James waved Scott over. “Willow,” he rasped. “Can you bring her to me, please?”
Willow had fallen asleep in her grandpa’s arms. They made the trade-off carefully, as if she were precious royalty. Butit wasn’t careful enough. Swaddled tight, her bum wriggled, trying to break free. She cried, protesting the wakeup.
“Hey now,” James hushed. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
Just like that, her crying stopped. I eased around the group to see her staring up at him, eyes wide open. He studied her as if this were the first time he’d really seen her. Then he unswaddled one of her hands and ran his index finger over her tiny palm. She made a fist around it.
“Oh, you’ve got a tight grip,” James whispered.
“She’s gonna be a roper,” Silas said.
“That’s right,” James said to Willow. “We’re gonna have to get you some boots and a hat.”
“Already got her first pair of Wranglers,” Lemon said.
James glanced up at everyone. “She’s the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen.”
“She is,” everyone said in unison.
She was. Like a porcelain doll.
“A perfect combination of you and Sage,” Heidi said.
“No, she doesn’t look anything like me.” James shook his head. “She’s all… Sa-age.” He broke on his wife’s name, curling in, chest heaving like he couldn’t bear the weight of her name.
I stayed put as everyone else circled around him, dropping to their knees, hanging over the back of his chair, sitting on either armrest, to touch him.
James was so incredibly blessed.
He had uncles who loved him, cousins who were best friends, siblings, parents, and in-laws, rallying together to comfort him.
Griffin smiled and waved me over. “C’mon, Jules. You’re a Dupree now too.”
He was right. I was.
I walked over to him. As he pulled me between his knees and wrapped an arm around my waist, my lungs swelled. Maybe Griffin was the type of person whocould grow up immersed in this kind of love and then walk away, returning only once or twice a year to visit. But I had no idea how I was going to do it.
I grew up learning that homes were temporary. You kept your bags half-packed, and you never let yourself believe it would last. But this place and this family felt like roots pushing into soil that had decided I was worth holding onto. At long last.
The thought of leaving here in a few days? Felt a lot like the moment a foster kid hears the wordsTime to pack your things.
As if Griffin knew I needed it right then, he pressed a kiss into my hair.
I could do this. Yes, we were heading back to Phoenix, but he was my home now.
Wherever he was, that would be enough.
Chapter Sixteen
GRIFFIN
From the time that James buzzed Ford’s hair, he slipped into the role of being Willow’s dad. He held her almost every waking moment, eyes brimming as he told her about her mom. At night, he wouldn’t let her out of his reach; he slept with his arm dangling over the side of the Pack ‘n Play so her little fist could grip his finger.
All the Dupree men from Dad down to Bronco wore cowboy hats to the funeral. The head-shaving videos wouldn’t be posted for a few days—and Ford didn’t take his hat off a single time—so, for now, the public was none the wiser.
At James’s request, there wasn’t a black dress in sight. Apparently, Sage had despised the tradition and told James, “Heaven isn’t something to be sad about. It’s home.” So, to honor her, the women wore floral dresses, the brighter, the better.
It was at the potluck Heidi and Scott hosted where everything started to fall apart.
