Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
She hit the ground with a thump beside me, then I was turning Constance over and cupping her face with my hands. “Are you okay?”
Tears still trickled out of her eyes. “I’m fine.”
I reached for her hand.
She flinched when I touched it.
“I think it might be broken,” she admitted. “Eustace stomped on it.”
I cursed. “I wish I could kick him all over again.”
Peanut landed on top of the both of us, peppering us both with slobbery kisses.
Possum landed on the ground next to Mrs. Pendelton, causing her to cry out in surprise.
I held out my hand, and Possum hopped on like he’d been doing it forever.
I hauled Constance off the ground, handed her the bird, and then reached for my SAT phone.
“Help!” Eustace cried.
I winced. “Too bad he’s not dead. Could’ve saved the taxpayers of Jesper County some money.”
Sadly, SAR was called out.
I had to save the man that had just an hour ago been pointing his gun at my future wife.
The good thing was, his spine was broken.
The bad thing was, he’d live to see another day.
Thankfully in a wheelchair.
Epilogue
You knew how I chewed when you married me, you little shit.
—Odin to Constance
Odin
Four years later
“Odin, look!”
Though I wasn’t “daddy” to Wendy, and never would be, she was still mine.
I looked over to where she was digging for shells in the surf.
We were at Murell’s Inlet in South Carolina, and my girl was living the dream.
It was spring break, and we’d just left Montana hours before a huge snowstorm was set to hit our small little town.
For the first time in years, I was finally able to take a break from work.
I’d found that I loved being the town doctor.
What I did not love was not getting to take any time off.
That’s where our new doctor came in.
He was a great help.
Moses had completed his residency and had finally come back to town, ready and willing to take over as the town doctor.
I was glad to give it to him.
Not that I didn’t love the job.
I did.
But I also wanted to spend some time with my family while they were still young.
Speaking of young family, movement caught my eye, and I spotted Constance making her way down to the beach with our toddler, Janette—named after her grandmother Janet—on her hip and our infant, Rex, strapped to her chest.
Janette looked sleepy but appeared to be waking up fast.
She saw me and waved.
I waved back.
Wendy arrived with her shell and held it out for me to see.
I picked it up and examined it.
“This is a cowrie shell,” she declared.
“It is?” I asked. “How do you know?”
She held out her sheet of shells’ names that she’d had me print out and laminate at work before we’d come.
“Ahh.” I nodded. “That matches up pretty darn well.”
“I know.” She narrowed her eyes. “That man is taking my spot.”
I looked at said “man.”
It was a man older than dirt, and he had a long-handled scoop that he’d been using to slowly work his way down the length of the beach.
“Just give him a second. He’ll move on.” I squeezed her ankle.
She sighed and plopped down next to me where I was reading the newest Nelson DeMille book.
“What part are you on?” she asked.
I was just about to reply when Constance arrived, holding an iPad out to Wendy.
“Your dad wants to say hi,” Constance said softly.
Wendy smiled.
She started talking to her dad, and I looked over at Constance and reached for Janette.
She came willingly, snuggling deep into my chest, not quite ready to be awake.
It was always that way with our second child.
Always sleepy and cuddly.
The exact opposite of Rex, who was hell on wheels, even at four months old.
I dreaded the days when he learned how to move around on his own.
Wendy picked up the iPad and turned it around. “Dad says hi!”
I waved at Mackey.
He wasn’t better.
He wasn’t worse, either, which was a good thing.
He was perpetually eleven in an adult male’s body.
But the good thing was, he knew his girl.
And though he may not know the extent of his relationship to her, he knew that she was someone close to him.
Wendy loved her dad.
Which was why she’d never call me dad.
But that was okay.
This worked for all of us.
Even though I thought of her as my own daughter.
“All right,” Wendy said. “Love you!”
After they hung up, Wendy turned to her mother. “Dad says hi.”
Constance smiled. “I know, I talked to him for a bit before I came down here.”
I squeezed her hand.
It was so hard for her to see her best friend in that state, but she talked to him once a week like clockwork because she loved him.
Rex woke up with a scream, and I reached for him, too.
Our boy was pissed when he woke up and saw the sun.
“Swear to Christ,” Constance sighed as she handed him over. “He acts like the sun is going to kill him.”