He shut it down, closed it up, and grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair on his way out the door. He needed to speak to Dave again about that inside information, but his partner was getting more and more difficult to reach.
Stephen walked to his reserved spot, rethinking what he knew and what he still needed to know as he drove. He’d never come across a piece of land he couldn’t get, and he wasn’t going to start now.
Chapter 33
An hour later he was at his mother’s table listening to the usual clatter and chatter of a family meal. It was just Matt’s and Lizzy’s families tonight.
“I’m sorry Hannah couldn’t join us,” his mother said.
“Yeah. She was too and made me promise to thank you for the invitation.” A student needed to change an appointment at the last minute and of course Hannah had accommodated.
His mother’s hopeful smile beamed across the table. She wasn’t looking at him like he was one small step from the edge as much as usual. Though, being thirty-plus, single, and not settled down with a nice girl and a minivan full of kids, he was, in her opinion, headed for a life of ruin.
As Hannah was only the second woman ever to meet his family, he knew she was making a great effort to keep her enthusiasm under control.
“I think what she does with those children and horses is absolutely wonderful.”
So did he. And he figured his mother was thinking about J.T. He’d talked to Hannah about his brother—first time that had ever happened—and she’d asked if maybe J.T. might want to come to Freedom Farm. The answer was no, or more like he didn’t know. J.T. wasn’t exactly communicating these days. Hannah told him to give it time. Maybe he should ask her to talk to his mother, ease her mind as she’d eased his.
“I had lunch with Hannah today,” Abby said, halting her mother-in-law’s imminent gush of hearts and flowers.
“Oh, yeah? How’d it go?”
“Great. Plans for the big publicity day are coming together. We’re calling it Freedom Farm Awareness Day. And my reporter friend thought it would be a great local story.”
The girls had definitely embraced the idea and were running full steam ahead.
Abby and Lizzy continued laying out the plans. It sounded like they had it all figured out. He had his own contribution in the works. “I appreciate all this. Really. And so does Hannah.”
“Well, don’t think you’re getting off without helping,” his sister told him. “Abby has lists. You all get a list.”
He looked at his sister. “You’re just loving this, aren’t you? Gives you such a great opportunity to be bossy.”
Lizzy stuck out her tongue and turned to their mom. Conversation ebbed and flowed. Kids who’d eaten in thirty seconds skirted in and out of the room. Jack and Charlie made a beeline for his dad’s old electric trains in the basement. The girls were “setting up shop” in the other room with his mom’s costume jewelry. Mary laid her head on Matt’s shoulder and sucked two fingers into her mouth.
If Hannah hadn’t come into his life, would he have his family back? Maybe, somewhere down the road. Maybe not. Maybe he would have moved farther away. She’d given him that.
A private look passed between Matt and Abby and his brother caressed his wife’s hand where it lay on the table, linking their fingers. “Do you want to tell them?”
Like a radar detecting information, Lizzy’s ears perked up. “Tell us what?”
“Well, Matt wanted to keep it just between us for a while but…I’m pregnant.”
Matt held Abby’s bright-eyed gaze, pressed their joined hands to his lips, and Stephen knew that in those seconds, everyone else in the room disappeared. It was the same for him when he looked at Hannah.
Lizzy clapped and squealed. “You’re having a baby!”
“Babies,” Matt corrected and followed it with a proud smile. “Twins.”
The squeals and kisses doubled, people stood, and Stephen fought to keep his face neutral. Even smiled when Abby looked up at him, though his brother’s happy news brought a certain hollow feeling to his chest.
Lizzy’s husband, Paul, transferred his chubby, spaghetti-covered baby to his other side and shook Matt’s hand. “Better you than me.”
“I heard that,” Lizzy said.
“Just kidding, honey. I could have a hundred more.” As if in answer, that same baby laughed, spewing spaghetti-laden spittle in Paul’s face.
“This calls for a toast,” his dad said. “I’ll get the champagne.”
After the toasting and the hazing about how Matt always went the extra mile, Stephen helped clear the table and found himself alone in the kitchen with Lizzy. Yep. No good deed went unpunished.
“So. How are things with Hannah?”
“Good.”
“You went out of town with her?”
Stephen tried to edge around his sister. “Yes.”
“How’d it go?”
“Good, and move. I’m trying to work.”
“Yes, I know how single-mindedly you like to clean kitchens.”
He thought of doing dishes with Hannah. “Be nice if you helped.”
“I did more dishes than all of you guys put together. So.” She leaned her hip against the counter. “How good is good?”
He didn’t want to talk about Vegas. His feelings before or after. “Good grief. You’re a child psychologist. Remember?”