She took his hand in hers, then reached out and took my hand in her other hand. “We’ve messed up, big time. We’ve been messing up for years, it seems. But thank goodness for the chain of events that’s led us to realize it and given us a chance to fix it. I want to start over and be a proper family, one that can love each other unconditionally and be honest with one another, without fear. What do you say?”
It was moments like these that reminded me what a good actress my mother was. Nobody could deliver a heartfelt line with such simple sincerity as she could. For the first time in years, all of my mother’s spoiled, dramatic trappings were gone, and all I could see was a woman who wanted her family to be together.
At last, Dad sighed. He squeezed Mom’s hand and stood up, looking at me. “I’m sorry, for my part in this. I…it will be an adjustment. But I, too, would like to know my grandchild. And I want you to be happy, Cade. I would have been…devastated if I had allowed my father to split me and Melinda all those years ago. I can’t do the same thing to you. If you love her, then you have my blessing to be with her.”
Relief flooded me and I yanked my father into a hug. I hadn’t hugged him in years, not properly, and I certainly hadn’t meant it earlier. Now I gave the hug all the love inside me.
Dad cleared his throat when I pulled back, clearly a little embarrassed. “Yes, well. I’ll…find a way to deal with the press. They shouldn’t be swarming a child like that. Especially not my grandchild.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Mom smiled at me. “You know what you have to do now, honey. I’ve been in enough films to know what comes next.”
“What…?” I asked, confused.
Mom winked. “You go and you get your girl.”
32
Laura
Caitlyn and I got through the day as best we could despite the reporters outside. We just didn’t leave the house and played with Drew all day, keeping him happy and entertained so that he wouldn’t look out the front window and ask questions. The reporters, thank goodness, didn’t try to go up the driveway and knock on the door or peer through the windows, not after Caitlyn had called the police and then whacked a reporter’s camera right out of their hand so that it went smashing to the pavement.
The message was clear: come too close and Caitlyn was going to whack you and she wasn’t going to care all that much about legal ramifications. She’d also been taking pictures of the reporters and blasting them by name on social media, calling them out for their behavior and dragging them through the mud.
I was incredibly grateful to her, especially since I was too exhausted, emotionally, to do anything about it. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, but I couldn’t really do that in front of my son. I had to be a mother, first and foremost.
We got through the day, somehow, and I went to bed feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. At Caitlyn’s insistence I took a sleeping pill so that I could actually get some rest instead of tossing and turning all night.
The next morning, I woke up to blessed silence.
At first, I didn’t think that there was anything odd about that. I had just woken up before Caitlyn and Drew, which was normal. Yesterday, waking up after the two of them were already up and about, had been unusual and a testament to how poorly I’d slept.
But then I got up and realized that I couldn’t hear any sound from the front lawn.
The reporters had given up yelling at us or wasting their film on photographing the front of the house, but they still made noise. There would be the sounds of people walking around, the sounds of quiet conversations between reporters, the sounds of van and car doors opening and closing, or takeout food and coffee being handed out.
But now, there was nothing.
I got dressed, so that if someone was still lurking around and got a lucky shot with the camera, I would look presentable. Then I peered through the curtains on the front window.
Nothing. The reporters were all gone.
Relief swept through me and I rested my head against the wall, taking deep, steadying breaths. Looked like the press had found something else to obsess over, and good riddance to them. I was surprised to see every single one of them gone—not a single straggler waiting to see if they could break me down by being the last one standing—but I was certainly grateful. There were far bigger scandals out there than one senator’s son, and I just had to hope that these reporters wouldn’t come back.
I put the pot on for brewing, pulled out a mug for myself and one for Caitlyn, and then sat down at the kitchen table. I was glad that the reporters were gone, but it reminded me of how Cade and I were over. They were gone, Cade’s plan had worked, and now he was never coming back. Our chances of being together were gone.
Caitlyn entered and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Thanks, hon.”
I nodded. Caitlyn sat down next to me and took my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“More than ever, today, it feels like he’s really gone,” I admitted.
Caitlyn squeezed my hand and then released it, pulling out her phone to check on the news. “Well, I suppose the reporters being gone is a silver lining to this whole thing. And it must be some consolation to know that he does care about you, right? He does love you. That was never the issue. There’s something noble about that, honestly. Even if I agree with you and I think
