The New Ever After (The New Ever After Series)

by Farley, Julie

  And all nine kids, minus the twins, said "yes" in unison. Heather looked at Peter and then to Jenny.

  "Mind if I talk to you in the hall for a minute?"

  "No, not here. We'll talk when you get back to the house. You take care of Peter, and I'll take care of the kids. And I want to head over to that cafe you went to yesterday. We'll pay the guy back and also pay him back for blabbing on the news by bringing 9 kids with us. That'll teach him," said Jenny, knowing she still needed a little more time before she felt comfortable discussing everything with Heather.

  "Ok. Let's head over there. I'm assuming your car is here with the car seats. Mom and Dad, let's split up and head out. Leave these two lovebirds alone."

  "Call me if you need anything," Heather said to everyone.

  "We'll be fine. You guys try and get some sleep. I know you’ve both been up all night. And Heather, you need to eat after getting sick last night," said Tom.

  Peter looked at Heather. He knew why she had gotten sick. It was just like she had after Hank died.

  "I'll take care of her," said Peter. "We're fine." They were gone as quickly as they arrived.

  "You've got Jenny back too," said Peter. Heather rested her head on him and cried. She wasn't sure how she had gotten so lucky again.

  They were both exhausted. When the nurse came in to check on him, he asked if she could bring a bed or a cot in for Heather. She had no intention of leaving him alone. They were happy to help. They loved having a famous author, a hot one too, to care for. One nurse had already asked if he would sign her books. Peter said he absolutely would and they were happy to bring him anything he wanted in return.

  "Baby, I want you to eat. You need to stay strong. I'm sorry I made you sick."

  "It wasn't you. I'm just crazy. It's the same thing I've always done. I just shouldn't have fallen asleep. Having to remember when I woke back up was too painful. I can't believe I threw up in front of your parents, showed Kelly my boob and forgot my wallet at the restaurant. I've only been in Maine for four days."

  "Maine will definitely remember you." Peter smiled.

  They turned on the TV and watched the news. There was a story running on repeat about the rescue of best selling author, Peter Adamson. The Fountain Cafe guy was on over and over, milking his fifteen minutes of fame.

  "He shouldn’t charge them when they’re in there tonight. He's getting all this free publicity from you."

  "Great."

  Peter was happy they could laugh about it all. It was a close call and he knew he was lucky to survive. Any more time in that cold water and he may not have. Near death experiences changed people. He knew that. Peter was feeling eternally grateful for his new family and all that he had with Heather. Life was perfect and he knew he needed to keep it that way.

  "I can't believe Janie and Jenny drove up."

  "They wanted to be here for you. What a testament to you that your friends drove over 600 miles to help you."

  "Well, Janie is your sister. I'm sure she wanted to see you too. Or be here if you weren't coming back."

  "Don't say that. I can't bear that that was actually a real thought of anyone’s. But I know you’re right. They tried to get here as fast as they could. For both of us."

  "What are you going to do without Blue?"

  "Not sure. Don't know if I'm going to jump back out there right away. I'm feeling like I want to keep my feet on land for awhile."

  That thought made Heather happy. She wasn't sure if she could ever relax if Peter was out on the water by himself. Henry might not let him get out there.

  "Maybe you can stick to the little Sunfish boats for awhile."

  "Sounds good to me."

  "There's something I want to ask you about. I can't shake it out of my head. Do you really feel like you're competing with a ghost?"

  "No, and I regretted those words as soon as they rolled off of my tongue. I do feel like we live with Hank's ghost, and we need to. We need to for you and the kids. I don't ever feel like I'm competing with him."

  Peter kissed Heather to attempt to banish any further thoughts about that from her head. Kisses always made her stop thinking.

  The nurses brought the bed in for Heather, and she pushed it right next to Peter's. She curled up while they watched TV and before they both knew it they were sound asleep. It wasn't a peaceful sleep though, the nurses were in repeatedly to check on Peter's vitals. But it was sleep and sleep next to Peter - a breathing, warm, amazing Peter.

