“Everything going okay?” he asked. “With you and Hannah?”
“Almost like old times,” she said, a hint of amazement in her voice. “After the other day, I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
Seth was surprised that she’d introduced the subject. “You mean your visit to Luke’s office?”
Her expression turned rueful. “I figured you’d already heard about it. Luke’s the kind of up-front guy who’d be into full disclosure.”
“Actually I heard it from several directions,” he said. “Kelsey gave me her side of the story, too. And, as you might imagine, Jenny had an opinion, as well.”
“I’m sorry for trying to pry,” she told him. “If I had questions about you and Cara, I should have come to you.”
“I didn’t exactly leave the door open,” he admitted. “How about this? One of these days we’ll spend a quiet evening at your place and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
She looked surprised by the offer. “But I know how hard it is for you to talk about her,” she protested.
“Maybe it’s time I did, though,” he admitted. “Sometimes keeping things bottled up inside is the worst thing you can possibly do.”
“Do you talk about her with Luke?”
“Not if I can help it, at least not since my first calls to him after she died,” he said. “And believe me, he hasn’t been shy about trying to get me to spill my guts since I got here. I just didn’t see the point. Talk’s not going to change what happened.”
“But you will talk to me?” she said, clearly confused. “Why?”
“Because I’m the one who made what happened this huge barrier between us and the future. You probably deserve to hear the whole story.”
“Only if and when you’re ready to tell me.”
He could see that she really meant that, that she would wait as long as it took. Amazingly, that made it easier for him to face the prospect of opening up an old wound, one that had changed his life, quite possibly forever.
* * *
With the arrival of Kelsey, Jeff and their precious baby girl, along with Hannah’s father and his family, the house was as crowded and chaotic as Hannah had predicted. Abby stood on the sidelines and watched the dynamics of all these people who shared so much history—good and bad—as they interacted on such an important family occasion.
As usual, she found herself gravitating toward the baby. “She’s so beautiful,” she told Kelsey.
“Isabella is gorgeous, but she’s a real handful,” Kelsey responded. “I don’t suppose you’d want to hold her so I can help Mom in the kitchen.”
Abby could feel the smile spreading across her face. It wasn’t all about the prospect of holding the baby, but Kelsey’s trusting overture. She sensed that fences really were being mended.
“I’d love to,” she told her eagerly.
Abby found an empty chair, no mean feat in the crowded house, and settled down with Isabella in her arms. In moments, Seth was by her side.
“There you are again with another borrowed baby,” he teased.
“I can’t seem to resist,” she said.
His expression sobered. “You’re such a natural, I’m surprised you never had a houseful of kids of your own.”
She considered blowing off the comment with an innocuous response, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she was expecting candor from him, then she had to be willing to expose her own emotions and the painful events that had shaped her life.
“I’m surprised, too,” she said softly, not even attempting to hide her regrets.
“There’s a story there, isn’t there?”
She nodded. “I think it belongs on that list of things we need to talk about when we’re having that quiet evening alone. It’s certainly not a topic for here and now.”
He nodded, but he brushed a comforting hand over her head, then allowed the caress to linger on her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
Abby regarded him with surprise. “For what?”
“For whatever happened that hurt you so deeply.”
She immediately blinked back tears at the tenderness in his voice. “I’m not going to think about that today,” she told him. “We’re counting blessings today, and my life is filled with them.”
“Mine, too,” he said. “I’m starting to think you belong at the top of the list.” He winked then. “Now I need to find Gracie. I promised her I’d play a game with her before dinner.”
Abby grinned. “Then you should definitely track her down. That little girl is one of your biggest admirers. Come to think of it, you have a lot of them around here today.”
He held her gaze. “Including you?”
“Afraid so,” she said. “It must be such a curse to be so popular.”
“It is a struggle,” he said with a self-deprecating grin. “But I try not to let it get me down.”
Abby laughed. “What a guy!”
She might be teasing, but the truth was, he was the most amazing man she’d met in a very long time.
* * *
Given all the past history and tensions among the various attendees at Hannah’s Thanksgiving dinner, Seth had expected a stressful atmosphere. Amazingly, though, whatever issues there were seemed to have been put aside for the day.
He found himself in the den with Luke, his son, Nate, and Hannah’s father and half-brother after a meal that had left them all stuffed and content. The football game was on TV and their commentary on the plays was far livelier than that of the announcers, thanks to their diverse views on the two teams playing. Even Nate at only nine had strong opinions and the knowledge to back them up.
Seth thought back to the last time he’d shared a Thanksgiving dinner with his own family. There’d been no detente that day. Laura and her husband were already feuding after barely a year of marriage. Meredith’s workaholic husband had spent most of the afternoon outside on his cell phone. Seth had hung out in the kitchen with his mother for
