But tonight, they would celebrate being together.
The children broke the silence first. Cole looked at Tommy. “Have you learned how to jump on one foot?”
Maddie craned her head around Cole and nodded big. “I can teach you better than Cole.” She stuck the very tip of her tongue out at him.
“Hey . . .” Cole looked for a witness.
But before he could say another word, Brooke shot her daughter a look. “Let’s remember our talk, young lady.”
“Yes, Mommy.” Maddie’s pout was adorable, and it brought a round of laughter that lightened the mood.
Before she reached for the casserole, Ashley allowed herself to soak in the sight of them—all of them—together in the warm Baxter dining room. The place where so many of their gatherings had happened over the years. She looked at her father at the head of the table. Next to him were Ryan and Kari, their son, Ryan Jr., between them. On around the table sat Luke and Reagan with little Malin in a high chair beside Reagan. Next came the big kids, as Cole liked to call them. Tommy sat next to Cole, and then came Maddie, Hayley, and Jessie. Ashley and Landon rounded out the circle.
At the other table were Erin and Sam, situated on either side of their four girls—Chloe, Clarisse, Amy, and Heidi—two in high chairs. Brooke and Peter sat with them, though they were all close enough to visit with each other.
Suddenly a wave of sorrow washed over Ashley. The only one missing was their mom.
Kari turned in her seat and smiled at Erin. “Ever think we’d be surrounded by so many kids?”
“No.” Erin’s eyes glowed with something soft, tender. “I prayed for it.” She looked at her four daughters. “But I never thought it’d be like this.”
Just then, Erin’s youngest took a spoon of Spanish casserole and flicked it at her sister.
Sam took a deep breath and grinned. “Can’t say I did either.”
They all laughed, and Ashley looked at Reagan. “Malin is absolutely precious. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Thanks.” Reagan kissed her little dark-haired girl on the top of her head. Next to her Luke put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “You can pray for us come May, though.”
“May?” Landon finished a bite and set his fork down. “What’s happening in May?”
“The trial.” Luke leaned forward so he could see Landon better. “I’ll spend a week or two in LA.”
“Same time my mom’s headed for Iowa to visit her sisters.” Reagan blew at a wisp of her bangs. “It’ll just be me and the kids.”
“I’m a helper, Mommy.” Tommy raised his spoon in the air. “Right?”
“Right.” Reagan gave the others a look. “The other day I found him feeding Malin a bottle.” She smiled at her son, then turned to the others again. “Nothing in the bottle, of course.”
“So I singed to her.” Tommy made a face and looked at Cole. “She had a sicky tummy.”
The sisters laughed and exchanged understanding glances.
Brooke dabbed her lips with her napkin and leaned sideways so she could see Luke. “That’s the trial with Dayne Matthews, isn’t it?”
Luke nodded and poked his fork into his salad. “The defendant’s that crazy fan, the one who tried to kill Dayne and Katy Hart.”
Ashley took a drink of water. “Katy has to go out for the trial too. So far the tabloids haven’t mentioned her name.”
“Exactly.” Thunder rocked the house, but Luke didn’t miss a beat. “We’re doing everything we can to keep her name out of the press for now. Eventually we won’t have a choice, but at least until the trial we want to maintain her privacy.”
Ashley took a bite of salad, and as she did, she caught her father’s expression. The joy and sentimentality from earlier were gone, and he seemed anxious, staring at his dinner and chewing slower than usual. What was that in his eyes? Maybe conversation about the trial didn’t interest him; maybe he’d fallen into thoughts about their mom instead.
But he looked more than anxious. He looked almost guilty. Ashley studied him a few more seconds before turning back to the others. She’d have to ask him about it later.
Across from her Kari ripped up pieces of a wheat roll and placed them in front of Ryan Jr. “Hey, has anyone seen that new Dayne Matthews movie, the one that just came out with the scenes from Bloomington?”
“Dream On,” Erin said. “Sam hired a babysitter the other night, and we hit the town. Dinner and the movie.” She grinned. “I thought they were going to kick me out of the theater.”
