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Finally, he revealed, “Brooklynn’s ten weeks pregnant.”
There was an immediate response. Everyone started to congratulate Damien, but I stood back and tried to work it all out.
Hearing my brother-in-law’s words, I was upset.
Not with him, or Brooklynn, or the news that they were expecting their first baby. I was frustrated with myself. My loss and the grief I felt had permeated to the rest of my family. My own sister was terrified to share something so incredibly special in her life, because she was worried about me.
I was so caught up in the feelings moving through me that I hadn’t noticed Damien moved closer to me. “Jack?” he called.
“Yeah?” I returned.
“Are you okay with this?” he asked. “Brooklynn has been worried sick about how you were going to react.”
I’d always mourn the loss of Lacey and our baby, but I’dneverwant my family to feel like they couldn’t celebrate special moments in their lives because of it.
So, I reached out, gave Damien a hug, and said, “Congratulations, man. I’m so excited for the both of you.”
I could feel the tension in the air dissipate as I stepped back from him. “Thanks, Jack. It means a lot from you.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without any of you in my life for the last three years, but I’d never want you to feel like you couldn’t celebrate big moments in your life. I’m really glad you shared this news today, Damien.”
He gave me a nod.
And a moment later, my dad moved to tell us about the actual problem he was having with the fence.
As we worked together to come up with a solution, I took a look around at my family and felt something move through me.
I swallowed hard, realizing probably for the first time just how much of a toll Lacey’s death and the death of our unborn child had taken on my entire family. Through my own grief, I wasn’t sure I could even see how much it affected them.
Now, I could, and I was merely grateful that they stuck by me, constantly checking in, and giving me all the support I needed. I was prepared to give it back to them now.
Because without them, I wasn’t sure I’d have ever been in the position to find her and heal in ways I never thought possible.
Dakota
Jack was right.
His family didn’t hate me.
In fact, his family made me feel more welcome in their home than I’d ever felt in my ex-husband’s parents’ house.
All of my nerves had been for nothing.
Because these people, each and every single one of them, had made a valiant effort to show me just how kind they were.
About five minutes ago, the guys had all gone out to the barn, where Jack’s dad had mentioned having an issue with the cattle and one of the fences. I didn’t know that something like that required the help of all of them, but I figured none of them was willing to stick back and hang with a bunch of women.
It didn’t even bother me that Jack had gone out and left me alone with all the women in his family. In fact, he had offered to stay inside with me, but I insisted he should go. Something that simple, merely offering to stay so that I’d be comfortable, had proven to me that I’d given years of my life to the wrong man. Tom never would have done that, and while I didn’t want to spend my entire relationship with Jack comparing him and Tom, sometimes Jack did things that made it impossible to ignore.
“We never thought he’d smile again.”
I turned my head in the direction those words had come from and saw Blair was the one who’d said them. “Pardon?”
“Jack,” Brooklynn interjected.
Before I could respond to that, Jessa added, “He’s been so unhappy for so long.”
“And it’s like you’ve brought him back to life,” Hailee declared.
