Chasing Abby(26)

She presses her right hand over her heart and begins rubbing her chest.
“Are you okay?” I ask and the guy standing off to the side of her steps closer.
“Abby, what’s wrong?” he asks, and that’s when I notice he’s holding her purse.
It takes a special kind of guy or a special kind of relationship for a guy to hold a girl’s purse. Abby and this guy must be in a serious relationship. I try not to think bad things about him, since he obviously seems to care about her well-being. But I guess that fatherly instinct never goes away no matter how much distance or how many years separate you from your little girl.
“I’m fine,” she whispers and my heart nearly stops at the sound of her voice.
I’ve heard her voice on the few videos that Lynette and Brian have shared with us, but they haven’t sent us many videos over the past five years. Almost as if they didn’t want us to witness her growing from a child into a young adult. But now, hearing her speak right in front of me, not through a speaker, is a dream come true.
“Do you want to come inside?” I offer.
I could probably stand here all day, staring at her and listening to her talk, but I don’t want to freak her out. It must feel strange for her to know that we’ve all been waiting for her.
She shrugs then nods. “Okay.”
I step aside so she can enter and it’s so difficult not to reach for her. I want to take her in my arms and tell her that I always wanted her. That she never left my mind or my heart.
The guy she’s with stands at the threshold, waiting for an invitation. “Come on in,” I say and he nods as he steps inside.
“I’m Caleb,” he says as I push the door closed.
He holds his hand out to me and I grab it firmly. “I’m Chris and this is also Chris.”
Chris Jr. and Caleb nod at each other and I can’t help but notice that Junior’s grinning. It has to be the Barracuda. He’s probably dying to ask this Caleb guy if he can check out his car.
I shoot Junior a look, warning him not to get any ideas, then I turn back to Abby. “Do you mind waiting here for just a moment? I need to go upstairs to get…” How should I refer to Claire when speaking to Abby? My wife? Claire? Your mother? My heart clenches at that last thought. “I have to get my wife. I’ll be right back. Please just stay right there.”
She nods and I head for the staircase. I glance over my shoulder a few times as I climb the steps, fully expecting her to vanish like an apparition the next time I turn around. But she doesn’t. As I head into the upstairs hallway, she’s still there. Right where I always imagined she’d be.
Hope: The biggest four-letter word in the English language. It’s bigger than despair. Bigger than resentment. Bigger than skepticism. Four letters that, when combined, can hold a broken heart together for eighteen years.

Chapter 13 - Claire



POSITIVE. The test is positive.
I stare at the pregnancy test stick on the marble bathroom counter and shake my head. I can’t have another kid at the age of thirty-seven. And I know Chris doesn’t want any more kids. He’s already planning all the vacations we’re going to take once Ryder goes off to college. The honeymoon we never really had after our wedding, when we had to return for Tristan’s grandmother’s funeral.
Positive.
Are the manufacturers of pregnancy tests trying to tell me that being pregnant at thirty-seven is a positive thing?
No. This is definitely not a positive thing. I thought our days of changing diapers, researching nannies, and struggling through hours of homework help were over.
I grab the pink and white test stick off the counter and hold it up close to make certain that it’s a plus sign I’m seeing. It’s definitely a plus sign. So that’s it. I’m pregnant.