Nicola hugged her with her free arm. “How are the benefits going?” she whispered into her ear and Heather couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Good.”
Ryan, Sophie, and Jake came by to say hello again and she was both glad, and uncomfortable, when Zach moved beside her again, his hand warm on her lower back.
“Chase had to go take care of a diaper change,” Zach said, scrunching up his face in disgust, “and then we can see Chloe and the baby.”
“Even with these two in me,” Sophie said, looking down at her stomach, “I can’t believe Chase actually has a baby now.” She paused before adding, “And that she was born today.”
It didn’t take long for Heather to learn that their father had died on this very day.
Zach’s hand tightened on hers as Marcus said, “I can’t help but think he had a part in this, somehow.”
Each of the siblings seemed to pull together more tightly. All but Zach, who slipped his hand from hers and moved from the circle of Sullivans, his expression completely shuttered in a way she hadn’t seen it before.
Heather wanted to pull him into a quiet corner to ask him if everything was okay, and to let him know she was there for him the way he’d been there for her with her parents. Before she could, Ryan popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and a beautiful woman with gray hair walked into the room from the back of the house.
Heather quickly realized the photo she’d seen of Zach’s mother, while stunning, hadn’t come close to doing her justice.
She loved the way Zach so easily moved to hug his mother, with soft words said only for her ears, before turning to introduce them. “Mom, this is Heather. Heather, this is my mom, Mary.”
“Congratulations on your new grandchild, Mary,” Heather said as Zach’s mother regarded her through warm and intelligent blue eyes. Heather was mesmerized and more than a little stunned by the close relationship this woman had with all of her children.
“Thank you,” Mary said, looking both radiant and sad as she smiled. Was she also thinking about Zach’s father and the grandchild he would never meet? “I’m so glad you’re here to share this moment with us.”
A dozen words was all it took for Heather to feel perfectly welcome in what should have been a family-only event. One day, when Heather had kids of her own, she vowed to love them the same way this woman had obviously loved hers, enough to welcome their friends and lovers into the fold with open arms.
“I’m thrilled to be here.”
She took the glass of champagne Zach handed her and raised her arm in a toast as Sophie’s husband said “Slainte!” the Irish version of “Cheers.”
They were all drinking when Chase walked out, looking exhausted and rumpled...and beside himself with happiness. Zach grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd. Okay, so not only did she love the way he clearly cared about his mother and siblings, but the fact that he was in a rush to go meet his new niece?
Unbelievable.
Especially considering her opinion of him that first day they’d met. She couldn’t believe how wrong she’d been.
“Hi, Heather,” Chase said. “It’s great to see you again.”
Even though she’d barely met him for thirty seconds at Zach’s garage, she had to hug him. “I’m so happy for you and Chloe.”
“Thanks, we’re thrilled. Want to meet Emma?”
Zach was already halfway down the hall to their bedroom and she could hear Chloe laughing at something he said as he pushed open the bedroom door. A few seconds later Chase held the door for her, but Heather didn’t walk through it.
How could she, when she was utterly mesmerized by the sight of Zach holding baby Emma, staring down at her pretty little face in absolute wonder.
Heather’s heart—and her soul—were captured as she watched Zach slip one finger into the little fist and raise it to his lips.
He looked up at Heather, his eyes utterly intense and full of love. “You’ve got to come see her. She’s a freaking miracle.”
The pull of his low voice was the only thing that could possibly have gotten her stuck feet moving again. But she couldn’t breathe quite right as she moved closer and she felt her legs shaking as he shifted the baby in his arms.
Emma was perfect, and so beautiful, that Heather knew she didn’t have a prayer of stopping the tears that were coming. She hadn’t cried since she was a teenager, but the sight of the baby in Zach’s arms pulled at a part of her that was supposed to be shut down, closed off, impenetrable.
Suddenly realizing just how deep she was in the quicksand, she yanked her gaze from Zach and the baby to hand Chloe the teddy bear.
“I’m sorry, I should have said hello and congratulations first.”
“Thanks, Heather. It’s great to see you again,” Chloe said in a tired, but happy, voice.
As Chase sat down on the edge of the bed beside his wife and brushed her hair back from her face, Heather was amazed by the incredible intimacy—and unconditional joy—between the two of them.
She should have left, knew she didn’t have any right to be a part of this family for even a few more seconds, but when the baby gave a sweet little yawn in Zach’s arms, the yearning was too strong for Heather to leave just yet. “Could I hold her?”
Chloe smiled. “Of course.”
Handling the baby with surprising ease, Zach slid the warm, blanket-wrapped bundle into Heather’s arms.
The little girl opened her eyes and blinked up at Heather with perfect innocence.
“Oh my,” she said, “aren’t you pretty?”
“You’re in big trouble with this one,” Zach told his brother.
“I know,” Chase replied. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The baby immediately turned her head at the sound of her father’s voice and even though Heather wanted to nuzzle Emma’s cheek and keep breathing in her fresh baby smell, she forced herself to move across the room to give her back to Chase and Chloe.
“Congratulations,” she said again, tears close enough again that she knew she had to get out of there. Not just from their bedroom, but out of the house, away from the rest of the Sullivans and everything she’d told herself she never wanted, but so desperately did.
“I need to get back to the dogs. Zach, you should stay. I’ll watch Cuddles as long as you need me to.”
She practically broke into a run as she fled the bedroom. She thought she heard his siblings, maybe even his mother, say her name as she made a beeline for the front door, but apart from blurting out something unintelligible about needing to get back to the dogs, she didn’t stop to acknowledge them.