Grace's stomach clenched as she pulled her knees a little tighter against her body. Despite Damon's honesty with her, she wasn't ready to bare her soul to him about that dark time of her life.
"When you hit rock bottom..." She shook her head slowly. "Up is the only direction to go. It took a while, but I realized God could lift me better than I could lift myself."
"Isn't that the truth."
They lapsed into silence, the burbling of the waterfall up stream and the flutter of bird wings in the trees above them the only noise.
"Will you tell me more about that time in your life?" Damon's question was gentle yet prodding.
"I'd rather not. But it was full of regret." She gave him another apologetic smile and a slight shake of her head. "Right about the time I hit my lowest point, we found out my mom had breast cancer."
Damon turned to look at her. "Your mom had cancer previously?"
"Yes, it was a rough year for all of us. But we rallied around each other and grew really close as a family."
"No wonder you were willing to uproot your life to follow Gabe to Providence."
She nodded but couldn't help but wonder if she'd eventually come to regret her decision, no matter how right it felt now.
CHAPTER 6
All the air huffed out of Damon's lungs, and his back popped when his oldest brother, Steven, wrapped him in a bear hug. "It's good to have you home, man."
"Thanks," Damon's voice croaked. "Think you could loosen your hold, so I don't regret coming home?"
Laughing, Steven tightened his embrace and slapped Damon's back before releasing him. "Just giving you a taste of your own medicine."
"Noted. I'll be more careful with my hugs."
And he was as he hugged Steven's wife Isabella and their kids. But his bear hug was as intense as ever when he wrapped his arms around his other brother, Matt. "Did you shrink, bro?"
"Nah, I just lost a little weight." Matt returned Damon's fierce embrace. "I took up jogging again."
As a pharmacist, Matt was on his feet most of the day, but his job didn't require much physical activity.
"Oh yeah?" Damon released his second oldest brother. "If I'd known that, I would have invited you along on my run yesterday."
"No way. You probably ran like ten miles. I'm lucky to make it two."
"I only ran eight." He shrugged and smacked Matt's shoulder. "Keep it up and you'll outrun me soon."
"Highly unlikely."
Damon kept his hug gentle as he hugged Matt's wife whose round stomach gave away her pregnancy. "Are you expecting again, Maria?"
If his mom had told him that news, he'd forgotten.
Gasping, Maria pulled back and scowled at him. "Are you saying I look fat?"
"No, of course not. I just... I thought..." Heat filled Damon's face as he scrambled for words that wouldn't make the situation worse. "You just...have that glow about you."
Everyone burst into laughter, including their mom.
"Of course she's pregnant." Mom said as she put an arm around Maria. "She only has six weeks left, but she's barely showing. She hides it so well."
The good-natured ribbing continued as they crowded around the table for Sunday dinner. The younger children sat at a small picnic table in the corner.
Damon couldn't believe how big his nieces and nephews had grown. He teased his oldest niece, Tessa, who was almost nine, about being able to drive and date soon. This earned him a glare from Steven and Isabella. Tessa blushed, but he spotted the delight in her girlish features that mirrored her mother's.
