I shook my head. “If it’s all the same, I’d rather you stay. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Within a few minutes, my beautiful daughter came bounding up the long driveway. Her dark curls bounced on top of her backpack, and her red sneakers kicked up a cloud of dirt behind her. My heart swelled; this child was the love of my life, the one shining gift in decades of loss and pain. There wasn’t a blessed thing I wouldn’t do for her.
She began calling me as soon as she spotted us on the porch. “Mommy! Maisie invited me to her birthday party next month and it’s going to be in Savannah at the pirate restaurant where you went with Uncle Sam and Aunt Meghan last year and we’re gong to walk around and maybe even see ghosts.” She finished in a burst of breath as she climbed the steps to the porch. “I can go, right? Please?”
I pulled her up onto my lap, remembering with a pang when she’d fit so easily under my chin, tucked in a ball. Now her arms and legs were becoming gangly, and her face was losing some of the sweet baby chub. My little one was growing up. And now I had to learn how to share her.
“We’ll talk about it, sugar, okay?” I stroked back her hair. “Listen, do you want a snack? Some milk and some of those yummy peanut butter cookies Aunt Meghan made?”
“Yes, please!” She made to wriggle off my lap, but I held on, glancing at Meghan. She nodded and pushed off Sam’s chest.
“Why don’t you stay out here with your mom, and I’ll bring all of us a snack? Babe, you want milk or coffee?”
“There’s still some in the pot from earlier. I can just heat that up.” He began to rise, but Meghan gently pushed him back.
“No, you stay out here with the girls.” She leaned down to kiss his cheek, causing my daughter to fake gag.
Meghan tugged on one of her curls as she passed. “Watch it there, Miss Bridget, or I’ll sit on hislapwhen I come back out.”
“No!” Bridge clutched her throat and pretended to pass out.
“All right, Sarah Heartburn.” My brother shifted, making the swing screech. “So tell us what else happened today besides Maisie’s party invite. How did the math test go?”
“Good. I think I got it all right.” Bridget slid off my lap onto the porch floor and shrugged off her backpack. Unzipping it, she pulled out her folder. “No homework this weekend ‘cause we all turned in our projects this week.”
“Sounds good.” I opened the folder and flipped through the papers without really seeing them. Meghan backed through the door carrying a tray with cups and a plate of cookies.
After she’d passed around the goodies, I leaned down to squeeze my daughter’s shoulder. “Hey, sweetie, I need to talk to you.”
“Uh huh.” She broke her cookie in half and dipped into her milk.
I took a deep breath. “I want to tell you about your father.”
“Okay.” She didn’t even look up at me, absorbed in her snack.
“Bridge. This is kind of important. Your dad’s here. He wants to see you.”
Now she did turn her head to look at me. “Here? At the farm?”
“No, in town.” I paused. “Do you want to see him?”
Bridget stretched out her legs. “Yeah. Is he nice?”
I quirked one eyebrow.Well, that remains to be seen.“Of course he is. He’s very nice, and he has a wonderful family.” I hesitated a minute and then added, “You know Graham Fowler? From your class? Your father is his uncle. Which makes Graham your cousin.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I have acousin?” She spoke with breathless surprise. “What else do I have?”
Sam turned a laugh into a cough, and I shot him a warning look. “Well, you have two other aunts. And a grandmother.”
“A grandma?” Bridget’s eyes shone. “So next time it’s Grandparents Day at school, can I bring my grandma?”
The excitement in her face made my heart drop. I’d never realized how much my daughter had felt she was missing, how much I’d denied her by keeping the truth from both Flynn and her.
“Well, honey, we can ask.”
“Cool. When is my dad coming over?”
It was, apparently, as easy as that. “I have to call him. You’re ready to see him now? Today?”
