Page 63 of The Glass Dolphin

She could lean on him during this, but she had to be a pillar of support for him too. “He had to testify in court today,” she said. “For that drug case, if you can believe that.”

Alice’s jaw jumped, and a fierce look of defiance entered her face. “You missed a lot of the conversation, but AJ is pretty upset we don’t all want the cove to burst at the seams in the next year.”

Eloise didn’t have mental space or energy for the small-town island politics swirling through the cove. “Will we survive this?”

“I don’t know,” Alice murmured. She rose from the car in the fluid, perfectly poised way she always moved, and Eloise lumbered to her feet too. “She attacked Robin and some of the others pretty harshly.”

Eloise nodded, and then Alice met her at the front corner of the hood and hooked her arm through Eloise’s. “Come on,” she said. “Tea and a fluffy blanket and your favorite movie will help.” She sounded so confident as she said it that Eloise simply let herself believe it.

Then she entered the house she wouldn’t be welcoming a baby to in September, trying to be as strong as she could be.

* * *

Later,Eloise smiled at Billie as she sank into the front seat of the car with a sigh. “Hey,” she said. “How was school?”

Billie gave her a look that said she’d rather go anywhere tomorrow but back to the high school. “I’m so ready for summer.” She pulled her seatbelt across her body and faced the front.

They made the drive over to the junior high, and Billie usually spent the time on her phone. Eloise did too, catching up on emails or answering texts from her managers. Today, Eloise joined the pick-up line in the drive-through and turned to face Billie.

“Bills,” she said, her voice already breaking. That got the teen to look up from her phone, her blue eyes wide and perfectly clear with concern. Eloise wasn’t sure if she should tell her without Aaron. Or at all.

She’d learned to go with her gut when dealing with the girls, and something told her to just tell Billie. She drew in a breath and thought a small prayer as she exhaled. She couldn’t look at the beautiful blonde girl in the passenger seat while she spoke.

“Your dad and I were expecting a baby,” she whispered. “But not anymore.”

Billie’s shocked intake of air felt like a slap to Eloise’s lungs. Her voice made a sound, but not an intelligible English word, and Eloise ducked her head.

Billie’s hand landed tentatively on Eloise’s, which still rested on the steering wheel. “El,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Eloise nodded and looked up at her step-daughter. “I love you so much,” she said.

Billie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “You are an amazing mother.” She swiped at her eyes, because she’d been wearing makeup for a while and likely didn’t want black smudges across her face. “I am so lucky you’remymom.”

Eloise wept, and the best part was that Billie did too. She leaned over the console between them and hugged her. “Can we just lay in my bed and watch movies this afternoon?”

“And maybe skip school tomorrow?” Billie whispered, her grip on Eloise tight, tight, tight.

“Yes,” Eloise asked, though she’d have to get that story later. “We work hard, and we put up with a lot, and it’s okay to take one day and not get out of bed.”

Billie half-laughed as she settled back into her seat. “And we’ll order all of our meals, and we’ll make Dad stay home with us, and he’ll get us whatever we want—all—day—long.” She grinned and blinked rapidly against her fingers. “Okay?”

“Yes,” Eloise said again. Something settled into her stomach, and while it still hurt slightly, she didn’t feel like she’d swallowed wet cement against her will. She’d give herself the rest of today and all day tomorrow, and she wouldn’t let Aaron go to work. “Maybe we should text your dad and make sure he knows he’s going to be a butler tomorrow.”

Billie retrieved her phone from beneath her thigh. “On it.”

A swell of love filled Eloise, and while she’d desperately wanted a baby she shared with Aaron, she did have so much with him already. They weren’t a consolation prize; they were her daughters, and armed with that knowledge, Eloise wiped her tears and asked, “What movie do you want to start with this afternoon?”

ChapterTwenty-Three

Alice entered the house where she’d grown up, only the good memories in her mind. “Della,” she called, looking for her step-mother.

“On the back deck,” echoed to her from the rear of the house. Her dad had remarried many years ago, and Alice had been making more of an effort with her family here in the cove. For so long, she’d relied on herself and the twins and her ex to be all the family she needed. Then there was the PTA moms, the neighbors in her swanky neighborhood in the Hamptons, and all of the fake relationships she had.

When she’d moved back here and given up everything, Alice had been reconnecting with her high school friends. With Kristen—and truth be told, with herself.

Now that she felt more secure in her life, with the twins off at college and her relationship with Arthur actually good, she’d set up a pedicure with her step-mother.We need to get our summer toes ready, she’d told Della, and since Della loved the spa, she’d readily agreed.

Alice went past the living room, which held a nice brown leather couch and a matching recliner, and through the kitchen. The back sliding door stood open, and Alice stepped down to the deck her father had rebuilt only last summer.

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