by Holly Jacobs
“She put the nix on him coming out this week, so really, it wasn’t much of a contest.”
“George,” his mother admonished. “Frank loves her, and that means we all love her. She’s family. Now, get out and you two go have fun.”
“Hey, do you two want something from the pizza store while I’m there?”
“Sure,” Stephan said. “Why don’t you bring me a hot combo and an antipasto. Caro?”
“Same.”
Stephan reached in his pocket and pulled out a couple bills.
“Dinner will be here in an hour or so.” George paused and added, “And if the door’s closed, I’ll just leave it on the back deck.”
Carolyn just shook her head. George was incorrigible, and scolding only made him worse. “Come on, Stephan. I’ll let you take me for a romantic walk on the beach before our dinner’s delivered.”
“She’s awfully good to you,” George said, laughing. “Some day I’m going to find me a good woman like you, Carolyn. She’ll laugh at my jokes, take me on walks—”
“And bring you your pipe and slippers?” Carolyn asked.
“You know her?” George teased. “I’d take an introduction. I’ve been having an awful time finding her on my own.”
“Gee, I don’t know why. After all, your caveman attitude works well with the women.”
“Maybe I should rethink my approach?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure all the women you’ve hit on will appreciate it.”
George didn’t take offense, he just laughed some more. “Yeah, when I find one like you, I’m going to grab her.”
“And that might be why you won’t get her. Women don’t like being grabbed.”
“Okay, you two, break it up,” Stephan said. “Stop flirting with my wife, George.”
“If you call that flirting, bro, you’ve got a lot to learn about women.”
“That’s rather like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?” Stephan asked with a laugh. He reached for Carolyn’s hand. “Come on, Caro.”
She let him lead her out to the beach. “So, which way should we head?”
He smiled. “I like that you asked me, but we both know where we always head when we take a walk.”
They moved in silence until the rock came into sight.
“Tell me the story of Spencer’s Rock again.” She realized it sounded more like a demand than a question, so she added, “Please?”
“You sound like Emma when you say that.”
“Just tell me.” She leaned into him and he put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her in tight.
“Asa Spencer came out from New York, then sent for his family. They didn’t come, and didn’t come. Everyone said he was crazy to keep hoping, believing, but he did. He’d come out here and wait. And one day, long after everyone else had given up, they arrived.”
She climbed onto the rock. “He believed he’d get his family back.”
“Yes.” Stephan climbed up next to her.
“He believed in his heart.”
Stephan nodded.
“This is for you.” She handed him the small wrapped package she’d stuffed into her back pocket.
“For what?” he asked, taking the gift from her.
“Because you’re you. Because you believed. Even when I was afraid, you just kept believing. And when I asked for some breathing space, you gave it to me. Now, I’m giving this to you. Open it.”
He unwrapped the package and stared at her birth control pills, then looked up at her. “Caro?”
“I stopped taking them the day of Emma’s awards ceremony. I checked with my doctor, and it can take from three to six months before the effects diminish enough for us to make a baby, but nothing’s to say we can’t start trying right away.”
“I’d given up and accepted that if this is it…just you, me and Emma, I was okay with that. I want you to be happy.”
“I’m very happy,” she assured him.
“You’re sure?”
“Stephan, you told me I should listen to my heart. Well, frankly, it wasn’t doing much talking. When you love someone, you put yourself at risk. I’d done that, and I almost lost Emma. If I had, I’m not sure what I’d have done. I was so alone. Ross and I were done. My parents didn’t understand.” She remembered those first few weeks by herself in the hospital. She’d never felt so isolated.
“But then you came, and you tossed me that life ring. I had something to hold on to, to keep me afloat. And I’ve come to understand, that no matter what happens, I’ve got you. You’ll always be there, to keep me afloat. And Stephan, I really would love to have more children. You were right about that, as well.”
He dropped the present, and took Carolyn in his arms.
She realized that this was where she belonged, this was home. Not Spencer’s Rock, not Heritage Bay…here in Stephan’s arms.
“Say it again,” he prompted.
“Stephan, let’s have a baby.” The thought had scared her for so long, but now, it felt so right.
She took his hand and squeezed it three time.
He squeezed back as he said, “I love you, too, Carolyn Foster.”
Life was a series of changes, of finding a new normal.
No matter what happened, she knew, with Stephan by her side, it would all work out, and whatever new normal they discovered would be a wonderful one.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
August 2008
CAROLYN WALKED INTO the cottage’s living room and found all the kids watching something on television. She hung back in the kitchen doorway, waiting to see what they were all so engrossed in.
Emma moved and Carolyn could see the screen. They were watching Emma’s graduation. Carolyn spotted Emma coming across the stage in her cap and gown.
Emma, in the video, stood at the podium. “I’m not planning to make a long valedictorian speech.”
