I burst out laughing, and then the laughter turned to tears. I was sobbing, loudly, unabashedly, when I heard a small tap on the glass door in the living room.
“Amelia?” I asked as I opened the door.
She smiled and then, when she saw my face, her smile turned to concern. “What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “What’s the matter?” I repeated, louder. “Did you think that you could text me that you wouldn’t do this and that I would just be fine with it?”
Now she looked really confused. “Parker, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Your text…”
I thrust my phone in her face.
She read the text. She paused. Studied it. Read it again. And started laughing. Hysterical, tears running down her face, hands over her mouth, laughing. “Oh God,” she said, gasping for breath. “No, no, no. That was a voice text. It was supposed to say,I want to do this. I’m sorry.”
“I want to do this,” I repeated. Then I started laughing, too, with pure relief. Through my laughter, I said, “Well, you can understand my concern.” Then, getting it together, I said, “I want to do this, too. I’m moving out of the house in Palm Beach. I want to make a new life with you.”
She kissed me. Then she sat down on the couch and patted beside her. “Park, I’ve been thinking.”
She was suddenly very serious. And I was terrified for the fiftieth time in the last few hours.
“And?”
She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “I know I’ve always said I didn’t want children…” She trailed off, her gaze on the water beyond the door.
“Sweetheart, I know you don’t want children, and it was wrong of me to push you into that. I love you no matter what you want to do, and I shouldn’t have tried to change you. It wasn’t fair.”
She nodded. “Okay, yeah, but that’s not what I’m saying. Parker, loving you has changed everything. Iwantto have a family with you. And, honestly, at first, I wasn’t sure that this was the way. I wasn’t sure that I could have Greer’s babies, that I could have that reminder all the time of the life you had before me.” She paused and cleared her throat, wiping her eyes. “But Greer will always be a part of our story.”
My mind was racing. What exactly what she saying?
“Greer will always be one of the most important parts of your story, and if it weren’t for her, we never would have gotten together. So I think those babies are the bridge. They’re a part of you and a part of Greer, and if I carry them, they’ll be a part of me, too.”
I was stunned completely silent. “Amelia, are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? You don’t have to do this to make me happy.” I paused, trying to wipe the grin off my face, resisting the urge to say,But this would make me very, very happy.
“I want to,” she said. “I’m sure. I want to be a family, Parker. I want to have a future.”
I put my hands on her cheeks and kissed her lips. I put my forehead on hers and said, “Liabelle, that is the most beautifulthing I have ever heard. And I agree. Those babies would complete this weird, convoluted circle.” I felt invincible. “And, Lia, I’m going to quit McCann.”
“Are you crazy?” she practically shouted. “You can’t quit McCann. We’re going to have ababy, for heaven’s sake. We need health insurance, benefits, salaries.” She paused and took a deep breath. “No one is quitting McCann.” Then she added, “Plus, they’re George’s grandchildren. We’re family forever.”
I nodded, laughing and pulling her close to me. “Okay, okay. You’re right. Health insurance is good.” Then I paused. “Wait. Are you only doing this so that I’ll be the last source for your frozen embryo story?”
We both laughed and then sat there soaking in the quiet, the view, the perfection of this moment when we decided to become a family.
“I’m scared,” she whispered. “What if it doesn’t work again? What if they don’t take?”
“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.” I leaned back and looked at her face. And I knew then that this woman who I had loved since I was fourteen years old just might marry me. I would ask her, I decided firmly. Now all I had to do was pray that she said yes.
AmeliaWRITTEN IN THE STARS
I STILL CAN’T SAY WHYI did it, why I agreed to Greer’s crazy proposal when she came to me a mere three months before her death. Maybe because it was Greer, and I knew this was one of the last favors she would ever ask. Maybe some sort of delusional type of hero worship. My instinct, when she showed up in my Palm Beach apartment, was a hard, fast no. But, for some reason, it just wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“Why me?” I asked. “Why not your sister?”
I could feel the energy in the room starting to shift. It was like the more panicked I became, the calmer she got, like I could almost see the energy leaving her and transferring into me.
“Why not one of your friends?” I asked.
