Page 37 of Holding On

“Can I borrow your phone for a minute, Tins?”

“Yeah, but blocking her doesn’t stop her. She just finds a different phone to contact me from.”

“I don’t doubt that. Ladies, please feel free to start with breakfast; the chef will be here in fifteen minutes. There’s cut up fruit and mimosas in the fridge waiting for you.” Wells picks up my phone. “I’ll be in my office and back in a few.”

Allie pours a mimosa while I opt to make a latte. “What do you think he’s doing with your phone?” Allie asks me as I look down the hall toward my brother’s office.

I shrug. “I don’t know, but if it somehow stops Bridget, then I fully approve.”

As the chef arrives and gets set up in the kitchen, we move to the dining room and Wells joins us. “Happy Christmas, indeed.” He slides my phone back to me. “You will need to let whomever you want to have it, but you now have a new number. One that Rick and Bridget do not have.”

I look from the phone to my brother. “What? You really did that? They can’t reach me anymore?”

“I’m just sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. I guess we were so focused on all the other pieces of … well, everything, that we didn’t think to change your number. But you might want to let Jack know before he freaks out if he can’t reach you.” Wells grins as I jump and give him a hug.

“Thank you, seriously,” I whisper.

“Long overdue, honey. Now, the chef wants to know our egg orders and we have a few presents to open with breakfast. And that latte smells amazing—I need one of those immediately. Come on, ladies, we have activities for our holiday festivities. This day won’t celebrate itself, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is a lot to celebrate today.”

I know there will be physical gifts to open today, but I’ve already been given the greatest gift of my life—my freedom. Other than having Jack here with me, I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate Christmas.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Can I give you a hand?” I ask Savannah as I pick up a dish and start loading the dishwasher. We’ve always started Christmas morning with the same egg bake recipe that Mama used to make. In the past, Savannah and Shane would celebrate as a family of five in the morning first before coming over to our parents’ house in the early afternoon. But this year, Shane will be picking up the girls at two p.m. and have them until just before their bedtime to celebrate Christmas with them. With all the insanity of last month’s abduction, and Shane nearly dying, at least it seems like the guy has gotten a few of his priorities straight, like actually showing up for his girls.

So, this Christmas is a little different in multiple ways. We have more people joining our celebration like Theo, who recently became Savannah’s fiancé, his daughter Gigi, Vivian’s new husband Walker, Vivian’s baby bump that is impossible to miss as it seems to grow daily with my identical twin nephews—not that I’d ever admit that to her—and of course, Cami.

Cami was hesitant, to say the least, when Savannah initially invited her, but we managed to convince her to at least come over for Christmas dinner. She’s been staying in my guest room and being far too polite of a houseguest. I don’t want her to feel like a houseguest; I want her to feel like she’s home, but I understand that’s going to take time to adjust, get to know each other, and figure out what it means to be a part of our family.

It’s all going to take time.

The conversation with our dad went about as I expected it to go, but I was thankful when Savannah stopped by our dad’s without her girls just before we dropped the bomb about who Cameron Maura Walsh is. Savannah helped us keep perspective on what matters but still managed to punch me in the arm for not telling her immediately. It’s going to be messy for a bit while we all navigate this new chapter in our family, but that’s okay. We can handle messy.

I can’t handle thinking of one of my siblings living in a broken RV without heat in December. I don’t know how the gift Liam mentioned to me is going to go with Cami, but I hope he took my suggestion and waited to talk to her first before steamrolling her.

“I don’t see the issue. She loves that RV? Great. I’ll replace it with a state of the art one that runs, is safe, and has every amenity that’s possible for an RV. What’s the big deal?” Liam asks.

“The problem is that you can’t just replace her home.”

He tilts his head at me. “Why not? It’s not an adequate living space, and it’s not a big deal to give her a better one.”

“It might be a big deal to her, though. I don’t know, it just feels like too much and too soon when we just found her. I don’t want to scare her away from our family, Liam. Can you just be a little more … subtle?”

“I don’t understand the issue. I think it will be fine, but I’ll consider it.”

He didn’t agree not to replace her RV, but him considering it may be the best outcome I could have hoped for. I had to be in New York for a few days, so I haven’t had that many conversations with Cami, but I’ve learned a few things from our limited interactions.

She is extremely optimistic in situations and in life, even when something seems hopeless, she seems to intentionally find the good. That said, while kind, she is also very guarded. I’m hopeful that more time together will allow some of her walls to come down, but it’s going to take time.

And I have all the time in the world—so long as she doesn’t go back to that broken RV. We will likely overwhelm her today with the gift that Savannah and Vivian planned, but that was going to happen one way or another.

“Thanks, I always appreciate an extra hand.” She glances around before leaning closer to me. “That is, unless it’s Finn. I think he makes a bigger mess than what I originally started with whenever he helps.” Savannah grins, and she may be right. But in Finn’s defense, it’s usually because he gets distracted by something and then has to investigate it. Like at the last family dinner, he was helping clean up, and Dad mentioned the garbage disposal was making a funny noise, so of course, Finn and Liam had to take the entire thing apart—right in the kitchen—instead of finishing the dishes first.

“How are you doing?” While I know she’s excited about her recent engagement, I know she is also dreading not being with her girls all day today.

“I’m trying not to think about this afternoon, just focus on the now. And when I can’t stop my mind from going there, I try to remind myself that my girls deserve to spend time with their father … so long as he shows up.”

I tilt my head at that in agreement. Shane was a shit father for a while there, and while we have all noticed an improvement since he got out of the hospital, time will tell if this newfound dedication is legit or just a brief afterglow from surviving a close call with death.