Page 182 of We Danced Among Shadows
Unbidden, a tear rolls down my cheek. “That would make mesohappy.”
Soft sniffling pulls my attention back to my wife. She wipes her palms over her cheeks, the phone wobbling in her hand. Before I dry the tears from my eyes, Cade approaches me with a tiny white box tied up with a yellow bow. “Here’s another gift, Dad. This one’s from Mom.”
“Another? Man, I can barely see as it is.” I give a soft huff of laughter, taking the box from his hands. Tugging the ribbon, I lift the lid.
Only to have my heart stop beating in my chest.
Blood drains from my face as shock zings through my body.
A pregnancy test.
“Hollie!” My gaze snaps to hers. “What?”
She explodes with excitement and the kids come to life all around me—the typical cabin chaos back full swing. We clump together, a mesh of hugs and smiles and tear-stained cheeks. I never would’ve guessed I’d be cramming a family ofsixinto this cabin.
But I don’t want it any other way.
Hollie lifts to her toes, her arms clasping around my neck in the middle of our dining room. I squeeze her close and gently kiss her lips. “I can’t believe we’re having a baby.” She brushes my cheeks with her thumbs, her eyes shimmering with joy.
Cade comes forward one more time, this time holding a thick sheet of his drawing paper behind his back. In the past year, Cade’s art has became so expressive, like the techniques he worked to learn suddenly became second nature, serving his style. “Last one.” He flashes me a confident smile and I see so much Laurel in it.
I am going to cry again, aren’t I?
He flips it around, and tears cloud my vision again. It is thesixof us standing in an open field. Me, Hollie, Izzy, Nora, Cade, and a bundled baby in Hollie’s arms. The colors are deep and vibrant. Green grass, blue sky, the girls in pinks, white smiles, and dust smears on our blue jeans. And he drew the yellow sun high in the sky, ourshadows cast beneath our feet. The way he blended the light with the dark looks so true to life that I can only gape at the page.
I pull him into a hug—words gone for the moment as I marvel at the wonders of this life. How our journeys have been fraught with so much darkness and pain.
But somehow, we are here—surrounded by so much light weglow.
