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Megan sighed. “My husband has never met a taco he didn’t like.”
Graham’s heart swelled. No doubt he was falling hard and deep for this incredible woman. “Let’s see if we can pull up Mom’s records.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Reece asked.
“You can help Erin with dinner,” Megan said.
“Especially if you’re willing to take the tails off the shrimp.”
“I will for tacos.”
“Thanks.” Graham kissed Erin’s cheek before heading to his study with Megan.
* * *
Erin filledthe kitchen sink with water. “It’ll only take a few minutes to defrost the shrimp. I’ll start making the marinade.” While Reece opened the bag of shrimp, Erin began measuring the ingredients. “How’s Megan dealing with the news?”
“Up and down. Getting a little better most days. She was hoping the doctor would take a look at her scan and say there was nothing to worry about, so this was a step backward. But she’s forging ahead with what needs to be done.”
“You’re doing good as a calming influence. I didn’t pick up that anything was off with you on Sunday.”
“I’m trying. Can’t have both of us falling apart. We appreciate you reaching out to get her in with the specialist. Army neurologists mostly deal with traumatic brain injuries. Meeting with a surgeon who specializes in aneurysms to determine what we’re dealing with is half the battle. Then we’ll know how to plan an attack.”
“She’s got strong allies.” Erin couldn’t resist throwing in a military analogy too.
“Having positive people in her corner assuring her she can win this fight is key. Along with setting up boundaries to keep out anyone who isn’t positive.”
Erin needed to make sure she didn’t cross those boundaries. She was Graham’s not exactly fake girlfriend, but she was not Megan’s stepmother.
“Here you go.” Reece handed her the colander filled with peeled shrimp. “Thank you again for the invite. I thought it would be good for you and Megan to get to know each other better since she wasn’t her usual self on Sunday—and the jury is still out on your relationship with her dad,” he said with a grin. “It’s obvious he likes you, and you’re good for him. But it’s been a tough year and a half. She doesn’t want to see him get hurt with this arrangement you two have.”
“I understand. The last thing I want is to hurt Graham or any of your family,” she assured him as she started the rice.
“Good. We’d hate to have to kill you.”
Erin couldn’t help but laugh. “Death doesn’t scare me.”
“Torture?”
“I worked with middle schoolers at church and taught high school.”
“You might make it through SERE training.” Reece chuckled.
“That smells delicious,” Graham said as he and Megan rejoined them in the kitchen a short while later.
Reece looked up. “Done already?”
“It didn’t take long to get in the system and request Mom’s records be sent to Dr. Verner at Duke. Dad called Nana and left her a message. But no red flags on his side so far. Suddenly, I am starving.” Megan eyed the food.
“I just need to heat the tortillas. Everything else is ready.”
The conversation started somewhat stilted as they fixed their tacos, but Graham and Reece steered it into an easy pattern over dinner and ended on a high note, with Megan asking Erin to send the recipe before they headed home.
“How are you doing?” Erin asked as they cleaned up. Graham’s features still seemed strained, and he hadn’t eaten as much as usual, even though there’d been plenty for everyone.
“Pulling up Bethann’s medical records made reality hit hard. Like you said, you wish you could take this on yourself so your child wouldn’t have to deal with it. Megan’s too young to be thinking about dying. And she’s still questioning if she should have kids because of the elevated risk of passing it on. I told her that if we had known her mom had an aneurysm and decided not to have kids, we would have missed the blessing of having her and Jace. An elevated risk doesn’t mean she’ll pass it along. And it doesn’t have to be fatal, especially since they can check and either monitor it or do intervention if needed.”
“You’re right, and there are worse things she could pass along. Even if you’re perfectly healthy, there are no guarantees.” She didn’t say how she would trade Piper’s anxiety and depression for a more treatable condition.
