chapter 3

One year and Nine Months Later

Briar’sPoint,Wyoming.The place that I’d come to know as Ground Zero. I navigated my car past the sign that declared the population of three thousand people and sighed. Highway 20 turned into Main Street for a couple of miles and led the stray passerby through the minuscule downtown area. A bar, a diner, a grocery store, and a few other miscellaneous businesses shined their windows regularly to draw people in. The bar was the true Ground Zero, and I made sure to avert my gaze from that back parking lot.

There were several people walking around town, curious gazes finding their way to me when they noticed the car wasn’t one they were used to seeing. I had the same teeth-bared reaction that I would’ve in the city, a protective reaction to strangers looking in on Hank and me. Then I stopped myself and forced myself to smile. I wasn’t in the city. I was in my sister’s town, and I wasn’t alone.

A stooped older man raised his hand in a wave and smiled brightly back at me. I waved back and drove on through. Hank gurgled from the back seat, his mouth preoccupied with the teether that had been ice cold when we left our hotel that morning.

“We’re almost to Aunt Kara’s, Hank. Then, we’ll get out and stretch our legs.” I reached back and lightly brushed my finger over the top of his head, feeling his silk soft hair. “You’d better get ready for Aunt Kara to spoil you, little man. She’s got an entire party planned for you. You’re going to be the belle of the ball.”

Another gurgle of happiness came from him and a real smile stretched my lips. Hank was the happiest baby I’d ever known, and he gave all that happiness to me constantly. He saw me as his whole world, and after a year, I was still getting used to that. I didn’t think I’d ever feel special enough to be that important to such an amazing little baby.

I turned off Main street and onto Malvern. Passing homes that had been built in the last two decades, I kept driving into the part of the neighborhood that had existed for nearly seventy years. The homes were spaced farther apart and slightly larger than the newer ones. There were a few mid-century homes and several ranch styles. At the very end of the street, Kara lived in a large brick house that had once housed the mayor of Briar’s Point. She’d gotten it as a foreclosure ten years earlier when her husband, Tyler, got moved locally for work.

I’d always loved her house. The outside was so impressive and stunning, with love and care poured into every part of it. The inside was just as looked after, but there was something about the outside, with Tyler’s ranging flowerbeds and Kara’s hand-crafted windchimes, that made it feel magical.

I parked behind Tyler’s truck with the silly little peeing on Chevy sticker on the back glass and gladly got out to stretch my legs and pull Hank out. Holding him in my arms, I bounced him gently and pressed a kiss to his nose.

“Hey, big boy. You ready to see Aunt Kara?”

“Aunt Mal!” Shrieking came from the front of the house and I turned just in time to see Casey shove her brother out of the way to run out of the house to me.

Taylor scowled at his sister’s back and took off running after her. He was intent on retribution until I whistled to get his attention. “Aunt Mal! You’re here!”

Casey slammed into my legs, quickly followed by Taylor. I grunted as I stumbled back a step and bumped into the car. “Whoa, careful. Don’t forget Hank is breakable.”

Taylor, the older of the twins by three minutes, crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “Yeah, Casey, be careful.”

Casey shoved her brother again and took off running, screaming at me the entire time. “Mom is waiting for you inside!”

I looked down at Hank and gave a quiet whistle. “Do you think you’ll be a rowdy ten-year-old, too? Is that something I have to look forward to?”

I followed the sound of Casey and Taylor screaming at each other into the house and found a tired-looking Kara in the kitchen, pointing her finger at her kids and talking to them in a hushed tone. Both twins were angrily shouting that the other had started their fight, but Kara was having none of it. With a practiced glare, she silenced them both and sent them to their rooms to get ready for dinner.

“They get louder each time I see them. I wonder if it ever stops or if they just eventually become known as the world’s loudest twins?”

Kara sighed and leaned against the island for a second before taking a deep breath and straightening. “Come here. I’ve missed you.”

I walked into her open arms and gave her a one-armed hug while breathing in her familiar scent. I’d just seen her two months earlier, but I’d missed her, too. Ten years older than me, Kara had often been a mom to me more than a sister. Her Clinique perfume was as comforting to me as anything I’d ever found.

Pressing a kiss to my cheek, she cupped my face gently and smiled before turning her love on Hank. “Give him to me. Look at these cheeks!”

I passed him along and watched happily as she smothered him in kisses, and he ate it up. He loved her about as much as he loved me. Seeing her never failed to make him grin and try to talk to her. So far, he’d only said mama, but if Kara had her way, Auntie would be next.

“How was the drive?”

I grunted. “Long. I’m glad to be here.”

Holding Hank to her chest while she moved around the kitchen, grabbing things, Kara barely contained her excitement. “We could barely contain ourselves. The twins have been extra wild in preparation for their favorite aunt.”

“Only aunt.”

“Tyler has been getting his poker chips shined, I swear.” She put a plate with cheese and crackers in front of me and smiled. “And I have been counting the minutes. I’m so glad you’re here, Mallory.”

A wave of emotion hit me and I shoved a slice of cheese into my mouth to keep myself from breaking into tears. I was saved from myself when Tyler walked into the kitchen and spotted me.

“I thought I heard chaos arriving!” Holding his arms out, he pulled me into his big body and hugged me tight. “My favorite sister-in-law!”

“Only sister-in-law.” I laughed and hugged him back, taking almost as much peace from his hug as I did from Kara’s. “You feel healthy.”

“Is that a fat joke?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a comment on the fact that the last time I hugged you, you were skin and bones.”

Kara passed Hank to her husband and stared up at him. “You saw him six months ago, right after treatment ended. He’s doing so much better.”

Tyler blew a raspberry on Hank’s cheek, sending Hank into a fit of giggles, before cutting an annoyed look at my sister. “You two. When you’re together, you talk about me like I’m not here.”

Kara rolled her eyes, too, something we both did too much, according to Tyler. “He’s gotten his crankiness back, too.”

I grinned. “At least he still has his looks.”

“Those he never lost.” She wagged her brows at Tyler before laughing and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Sorry, honey. You’re just too easy.”

“That’s what all those boys used to say about you, but that didn’t stop me from falling in love.”

I laughed a deep belly laugh that startled Hank. His lower lip turned down and his eyes welled up with tears that broke my heart. “Oh, I’m sorry, baby. Uncle Ty just made mommy laugh. Come here.”