Page 114 of Declan

Then we stood there on opposite sides of the room just staring at each other.

It was bizarre.

It was weird.

It was fucking great.

“I like your hair longer,” she told me and smiled.

“I like yours lighter,” I returned.

“I’m finishing up my teaching certification,” she continued.

“That’s great. Primary education, still?”

“Yep.”

“You’ll be great at it.”

“I’m pregnant.” Emmy’s face beamed and I returned her smile.

“So I heard. Will I be getting a niece or nephew?”

Then I watched in horror as a sob tore from Emerson.

Shit.

I moved across the room and the closer I got to her, the more panic welled.

“What’s wrong?”

My sister didn’t answer, she wrapped her arms around me, rested her chin on my shoulder, and squeezed the living hell out of me. I was seriously worried she’d broken a few ribs. Long moments passed and her body shook with emotion. Not meaning to, not knowing why I did it, I returned her hug just as fiercely, albeit I didn’t attempt to break bones. She was pregnant, after all.

“What’s wrong, Emmy? Thad said the baby was okay.”

“I wanted…I didn’t want…” she stuttered and blew out a long breath. “I’m excited. We’re excited. But when I found out, I wanted to share it with you so bad.”

Fucking shit.

“And with Mom and Dad.”

Damn, I’d caused that rift, too.

“Thank you for bringing them back to us.”

“It was all Mom. You know her; when she gets her panties in a bunch about something, there’s no stopping her. She said she wanted her family back, she snapped her fingers at Dad, and bam, he hopped to.”

“Don’t do that. If you hadn’t gone to see Dad, Mom wouldn’t have come. She was staying away until you gave the all-clear. In the beginning, we all did wrong, they were giving you what they thought you needed. And Dad told me what really happened to Stanley James.”

Damn my dad. I really wished he wouldn’t have told her.

“Emmy—”

“We’re not talking about the past, I just thought you should know. We’re going forward.”

She sounded like Declan.

“Right. Forward.”