“Can you hold off seeing my brother until tomorrow? Another day will give him time to get resettled. He’ll be in rehab at least another couple of weeks, so there’ll be plenty of time for you …”
“Does he want to see me?”
Taylor nodded. “He’s angry with me that I wouldn’t let you come even when he was in ICU. I’m sorry for that, too, but it felt like the right decision at the time.”
Maddie took solace in that: Rex had wanted to see her all along. “I know how that feels, but thanks for telling me. I’ll go see him tomorrow. What’s a good time?”
“He’ll finish PT around the same time. So, one o’clock?”
“I’ll be there.”
Taylor nodded, stood up, and walked her mug over to thesink. “By the way, this place looks great. You’ll have a nice little business here.”
After Taylor left, Maddie remained bewildered. But she also was grateful that, in spite of her “perils with Owen,” as she liked to think of her former marriage, no one had ever tried to take her son from her. Maybe because her father had been there, protecting her.
So if her blowup with Rex had ultimately caused Taylor’s transition, maybe a small blessing had come out of it. All she really knew was that instead of continuing to feel sorry for herself, she now felt sorry for Taylor. Because apparently, accidents weren’t the only things that could change life in a flash.
That night, Maddie called Rafe.
“Hi, Mom,” he said. “Your timing’s great. I was looking for a good reason not to study for an economics exam.”
“No! Don’t tell me things like that. Would you rather I called tomorrow?”
“Nope. I know the stuff anyway.”
Of course he did. Rafe was brilliant.
Maddie smiled.
“How’s Rex?” he asked.
“Getting better every day.” It wasn’t a lie. “But I want to talk about you.”
“Me? Boring subject, Mom. Worse than economics.”
“Okay, then let’s talk about graduation. Rex will be in the hospital another couple of weeks, so we’ll have to rule him out. But Grandma wants to come. And Joe. Is that okay?”
“Absolutely awesome. My friends will love them, especially since I’ve spent my whole senior year talking about them. Don’t tell Grandma, but I’m going to wear my great-great-grandfather Thurston’s arrowhead outside my graduationgarb so everyone will see how proud I am of being Wampanoag.”
She couldn’t speak.
“So will everything else be okay, Mom? Like, will you be okay with Dad?”
“Everything will be fabulous. As for your father, yes, I’ll be fine. You haven’t told him that I’m pregnant, have you?”
“Nope. My only disappointment is I’ll be somewhere offstage when he sees your nice big belly. You do have a big belly now, don’t you?”
She looked down. “I do. And it will be even bigger in another couple of weeks. And you’re sure you won’t be embarrassed?”
“Why would I be embarrassed? I’m not the old lady having a baby.”
“Not funny.”
He laughed. “I know. Sorry.”
“Apology accepted. So you’ll make room reservations for us?”
“Already done. I already figured Joe might want to come to help out in case Grandma gets out of hand, so you have three rooms, bought and paid for.”
