Page 111 of Merging Wright

I’m out of my element. If this cutie begins to sob, I might shatter on the pavement.

“No, sweetheart. She isn’t . . . she didn’t . . .” I can’t say the word. I don’t even want to think it.

“Then you have to bring her back. You need to save her again. She needs to come home.” Her face turns red, and she huffs, blowing out air to ward off the inevitability of tears.

Please don’t cry. She’s so adorable even in a state of distress. The dark brown hair. The blue eyes. Once again, I consider how she could be Jane’s child, if only . . .

Did I save Jane? I saved her from the river. That must be what Willow means. Because, in reality, Jane saved me. She pulled me out of that damn river, out of my memories, and brought me back to the land of the living.

I need my heartbeat.

“I plan to bring her back, baby girl.”

I didn’t know how yet but looking at Willow gave me an idea.

51

Playlist: “What If I Never Get Over You” – Ryan Hurd

[Jane]

The Fox siblings have reunited.

Blue Ridge is a beautiful small town tucked up in the mountains in Georgia and reminds me so much of Wrightwood minus the river. I’d been numb when I first left West Virginia, but once the waterworks fell, I struggled to stop them.

Lindee had traveled with me to Chicago where I promptly left Impact. My heart knew long before my brain caught up; my time in Chicago was over. When I’d entered Tucker Ashford’s office, he took one look at me and surmised what I had to say.

I quit.

I’d tried to explain my decision without painting Mach in a negative picture. After twenty years in the industry, I recognized I needed a change. When Tucker had asked me what I’d do next, I told him I wasn’t certain. My heart and my head had ached with every word.

The truth was I needed distance to process all that had happened in a matter of days.

Wrightwood’s fire. Mach’s betrayal. Leaving Impact.

Mae had suggested a road trip to our brother’s place in Georgia.

I’d felt terrible asking Mae to keep the truth of our destination from Tucker for a few days, but I needed time. Time for my once-again broken heart to mend. Time to confirm my next steps. Time to erase the pain inside me.

I loved Mach, and he didn’t love me back. This was an old song on repeat.

So, to Georgia we went.

Our brother Garrett lives in a renovated pre-Civil War home with his gorgeous wife, Dolores, and her feisty grandmother, Magnolia. The older woman is a hoot, with her pop-bottle thick glasses and her shotgun tales. She’s sharp as a tack and entertains us for days. It’s obvious she adores Garrett and has a close relationship with her granddaughter.

The place has multiple bedrooms, two parlors, a large dining room, a breakfast nook bigger than my entire kitchen, and a modernized kitchen made for a gourmet chef, but my favorite spot is a screened-in porch off the side of one of the front rooms. My sisters and I often sit here under blankets with warm, spiced wine, dogs at our feet, and deep conversation. Garrett has a chocolate lab named Wally, and when he proposed he gifted Dolores with Rainbow, which is evidence of the romance Mach does not believe exists in a marriage.

“We need to do this more often,” Mae says. “We need to reunite in person.” The years have passed with phone calls and text messages. Short, holiday visits home to see our mother didn’t always include everyone.

“Maybe we should make a reunion an annual thing?” Lindee suggests.

“We could road trip again,” Mae adds with excitement.

While Mae might love a road trip, the one I took prior to driving to our brother’s resulted in marriage mayhem, and my heart ripped in half. “I think I’ll pass on more road trips, but we could do destination vacations.”

“Like Cancun?” Lindee asks dreamily. She has expensive tastes for someone who restores antiquated buildings. She also loves a good resort.

Mae wrinkles her nose. “We aren’t spring break bound. Let’s do something that involves more relaxation.”