Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Surprisingly, I was so busy building a life that I was able to ignore the fact that I’d seen Titus and we’d barely spoken. I couldn’t escape thoughts of him during the quiet moments, though—much like when we’d been living in Washington. When the girls were asleep for the night and I was lying in bed awake, I’d remember the way his eyes had met mine in the rearview mirror. The questions swirling in his gaze that he hadn’t asked. The way he’d picked up Diana like he’d done it a thousand times before. The fact that he’d known just how to buckle and unbuckle a car seat.
I was too afraid to ask Esther about him. Was he married? Did he have children? What had his life been like while I’d been gone? I wanted to know everything, but I was too worried that it would look like I’d come back for him—so I didn’t mention him at all.
As I pulled one of Esther’s dresses over my head—a perk of being pregnant at the same time as my sister was definitely how my wardrobe options had tripled—I wondered if he’d be at the family dinner that night. It was so wild to me that we’d been raised in a household that had warned about how terrible outsiders were, yet Otto’s mom Heather may have been one of the kindest people I’d ever met. She’d welcomed me and the girls into the fold as if we’d always been there, more than happy to include the girls in any plans she made with the rest of her grandchildren.
I was thankful for her presence in our lives, but I had to admit that I was secretly nervous about the family dinner she’d planned for us. I’d seen all of Otto’s siblings and their spouses separately over the last week but I had a feeling that seeing them all at once was going to be an entirely different experience. I wasn’t used to big group settings anymore. Years ago, I’d gone to the church meetings and worship services with my brother and later my husband, but Caleb had wanted me to stay home after I had Ariel. A weekly women’s group had really been the only socializing I’d done, and there were rarely more than five of us in attendance.
“Is Asa gonna be there?” Ariel asked from the foot of the bed, jumping around like she couldn’t contain her excitement.
“I think so,” I replied, buttoning the front of my dress. Esther was a little taller than me but otherwise we were the same size and the dress fit perfectly.
“He’s gonna bring his car,” she told me importantly. “So I can drive it.”
“You’re not old enough to drive,” I teased, pulling on the flats that I’d also borrowed from Esther.
“It’s a BC car,” she replied in exasperation.
“An RC car?” I asked, my mouth twitching.
“Yeah.”
“You know what that stands for?” I kissed Diana on the head and she didn’t even notice as she pulled a little plastic bracelet on and off her wrist. “A remote control car.”
“I know,” Ariel replied easily.
“Sure you did,” I mumbled, lifting her onto the bed. “Let’s brush your hair.”
“I want one pony,” she ordered.
“Just one? Not two?”
“One pony like Flora.”
I grabbed the brush and a tiny hair tie off the top of the dresser and waited.
“Please,” she said, turning to grin at me.
“That’s better,” I replied, poking her gently in the side just to hear her giggle. Thankfully I’d seen Flora’s hair before I brought the girls in to get ready and it only took a few seconds to pull the top of her hair back and secure it. “There you go. You’re going to look like twins.”
“We’re not twins,” Ariel said, climbing off the bed. “Flora is taller.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “But you have the same blonde hair.”
“Nana doesn’t have any hair,” Ariel said, looking at her sister’s head. “When’s she gonna get hair?”
“Probably pretty soon,” I replied, mentally crossing my fingers as I checked the diaper bag to make sure we had everything we needed. “You ready?”
“Yes!” Ariel shouted, startling Diana.
“Come on, baby,” I said, lifting her into my arms before she could start wailing. “Let’s go over to—”
“Papa and Gran’s,” Ariel said, doing some weird motion with her arms.
“What?”
“Uncle Otto’s mama and daddy,” Ariel clarified as I followed her slowly down the stairs.
“Oh, honey.” I grimaced. Tommy had mentioned calling him papa, but I wasn’t sure. “You should probably shouldn’t call them—”
“All the kids call them Gran and Papa,” Otto interrupted me, reaching out to slide the diaper bag off my shoulder. “As long as you’re cool with it?”
I thought about it for a moment. The chance of Ariel and Diana ever seeing Caleb’s parents again was really slim if I had anything to say about it, and it wasn’t as if my mom would ever reach out either. I swallowed hard. Otto’s parents might be the closest thing they ever had to grandparents.