E is for Everett (Men of Alphabet Mountain)

I messaged him that all I needed was someone to be there for me the way he always had been.

Then I slipped the phone back into my pocket, took a deep sip of the lemonade, and pulled Helen in for a kiss. She sighed and settled into me, her cheek resting on the top of my head and my hand resting on her backside, patting it every once in a while. We watched the fire dance and chatted with our friends, relaxed and happy in a way that I never thought I could ever be.

It had finally happened. I was finally the person that I always wished I could be. And soon, I would be the father I always wished I had.

EPILOGUE

HELEN

“It will be fine,” Dad said, rolling his eyes.

“But you were just in surgery,” I said. “You still don’t know if this medication will keep you healthy and you are retired!”

“Honey, you are working yourself up,” Dad said, leaning over to kiss my forehead. “Your mother will be there too, and Finn and I have already discussed how this will all work.”

“You and Finn. Thick as thieves. I never should have introduced you,” I said.

Dad laughed. “It will be fine, Helen. You need your rest. You need to keep baking my grandbabies as long as you can in that oven.”

“She will,” I said. “I’m waiting on her hand and foot.”

“And you’re a good man for it,” Dad said.

I wanted to be pleased about how my father and the love of my life were famously getting along, but that was kind of the problem. Dad was getting along with everyone now that he was feeling better. The dementia that had been steadily getting worse was apparently a lot better when he switched to the new medications after surgery. He was still forgetful, and after sundown, he would have a harder time with simple things, but if he was up early in the morning, it was like old times again. Sharp as a tack.

Mom and Dad had formed a plan to help me out during my last months of pregnancy. On the same day we found out that we weren’t having one baby, but two, we also found out that there might be complications. It would mean me trying to take it as easy as possible while pregnant, especially in the later stages.

I felt terrible about it. Rebecca had picked up more hours, I had leaned on the staff that was already there, and now Mom and Dad were both going to be working during the meantime. I had every intention of finding a way to work once I was functional again and was still going over the paperwork from bedrest the last couple of days, but now that I was looking at three more months of it, I was not exactly pleased.

Of course, three more months was the best-case scenario. That was if bedrest worked, and I was able to keep them in there. It was entirely possible they would be born early, and I would have to put them in baby lay-a-way.

Everett had been a champ about it all, though. No matter what seemed to be happening, he was on top of it. If I needed something, he was already waiting on me with it or hopped up to get it for me. It was incredible how attentive he was and how he kept me positive when I got frustrated. I had been in this bed for two days before the official diagnosis to stay there for the remainder and I already felt like I was going to peel my skin off.

But Everett knew how to calm me down and get me to relax. All it took was for him to come in wearing one of his flannel shirts opened halfway and the sleeves rolled up with a bag of spicy tortilla chips and give me a foot rub. It worked every single time. I could be in the middle of a sentence, angrily complaining about how I thought that the diner was going to absolutely die without me, and he could put a bowl of chips in my face and press his thumbs into my heel and I would lose my train of thought.

After a few days, I started to adjust, and we began to think about names. We had talked before but never anything serious and had always punted it to later. Now that I had not much to do but sit in the bed and try to figure out how to crochet, I had plenty of time to think about names.

On the subject of names, my name was being added to the house, which was a sign of where our relationship was going. In fact, Rebecca had hired a lawyer and was officially signing over the deed to the house to the two of us. It had been a long, drawn-out conversation in the bedroom with Rebecca on one side of me and Everett on the other. Deacon had busied himself in the kitchen, making a frozen pizza that I had suddenly had a craving for and avoiding the discomfort.