Sam rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Every time there was a scene filmed in Bloomington, she would gasp and point at the screen. ‘Oh . . . I know where that is!’ or ‘That’s the park; I swear it’s the park!’”
The others laughed and Reagan raised her hand. “I saw it too.” She pointed at Erin. “We should go see it again, together. That way we won’t embarrass each other.”
“Kari and I were going to see it last week, but Jessie got sick.” Ryan took their son’s sippy cup, unscrewed the lid, and poured his own water into it. He handed it back and smiled at the others. “Sick kids take precedence over a movie—even one with Bloomington in it.”
They all generally agreed that yes, they’d like to see the movie. Erin and Reagan both gave the film a thumbs-up.
“You know what was really weird about it, though?” Erin fed her littlest daughter a spoonful of casserole. “How much Dayne Matthews looks like Luke.”
“Yeah, see.” Reagan gave Luke a playful shove. “I told you so.”
“Nah.” Luke set his roll down and shook his head. “The guys at the office thought that too. I even thought it for a while, but it’s just the hair.”
“It’s more than the hair.”
Ashley swallowed her bite and joined in. “I saw the preview. Erin and Reagan are right. And here’s something else . . .” She looked at the faces around the table, and her tone dropped a notch. “Dayne gave me a ride home last summer.” She held up three fingers in the classic Girl Scout pledge sign. “Scout’s honor.”
There was a round of disbelieving and teasing looks.
“You were always the drama queen.” Brooke grinned at her. “What, he got done filming, pointed you out of the crowd, and offered you a ride home?”
Landon chuckled. “No, it’s true. I dropped Ashley off at the church to watch the rehearsal.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “She comes home and tells me Dayne Matthews gave her a ride.”
“No way!” Erin nearly jumped out of her seat. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
Ashley patted her round midsection. “I guess I’ve been preoccupied.”
“Come on, you know Ashley.” Landon leaned close and hugged her neck. “She wanted an audience, that’s all.”
A dozen questions were fired at her at once, and Ashley explained the situation. But just as she got started she noticed her father again. He pushed back from the table and headed into the kitchen with his empty water glass. He looked pale.
She stopped her story midsentence. She felt her heart skip a beat. “Dad, you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a little thirsty.”
Ashley exchanged a look with Brooke. In a whispered voice, she told her sister, “Check on him. He doesn’t look good.”
Brooke stood and followed their dad into the kitchen.
Ashley continued her story. “Anyway, he was in town a few days before the filming to see Katy Hart.” She didn’t miss a single detail, explaining how Dayne had introduced himself using a false name and said he was Katy’s friend. “At first I let him think I didn’t know. But come on, Dayne Matthews? Of course I knew who he was.”
A couple of the guys rolled their eyes, but the atmosphere was lighthearted, upbeat.
When Brooke and their dad returned from the kitchen, he looked better. A little more color in his face. He sat down, but he stayed unusually quiet.
“Okay, so tell us.” Reagan was on the edge of her seat. “Does he look like Luke in person?
”
“That’s what I was getting at.” Ashley paused, allowing a buildup. “The resemblance is definitely there, but it was something else. His mannerisms, maybe. Half the ride home I had the feeling I wasn’t with Dayne at all but that Luke was in the car with me.”
“You know what they say—” Luke shrugged—“everyone has a twin out there somewhere.”
The conversation shifted. They talked about Ryan’s coaching and Kari’s new job teaching three days a week at Jessie’s preschool. Brooke and Peter explained that Hayley was making tremendous progress, and only then did Ashley notice her father being finally drawn into the conversation.
“That little girl’s a walking miracle,” he said. “No one at the hospital can believe how well she’s doing.”
“That’s for sure.” Peter raised his glass in the air. “Proof of God, if nothing else is.”
Maddie obviously understood the conversation was about her little sister. She leaned over, pulled Hayley’s face close to her own, and planted a big mushy kiss on her sister’s cheek. “Hi, miracle girl.”
