Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“What are we going to do in it?” she asked.
“First, I want to drive past the state park and show you how cute your grandson looks in his uniform.” I smiled. “And we’re going to take him lunch because he went to my doctor’s appointment with me and decided he’d skip lunch.”
She eyed me warily. “Are you ever going to tell me that news? Or should I keep pretending I don’t know?”
I grinned, unsurprised that she’d figured it out on her own. Guess that’s what we get for waiting so long to share the news with her.
“Everything’s fine,” I answered her unspoken question. “The baby is thriving.”
Relief hit her weathered face.
It struck me then, how much older she looked.
Even since I last saw her a couple of days ago.
She was fading fast.
“I’ll never, ever forgive you if you die before you can meet our baby.”
Margery’s lips twitched. “I’ll try really hard. No promises, though. I’m tired, child.”
I knew she was.
“Would it make you light up inside if I took you somewhere secret?”
She blinked slowly. “What kind of secret?”
I backed out of my parking spot and sped down the length of the driveway.
My lips twitched when I saw the Wicked Witch of Montana walking her stuck-up ass away from the reaming I’m sure she’d just given the gardener.
Probably too much pink in her garden again…
Gail’s eyes narrowed on me, but I didn’t slow down or look at her as I sped past.
“I hate her,” I grumbled.
Margery’s laugh was musical as she said, “I concur.”
So proper.
“Where are we going?”
I thought about not telling her for a long moment, then decided…fuck it.
Margery deserved to know.
And the fact that Denver, Boone, and Sawyer hadn’t told her was likely because they thought she was too fragile to hear.
“You have another granddaughter.”
A long, drawn-out pause and then, “I’m sorry, what?”
I explained everything, not leaving anything out.
Because there was one person in this world besides Boone and my own sister that I did not keep secrets from, and it was Margery Windsor.
That was why I’d hesitated in telling her that Boone and I were engaged.
Because Margery had never lied to me, and I wouldn’t lie to her.
She knew that I’d said the words to Gail not because they were true, but because I knew it would piss her off.
“You’re…joking.” Margery gasped softly.
“I wish I were,” I said as we came to a stop outside of a residence that I knew belonged to Koen King.
“Is this where she lives?”
“Kind of,” I answered. “She works here. Lives in a room off the back of the house that Koen converted into a mother-in-law suite of sorts for her.”
“And what are we…”
The door opened and Ida Bell spilled out with Koen’s kids.
She had one strapped to her back, and the other one by the hand.
She walked with them to the snow outside and grinned when the four-year-old dove headfirst into a large pile.
“She looks just like Sawyer, only feminine and much prettier,” Margery breathed.
We sat there, several houses down, and watched Ida Bell through the front windshield.
We sat there so long that Koen came home.
He clocked us immediately and instead of heading toward his house and parking, he stopped beside my car and asked, “What are you doing?”
I bit my lip. “Watching.”
His eyes went hard. “My kids are…”
“Not your kids,” I interrupted him. “Ida Bell.”
His frown was fierce. “What are you watching her for?”
“She’s my granddaughter,” Margery answered. “And her mother kept her from me.”
Koen shook his head. “Ida Bell doesn’t have any family but her father.”
“Wrong,” I said. “Though, she doesn’t know it.”
“Explain.”
I did.
Koen looked pissed as hell when we were finished. “Boone’s mother?”
“Boone’s ‘mother,’” I agreed.
“What a fuckin’ shit show.” He shook his head as he pressed a button on his car’s steering wheel. “Call Boone.”
“Ruh-roh.” I rolled my window up and started the car.
As we pulled away, both of us were fairly quiet until I pulled up to her cottage.
“I wasted eight years denying the feelings that I had for Sol.”
I released my seat belt then turned to look at her. “Yeah?”
“I hate myself for those wasted years,” she reminisced. “I despise that I ever thought it was a good idea to wait until he was out of the military. I hate that we missed exactly 2920 days that we could’ve been together. Could’ve started a family earlier. Could’ve laughed and cried together. Could’ve made so many more memories.”
I looked down at my lap, knowing where this was heading.
“What if he died tomorrow, Nettie?”
My stomach cramped.
“What if you woke up tomorrow, walked into his room to find out where he was, and he was dead?” she asked. “What if he goes through a bear attack like your own sister did while at work? What if he gets in a car crash and dies, and you’ll never know what it’s like to call him your husband?”