Two Weeks (The Baxter Family #5)(26)

Cole seemed to take that in, process it. His gaze fell off toward the window. “I guess you’re right.” He hesitated for a few seconds and then he looked at Landon again. “But you would’ve stayed by Mom. If this had happened to her.”

At that, Landon was quiet. There was nothing he could say. Cole was right. Landon would’ve stayed by Ashley. He would’ve done anything for her, even if Ashley had only been eighteen and just weeks out of a terrible relationship.

“Tell you what.” Landon stood and helped Cole to his feet. “Why don’t we all get a good night’s sleep and pray about that, what your role is supposed to be in Elise’s life?” He drew Cole into a long hug. “We love you very much, Son. We’re proud of you.”

Cole nodded and held on to Landon, clung to him like Ashley hadn’t seen him do since he was a much younger boy. “I love you, Dad. Thank you. For helping me.”

Again Ashley wished she had kept herself from blurting out earlier. But that moment was past. Cole moved to her and hugged her the same way he’d hugged Landon. “I love you, Mom.”

“Love you, too.” He was taller than she was now. Ashley laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry again.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t mean it.” He looked at her, his eyes bleary from his earlier tears. “I’ll just pretend you didn’t say it.”

“Thank you.” She put her hand alongside his face. “We’ll get through this. I meant what I said about Elise. Tell us how we can help her.”

Cole told them again how much he appreciated them, how he was grateful because he could tell them anything. And after that he headed up to bed. Ashley turned to Landon and collapsed in his arms. “How could I say that?”

“I knew it was coming.” His smile was tender, rich with understanding. “I tried to stop you.”

“I felt you.” She exhaled hard. “Landon, I mean, what was I thinking? Cole’s never even kissed a girl.”

“Exactly.” He ran his hand along the back of her head. “It’ll be okay. He’s over it.”

She was quiet for a minute, processing. Elise could be pregnant . . . and Cole was willing to stand by her. “What does that mean?” She looked up at him. “He’s going to stand by her?”

“I don’t know.” Landon’s eyes saw straight to the center of her anxious heart. “He’s young, but I think he means forever. Like he’d marry her and be a father to this baby the way I was for him.”

“No.” She whispered the word, in case somewhere in the house Cole could hear her. “I don’t want that for him. He has college and med school. His whole future, and just because—”

“Ash.” He brought her face to his and kissed her. So she couldn’t say another word. “Only God and Cole can write his story. We can’t do it for him. All we can do is pray and stand by him. And once in a while, on nights like this, give him advice.”

The reality of all Landon said settled in around her like a wet blanket. She wasn’t ready for what might be coming, for Cole to make decisions that carried this much weight. “So . . . I have to plan a wedding?”

This time Landon laughed out loud. “Baby, we’re tired. Let’s go to bed.” He spoke so softly she could barely hear him. Then he put his arm around her waist and walked with her to the stairs. “I don’t think we need to book the church just yet.”

“True.” First things first. Sometime tomorrow Cole would take Elise to the crisis pregnancy center to see if she was really expecting. And if she was, Ashley would do the most powerful thing she could. The best gift a mother could give her child. Grown or not. Now and forevermore like her life depended on it.

She would pray.





8




Lucy always had a favorite baby in the maternity ward, one who caught her attention and took hold of her heart. This week it was a little boy who weighed just over a pound. Same weight as little Sophie.

Born at the same number of weeks.

Only Nathan was a few ounces heavier and a whole lot healthier. He would spend another few months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but everyone on the floor thought he’d make it. Nathan was a fighter, the doctors said. Lucy walked from the nurses’ station to the spot next to his hooded bassinet.

If Nathan could survive birth at twenty weeks, why not their Sophie? Was her death one more way God was telling them that they weren’t capable of being parents? That they weren’t worthy, somehow? Lucy studied the miniature newborn. His legs were the size of her fingers. But his heartbeat was strong and steady.

A miracle.

But where was the miracle for Aaron and her? When their little girl came too soon? She leaned closer to the plastic hood, the barrier that kept warmth around Nathan’s body. “Mmmm.” She made the sound that comforted most babies in the nursery. A single note that came close to the sound a baby heard in the womb. The single soft hum became words. “Baby Nathan. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Lucy felt someone beside her, so she straightened and turned. It was her new friend, Brooke. Lucy drew a slow breath and looked back at Nathan. “Tiniest one since I’ve been here.”

“Yes.” Brooke was one of the doctors tending to him. “He’s got strong lungs and a perfect heart.” She bent down and studied the baby. “But he’s a long way from his lungs working on their own. He’ll be here a lot longer.”