Before either of them could say anything else, not that there was much to say, headlights swung into the driveway. She wouldn’t have thought it possible for Josh to get any more tense, but his jaw tightened and his thumb left an indent in his soda can.
When the truck pulled up close to the lodge, she saw that it was Sean and her spirits lifted a little. Even if the occasion wasn’t a joyous one for her, she wasn’t going to let it ruin a visit with one of the kids.
After parking in line with the guests, who were hanging out in their rooms, Sean went in the back door to the kitchen, bringing a blast of frigid air with him. He shut the door, dropped his bag and enveloped Rose in a bear hug that lifted her right off her feet.
“Are those oatmeal cookies?” he asked, setting her back down so he could burn his fingers on the pan.
“Of course. They’re your favorite. But you should probably let them cool a few more minutes.”
She started moving them to the cooling rack while he greeted his brother. It started as a handshake, but Sean pulled Josh in for a hug and slapped him on the back. “How’s it going?”
“Not bad. Better if those cookies were chocolate chip.”
Sean laughed. “Not my fault she loves me best, little brother.”
Rose rolled her eyes, letting the familiar sibling banter roll over her. She wished they’d all come home more often, like they had for Mitch and Paige’s wedding. But that thought, happy as it was, reminded her there probably wouldn’t be a home to come back to very much longer.
She shrugged off that depressing thought and put a few cookies on a couple of napkins and set them on the table, gesturing for them to sit. Oatmeal cookies weren’t Josh’s favorite, but favorite was relative when it came to cookies. As long as they didn’t have coconut, he’d eat his fair share of them.
“How’s Emma doing?”
Sean grinned, pulling out a chair to sit. “She’s great. She’s at twenty-one weeks now and Sprout, who won’t uncross his or her legs for the ultrasound, is kicking her now.”
“Sprout Kowalski?” Josh laughed. “I like it.”
“I’m not allowed to share any of the names we’re thinking about, so Sprout it is for now. Emma’s into plants, being a landscaper, and once she called the baby a sprout, it kind of stuck.”
Rose chuckled. “I hope you realize that poor child’s cousins will never let that go.”
“I know,” Sean said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t think of that until after we said it in front of them and they all thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.”
While she fussed around the kitchen, cleaning up after herself, Rose watched the two brothers catching up over their late snack. Sean’s mood seemed good, but she didn’t miss the way his eyes moved around the room, taking in the details as if it were the last time. Under the jovial smile that came so easily to the Kowalskis, she could see the underlying sadness and knew he was, in his heart, saying goodbye.
There was no more possibly or probably about it. No matter how much it hurt, she knew the kids were all going to agree to sell the Northern Star because they loved Josh. They’d gone off and made lives for themselves and they’d sacrifice the home that bound them together so he could have that same chance.
She loved them even more for it—she was as proud of them as if they were her own—but when she followed Sean’s gaze to the Bless This Kitchen sampler his mother had cross-stitched when he was just a baby, she saw her own heartbreak reflected in his eyes.
Chapter Fifteen
Josh was up before the sun, brewing coffee and laying out the muffins and banana bread Rosie had baked for the guests. Since he’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, he was glad to be up and about.
He should have talked to Katie. Even more than the upcoming family meeting, that thought had kept him awake.
Rosie was right about Katie being a good shoulder to lean on. God knew he’d leaned on her many times in the past. But what Rose didn’t understand was his fear—no, his certainty—that Katie would be hurt. He knew how hard the idea of selling the Northern Star was for his brothers and Liz to swallow, and there was a limit to how many people he could let down at one time. Today he would see loss in the eyes of every one of his brothers and hear it in his sister’s voice. He couldn’t take Katie’s hurt, too.
Sometime during the wee hours, he’d forced himself to face the fact that leaving her would be harder than he thought. That had led to wondering if she’d consider leaving Whitford with him. It was only the slim possibility that he could have his cake and eat it too, so to speak, that had allowed the gears in his mind to stop grinding long enough to fall asleep.