Page 2 of Love on the Brain
Jane nodded. “Thanks for taking care of her.” Casey’s mother had been advised not to fly, but she’d insisted. Jane couldn’t blame her. Noah’s procedure would be risky, and if something happened to him…
She couldn’t go there. She wouldn’t. She’d given it to God, and she was supposed to be at peace with it.
But she wasn’t.
As if sensing her morbid distress, Ryan laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and just like old times, her tension began to melt away. She didn’t need to turn to know that he was silently praying over her and for her, asking God to fill her with a spirit of peace. His presence had always had a calming effect on her, even when he wasn’t praying.
The porch door opened again, revealing Dale and Connie Allen, the couple who’d been her second parents for the last ten years. Oftentimes, she wished they lived closer. Ryan had known them his whole life, having grown up next door. Shelby hurried to untie the ceremonial bow so they could descend the stairs unobstructed. Dale shook hands with her dad and held tight to Connie’s arm as they stepped down to the yard.
“Mimi and Poppy are here!” Noah tugged at Jane’s hand. She held his hand tightly, holding him back from running to them.
“Stay here, honey. They’re coming to us. You can hug them when they’re next to you, okay?”
“Okaaaay.” It was tough to be five. She remembered her own impatience with waiting at that age.
She tapped her feet. It was clear it was still an issue.
Especially when she was early to something and someone was late.
But she’d learned to fill the open time with tasks and thoughts and reading. She’d read three whole books last year on her phone during the times she waited for her father to finish up conversations with parishioners.
One of the reasons she loved being a nurse was because there was always something useful to do. In rare down time, Jane could help someone else who was behind or needed an extra set of hands, or restock supplies or minister to a patient in need of encouragement or prayer.
“I think we’re all here now,” her dad said with a winsome smile. As Grant Porter aged, his features became softer. Jane knew his open, friendly expression was part of what made him so successful at his job. And whenever Beverly Dalton was in town, he smiled even more. Jane stole a glance at Molly’s mother-in-law, who was beaming up at her dad.
Shelby adjusted the cloche hat she’d borrowed yesterday from Jane’s collection and swiped her bangs out of her eyes. “Thank you all for coming. I still can’t believe we’re doing this. Hold on while I pinch myself.”
Jane snorted. Her sister’s trademark sarcasm wasn’t landing. She was simply too happy. Shelby was never one to wear her heart on her sleeve, but today, everyone in attendance knew exactly what this day meant to her.
“I can help with the pinchin’, honey bee!” Damon hollered from next to her, causing a ripple of chuckles through the attendees. His thick Southern accent stood out in their tiny New England town. Shelby especially liked to razz him about it.
Her sister didn’t even roll her eyes at his offer before continuing. “Last summer, I was so sure Crane’s Cove was just a stop on my journey to the next thing. I was determined to get back out there, even with all my doubts, and tried to ignore that it was exactly the right thing. Then God dropped Damon here, and all that changed.”
Shelby gazed upon her fiancé with such affection, Jane couldn’t help but feel a stab of envy. She’d had that kind of love once. She was glad when her sister finally recognized what it was and gave in to it.
“I’d told Damon about a very specific dream I’d had about a house I’d seen long ago in a magazine, and his wheels began turning. When he presented the idea for this to me, I was overwhelmed. And I thought he was trying to trap me here.”
“It worked!” JC Crane quipped.
Shelbydidroll her eyes at him. “Shut it, Bestie. As I was saying, Damon hadn’t just said, ‘Hey, you should open a safe house’; he had had his sister Rachel, a lawyer, draft up a proposal to create a foundation, and then Judge Hughey, God rest his soul, donated the funds, and Kevin had room in his schedule for renovations. Caroline moved here to take on the interior design—it all came together so quickly and ahead of schedule. God’s plan, not mine. Because we were ready when our first family needed us.” She turned her gaze to Lexi.
The mother of three swiped at her eyes and leaned her head on Lt. Blakely’s shoulder. His arm came around her to comfort her.
As Jane thought about how she missed that kind of comfort, she felt Ryan’s hand on her shoulder again. Without thinking, she leaned back into him. The feel of his solid build against her back caused her to jolt away from him.
“Sorry,” she whispered tersely.
“No worries,” he whispered back, the heat of his breath tickling the exposed skin under her ear. “I got you, Jane.”
He always had. Him being here in person tomorrow meant more than she could articulate, and she knew her father and Casey’s parents also found his presence reassuring. Noah was their world—herworld, and he had a big fight ahead of him. Jane liked to think of Ryan as the general of their little army.
“…my sister, Jane and I…”
Jane’s attention snapped back to her sister’s heartfelt speech. What had she missed?
“…grateful you’re here. If you knew our mother, you know abused women were her Achilles’ heel. Physical, mental, emotional, it didn’t matter to her which it was; she could sense the abuse, and she made it clear she was available any time of the day and night to help. The night she died, she and I were on our way home from checking in on a woman who had reached out.” Shelby’s gaze latched on Jane’s, and she spoke the next words directly toward her. “I vowed to follow in her footsteps. Jane already was, away at college, studying to become a nurse like Mom. Her legacy will live on through us and here at the Elisabeth Porter House, which we in the know shall henceforth refer to as EPH.”
“Hear, hear!” Damon called out, and a warm round of applause cut into the still cold of the morning.