“Hi!” Hayley grinned so big everyone around the table smiled.
Reagan shared that life was getting a little cramped living with her mom in the apartment in Upper Manhattan. She and Luke weren’t sure how long they’d stay.
“The place is big enough.” Reagan made a mock nervous face at her husband. “But it still feels like we’re playing house.”
A memory flashed into Ashley’s mind. The horror of September 11 and the knowledge that Reagan’s father’s office had been at the top of one of the twin towers. His death had changed everything for Luke and Reagan, and in the end God had used Ashley to help Luke see that he needed to go to New York and find the girl he loved. It all seemed like a lifetime ago. “How is she, your mom?”
“She’s okay.” Reagan looked at Luke. “Should I tell them?”
“Sure.” He took a bite of salad.
“Mom’s dating.” She said it with a hint of embarrassment in her tone, as if it were somehow wrong for her mother to be seeing someone.
At the head of the table, Ashley’s father set down his glass. “I think that’s normal.” He seemed to avoid Ashley’s face as he spoke. “It’s been several years.”
“That’s what I told her.” Luke nodded. “But every time her mom’s friend comes around, Reagan wants to leave.”
“I’ll admit it.” For the first time tonight, Reagan looked more serious. “It’s hard. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see Mom with someone else.”
Ashley’s heart beat harder than before. She looked from Reagan to Luke and back to her father. What had he meant by that? By saying he thought it was normal for Reagan’s mother to date? Was he saying that he felt the same way, and maybe he was thinking of dating too? Was it some way of softening them up so they wouldn’t be horrified when he spent time with his friend Elaine Denning?
Another clap of thunder shook the house. Landon seemed to sense that Ashley was getting uptight. He reached for her hand and gave it a few squeezes. She felt herself relax. No, her father couldn’t mean anything by it. He had already explained that Elaine was only a friend, nothing more.
Ashley sat back in her chair. Tomorrow night her dad planned to tell her siblings about their older brother—the one none of them knew about but her. A realization came over her. No wonder her father was looking strange, acting strange. He’d kept the secret about his firstborn son for decades.
But after tomorrow every one of them would know the truth.
The conversation was lively and in full force the first night at the Baxter reunion. But John barely heard any of it. His heart and his breathing were both off rhythm, the way they’d been since earlier this afternoon.
Reagan was saying, “It isn’t only her new friend. I think you can only live with your mother-in-law for so long, right, dear?”
Luke gave her a patient smile. “Your mom’s been very gracious.” He looked at John. “I got a raise, but we can’t afford New York City. The firm wants to keep me until I finish law school, and then they want me full-time.”
John stirred his fork through what was left of his casserole. It didn’t taste the same as when Elizabeth made it. Besides, how could he eat? His emotions had been all over the map since he’d stepped out of the van at the airport. First, there was the swelling emotion of seeing his children all together again and the thrill of meeting his new granddaughter. Then the awareness that the children were growing up, changing, and the knowledge that his wife would never, ever be part of the group again.
But when Kari brought up Dayne’s movie . . .
In what amounted to the acting job of his own life, John had focused hard on chewing his meal and pretending like nothing was wrong as his kids switched topics from the movie to the way Dayne and Luke looked alike. The whole time he wanted to stand up and shout, Of course they look alike. They’re brothers.
And that was the part that made him feel sick to his stomach. He would tell his kids they had an older brother, yes. But he could never tell them who their brother was—not as long as Dayne didn’t want to be a part of their family. The knowledge would only bring pain and heartache to his beautiful family—something he and Elizabeth had agreed they would never do.
But then Ashley revealed that Dayne had given her a ride home. His mind had been racing ever since. Dayne had hired a private investigator. He knew the Baxters were his family, and he knew they lived here in Bloomington. So chances were he knew when he gave Ashley a ride home that he was actually sharing a car with his sister.
