When the next car pulled up, everything the kids had been practising for the big surprise was forgotten. Instead, all four of them ran outside, down the new ramp Dean had built, and circled the car like a school of excited sharks.
Emma and Bel had taken them to see their dad after he’d been transferred to rehab and, as children did, they had absorbed it all with beguiling innocence. Not afraid to ask the questions adults probably wouldn’t pose up front, the kids had quickly and completely accepted that this was still their dad and got on with their business. The only thing they really cared about was the fact they missed their father. And now he was finally home.
It was both sobering and heart-wrenching to watch the kids taking in this new version of their dad at home, where he’d always been so capable and strong. They’d been talking about this moment ever since the accident, and Emma had been preparing them the last few weeks for when Daddy would come home and how different things were going to be, but nothing could truly prepare them.
Bel watched as Emma went to the back of the car to retrieve the stowed wheelchair, which Dean effortlessly lifted out, setting it up under Emma’s instructions and bringing it to his friend’s door.
Craig positioned himself carefully, with Dean supporting the chair, and slid from the car to the chair smoothly, if alittle slowly. He declined Dean’s offer to push, taking over with a smile for his kids, who, after a brief hesitation, were jumping around the chair excitedly, wanting a ride.
‘Come on, you lot,’ Emma said, gathering them to her with a smile. ‘Give Dad some room and let him catch his breath.’
‘Can we have a go later, Daddy?’ Ivy asked. In typical kid fashion, they didn’t see the chair as an intrusion, but as another form of transportation they could master, like a quad or a farm bike.
Craig chuckled. ‘Sure, kiddo. Later,’ he said with a gentle smile.
It was almost like old times. Craig was maybe a little quieter than he used to be, and his speech was noticeably slower, but he looked better than when Bel had last seen him, on the visit with the kids. He looked healthier, his body having gradually recovered from its initial deterioration. He seemed happy to be home. She knew from Emma he’d suffered terribly with bouts of depression, but he’d worked through that and come out the other side a lot more positive than Bel had been expecting. She was glad she could move back to Gran’s, at least until she figured out what she wanted to do. The family needed their own space to reconnect and adjust to their new life.
Her gaze turned to Dean and she gave a small sigh, which Emma heard, thanks to her uncanny ability to always appear at the most inconvenient time.
‘What’s going on with you and Dean?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Sure. That’s why he’s moping about over there and you’re on the other side of the room, looking like you just lost your best friend.’
‘He wasn’t thrilled about me moving back into Gran’s.’
‘How come?’
‘He wanted me to move in with him.’
‘And why aren’t you?’
‘Because I … don’t know if that’s what I want to do.’
‘You two have been practically inseparable ever since you got back. Why would you have to think about it?’
‘Maybe I want to do something else other than settle down and have kids.’
‘He wants to have kids with you?’
‘Would you keep your voice down?’ Bel said with a scowl.
‘And you need to think about it?’ Emma continued, doubtfully.
‘Emma, I came home right when everything was beginning to take off. I want to keep making a career for myself. I never planned to come back and get married and have a bunch of kids.’
‘You might not have planned it, but is it really so bad that it could be an option?’
‘It’s not bad,’ Bel started, then made a frustrated sound in her throat. ‘I just don’t want to be pressured into making a decision like that. He surprised me.’
‘But youarethinking about it?’ Emma probed.
‘I don’t know,’ Bel snapped, then felt bad. ‘I don’t want to end up in another situation like the one I was in with Tate. Like I don’t have any control.’Why couldn’t anyone else understand this?‘I need some space to figure out my options.’
‘I get that you might be worried, I do, honestly. But Dean is not Tate.’
‘I know,’ Bel conceded wearily. ‘It’s the situation, not the guy, that feels the same.’
