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“Night, Dad.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
“To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.”
—Henry Drummond
Max joined Lexi in the living room, where she was curled up on the sofa under a blanket, e-reader in hand. He sat next to her and reached for her free hand, linking their fingers. “We need to call the parents and tell them our news.”
“You go first,” she said, handing him the phone from the end table.
Max took the phone and dialed the number at the barn.
“Hi, honey,” his mom said. “How was the stew?” She’d shared her recipe with them.
“Excellent.”
“Good.”
“So, we told Caden about the baby over dinner.”
“How’d that go?”
“Really well. He’s excited, doesn’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, and the fall is too long to wait.”
“That’s great,” Molly said with a chuckle. “He’ll be the best big brother ever. He has so much experience with his younger cousins.”
“Yes, he will. He wanted to know when we were getting married.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“That we hadn’t really got there yet, and he said why not, and one thing led to another, and now Lex and I are engaged.”
“Oh, Max,” Molly said on a long exhale. “That’s wonderful news! He and Lexi are engaged! Dad and Gramps are thrilled, too. Congratulations, Max. We couldn’t be happier for you guys—and for us.”
“I heard you might’ve helped things along for us.”
“How so?”
“You talked to Caden about me and Lexi?”
Lexi gave him a questioning look.
“We talked ages ago, the day you guys got home from Texas.”
“I think that made a very big difference for us, Mom, so thanks for doing that.”
“All I wanted was for you to have a real chance with Lexi, because I knew she was the one you wanted. I was sensing some pushback from Caden, so I thought it might help if he and I talked about it.”
“It helped a lot.” Max had another thought all of a sudden. “The day we got back from Texas… That was why he stayed with Lexi while I went to return the truck. Because you’d talked to him.”
Lexi placed a hand on her heart, letting him know what she thought of what his mother had done to help them.
“Yes, I suppose that might’ve been why.”
“I get it now, and I’m very thankful for that and ten million other things since the day I was born and especially since the day he was born. I never would’ve survived single parenthood without you and Dad and the rest of the family.”
“Every one of those days has been a joy to me and us, Max. Every one of them.”
