Olivia knew all the reasons she didn’t belong here, but it was getting harder and harder to disentangle them from her real reason for being here—she was supposed to be orchestrating a reconciliation.
She heaved a sigh. This was no random meeting between the two of them. She’d come on a mission.
As if on cue, her phone rang, the sound loud and jarring in the silence, and she picked up hurriedly, not wanting to wake anyone else up. It was the Whites’ phone number.
“Hello?” she said softly.
“Olivia.” It was Wyatt this time. “How are you doing?”
He sounded official, professional. A little bit daunting. This was his senatorial voice—the one that got results, no doubt.
“I’m fine,” she said. “How are you?”
“We’re good. Just checking in. We haven’t heard from you in a few days.”
Olivia sighed. “Senator, it isn’t so simple.”
“It never is. But we have a deal, don’t we?”
“I need more time,” she said. “I’m doing my best.”
“What could possibly be standing in your way?” he asked with a sigh. “You’re in Beaut, and you’ve seen Sawyer, you say. Either he’s willing to see us, or he isn’t. Which is it?”
“I haven’t brought it up yet,” she admitted. “He’s had an accident and he’s still recovering.”
“Is he in the hospital? Is he unable to care for the girls?” She could see where his mind was jumping with that.
“No!” she said with a sigh. “It’s not like that—”
“But he’s fragile enough that you don’t want to upset him, I presume?”
She’d have to provide some sort of answer. She hated this feeling of having explain her time here. But she’d come for them, and there was no getting around it.
“He’s physically capable of caring for his children,” she said firmly. “I can vouch for that as a nurse. But his accident affected his memory. It’s not permanent, but he needs a bit more time to remember you properly so I can bring reconciliation up. He isn’t quite there yet.”
That should buy her a bit more time, shouldn’t it? It was the truth, after all.
“So he doesn’t remember us...”
“Not fully,” she hedged. “He won’t be able to make a decision about you one way or the other until he’s fully healed. And that will be soon, I’m sure. He’s been recovering very well so far.”
“We should come down—” Wyatt said.
“No!” she said. “Look, he’s still the same old Sawyer. He’s not about to be bullied into anything. And I won’t be part of that. You asked me to help you reconcile, and that’s what I’m committing to doing. Fairly. And honestly.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, and then Irene came on the line.
“What about my granddaughters?” she asked, and Olivia heard tears in her voice.
“They’re doing just fine,” Olivia assured her. “They’re happy and sweet and full of energy.”
“Could you send me a picture of them?” Irene asked. “Just to tide us over. We’ll wait a bit longer, but a picture would help.”
If it would keep the Whites at bay for a little while, would it hurt to send a picture? These were their granddaughters, after all, and heavy-handed as they were, all they wanted was to be in the girls’ lives. She paused, considering.
“Please,” Wyatt added, and the old bluster was gone from his voice. “For Mia.”
Olivia’s heart softened at the mention of her friend and she sighed.
“Hold on.”
She pulled her phone away from her face, selected a picture of the toddlers together, staring bright-eyed into the camera. Then she sent it to Irene’s number.
“I’ve sent a picture to Irene,” she said. “That’s Bella and Lizzie.”
“Oooooh...” Irene sighed. “They’re precious. Aren’t they sweet, Wyatt?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty cute,” Wyatt said gruffly. “I can see Mia in those cheeks. She had the chubbiest cheeks at that age, remember?”
“She sure did...” Irene’s voice was soft.
“Thank you, Olivia,” Wyatt said. “Truly. From the bottom of our hearts. We look forward to hearing from you.”
“My pleasure,” she said. “Good night, sir.”
As she hung up the phone, she heaved a quiet sigh. Sawyer did have family out there—more than his uncle and a few cousins. He had Mia’s parents, too. And they wanted to be a part of his life. She’d gotten sidetracked with her own feelings toward the man, but she’d come to help mend a fractured family. Her motives had been pure.
And if she could help this family, then the Whites would help hers...
It was time to talk to Sawyer about his in-laws. It would be nice to have had a bit more time for him to recover, but now that she’d sent a picture of his daughters to their grandparents, she should tell him that Mia’s parents wanted a relationship.
He couldn’t remember them, and in the interest of a reconciliation, that might be for the best. But she couldn’t hold this back any longer. Sawyer needed to know about them.
Tomorrow morning, she’d make it right.
Chapter Ten
Sawyer put a pot of oatmeal onto a cork pad in the center of the table. Lloyd stood at the sink, scrubbing his hands as he always did when he came back from the barn. In the last few days, this scene had become a bit of a routine for them. A nice routine—comforting. Funny how fast these things could take root.
This morning when Sawyer read his Bible, he came across another passage he’d underlined in Second Corinthians, and it had been rattling around in his head ever since.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Sawyer hadn’t had a lot of choice in his restart, but he still found comfort in those words. The problem for him was that he couldn’t remember his old mistakes. On the surface, that was a blessing. Who didn’t want
