Page 18 of All I've Waited For

Mateo gripped Derek’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll be here until six if you need to talk some more. Stay happy, okay, Boss?”

Derek forced a weak smile as he followed Heather out into the bright sunlight. Happy. Right. What was happiness, anyway?

“I just want you both to be happy.”

Ashley’s voice floated back to him on the breeze as he trudged with his sister through the vineyard toward the house. The fact Ashley could wish him well meant she felt nothing but friendship for him—if even that.

That was good. Because knowing the truth meant hecouldbe happy with Claire.

Maybe just not as happy as he would have been with someone he loved. But then again, look at his parents. They’d loved each other once upon a time, and then his mom had left, never to be heard from again.

Yeah, happiness was not a realistic goal for his life, and he was better off for it.

“Why do you think they need to talk to us?” Derek caught up to Heather, who’d strode ahead as if ants bit at her heels.

Heather rubbed the edge of her eyes as she turned to him. She looked tired, but being a single working mom of a four-year-old was bound to be exhausting. “Not sure. But their moods didn’t seem to indicate good news.”

He picked up the pace as well, and soon they arrived at the house and headed inside. While Claire’s family home was a veritable castle, the Campbells’ residence smacked more of a homey vibe, with a faux bearskin rug covering the wood floor and a comfortable but worn microfiber couch and loveseat draped in homemade quilts set in a room that overlooked the vineyard.

His dad and stepmom sat on the loveseat, holding hands, and his middle sister, Christina, perched on the edge of the blue La-Z-Boy recliner. Christina stared into the empty stone fireplace, tugging on a strand of her long auburn hair as she worried her lip.

Dad bounced Heather’s daughter, Mia, on his knee, wincing in the process. As soon as Mia saw her mom and Derek enter, she hopped up and ran toward them, throwing her arms around Derek’s leg. “Uncle Elephant!”

“Hey, Peanut.” Before she could respond, he lifted her up and tickled her belly. Her hysterical squeals filled the room, easing some of the tension from everyone’s shoulders. Too bad her giggles couldn’t cure the room of it altogether.

He placed Mia back on the ground, and Heather swooped in. “Millie made some cookies, baby. Why don’t you go ask her for some?” Millie Rosche, their housekeeper and cook, had been with them since Derek was a child, and she helped watch Mia while Heather worked from the office attached to the tasting room.

Mia scampered out of the room, yelling “Cookies!” at the top of her lungs.

Dad gave a warm chuckle. “That girl brings so much joy into this house.”

“She’s the light of my life, that’s for sure.” Heather sat on the couch, and Derek joined her. “Now, what’s going on, Dad?”

Nancy shifted in her seat.

Dad patted her hand. “As you all know, I had my six-month checkup.” He paused, pulling his lips into a straight line. “It looks like my prognosis has worsened.”

“Worsened? Ten years wasn’t bad enough?” Reaching for a couch pillow, Heather clutched it to her chest.

“I’ve moved into end-stage renal disease.”

Derek breathed hard through his nose. “Remind us what that means in layman’s terms.”

“They’ve given me about five years if I go on dialysis.”

Five years? That … No. “Why did this happen?”

Dad looked at each of his three children for a long, meaningful moment. “We knew it would come to this if I didn’t receive a transplant. True, it came sooner than we’d have liked, but I’m not dead yet.”

Christina straightened. “Daddy!”

“Well, I’m not, and I’ll not have you all treating me like an invalid.” His voice was full of emotion. “I feel grateful God has given me as much time as he has, and we’re just going to make the most of every minute we have. Okay?”

Standing up, Derek moved to the window, taking in the fields, the hills, the green. This was supposed to be a good year, a fruitful one, the year when life turned around for his family. “There’s got to be more that the doctors can do.”

“Not at the moment.”

“That’s not true.”

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