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She laughed. “Well, put that way…”
I reached over, took hold of her hand. Molly lifted her head and gave me the evil eye but didn’t hiss or take a swipe at me. “Thank you.”
Her eyes were full of affection, of friendship. Then they darkened a fraction. “There is something else I need to talk to you about.”
Instantly, I went on alert. “Are you all right? Do you feel okay?”
She pulled her hand free of mine and reached for her phone. “Physically, yes. Emotionally, I’ll get there. Everyone’s been incredible. I never expected to feel like I found a family here.”
“Youarefamily.”
Again, something dark crossed her eyes. “Honorary, yes, but this baby… I think this baby has real family here in Driftwood.Biologicalfamily.”
I didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
She looked out at the water. “Yesterday, when I fainted, it was because I thought I saw a ghost walk inside the coffee shop.”
“A ghost? Like, a real one? Not Carmella?”
“It wasn’t Carmella, and it felt real, but it was only Noah.”
I sat up straighter.“Noah?”
He’d told me how when he walked in the door of the shop yesterday, Ava had gone pale and started shaking, but I hadn’t thought it had anything to do withhim.
“The moment he pulled open that door, my world started spinning. He’s the spitting image of— Hold on.” She swiped at her phone and held up a photo. “Do you recognize him?”
My heart started beating faster as I looked at the image of the man on her phone. The wide smile, the curly hair, those blue eyes. I’d know him anywhere. Especially since my son favored him. “Theo Bryant,” I breathed.
She said, “I’d only ever seen Noah in old pictures and with a hat on, but seeing him older, in person, with those curls, there was no denying the resemblance.” She studied the man in the picture on the phone. “I know this man asAlexander,” she said. “His full name, as you probably know, was Theodosius Alexander Bryant. He once told me he started going by Alexander in his twenties, and I never really thought much of it, because he was always reinventing himself.”
My heart was pounding. “Theo is Alexander?” Realization hit hard, and I gasped. “Your baby…”
She watched me carefully with those big green eyes of hers. “Will be Noah’s sibling. Half sibling.”
Thoughts were coming faster than I could sort them out. Theo was Alex. And he was gone. I watched Noah paddle onthe surfboard. Although he’d never yearned to meet his father, I always wondered if he’d change his mind one day. Now he’d never get the chance. Tears stung my eyes.
Ava had told me earlier how Estrelle had been the one who sent the letter, and now I fully understood why she’d done so. “No wonder Estrelle sent for you. Because of Noah, she must’ve been keeping tabs on Theo through the years. Although she’d never been a fan of Theo’s, she loves Noah. She’d want him to know his sibling. And”—I glanced at her—“I suspect she knew she’d come to love you, too.”
She nodded, smiling weakly. “I still don’t understand how she knows things. I didn’t even know I was pregnant, how did she?”
“I have no idea. But I do know she’s a softie at heart. She’d want us all together. One big strange family.”
She smiled the smile I loved so much. “The strangest.”
AVA
Later that night, I reclined in one of the lounge chairs on the back deck, watching the stars, listening to the waves. It had been a long day, full of revelations and surprises, of friendship andfamily.
My eyes had welled with tears when Noah gave me a hug and gifted me with the silver rattle etched with a boat before heading back to school. I didn’t know what the future looked like for him and my little one, but I had the feeling they’d be as close as they could be for their age difference.
I had spent a lot of the day trying to come to terms with the fact that my baby would never know Alexander. And I couldn’t help wondering if Alexander would’ve done to our child what he’d done to Noah. Walk away with barely a glance backward.
I was afraid, deep in my heart, I knew the answer.
Alex hadn’t wanted to be tied down.
I put a hand on my stomach and closed my eyes, listening intently. Now that I knew what I was hearing, I could pick out the baby’s heartbeat, a rapid thump, thump, thump. I wasn’tsure why I hadn’t heard it before yesterday. Or maybe I had and just chalked it up to something else beingoffwithin me. But being able to hear it now brought me comfort, helped me to relax.
