Two Weeks (The Baxter Family #5)(62)

“Shhh. Kari, don’t.” Ashley stepped back a bit and searched her sister’s eyes. “We can’t. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. It wasn’t Jessie’s time.”

“I know.” Kari looked straight at her, all the way to her heart. “I just wish it hadn’t been Vienna’s time. Or Sarah Jane’s.” She closed her eyes for a long moment and then looked at Ashley again. “Sometimes it’s so hard.”

“Yes. It is.” Ashley could still picture their youngest sister, the light in her eyes and the way she loved her family.

“You were right what you said.” Kari stepped back and seemed to compose herself a little. “Only Jesus. Him on the cross. Him here with us now. So that death doesn’t have the final word.”

“Not for those who believe.” Ashley hugged her once more.

They stood outside their cars and made plans for later that night. Everyone was getting together for dinner at Ashley and Landon’s. They were all feeling a connection to the accident. Dinner had been Landon’s idea.

Because every minute of life was precious.

? ? ?

BASEBALL PRACTICE WAS called off because of the accident, so Cole had spent those two hours sitting with Elise in the bleachers, the sun on their faces. He wasn’t surprised at how the tragedy had affected her.

She wanted to keep her baby and she wanted Cole to stay with her through the process. It was something he had offered from the beginning and he would keep his promise. Just like his dad would if he were in this situation.

The problem was he had no idea how he would tell his parents.

In the week since Elise made the decision to have a young couple adopt her child, Cole’s plans had really started taking shape. The baseball coach at Liberty had contacted him about a walk-on tryout the third week of August, right before school started. Cole wasn’t sure he was talented enough to make the team.

But since the man wanted him to try, Cole had given his word. It would be a dream to play for Liberty. He had his classes picked out, his dorm in the Commons Two building reserved, and a plan that would take him through the next eight years.

Until today.

Now it was five o’clock and his family would arrive for dinner in the next half hour. His papa and Grandma Elaine, Aunt Brooke and Uncle Peter and their daughter Hayley, Aunt Kari and Uncle Ryan and their kids.

Including Jessie, who was still not okay.

Cole figured the love from everyone tonight would be good for her and sure enough, it was. They talked in quiet voices over dinner, sharing their thoughts about the two girls who had been killed. And remembering back when the disaster had been their own.

Amy, the only one of his aunt Erin’s kids who had survived, was more like a sister to Cole now. She finished her lasagna and looked at the others. “Maybe someday I can go visit Vienna’s parents.”

Cole’s mom smiled at Amy from across the table. “I think that would be very nice, sweetie.”

“Yes.” Amy nodded. The light in her eyes remained, even when everyone else seemed sad. “There’s a trick to getting through this.”

“A trick?” Their papa sat at the other end. He angled his head, all his attention on Amy.

“Yes.” She looked at him and then around the room. “I never think of them as dead.” Her eyes grew softer. “They’re alive. They just have a new address in heaven.”

Their papa nodded, slow and sure. He squinted, like Amy’s words had really made him think. “I like that. Just a new address.”

When the dinner was over, when everyone had hugged each other and promised to do an even better job of calling and texting and getting together, and when his siblings were upstairs getting ready for bed, Cole found his mom and dad in the kitchen.

“Mom . . . Dad?” He hesitated. How was he going to do this? He grabbed a quick breath. “Can . . . I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, honey.” His mother didn’t look too surprised. Today had been a lot. For all of them. She dried her hands on a towel and his dad did the same. They followed him to the living room and his parents took the sofa. Cole sat across from them in the recliner.

“What’s on your mind?” His dad turned so his back was against the sofa arm. “I bet today was hard.”

“It was.” Cole’s heart picked up speed, the sound of it louder than jet engines. Cole swallowed. “So . . . I talked to Elise for a few hours after school today.”

His mom was the first to show a flicker of concern. “How is she? Everything okay with the baby?”

“It is. Yes.” Cole linked his hands together and stared at them. He tried to imagine a wedding ring on his left hand before the end of the year and he could feel his palms getting damp. “Anyway. We talked about the accident, what happened to the two girls.”

They nodded, waiting.

“The thing is, everyone was talking about the girls’ mom and dad, and how no parent should have to say goodbye to their child so soon. So early.” He looked from his mom to his dad. “And . . . yeah, Elise’s mind started spinning.”

“About?” His mom looked a bit paler than before.

“Well . . . keeping the baby. Like she thought about what they said. How no parent should have to say goodbye to their child, and sometime today that became her. And she made a new decision.”