“You already have it, whatever it is,” she returned proudly.
“I hope we do.” Hannah reached for Casey’s hand on the table. “Mom…”
“Sweetheart, I mean it. Anything.”
“We found out the gender this morning.”
Something in Edie’s chest warmed, like the rush of excitement on Christmas morning.
“And since we tried to go all out with the pregnancy reveal and failed,” Casey said. “We decided we wouldn’t waste our time with a showy production or anything. We’re having a boy.”
Edie clasped her hands in front of her chest. “A boy?” She couldn’t be sure why, but tears collected in the corners of her eyes. “Oh, you two. That is thebestnews.”
Her mind instantly went to images of pushing the little guy on a swing down at the local park. Taking him to one of Foster’s jobsites to watch the big, orange scoop trucks dig through the dirt. Visiting the aquarium where they could watch the fish and the otters and the turtles. They were going to have so much fun, the two of them. She could not wait.
But Casey and Hannah had said they had a question to ask her, and so far, that was just an announcement.
“Mom.” Hannah sat up just a little taller in her seat, trying to amass her confidence. “Mom, we’re asking for your blessing…”
Poor thing just couldn’t get the words out.
“You have my blessing,” Edie said. “Whatever it is.”
“We’d like to name him Evan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Do you have a comment on the lost sailors?”
“Will the hospital be issuing an official statement about the injuries these men sustained?”
“Have all of the sailors been discharged at this point?”
Tabitha shouldered through the crowd of media professionals, tuning out their repeated requests.
Even though they had designated areas where they were assigned to congregate, it didn’t stop all of them, and Tabitha was tired of being accosted with their questions each time she tried to make her way through the hospital’s doors.
“Rumor has it there is a dying man in need of a liver transplant, and that his estranged brother refuses to see if he’s a match.”
Tabitha whipped her head in the direction of a young journalist with her microphone pushed out at full arm’s length.
“Where did you hear that?” She knew better than to engage, but something in her reeled and she couldn’t help it.
“Sources say the brother is actually still serving jailtime for attempted murder.”
“Sources are wrong.” Tabitha held the reporter’s gaze, locking in a stare down.
“But you can confirm that one of the sailors is being treated for liver cancer?”
“I cannot disclose any information pertaining to any patient within these hospital walls.”
Another reporter stepped up. “Is it true that Assemblyman Taylor is a possible match?”
Tabitha’s eyes went wide. Where were they getting any of this obscure and completely fabricated information from?
“I have a surgery to prepare for.” At the same moment she said this, Dr. Conklin came up behind her, draping his large arm over her shoulder to usher her into the safety of the building.
“You don’t have to—and probably shouldn’t—speak to them,” he said once they were inside, the automatic doors sliding shut behind them.
