Page 49 of Chasing Honor

I stood but before I could go to her she was running straight for me.

“Honor,” she panted.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel good,” she whined.

“All right. Let’s go sit down.”

That’s when it happened, my introduction to motherhood—sort of.

Carson sat on my lap, cuddled in, and then threw up all over me. All. Over. Me. Everything she’d eaten all day was on my chest and lap. Pieces of vomit where in my hair as well.

She retched again, and I was able to move her to the side, and, luckily, most of it hit the concrete, but my shoes were now covered as well.

Chairs scraped all around us. The Walker girls bolted before they got hit. Someone ran inside the house, and Lily stood beside me.

“Shit,” Ethan mumbled when got to us. “I’m so sorry, Honor.”

“You feeling better, darlin’?” I asked Carson, ignoring Ethan.

“A little.”

“Good. We’ll sit here a second before we clean you up.”

“I’m sorry,” she cried.

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

I couldn’t hug her without smooshing the vomit covering us but I wanted too. I hated that she was crying.

“Here,” Lily handed me a wet wash cloth, and I wiped Carson’s face.

“That was for you.” Lily chuckled.

“You wanna come with Gran, and I’ll get you in a bath and all cleaned up?”

“No. I want Honor to do it.”

Lily recoiled and placed her hand on her chest as tears started rolling down her cheeks. Lenox came to her side and tucked her in close. But through her tears she was smiling. Ethan looked from me to Carson and to his parents. A look passed between him and his dad.

And in some weird Lenox language only they knew, Lenox said, “Bone-deep.”

Lily buried her face in Lenox’s chest and her body shook. I felt like I was missing something big and maybe if I hadn’t been covered in vomit, I would’ve been able to decipher their family code, but I was, so I couldn’t.

“Bone-deep,” Ethan echoed.

* * *

After I’d cleaned up and changed into gym clothes Delaney had in her car, I gave Carson a bath and helped her into a pair of jammies and we called it a night.

I said goodbye to everyone and was overwhelmed by their kindness. Ethan was lucky he had such a great family.

We were finally at the door when Lily pulled me in for a hug and held on tightly.

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t do much.”