My mom did it, just like I knew she would.
Forty-Five
Bennie and Nash in that hug are a sight I’ll never, ever forget. Judging by the tears in everyone’s eyes—even Sunny’s when she appears from out of nowhere—neither will anyone else.
Them in each other’s arms is proof of everything good in this world and impossible to look away from.
When they pull apart, I hoist Bennie up into a hug of our own.
“You knew.” It was evident the second she laid eyes on him. “How?”
She wipes her eyes with her arm then sniffs. “I saw the postcards in the mail then heard you arguing with Gypsy.” She looks at Nash as if unsure she should say that. “Gypsy told me.”
Of course.
I cut my eyes to my mother’s and she smiles, wiping her tears behind her turquoise frames. For better or worse, us Conway girls do secrets better and worse than anyone I know.
Bennie squeezes me. The heaviness of her in my arms is new and a reminder that we don’t have many more years of me being able to lift her up like this.
“You mad at me?” I ask, using one hand to push hair out of her face. “I lied. I shouldn’t have.” I glance at Nash. “I made a mistake. Lots of them. Parents do that sometimes.”
Bennie shakes her head. “Gypsy told me you’d figure it out.”
I laugh softly. “I’m sure she did.”
Nash blasts into his harmonica, and Bennie smiles wide. He says, “I have a lot to learn about being a dad.”
Cracked wide open, that’s what I am at the look on his face. He loves her without knowing her, the way a mother loves a baby when they’re just a cluster of cells, before a heart even beats in their belly.
Bennie beams. “I’m an expert.”
Remy’s and Sunny’s kids race by with shouts of Bennie’s name, and she wiggles her way out of my arms to take off after them.
“Bee, wait,” I call, making her stop.
“There’s someone else.” I wave to Cap. “Come meet your grandpa.”
Standing face to face, they size each other up.
Cap grunts. “You know anything about finding treasure, young lady?”
She grins. “More than my mom.”
He looks at me, grunts a sound I know to be amused, and says, “Don’t take much, she’s lousy.”
Bennie laughs at this.
“You got any tips for her?” he asks.
She taps a finger on her chin. “Probably do it backward. That always works in the movies.”
Then she’s gone, chasing after her cousins like her life didn’t just change completely and her family didn’t grow right before her eyes. Like she didn’t go from having no dad to having one who loved her more than life itself the second he knew she existed, and a grandpa who can make anyone laugh even thoughhe’s a grump. Two more people to be there for her as she walks through life.
“Alright. Alright,” Reese, who manages to look expensive in a simple black dress and Jackie O sunglasses, interjects, pocketing her phone long enough for a greeting. “Enough of all this mushy bullshit.” She hugs Nash first. “You’re still as hot as I remember, asshole.”
“Good to see you too, Reese,” he teases.
“And expanding, I hear?” she prods. “You must be better at business than my sister.”
