okay?
Long minutes passed before Annie responded. I spent each with bated breath. Finally, the little bouncing dots appeared. My sister was typing.
Annie: I’m just done being pregnant
Annie: Baby is ready to meet you
I wasn’t sure she’d answered my question, but I knew better than to ask again.
Me: I’m going to be a stellar auntie
Annie: It’ll involve long hours
Me: Yep
Annie replied with a single question mark, so I sent one back.
Annie: Won’t you be at the store?
I grimaced, hating that I’d missed so much of her pregnancy and a million other things, assuming she didn’t want me around. In reality she’d been mad at me for not being around.
Yet another vicious cycle.
Me: Nope. I will be playing with my new niece or nephew
Annie: I hope you mean that
Me: I do
I meant it more than she would likely understand until I showed her.
I was returning home an improved, happier woman, who would always make time for my family, my friends, and myself.
Annie responded once more, this time with a single red heart.
I thought of the heart drawn on a card for my second bouquet of flowers, then sent a final text too.
Me: Thank you for the flowers. They mean more than you know
I pocketed my phone, feeling as if my life was finally coming together in the ways it was meant to all along.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Davis arrived after work with Violet, a pizza, hot wings, and a six-pack of locally brewed and bottled hard cider, and a small leatherbound copy ofJane Eyre.
We sat on the floor in socked feet, eating off paper plates and talking like two kids in a college dorm room while watching the UMass away game on the ancient television in the sitting room. The coffee table was littered with napkins and empty cider bottles.Jane Eyresat on the carpet between us.
“This is my favorite,” I said during a commercial, tapping one finger against the book’s beautifully floral cover. “How’d you know?”
He wiped his mouth on a napkin and shrugged. “I’m glad you like it. It’s part of a Cranford Collection. I thought of you immediately when I saw it. You and all the flowers you’ve been planting.”
“I absolutely love it.” In fact, the gesture warmed my heart a little too much, so I went for another wing. “Tell me all about the interview today.” He’d hit the highlights while attempting to find the game but quieted quickly at kickoff. I’d read the article twice after I finished texting with Annie and marveled each time.
In the piece, Davis spoke about the preservation of history and his love for Hearthstone Manor with sheer joy and reverence. He was clearly doing exactly what he’d been called to do.
“Everyone at the office was talking about it,” Davis said. “So, Dad was seething, but couldn’t say any of the things he wanted. Instead, he clapped me on the back and smiled.”
I laughed. “I would’ve paid to see that.”