Her classmates had clapped and Emma had laughed. “But I do have something to say. Some of you know that twelve years ago I was in a bad automobile accident. A drunk driver hit my father’s car. The doctors weren’t sure I’d ever come out of the coma, but my mother never stopped believing that I would. I think it was her belief, more than anything else, that brought me back. But nothing was the same afterward.
“I worked so hard to learn to speak clearly, to walk. Nothing was like it had been and sometimes I got so discouraged. But my mother would tell me it was okay, that we’d find a new normal. And we did. My uncle Stephan loves to tell the story about when she told him that maybe life is a series of finding new normals. That you can’t be afraid of change…that you have to embrace it. Well, everything is changing for us. We’re leaving our school, our friends, our family and going out on our own. Nothing will be the same, although we can’t be afraid of that change. We just have to find our new normal. My hope is that all our new normals are terrific.”
Carolyn and Stephan’s eight-year-old son, John Henry, clicked off the television then turned to Tina and Melissa, their two most recent foster children. “You see, it’s okay that you’ve got a new family, ’cause you’ll find your new normal with us.”
“Yeah,” Jason, also known as John Henry’s shadow, said.
“Kenny’s been here a while now, and he likes us, right, Kenny?” Kenny was intent on sucking his thumb, so he just nodded. Kenny would pretty much nod at anything anyone said. He was thirteen, but he’d never really be older than three or four.
Tina and Melissa weren’t developmentally delayed, but they weren’t as emotionally mature as they ought to be. They hadn’t been physically abused, but they’d need special classes, as well as ongoing therapy. Carolyn had a meeting with the school in two weeks, but she felt like an old hand at working with the district to figure out how to meet her kids’ needs.
Her kids.
Tina and Melissa didn’t realize it yet, but that’s what they were. Hers and Stephan’s.
“We don’t need no new nothing,” Tina, all belligerence and bravado, sa
id. “We’re not gonna do anything.”
“It’s okay,” Emma, who’d been silent up until now, said. “You don’t have to do anything. That’s what’s so great about it here. All you have to do is be loved.”
“We don’t need that, neither,” Tina insisted.
“Ah, but that you don’t get to decide on,” Emma said, moving closer to the little girl. “The minute you came into this house, you were loved. You’ll just have to suck it up and deal. You’ve got us now, and you’re stuck with us.”
Tina’s tough-girl look didn’t totally fade, but there was the slightest crack in her facade.
Stephan came up behind Carolyn, his arms sliding around her with years of practice. “What are we watching?” he whispered.
“John Henry just played the tape of Emma’s graduation. And was explaining about life being filled with new normals to Tina and Melissa. Tina doesn’t seem too impressed, but Emma explained that she was stuck with being loved while she looked for her new normal.”
Stephan laughed. “We’ve done good, Caro. They’ll settle in.”
“Yes, we’ve done real good.” Together, they stepped into the living room. “So, is everyone ready for dessert?”
Emma, John Henry and Jason all cried, “Yes,” while Melissa and Tina silently nodded. Kenny just sucked his thumb, watching them all with round eyes.
“Then, let’s go.” Stephan headed into the kitchen.
“Uncle Stephan, Mom, can we forget about the cake for a minute?” Emma asked.
She was twenty today. And as Carolyn looked at her, she didn’t see her little girl, she saw a young woman. She’d be heading back to college in a few weeks. Letting go didn’t get any easier, but Carolyn was getting better at it.
“Mom,” Emma said impatiently.
“Sorry. What?”
“Do you mind if we have the cake later?” Emma repeated. “I want to take the kids out to Spencer’s Rock. It’s sort of cloudy today. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get to chase some shadows.”
“It’s your birthday, and you can do whatever you want,” Carolyn agreed.
The entire crew piled out of the house and onto the beach. Carolyn held Stephan’s hand as she listened to Emma tell Tina and Melissa the family stories. About Spencer’s Rock, about chasing shadows. About the night she was born. About life rings and her accident. “Mom says you should always follow your heart.”
Stephan had told her that, and look where following her heart had led her…to her family.
He leaned down and kissed her.
“Everything’s different, but it will be okay,” Emma continued. “It’s okay when things change. You’ll find your new normal.”
Tina didn’t argue this time. She just nodded and took her sister’s hand.
“Come on,” Emma called. “There’s the rock.”
Carolyn lagged behind with Stephan, watching as the kids ran to the rock. Welcoming two new, troubled children in the house meant more change, but after all these years, she’d discovered that change wasn’t all bad.
“They’re worth finding a new normal for, aren’t they?” Stephan asked.
“Yes.” She looked at Tina and Melissa, still holding hands and looking at the other kids as if trying to figure them out.
“There’s a shadow,” Emma cried. “Go.”
Carolyn watched as their kids raced down the beach, chasing not just a shadow, but another new normal.
She squeezed Stephan’s hand three times.
He squeezed back.
And together, they took off, as well, chasing the kids and the shadow down the beach.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2092-2
SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER
Copyright © 2008 by Holly Fuhrmann.
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