Kate and Jordan became fast friends when I hosted girls' night a few days after Kate showed up in town. She wouldn’t take no for an answer from Jordan, stating that she would do it for free as long as Jordan would think about possibly moving into doing wedding photography for any future clients.
“Kate,” Declan growls. I turn to see why Declan is angry at her but before I do, I catch Kate winking at him.
“So, when do you guys move in?” Lucas asks, interrupting the moment before I can read into Kate and Declan’s interaction.
That’s another thing we’ve been busy with. Declan and I bought a house. We decided after we got home from the hospital that we wanted to finally live together. Our apartments are too small, considering our family is expanding, so we started looking for houses in the area. We closed on a four-bedroom house just two days ago, and it’s only a block from Lucas and Jordan and within walking distance of our businesses.
“Three weeks. We got a shorter escrow period because the family that lived there has already moved out.”
“That’s amaz–”
“Daddy, can we take a picture in front of the elephants with grandpa Phillip this time?”
Everyone stops to look at my daughter.
This is the first time Autumn has called Declan daddy, and the first time she’s called Phillip grandpa.
I look at Declan, and there’s shock written all over his face. It takes him a moment to school his features before saying, “Of course, baby girl.”
When I look at Phillip, I swear I see a tear in his eye, but he looks away for a brief second before I can tell for sure.
After we asked Autumn at the hospital if it would be okay for Declan to be her dad, she hasn’t said a word about it since. She could have taken the next ten years to say it for allDeclan cared. But now that it’s out there in the world, I can tell it’s affecting him on a visceral level. And it seems it’s the same for Phillip. He’s been coming down here every weekend, making up for lost time, and Autumn has taken a liking to him. She loves bossing him around, and he lets her, even going as far as letting her paint his nails. So, I know this is just as much of a monumental moment to him as it is to Declan.
“Are we all crying?” Kate asks as we watch Declan stand next to his dad and put Autumn on his shoulders.
“Yup,” Jordan says and wipes at her cheeks.
I didn’t even realize it, but my cheeks are wet too. I wipe at the stray tears and plant a genuine smile on my face. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy in all my life. The only times I can compare it to are when Autumn was born and when I married Declan. Having my family safe and happy is all I’ve ever wanted and even though nothing in life is perfect, this comes pretty damn close.
All of us rally together, and I ask a sweet couple if they can take a group picture of us.
“Where are your mom and dad?” Kate asks just as we are about to take the photo.
“I’m not sure. They said they would be here soon but that was an hour ago.”
We take the group photo, and Declan keeps Autumn on his shoulders as we continue through the zoo.
Half an half-hour passes before my mom calls me and tells me they’re here, finding us a few minutes later.
“Where were you guys?” I ask.
My mom has a grim expression on her face. “We were with Wren.”
My eyes widen.
We went back to the hospital to visit her and her sister and called her every day. It didn’t register with me when I hired her at Beach Brew that she lived all the way out in Fallbrook. Her commute every day was an hour and a half round trip, but she never once complained. When I really think about it, Wren never divulged too much information about her life period. She kind of reminds me of Jordan in that way, which worries me because Jordan was keeping secrets, and I’m pretty sure Wren is too.
Her sister was discharged a week after they woke her up from the medically induced coma, and my parents have been going to her house as much as they can to help her out with everything.
“Wren and her sister are going to lose the house.”
My eyes widen in shock. “What do you mean?”
My mom shakes her head. “Their mother left them in shambles financially. I was helping Wren sort through the bills in their mother's office, and we found a foreclosure notice that was post-dated two months ago. I called the bank, and the girls have less than thirty days to be out of the house.”
“How is that possible?”
“I’m not sure. But Wren didn’t seem surprised, just defeated.”
