Aileen put the paintbrush down, scattering a line of blue across the canvas. “I’m tired. I’m tired,” she shouted, and an aide in scrubs came rushing over. “I want to go back to my room.” She shook Mina’s hand off hers. “I’m tired,” she said to Mina, then allowed the aide to help her out of her seat. She left the activity room without a backward glance.
A pair of hands on her shoulders steadied her. “You doing all right, Mina?”
Mina looked up into Bridget’s face. Her throat closed around her sorrow. “I miss her.”
“I know.” Bridget dropped into the next chair over. “She has good days and bad. Keep coming back, and you’ll catch her on one of the good ones again. I just know it.”
“I wanted to tell her the news,” Mina said. “I’m pregnant.” Her voice sounded wooden, and she saw it reflected in Bridget’s eyes.
“Oh, honey.” Bridget wrapped her up in a hug. “I know how much you wanted that. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Mina held on tight.
“It’s hard,” Bridget said. “You want so much to share things with them.” She looked into Mina’s eyes. “On some level, she’s thrilled for you. I know it.”
Mina took a long, slow breath. “I’m glad I got to tell her. Even if—well, even if she doesn’t quite know that it’s me. I’m glad I got to say the words.” She forced herself to brighten up. “And thanks for the hug.”
She got up to go, passing a big bouquet of flowers waiting on the front desk. While she drove, she imagined Liam sending her flowers. Or even bringing her flowers. And then scooping up the baby—a toddler—in his arms and taking him out to the backyard. She imagined Liam pushing their child on a swing, their laughter bubbling up into the air. She imagined clear blue skies and spaghetti dinners and hikes in the woods, the two of them with a tiny little person between them.
Mina sat up straight and pulled herself out of the daydream. If Liam could be there for the baby, that would be a dream come true. If Liam could be there for Mina? That would be beyond all possible dreams. She pulled into her driveway and picked up the ultrasound photo from where she’d tucked it into her purse. “Maybe,” she whispered at the photo, the word almost a prayer. “Maybe.”
15
Liam couldn’t get his head around what had happened at the doctor’s office.
It had been a disaster, that was what. Part of it had gone well—the part where the baby was fine. At least, he thought everything had been fine. He hadn’t asked Mina for the details, but he didn’t think he’d needed to. She’d looked so happy all the way home. Well—most of the way home. When she wasn’t stealing looks at him and chewing at her lip. He just hadn’t had the words for the emotions ripping through him in a whirlwind.
He dropped her off at home and saw that the car had been fixed and returned, just like he’d arranged from the waiting room. His buddy at the shop had done it on such short notice. He owed Eddie a hefty tip, and maybe a beer on his next night off. And Liam saw Mina at the end of the driveway, watching him go.
But he couldn’t stop.
Anything he said in this state of mind would only make things worse.
Liam drove home on autopilot. And not home to the tiny cottage at the edge of the Wells’ property—home, to the farmhouse he’d grown up in. He parked in front, hopped out, and went around the side of the house. The yard squished beneath his feet. Soon, the warmer weather would wring out the dirt a bit and the grass would come in green and fresh. For now, it was scraggly after being covered up all winter. “Cade,” he bellowed at the outbuildings. “Are you here?”
Cade popped his head out of the stables a moment later. “Who are you shouting at?”
“You.” Liam picked up the pace, heading for his brother. “Wanted to know if you were working here or out in the pastures.”
“Obviously here.” Cade gave him a look as he pushed into the stables. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you out.”
Liam grabbed a rake and a pair of boots and helped Cade muck out the stables. The two of them worked in silence for a long time. The thoughts in Liam’s mind settled into a less outrageous pattern. The physical work soothed his racing heart. He got into a rhythm. One stall, then the next. The sound of Cade’s tools echoed his own. What had happened at the appointment was that he’d been presented with the opportunity to change everything. And it had thrown him completely off-balance.
Cade leaned against the stall divider and swiped a hand across his forehead. “Okay.” He looked Liam in the eye. “Spit it out. You don’t show up here to work for your health. What’s going on?”
Liam balanced the rake on the floor of the stall, goose bumps prickling his skin. Admitting this out loud made him want to cut and run. “I’m having second thoughts.”
His brother scoffed. “It’s too late now. Mina’s pregnant.”
“No.” Liam rolled his eyes, for a second feeling sixteen again. “I’m having second thoughts about leaving Benton Ridge. Mina wants me to stay. And the more I think about the baby growing up without a father, the less I like the idea of going back on the road.”
Cade considered this, lips pursed. “What do you plan to do, then, if you stay here? You can’t live in the cabin forever without a job.” A smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “I guess you could live there
