“Want to hear some good news?” he says lightly after a few minutes.
“Of course.”
“Ed got adopted,” he says rather proudly.
“Really?”
He nods. “Aye. A local foster-to-adopt program got back to me and said they had someone interested. She and her husband came by to see him this morning and they fell in love. Ed’s gone.”
“Aww,” I tell him, and my heart flutters like a bird in flight. Not just because he was able to home a dog who needed it, but because I can hear the warmth in his voice, like honey, like happiness. “I’m so happy for him. And you.”
He shrugs. “I did what I could do. I’m just glad it paid off.”
“And Emily?”
“She’s at home. Sad little gal, she is. But once I get her to Edinburgh, she’ll be good.”
“I guess she’ll be coming with us to Napa?”
He glances at me, brow creased in concern. “Is that all right?”
“One hundred percent,” I tell him emphatically. “I just hopes she learns to trust me at some point.”
“She will, love,” he says, gazing out the window as we go over the Bay Bridge. “We all come around after a while.”
It’s not long before we’re at my mom’s and I’m pulling the car to the curb.
“Lovely place,” Lachlan says as he gets out of the car, staring up at the house. It doesn’t look like much in the twilight, but he sounds impressed.
“It used to be really nice,” I tell him, my voice hushed as I open the low gate into the yard. “When I grew up here, anyway.”
“It’s still lovely,” he says. He reaches down and grabs my hand and holds onto it, giving it a squeeze. Strength feeds into me from his grip, washing away the sadness and the memories of the after period.
We walk up the front steps, hand in hand, me and my beast, and before I can knock on the door, it opens and my mother pokes her head out.
She peers at me for only a second before her eyes drift over to Lachlan. They widen. She looks him up and down, and I can’t help but mimic her. Because it’s got to be cool to have two ladies giving you the eye at once.
Luckily Lachlan is all charm. He smiles politely and gives her the slightest of nods.
“Mom,” I say to her.
She nearly glares at me. “This is the man? This is the man you bring home?”
I look back at Lachlan and he meets my eyes, a half smile on his lips, his brows raised.
“Well…” I say to her but she wags her finger at me to shut up. At least she isn’t acting as frail as she sounded on the phone.
“This is the man you bring home,” she says again, leaving the door and walking over to Lachlan. He lets go of my hand to offer it to her. “And yet you have never brought him before?”
I laugh in relief. “Sorry, Mom. He’s kind of new.”
“And I’m kind of charmed by you,” Lachlan says, kissing the back of her hand, his eyes smiling. Holy shit. I’ve never seen him be so utterly charismatic before, and from the fullness in my mom’s cheeks, I can tell she’s just as impressed.
“Oh my,” she says, looking at me with a big grin. “Kayla, you have done very, very well.”
“I know,” I tell her. “But Mom, you’re making him uncomfortable.”
“Nonsense,” Lachlan says, throwing his shoulders back, making him look bigger than big and taller than tall next to my tiny mother. “I have no problem hearing how I’ve exceeded expectations.”
I smirk at him and grab his hand. “Let’s go inside before your ego gets too big to fit through the door.”
We step in the house and my mother insists on giving Lachlan the grand tour. She takes him by the hand and he follows her, ever gracious, hanging on to her every word, smiling when she smiles. It brings actual tears to my eyes, tears I have to quickly blink away. Even Kyle hadn’t been that way, so attentive, so involved, and he was about to marry me.
While they go explore the rest of the house, I take in a deep breath, trying to steady the race in my chest, and head into the kitchen to see what I can make for dinner. I can hear them walking upstairs. Their footsteps, Lachlan’s heavy, long strides and my mother’s short, quick ones, go down the hall, to my brothers’ rooms, then to my bedroom, where I’m sure my mother is filling Lachlan in about all sorts of embarrassing anecdotes about me.
Then they go into my parents’ bedroom, and I don’t know what my mother is saying to him, but it must be about my dad and suddenly it hurts. It hurts. Sharp pains stab my chest, enough that I have to lean against the fridge and try to breathe for a few minutes.
“Kayla?” I hear Lachlan say, and then he’s at my side, fingers running down the sides of my face, hands curling around my forearms. “What happened?”
I shake my head, keeping my eyes shut. “It’s fine,” I say.
“Kayla,” my mother cries out, and I can hear the terror. This is the last thing I want, for her to worry about me when there’s nothing wrong, just my own damn worry, my own damn demons creeping up on me.
“I’m fine,” I say again, sharper now, taking in another breath through my teeth. “Really. It’s just a cramp. A stitch in my side.”
“Maybe you should let me cook,” my mother says. I open my eyes to see both her and Lachlan peering at me, and it’s only this sight, borderline comical, that gives me the strength to push past it all.
“No, no, no,” Lachlan says, straightening up but not letting go of my arm. “Mrs. Moore, you go sit down. Kayla, you sit down with your mum. I’ll cook.”
I stare at him dumbly. “You’d do that?”
“Of course, love,” he says, kissing me quickly on the forehead. When he pulls away though, his eyes are sharp and delivering a message. “Go be with your mum,” he tells me quietly.
I nod, stupefied by him. “What are you going to make?” I ask him feebly as my mom heads into the living room, looking at me over her shoulder.
“Go and be with your mum,” he repeats, and I sense some weird urgency in his voice that makes my heart do a couple more somersaults in the wrong direction. “I’ve got this, aye?”
I turn and head out into the living room, sitting on the couch as my mom settles down in her armchair, reaching for her knitting needles. She’s in good spirits though, stealing glances at me as I flip on the television and scroll through the channels to find something she might like. The Big Bang Theory it is.
But she’s not paying attention. She’s watching me fully. “Are you okay?” she asks me.
“Yes, yes.” I wave her away. “Are you okay?”
She sighs lightly, looking down at her needles and seeming to be lost in her own little world for a moment. Finally she says, “I was…not feeling well today. Tired. Dizzy.”
I swallow a lump in my throat. “Mom. When you feel like that, you know you need to call your doctor.”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. It’s called getting old, Kayla.” She looks up at me with knowing eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?”
Though her voice is low, the kitchen is right there, and I know Lachlan can hear us. Nothing seems to escape him. “It was a last minute decision,” I tell her, trying to play it off lightly. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay, Kayla, sweetheart,” she says, grinning from ear to ear, bouncing lightly in her seat. “It’s okay because I’ve never seen you look so happy before.”
At that, my eyes flit over to the kitchen. Lachlan is staring at me while he takes pots out of the cupboards. I can’t read his expression, but I at least know he heard that I look happy.
I am happy.
I feel my cheeks flush with heat because I can’t ignore the truth. I am happy. Deliriously.
Tragically.
I break our gaze and try to concentrate on Penny and Sheldon on the TV. God, I loathe this show.
“So where did you find him?” my mom asks.
“He’s cousins with Bram and Linden. You know Stephanie’s husband? His cousin.”
She nods. “I’ve always liked Stephanie.”