“It’s not about forgiving—not even with Delinda. Regardless of what her intentions were, Skye is happy again. Delinda did that.” She searched his face. “I’m not angry with you. I’m—maybe I’m—”
“Scared,” he supplied. I know, Sunshine. “We’ve been here before, haven’t we? But we’re not kids anymore. Sure there will be challenges, but they can only beat us if we let them.”
She placed her hand in his. “Did you say your entire family?”
He smiled and led the way down the hall and out of the guesthouse. “Jordan called them. When I heard that Delinda had blocked you from getting that job—he was probably right to sound the alarm. I was furious.”
There was no one in the driveway, but all the cars were still there. Michael opened the door as Spencer and Hailey approached the house. “Everyone is on the back porch. Should I escort you?”
“You should,” Hailey said. “Spencer, you must know Michael.”
“Of course,” Spencer said. “He’s worked here for as long as I can remember.”
Michael tipped his head in agreement.
Hailey touched Michael’s forearm briefly. “Thank you, Michael, for everything.”
Spencer and Michael shared a brief look. Whatever Delinda’s butler had done for Hailey, Spencer was grateful. He shook Michael’s hand firmly, letting that gesture express how he felt.
Michael turned and led the way to the porch that overlooked both the gardens and the ocean behind it. Stephanie, Dereck, and Delinda were seated. Brett, Alisha, Nicolette, and Rachelle were gathered in a loose circle. Everyone stopped and turned as Spencer and Hailey stepped onto the porch.
Delinda pushed out of her chair and walked toward them. “Hailey, a moment alone, please? This won’t take long.”
Spencer handed Hope to Michael, then while still holding Hailey’s hand, said, “New family rule—no secrets. Our track record with them is horrible.”
Delinda blinked several times quickly, then nodded. “Hailey, I shouldn’t have brought you here without telling you the truth about why. I was desperate, and I saw you as a way to fix something I had broken. I never meant to hurt you. You and Skye have breathed life into this empty house and me as well. Can you forgive an old woman for loving her grandchildren so much she’d be willing to do anything to have them in her life?”
“She sure knows how to lay it on thick,” Nicolette said in a stage whisper.
“Don’t, Nicolette,” Rachelle and Stephanie said in unison.
Nicolette raised both of her hands in mock surrender. “Am I the only one who thinks she’s being too nice? It’s actually making me nervous.”
Spencer changed the subject by introducing Hailey to the group in general and then to each of them individually. For a group of people who were barely holding back their curiosity, they covered it pretty well. A few of them glanced at Hailey’s left ring finger, then at Spencer, but they didn’t say anything.
“Miss Skye has returned,” Michael announced from the doorway of the main house.
Skye burst past him, then slowed as she appeared to realize that most of the people on the porch were strangers to her. She looked from one person to the next, but once she saw that Hailey and Spencer were holding hands, her eyes riveted to him. Slowly, she approached him. “I know you,” Skye said, then turned to Delinda. “I know him.”
Delinda nodded.
Skye’s eyes flew to Hailey’s. “I’ve seen pictures of him. Is your boyfriend Delinda’s grandson?”
Hailey’s hand held on to Spencer’s tightly. She didn’t seem to know how she should answer that.
Spencer looked from his mother’s concerned expression to Dereck’s somber one. Dereck could have announced to everyone that Spencer wasn’t his. He hadn’t. Delinda could have done the same. They had chosen to be his family—chosen, just as he was being given a chance to choose at that moment. He could easily deny Dereck and Delinda. Could anyone blame him if he did?
Family is what we make it. Spencer crouched down so he was eye level with Skye, then held out his hand. “That’s me, Spencer Westerly. Arguably the best looking and most successful of all of her grandchildren.”
His joke drew groans from his siblings, but flew right over Skye’s head. She focused on the only part of what he’d said that mattered to her.
“Auntie Hailey, I love you.” She hugged Hailey tightly. “You do want me to be happy. You really do.”
Hailey kissed her niece on the top of her head. “Of course I do.”
Skye bolted from Hailey to Delinda. She grabbed her hand with a confidence that surprised Spencer. Delinda had never been fond of physical displays of affection, but she welcomed Skye’s touch. “Do you know what this means, Delinda? Do you? When they get married, I’ll be your real granddaughter. Your real one. It’ll be like I came out of your vagina.”
The look on Delinda’s face was priceless as a round of laughter erupted. Spencer knew right then that Skye would keep him laughing. He looked down at Hailey, who was holding back a laugh—barely. “Seems like you might want to go over that birds-and-bees talk again. She almost has it.”
Skye’s nose wrinkled in an expression Hailey sometimes made. “I’m right. Babies come out of vaginas. If you came out of her daughter’s vagina and her daughter came out of her vagina, then you came out of her vagina because you were inside her daughter. Wait, Delinda, do you have a daughter?”
Above more shared laughter, Nicolette said, “Oh my God, I love her.”
Skye looked around and frowned. “Auntie Hailey said vagina is not a bad word. It’s part of a woman’s body.”
“I did say that,” Hailey said, with tears of laughter in her eyes. “But you shouldn’t say the word in public.”
Skye waved her free hand at Hailey. “Why would you teach me words I can’t use?”
Hailey shrugged helplessly and laughed. “I’m learning as I go.”
Spencer walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “If you need any help . . .”
She laced her fingers through his and gave him a smile over her shoulder that knocked the breath out of him. “I do, and I have my answer to the question you asked me earlier.”
He tensed.
She relaxed back against him. “Yes. Yes. Yes a hundred times. Yes a thousand times. We can do this. I believe that now.”
“Wait,” Skye said. “If you get married, do we have to move?”
Hailey opened her mouth, then closed it without saying anything. “I—we—”
“We are going to take it slow, so this time we get it right,” Spencer said.
Chapter Seventeen
Later that night, after Hailey tucked Skye into bed, she joined Spencer on the couch in the living room of the guesthouse. He opened his arms. She snuggled against his side and laid her head on his shoulder. “You know you’re her hero now.”
He kissed Hailey’s temple. “Because I’m Delinda’s grandson?”
Hailey rested her hand over his heart. “No, because you asked Delinda if she had the rest of the Billy and the Lion series and she did. Don’t be surprised if Skye asks you to read a story to her soon. She’s a wonderful reader, but Ryan had a way of making stories come to life for her.”