Morgan stepped forward and took Olive from Tessa’s arms, gently and with no fight.
In Morgan’s arms, her eyes wide and shining, Olive stared over Morgan’s shoulder at Tessa with sheer agony in her sky-blue eyes.
Tessa’s lungs forgot how to work.
Morgan’s voice shook. “Say bye-bye to Miss Tessa.”
Olive did not speak.
Morgan’s face crumpled again. “Oh, God,” she whispered, then caught herself, wiping her cheeks fast like she was embarrassed by her own emotions. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make this harder.”
“You’re fine,” Dusty assured her under his breath.
Morgan nodded, swallowing. “Okay. Okay. Mommy’s got you.”
Olive’s eyes stayed on Tessa like she didn’t believe that promise for one second.
Tessa forced herself to smile. It felt like lifting a weight with broken arms.
“Bye, Double O,” Tessa whispered. She raised her hand in a small wave, hoping Olive would mirror it, but she didn’t.
Dusty picked up another bag with more toys and extra shoes because Olive’s world had expanded in this house and it was hard to compress it back down. “I’ll take these down if you’ve got her.”
Morgan shifted the child on her shoulder and turned to look at Tessa, “Thank you. I…I know it must be weird, but thank you for…being her person.”
Tessa’s smile trembled. “She made it easy,” she said quietly. “She’s magic.”
Morgan nodded, tears slipping again. “I know. That’s what scares me. I don’t want to mess it up.”
They trudged down the stairs in silence and Tessa followed because she couldn’t help herself.
In the driveway, Dusty placed the suitcases in the trunk, then got the car seat from his truck. In a few minutes, Olive was strapped in her seat, and the three of them stood in the blazing sun, silent.
Dusty finally leaned slightly closer, lowering his voice. “Call me, keep meeting me, and follow through with your doctor at the clinic. You don’t have to do this alone.”
Morgan swallowed hard. “I will,” she whispered. “I promise.”
Tessa stepped to the back window to see Olive strapped in her seat, cheeks blotchy, eyes still shining. She stared out the window at Tessa with a longing so clear it felt like a physical force.
Tessa’s heart clenched so hard she thought she might actually collapse. More for support than anything else, she lifted her hand and pressed it to the glass.
Olive did not lift her hand in return.
Tessa gave a tight smile, then a nod to Morgan with a murmured wish for luck. Then she tore up the stairs before anyone heard her sob.
She cried for a while, letting out tears that had been kept in lockdown for years, down to just shudders by the time Dusty came back.
He sat next to her on the sofa, wrapping his arms around her.
“I love her,” Tessa cried, the admission ripping out of her with no filter. “I love her like she was mine. I loved her like I—like I should have loved?—”
She broke on that thought, the old ache surging up with new violence.
Dusty’s hands moved slowly on her back, grounding and rhythmic. “Let it out,” he murmured.
Tessa’s sobs intensified. “I made choices,” she gasped. “I made so many choices. I acted like I wanted freedom, like I wanted the big life and the fun and the…the control, and I do, I do, but God, Dusty, I missed something. I missed something so huge.”
He listened, holding her.
