“She’s welcome to stay,” Hannah said. “You’ll have to tell me if there’s anything special I need to do.”
“No. She can handle it.” She couldn’t believe she was actually considering letting her daughter sleep over, but she realized Casey could handle it. “She’ll take it off when she’s ready and put it on when she needs it.”
“Mom, please! I want to stay!” This time Casey added a little teary-eyed desperation.
“We’ll just be a phone call away if she changes her mind, or if you do,” Hannah said.
A slow smile spread across Abby’s face, and the women exchanged another knowing look. “Not likely with JT to keep her company.”
—
JT met Matt and Stephen in the kitchen, throwing away paper plates.
“Where’re you off to?” Matt asked.
“Casey’s spending the night. I’m going to run down and get her stuff.”
“Try not to sound too excited,” Stephen said with a grin. JT glared, but his brother just laughed. “I just did you a solid, man. Use your time wisely.”
He should have known it’d be a big deal bringing Paige and Casey here, like bringing a girl home for dinner, though that’s not exactly what he’d been thinking when he planned it. Going by the looks he’d gotten all night, big deal didn’t even come close. He’d barely escaped getting cornered by his mother. He could tell she was dying to question him.
“I’ll walk with you,” Matt said.
The night was noticeably cooler than it had been a few hours ago. A light breeze had the tall pines rustling. He walked beside his brother. It shouldn’t feel odd, they were brothers for God’s sake. But when had he ever just hung out with Matt?
He’d said goodbye to him when he was six, spent his childhood idolizing him from afar. Then he’d had his accident, and he’d been the one to leave.
“Cole and Caroline are big,” he finally said.
“Yes. They’re all growing fast. Too fast.”
Time goes by, he thought. He’d missed a lot.
“When are you going back?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. I have to work. So does Paige.”
“Why do you sound so unhappy about that?”
“She works too hard.” And he wanted to wrap her in cotton. “This has been great, though. I’m glad they came. I wish Casey could stay longer.”
“Jack will be sorry he missed you. He’ll be playing JV in the fall. I know it’s a long way, but he’d love it if you came to one of his games. You know you’re still his hero.”
Even though he hadn’t played through college? How much more proud would Jack have been if his uncle had gone pro? And how much would Matt not want Jack looking up to him if he knew the whole truth of the accident? Those were the kinds of thoughts he battled against around his family.
But still…“I’d like that,” he found himself saying and meant it. Maybe he’d bring Casey and Paige. “Send me the schedule. I’ll see what I can do. That’s great about Annie’s shooting win.” His oldest daughter had recently won the Junior Three Gun competition.
Matt smiled. “She’s amazing, that’s for damn sure. I’d trust her at my back.”
“All I remember is a little girl in braids who barely said boo.” Because he’d barely met her. Seen her maybe once at the rehearsal dinner, then the wedding, then…everything had changed.
“Yeah. Things got crazy in our house, especially after the twins were born, so I made a promise to spend some one-on-one with each of them at least every month.”
“Good idea.” A good father idea.
“It was Abby’s,” Matt said, his lips curled up like just saying her name made him happy. “So anyway, Annie was first, and when I asked her, she blew me away. Of all the things I considered, I never expected she’d say she wanted to shoot a gun. It went from there. Jack’s always a sport. You get out any kind of ball and that boy is happy. Always has been.”
“And what about Gracie?” He pictured the little girl with curly hair and big eyes.
“Anything and everything at a fast pace.”
JT smiled, thinking that sounded like Casey.
“I’ve painted pottery, beaded bracelets, even took her to get her ears pierced. That about killed me. Right now, it’s mostly horses for her. Charlie always wanted to go to work with me, so that’s what we did. Hammering, destroying drywall. He’s twelve now, and actually a pretty good sidekick.”
“And you’ve still got Mary and the twins. Damn. Now I know why you started carving out time.”
“Yeah. But it’s all good. Most of the time it’s all of us, one great, big, chaotic jumble.”
He glanced at his brother. “And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Nope.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask, but do you think you’ll have more?”
“Hell, no. Not after I watched Abby labor with the twins.” Matt stared beyond the trees. “That was the hardest day of my life.”
“I don’t think I ever apologized for that day, when you first told us about Abby.”