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I start back across the parking lot to find Quinn and tell her how much it means to me, how grateful I am, and that I’ll stand by her; that I love her now more than ever.
“Can I have ice cream now?” Rose asks in that long-suffering, but irresistible whine that only exhausted four-year-olds can pull off. I laugh in spite of the terrible ordeal we’ve just been through. We all have our priorities, and while Rose’s is her stomach, right now mine are my daughter, my woman, and our unborn child. My family.
“Yes, sweetheart, in a minute. I think I can use one, too.” Or a stiff drink. Maybe there’s a flavor of ice cream that has booze in it. I see Quinn’s golden blonde head moving through the river of people between us, and I quicken my pace. I don’t intend to let her out of my sight again either.
“Quinn!” I shout.
She catches sight of me and hurries toward us. “Logan! Rose!” she calls. We jostle our way through the dissipating crowd and meet each other halfway. Everything around us seems to dim and fade away as she flies into mine and Rose’s waiting embrace. Nothing else exists except this moment; this joining of everything in my life that’s good and special and so very right—the only things that matter.
“Kin!” Rose squeals, overjoyed to see her favorite babysitter again, grabbing coils of Quinn’s golden hair.
“Oh, Rosebud! Look at you! I think you’ve grown… I’ve missed you so much!” Quinn says, ignoring the yanks on her tresses in favor of the kisses Rose is plastering to her cheeks.
“You’re the bravest, craziest girl ever, you know that?” I say, shaking my head in awe.
“Jolene’s in custody. She’ll be taken to hospital for evaluation,” Quinn says, smiling through Rose’s onslaught of kisses and hugs.
I nod in acknowledgment and lean in closer. “Is it true?” I ask, my voice an expectant whisper. “You’re pregnant?”
Quinn turns her attention fro
m Rose and fixes me with her clear, wondrous blue gaze that I want to get lost in forever. I already have my answer just by looking into them, but she gives a small nod of her head. “I’m not so brave, but maybe I am crazy. Crazy about you and Rose. And that I’m going to have your baby.”
Epilogue
Quinn
A New Dawn
I’m glad it’s Christmas break. After a round of killer term exams, I can really use a few weeks off. I get tired easily, and Dad worries I’m not getting enough rest. He assures me that the first trimester of a pregnancy is the toughest, and I’ll be feeling much better soon. I’ll take his word on that, seeing as he’s the doctor in the house.
He didn’t freak out or play the disappointment card when I told him my news. Quite the opposite. Having a grandchild on the way seemed to lift his spirits and help him finally break through his lingering grief over my mother. While he wasn’t entirely surprised to find out that Logan is my baby’s father, it took him awhile to get used to the idea.
“There it is, sweetheart,” Logan says, pointing out the window of his truck. Firmly buckled in the booster seat between us, Rose claps her hands and kicks her feet in excitement. “There’s our new house.”
As we pull up the long drive, I’m impressed by both the size of the sprawling, Australian sheep station style house and the rambling three acres it occupies. It’s beautiful, surrounded by trees but with plenty of open space for the pony that Logan’s getting for Rose’s fifth birthday. I can’t wait to see her face when it arrives.
“That’s an awfully big house for such a little girl. What do you think, Rose?”
“I like it!” she says. “We can have a puppy now!”
Logan and I exchange exasperated glances. “I thought you wanted a pony,” he says.
Rose flashes her sweet but mischievous smile that always melts our hearts. “I want both!”
We all laugh as Logan parks in front of the house with its wide, wraparound porch and brightly painted door that welcomes us. The moving truck will be along in a few minutes, so we start unloading the few light boxes that we’ve brought with us.
“Don’t you be lifting anything heavy,” Logan warns me as he opens the tailgate. “Why don’t you take Rose inside and have a look around first?”
“Okay,” I say, taking Rose by the hand and leading her up the steps. Though it seems like only yesterday that I saw Logan and Rose for the first time, moving into the house next door, after everything that’s happened, Logan told me how he felt it best to find a new place. Somewhere secluded and quiet. I’ll miss having him and Rose so close by, but this country property is perfect for them, and only just outside the city. It’s an easy drive for him to take Rose to see her mother in the rehab facility each week.
I’m proud of him for keeping the promise I made to her—that she and Rose will get to know each other at last. Their first visits seem positive, as Logan says Jolene has been surprisingly patient and low-key with Rose. No mention of the “mom” word yet, as it’s way too soon for that, but so far they’re off to a good start. I also know it will be part of Logan’s healing process too; to begin to repair the scars of his difficult past.
After informing my dad about the baby, it also became too awkward for both he and Logan to continue to live next door to each other, and since I still have studies to finish, a move for Rose and Logan was really the right thing to do. I’m looking forward to graduation and will have my degree well before the baby is born in July. For now, I just want to help them get settled and enjoy the holidays.
“Wow,” I say, turning a three sixty inside the large, open living space on the main floor. The exposed log beams stretch across a high ceiling and angle down toward the full span of windows along one wall. The view is spectacular, the misty blues and grays of the Superstition Mountains looming in the distance.
“Wow!” Rose echoes, skipping around the room. “Where’s my room?” she asks.