  Heather woke up at the crack of dawn. She was worried about Jenny with all of the kids. She was still a little incredulous that Jenny was here and couldn't really wait to talk to her.

  6:07 Heather: How's it going?

  6:07 Jenny: Everyone's fine. How ‘s Peter?

  6:08 Heather: He’s fine.

  6:08 Jenny: I’m so glad they found him.

  6:10 Heather: Thank you. Will one of you guys pick us up when they release Peter?

  6:13 Jenny: Absolutely. We'll see you soon.

  Heather looked over at Peter. He was sleeping so peacefully. She looked at his wrist, the IV went straight into the center of his four leaf clover. Heather knew it was more than the luck of the Irish that had saved him.

  Chapter 37

  In order to avoid the remnants of reporters that were hanging around outside the hospital, Janie picked Peter and Heather up in the underground parking lot. They were home before Hayes even woke up. Jenny was cooking pancakes and making herself at home. Everyone was thrilled to see Peter. But in typical kid fashion, they were ready to move on with their day. Peter had not had a shower and went straight upstairs to take one. Seeing an opportunity to have some alone time with Jenny, Heather stayed downstairs and helped with breakfast.

  "So...where are we?" asked Heather.

  "I'm not going to lie, it’s going to take awhile to forget what happened. But I know I have to get beyond it. I need you." Jenny started to cry.

  Heather's shoulders sat a little lower. She was so relieved to hear Jenny say that, and then she felt kind of guilty to be relieved because Jenny was so upset.

  "I need you too. It has killed me these last few days not being able to talk to you. And then you showed up..."

  Jenny reached over and gave Heather a hug. "I need you," repeated Jenny.

  "Anything. What can I do?"

  "Matt's staying in a hotel. I think he's looking for an apartment. I won't let him sleep in our bed anymore. But will you tell me now what you saw?"

  Heather launched into the whole story. She told Jenny what she saw that afternoon before she left on her vacation. Then she told her about the texts and about Victoria coming over when she had gotten home from vacation.

  "What a bitch! I can't believe she can't own up to any of this."

  "Have you seen her?"

  "No and I don't intend to."

  "Do you know how long it's been going on?"

  "I think since this spring. Apparently, they started talking on the first grade field trip to Maymont."

  "And moved right onto sex?”

  “Pretty much. He said she came over to drop something off and kissed him in the kitchen and one thing led to another. Sounds to me like we don’t know the real Victoria at all..”

  “Pain in the ass Victoria and Sex Crazed Victoria? Do you believe Matt?”

  “He was pretty honest. I don’t know why he would have told me all this if it wasn’t true. He said she would text him and tell him when to come over. They met at her house most of the time.”

  “I guess we know what Victoria’s been doing with all her free time. I can't believe they were so blatant and kissed out in the open. Imagine how many other people could have seen them?"

  "Matt said he thought it was ok because it was across town. What a tool.”

  “I cannot imagine how you felt hearing all of this. I am so sorry.”

  “It was one of the worst moments of my life. Next to going to the hospital with you when Hank died.” Jenny wiped away a few tears.
“I don't know if Victoria's going to tell her husband or not."

  "I think she's going to have to. They can't keep it a secret. The way this zip code gossips I wouldn't be surprised if it was all over Facebook already. Did they plan on leaving you guys for each other?"

  "I don't know. I think Matt thought it was more than Victoria did. I have a feeling she thought he was another conquest, and she could have fun and keep him quiet. Obviously, he was following her orders pretty well. She didn't count on anyone seeing her."

  "What a hypocrite. Do you know what she would have done if it had been us?"

  "Yes. Front page news in the Midlothian Exchange." Jenny gave a little chuckle. "But, shit, it sucks that it was her. I would have rather him have an affair with a random kid from VCU than that pain in the ass Victoria. What bad taste! What does that say about me? And hasn't he heard me complain about her for the last six years?"

