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“Smart man.” Leon clapped me on the shoulder, and it was only a short walk back to my house. My home. My future business and community hub. I took a long moment on the sidewalk, drinking in the house and all the dreams contained therein. And then Knox came bursting out the front door, the embodiment of every last hope I had.
“There you are! I’ve been waiting.” He swept me into a sweet-smelling hug. Unusual for Knox, he wore a dress shirt tucked into pressed khakis and even had on a belt and nice shoes. “Jessica called. They brought Keller home a few hours ago. Turns out he didn’t need the NICU as long as everyone feared. A week, and he’s out! Passed the carseat test with flying colors. He’s teeny but mighty. Jessica said for me—for us—to come meet him when you got back from Holden’s.”
“Ah. Invite come from her or your dad?” My tone was both weary and wary, a week of dancing around the arctic freeze that was Rob’s reaction to us together as a couple.
“Jessica. But I said I wasn’t coming without you. I meant what I told Dad. We’re a package deal. And Jessica said he understands and to hurry up and come meet the baby so she can get a pic of me meeting him for the wall.”
In the NICU, baby Keller had been limited to visits from parents and support persons like Angie, leaving Knox and everyone else back in Safe Harbor desperate to meet the little guy.
“And you’re nervous about the baby or your dad?”
“Who says I’m nervous?” Knox smoothed a hand down his crisp white shirt, and I gave him a pointed look.
“Shirt with buttons? Hair all neat? The baby’s gonna love you, Knox. And your dad already loves you. Promise.”
“Hope so.” He sounded so uneasy that I gave him another tight hug before he retrieved a bag with a present for the baby from the house. I drove to Rob and Jessica’s house while Knox played with the ribbon on the gift bag. If Rob said one single thing to make Knox unhappy, he’d have me to deal with.
At the house, Angie let us in amid shrieks coming from the TV room.
“Jessica and the baby are upstairs in the nursery.” She gestured at the stairs. “I’m keeping the girls quiet—ish—down here.”
“We better sneak up before the triplets spy Knox.” Chuckling, I followed Knox upstairs and down the hall.
“Knox!” Holding the smallest bundle, Jessica stood from the glider in the corner of the green-and-yellow room. “You made it! Meet Keller!”
Standing in the doorway, I gave Knox a little shove so he met Jessica in the middle of the room, gazing down at the swaddled baby in her arms with nothing short of wonder.
“Oh wow.” His face creased as he sniffed deeply. He looked a breath away from either crying or crumpling, and before I could step in, Jessica had deftly steered him to the rocking chair.
“Sit right here. Keller’s been waiting all day to meet you.” She promptly deposited her armload in Knox’s lap, exchanging the baby for the gift bag. Eyes going wide, he inhaled sharply. Jessica patted his shoulder. “Honey, he’s bigger than the girls were when we brought them home. He’s not gonna break.”
“Okay.” Knox had a better grip on the baby than his voice, which wavered. “Hello, Keller. I’m your brother. And I brought you a bear.”
Jessica made the same aw noise aloud as the one in my brain as she removed the little stuffed bear from the bag. It was a very Knox-like gift, a tie-dyed bear with the softest fur, wearing a shirt that proclaimed, Property of Safe Harbor.
“So he’ll always remember where he’s from.” Knox tucked the bear next to the baby in his arms, resettling both to a more comfortable, less stiff position.
“This deserves my better camera,” Jessica announced brightly. “And I deserve a brownie from the fridge. You sit right here and get to know each other.”
“Be quick.” Knox continued to sound rather dazed.
“Thanks for coming,” Jessica whispered as she passed me, taking a moment to pat my arm.
Rather than enter the room, I took the chance to stand in the doorway, watching Knox and Keller. He cuddled the baby close, and a wee hand crept out of the blanket to grab Knox’s finger. Humming softly, Knox rocked him, patting and singing a song I didn’t recognize, part of his endless internal playlist. In the distant hallways of my brain, a memory pinged, and for the first time in years, I heard my mother’s voice, high and sweet. A lullaby. A promise.
My heart was so full that my chest clenched around its weight, and I had to lean on the doorframe heavily. When footsteps sounded behind me, I held up a hand so Jessica wouldn’t break the moment. But as I whirled my head, I discovered Rob, not Jessica.
