Page 41 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

“The hell you did. Baby, you’re beyond beautiful, and Lucas was by far the cutest baby ever born. I wish I could have been there to rub your belly and your feet, and feel him kick, and hold your hand when you gave birth. Look at you with our boy.” Overwhelmed with emotion, he laughed. “You were so damn young, and you took on the fucking world. You amaze me, darlin’.”

“Seeley,” she said a little bashfully.

“You do, Jule. Tell me what I missed.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“At the beginning. You continued going to school after he was born. What was that like?”

“I hated leaving him with the nanny when I went to school, but from the minute I got home, he was in my arms or on my lap.”

“Lucky boy. What was his first word? How did it feel to hear him speak for the first time? I want to know everything.”

She laughed softly. “His first word was mama, and when he said it, I cried.”

“I can only imagine.”

“I just loved him so much. With all the stress with my parents and the guilt of bringing Josh into it, everything Lucas did felt like a miracle. Like something good came out of all that mess.”

“Something better than good. Something wonderful.”

“He is wonderful. Although he sure wore me out when he was little. He started walking before he was a year old.”

“That’s my boy.”

“I kind of love hearing you say that.”

“I’m surprised at how much I like saying it.” He’d thrown away the dream of having a family of his own when he’d lost Juliette. He was starting to wonder if fate had a hand in his life after all, and the universe somehow knew she’d come back into it. “Do you have more pictures?”

“Only about a million.” She laughed softly. “One sec.”

After a moment, his phone chimed, and he scrolled through pictures of Lucas fast asleep lying on his back in his crib wearing one-piece pajamas with horses on them, his tiny hands balled into fists beside his head. There was another of him crawling across a blanket when he was a little bigger, his thighs pudgier, and one of him standing up, holding on to a coffee table, wearing a blue-and-white romper. His hair was thicker, his cheeks chubbier, and his pudgy feet were bare. And another of him sitting on Juliette’s lap eating ice cream with chocolate dripping down his chin, flashing an adorable toothy grin.

“These are incredible. Look at him, with those pudgy cheeks and big blue eyes. How old was he in the picture with the ice cream?”

“Three, I think. He loves ice cream.”

“Do you still love it?”

“I ate an entire pint last night. Do you remember when we used to raid the kitchen in the main house?”

He laughed. “How could I forget? You were so cute and flustered when Dwight caught us.”

“How did he always know when we were in there?”

“My old man and Dwight know everything that happens on the ranch.”

“Uh-oh. Do you think they knew about us sneaking into the cabin?”

“I didn’t used to think so, but I’ve learned that nothing gets past Tiny. Tell me more about when Lucas was little. What was he like as a toddler?”

“Busy. I swear he got into everything. It was exhausting, and I never knew if I was doing things right. Some days I thought I was the worst mother in the world for bringing him into such a messed-up situation. But then I’d look at him sleeping in his crib, and…Seeley, there are no words to describe the love I felt.”

His chest tightened. “I wish I’d been there for both of you.”

“Me too. I know you would have loved him as much as I did. He was the sweetest toddler, and he was funny, too. He pronounced things wrong, like hippups for hiccups, and he’d ask for chocolate squirrel ice cream instead of chocolate swirl. But I think the cutest thing was when he was hungry, he’d say, I’m honey, Mommy.”

Doc laughed. “That’s adorable. I wish I could have heard him say it.”