  "It doesn't say anything about you. It says volumes about him. He's an ass. You're not thinking about taking him back are you?" Heather regretted it the minute it came out of her mouth. What if Jenny did take him back? she thought. She would have to be civil. It wasn't Heather's job to decide that. She was just here to support her friend.

  "No. I can never forgive him for what he did. It's over. I just need to get a real job and be able to support myself."

  "Well, maybe now is the time to tell you that Peter wants me to write more, and I need a full-time assistant."

  "You can't pay me any more than you already do, Heather. That would put an even bigger strain on our friendship."

  "Well, at least do it until you find something else."

  "I'll think about it."

  "I love you and I am so sorry this is happening to you."

  "So, Peter really took your phone?"

  "He didn’t actually take it. He locked it down. I had no access to my texts, email or the internet. If anybody had tried to call, I could get that. I got used to it after a few days, but at first I think I was twitching."

  "He's crazy."

  "You don't know the half of how crazy that man can be!" said Heather thinking back to the night he tied her up.

  "Yeah, I don't want to know. I can tell from the ten shades of red you just turned that I don't want to know anything about it."

  "So, what's your plan? How long can you stay?" asked Heather.

  "Janie and I were thinking we would stay through the weekend if that's ok? The kids and I will get a hotel today."

  "You will not. You're staying here. We can make it work. I can't believe you drove all this way."

  Jenny put the spatula down and looked at Heather. "I wanted to be here in case you needed me. I couldn't get last time out of my head, and I didn't want you to do that again all alone." She wiped away a tear as she said it.

  "I don't know how I will ever repay you. After all I just did to you."

  "It's not about repaying. I wanted to be here. I wanted to do it. It made me feel useful."

  "Well, it was pretty amazing to look up and see you guys standing there. And having you here last night was awesome. Were the kids really ok?"

  "George cried for you a bit, but Emily was happy in my arms. She's my girl."

  Heather was already aware of that. Emily had bonded with Jenny immediately. When Jenny helped Heather, she always took Emily. George stuck with Heather.

  "What do you want to do today?"

  "Sit on the beach...all day," said Jenny.

  "Perfect. Do you mind if I go up and shower?"

  "Not at all. I hope you don't mind...I showered in there earlier."

  "Happy you did."

  Heather went upstairs. Peter was still in the bathroom letting the warm water hit his skin. She stood and watched him through the steamy glass. She was so thankful he was back. She felt the weight of the world come off of her shoulders. Peter turned off the water and saw her watching him.

  "Like what you see?"

  "Always."

  He got out and dried himself off.

  "Want to stay at the beach today?"

  "Yes, I just want to sit and enjoy everyone. I want to build castles with Gracie and play catch with Henry. Not sure I want to bodysurf with Hayes but we'll see. I want to dip George's toes in the water and tickle Emily. And I have plans for you...for later."

  "Fabulous day. I'm going to shower and we'll start getting everyone ready. Jenny and Janie are going to stay through the weekend. Is that ok?"

  "Absolutely."

  "Jenny wanted to go to a hotel, but I told her we would make it work."

  "I wouldn't have it any other way. She should be here. I'm so glad the two of you are speaking again."

  It took an hour to get everyone dressed and packed for the beach even though they were hardly going 100 yards from the house. Heather was exhausted by the time they got there. They set up three adult beach chairs facing the ocean right behind the little pool. Heather tasked the kids with filling it up with a little bit of water. They plopped the twins in and kept their fingers crossed that they could get a little bit of time in a seat. Heather brought the pop up tent with them to put the twins in for a nap, in hopes they would even take a nap at the beach. Janie, Tom and Mary and the kids were due to join them shortly. All three adults, drained from their last few days, sat in their chairs and sighed.

  "Peter, you've probably told your story a million times already, but what happened?" asked Jenny.

  "The short story?"

  "Sure,” said Jenny.

  "Basically, I got off course and hit the open water and flipped the boat."

