Page 81 of What About Now

The doorbell chimes, and voices ring out right after. Voices that I know she recognizes by the look on her face. I don’t get time to tell her what’s going on before Forrest, Briar, and the girls step into the kitchen.

“Aunt Brogan!” River cheers.

“Uncle Maddox!” Rayne says excitedly.

“We missed you,” they say at the same time.

“I missed you too.” I bend down to wrap them both in a hug.

“What are you doing here?”

“We’re celebrating your birthday,” my mom tells her. “We couldn’t do that without your sister.”

I look up at Brogan and there are tears in her eyes. “Really?” She can see for herself that they’re here, but she’s so overcome with emotion, she asks just to make sure.

“Really,” Mom says, coming to stand next to her and pulling her into a hug. Her voice is quiet, but we all hear her when she says, “I know your parents aren’t here to celebrate with you, andwell, I know that we can never fill their shoes, but we’d like to be placeholders for them if you’ll have us.” She glances over at Briar and holds out her hand. My sister-in-law doesn’t hesitate to take it. The three of them are in a small huddle, now whispering words I can’t make out, but they’re all smiling with tears in their eyes.

Happy tears.

“Who are you?” River asks, always the inquisitive one.

“My name is Cassie. I’m Maddox’s mommy.”

“Oh,” she and Rayne reply at the same time.

“But you can call me Grandma.”

“Really? We don’t have one of those here. Our grandma is in heaven,” Rayne explains.

There are very few things in life that get me in my feels, but this right here, I’m feeling it. I know I’ve been telling Brogan this from the very beginning, but it’s finally setting in for me. We are their only family. Instead of holding my wife, I wrap my arm around my mom and kiss her cheek. No words are said, but none are needed. She knows what she’s offering and how much it means to me. She knows how much it means to them.

“I’m Hank,” my dad speaks up. “But I was kind of hoping you’d call me Grandpa.”

“We don’t gots one of those either,” River says, with excitement in her eyes.

“Ours is with our grandma in heaven,” Rayne explains, sounding far older than her five years of age.

“That’s our mommy and daddy.” River points to Forrest and Briar.

“Our mommy has a baby in her belly,” Rayne says cheerily.

“I’ve known your daddy since he was your age,” my dad tells them.

“You did?” they ask at the same time.

“We sure did. Now, I need some help. I made a big ol’ pot of spaghetti and meatballs. Do you girls think you could help me eat it?”

“Oh, we love sketti.” Rayne smiles up at my mom, and I can see her heart melt for my nieces.

“Perfect. And guess what?” Mom’s pretending to be whispering, but we can all hear her.

“What?” the girls ask, whisper shouting and leaning in toward my mom.

“After dinner, we get to have cake and ice cream.”

“Is it a birthday cake?” River asks.

“Yes. Homemade.”

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