Page 113 of Mad Love
“I was so rude to her.” Her face crumbles and she starts crying harder. “Weston, I’m so sorry. If it hadn’t been for me, everything would be so different. You would’ve known your son from the very beginning. I can’t—you must hate me.”
I put my arms around her and hug her. I shed a few tears, but not many. I don’t want to spend this day looking backward. When Olivia stills, I pull back and get a tissue from the side table, handing it to her. She blows her nose and gets another tissue to work on her eye makeup. Caleb barrels over to us when he sees that Olivia’s crying and stares at her in concern. I pat his back and he comes over and leans on me.
“I don’t hate you, Olivia,” I say. “It’s time to put this to rest. There’s a lot that could’ve been handled differently. I’d give anything to have been there when Caleb was born, but I’m just so grateful he’s in my life now. I can’t be angry at anyone anymore because I’m living this beautiful life with my son and Sadie.”
“That’s a generous way of looking at everything. You and Felicity have always been so much better than me,” she snorts.
“Not true.”
She gives me a pointed look. “So true. If this had happened to me, I would have scorched the earth to make everyone pay.”
I chuckle. “This would’ve never happened to you. It’s not part of your life plan.”
She rolls her eyes. “Damn straight, it wouldn’t.”
Her expression softens when I laugh.
“Can we not tell Sadie about this?” she asks.
I give her a pointed look. “I’m going to tell Sadie. We don’t keep secrets, and she’ll work through any feelings she has about it. We’ve both learned to do that this year.”
“Thanks for not tossing me out of your house forever,” she says.
I stand and hold out my hand and she takes it, standing up. “You’re welcome. Thanks for coming today and for changing your nephew into a cute outfit after he demolished his other one.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, her smile growing. “Thanks for not forcing me to make anything for Thanksgiving.”
“Weallthank you for not making anything for Thanksgiving,” I snark.
She whacks me across the chest, and I laugh, lifting my shoulders.
“I’ll never live down that Jell-O mold,” she says.
“It was lime and had chunks ofcarrotsinside.”
Just thinking about it makes me shudder.
She laughs. “It was supposed to be Thanksgiving-y.”
“More like Thanks-go-away.”
She rolls her eyes again. “Oh-kay, Weston,” she says in the snide tone that I’m far more used to than the teary one from a few minutes ago.
I pick up Caleb and grin at my sister.
“Come on, let’s go eat.”
The party is in full swing when we get downstairs. I put Caleb in his high chair and sit down to the feast. Sadie glances at me and I squeeze her thigh under the table, as we share a smile.
Life is so sweet, and it goes by in a flash. We never know what a day will bring.
I don’t want to waste another minute regretting anything.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
BOXES AND FEET
SADIE