  "Like upside down?" she asked.

  "No, the mast was in the water and the boat was on its side."

  "Where were you?"

  "Part of the time I was curled up in a little spot next to the steering wheel trying to hold on and stay dry. After I got too cold I moved into the cabin, which fortunately did not fill with water."

  "You were out in Jaws territory all night like that?"

  "I tried not to think about sharks. I thought more about the whales. There are tons of them around here. I was worried that one would come up underneath the mast or the boat."

  "Don't boats have emergency things in them?"

  "Mine fell into the water. I had it in the wrong spot on the floor. I never thought about it. The guys at the marina had replaced all my stuff, and I was too lazy and too invincible to bother with moving it to a safe compartment. It's at the bottom of the ocean."

  Heather looked at Peter and said, "I made you so mad that you didn't even think about that stuff.”

  "I wasn't so mad at that point. I was annoyed and ready to enjoy an hour or two on the water, not 30 hours curled up in a ball."

  "Kelly stopped over after she heard the news."

  "She did?" said Peter slightly afraid to say anything else about it.

  "Yes, and I really don't feel like talking about it now. Later?"

  "Definitely."

  Janie, the kids and Peter's parents arrived offering an easy distraction from the conversation. They joined the camp and everyone relaxed.

  "I have all the ingredients for a lobster bake being delivered to your house later. We need to celebrate your survival," said Tom.

  "And Heather's," added Mary.

  "Speaking of which, how was dinner last night?" asked Heather.

  "It was fine. He wouldn't let us pay for your meal. I think he had been feeding reporters and people all day and made up for it. Or Elizabeth sent him a check like she said she would on Facebook."

  "Oh man, I haven't even been on Facebook. What does that look like?"

  "I looked once last night and that was it. Not too bad. We'll deal with that another time," said Jenny.

  “Peter, I spoke with the guy at the marina and they are going to see if they can tow Blue back in. They have the estimated coordinates from the Coast Guard.”

  “She might have taken on too much water by now. Thanks for calling, Dad.”

  "Peter, there's a guy over ther
e taking pictures of you guys. Want me to go take him out?" asked Henry.

  "Dude, you're seven. Leave it to me." Peter put his shirt back on and walked over to the photographer who was not so hidden behind the sea grass.

  Peter confronted the photographer nicely and asked him if he let him take a picture if he would leave and surprisingly the guy agreed. Giving him the exclusive "first picture of Peter Adamson," would make him a hero and would probably fetch a good deal of money.

  He walked him down to where they were sitting and let him take a few shots of him and one with Heather. They wanted to keep the kids out of it.

  It happened so quickly that Heather never thought about the fact that she was wearing a bikini top and not a shirt. Peter noticed but thought she looked so great it didn't matter. She was not happy when she realized it.

  She looked at Jenny, "Please tell me my cellulite was not showing when he took that picture."

  Jenny rolled her eyes. "You look great. Sit down and shut up."

  Tom and Mary laughed at the two of them.

  "We'll probably need to reschedule the reading that you canceled yesterday. Do you want me to do that for later in the week while I'm still here."

  "Sure, what do you think, Peter?"

  "You need to do it. We agreed with Richard it was a good idea. It might be bigger than anticipated after my little excursion. Jenny, do you want to call the bookstore later and see what they want to do? We can leave it in their court."

  "Will do, boss. And you should probably call Richard at some point. He was pretty broken up about the whole thing."

  "I will. I just want to sit here for awhile and not think."

  With that, George splashed Emily in the face, and she started crying. Then Henry smashed Hayes' castle.

  "You've come to the wrong place if you just want to veg. All these kids make it hard," said Heather.

  "They have an amazing way of taking my mind off of everything though," said Peter.

  "Yes, they do," agreed Tom.

  "What else do you guys want to do while you're in Maine?" asked Mary.

  "I've never been here, so I don't know but I’m happy to just relax with all of you," said Jenny.