The whole thing was stranger than John could fathom. Was it a test of some kind? Had Dayne wanted to get as close as he could to their family without actually making a connection? Or was it only a coincidence—Dayne visiting Katy Hart at rehearsal and Ashley needing a ride home? Maybe Dayne had fought the whole thing but had had no choice without making a scene.
He could picture Katy working late, knowing Dayne had a car, and asking him if he wouldn’t mind taking her friend Ashley home. Even so, Dayne had to have known that the Ashley who was Katy’s friend was the same Ashley in the notes his PI must’ve given him.
John’s mind spun and raced and took him down paths he couldn’t find his way back from. No wonder Ashley had asked him if he was okay. Half the night felt more like a crazy dream than the very real first night of their reunion.
When dinner was over, Ashley helped her sisters make cookie-dough ice-cream sundaes for the group—something a few of their husbands had requested.
Two hours later the dishes were done and the adults were sitting at the cleaned-up dining room table. Ryan and Landon made coffee, and the conversation turned to the events of the weekend.
“I checked online.” Peter frowned. “Thunderstorms and tornado conditions all week.”
“What about tomorrow?” John wrapped his fingers around his steaming mug. It felt good to have a distraction. “We’re doing the picnic at Lake Monroe in the morning, aren’t we?”
“Right.” Ashley rested her hand on her abdomen. “I read in the paper that tomorrow’s supposed to be clear until the afternoon.”
“That’s what weather.com said too.”
“Good.” Landon gave a light tap on the table. “Looks like the picnic’s a go.”
There was commotion in the next room, where Erin was overseeing all the children except Malin, who was asleep in her baby carrier on the floor next to Reagan. None of them at the table paid much attention to the kids, except to raise their voices so they could hear each other.
“Tomorrow night?” Brooke looked around. “Back here for Chinese food, is that okay?”
John swallowed hard and stared into his coffee cup. Tomorrow night. How soon it would be here, and he’d have to tell them the truth. God, please . . . be with us. We’re going to need You every moment when they hear the news.
Kari was giggling. “Chinese food was my idea. Less time in the kitchen—” she grinned at her sisters—“more
time talking.”
Ryan chuckled and swapped a look with Landon, Luke, Peter, and Sam. “As if they need that.”
Peter was saying something about a movie night during the week for the group when the big kids appeared in the doorway of the dining room. Their faces were lit with ear-to-ear smiles, and Jessie was bouncing all around, her hands clasped together. In the middle of the group was Hayley, anchored on either side by Maddie and Cole. Erin stood behind them, little Heidi on her hip. There were tears in Erin’s eyes.
John turned his chair so he could see better.
Cole stuck out his chest, his eyes dancing. “Hey, we have something to show you.”
Only then did John notice something. Hayley didn’t have her walker.
Brooke must’ve noticed it at the same time, because she rushed to her feet and started toward them. “Maddie, you know she can’t be up without her—”
Maddie held up her hand. “Wait, Mommy. Sit down.”
“Please, Aunt Brooke!” Cole pleaded with her.
“Yeah, please, Aunt Brooke!” Jessie jumped in a small circle and then looped her arm through Cole’s. “We have a ’prise for everyone.”
“’Prise, Mama.” Hayley grinned. Her speaking skills were still slower than they would’ve been if it weren’t for her near drowning. But she understood what was happening around her, and every month she sounded more age appropriate.
“Maddie . . .” Brooke looked doubtful, but Peter took her hand and slowly she settled back into her seat. “Hold on to her tight. I don’t want her to fall.”
“She won’t, Mommy.” Maddie sounded calm, confident. “Me and Cole taught her a trick.”
“Yeah.” Cole nodded. “She’s really good at it, Aunt Brooke.”
The adults at the table seemed to hold their breath. Erin nodded at Brooke and smiled. There were still tears in her eyes, but her smile told them that whatever was about to happen, the kids were right. Hayley would be okay.
Cole bent around and looked right at Hayley. “Ready?”
“Ready.” Hayley bit her lip and focused hard on the floor in front of her.
“Okay, here we go.” Cole straightened and looked at Maddie. “One . . . two . . . three . . . go!”
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