She nodded in understanding. “Just know that I expect my own locker with my own gear when I come back,” she smirked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Donny saluted with his free hand, his blue eyes bright with laughter.
“Desert is served,” the waiter announced as he approached their table. He placed Andrea’s coffee cookie crumble before her and Donny’s tiramisu before him.
“Thank you,” they both replied.
After the waiter left, she dug into the sweet treat, the rich coffee taste and the texture filling her with satisfaction. A soft moan of approval left her lips and her eyes closed as she savored the taste. When she opened her eyes, Donny was staring at her in awe.
“This cake is really spectacular,” she expressed, pulling a piece onto the fork, and holding it out to him. Donny leaned forward to accept her cake. After a few chews, his head bobbed in approval.
“You’re right. It’s great,” he agreed.
Andrea smiled approvingly before returning her attention to her dessert. “How’s Bruce and Janice?”
“They’re fine,” Donny responded in between bites of his own dessert. “I spoke to them yesterday. Janice had an ultrasound, and my grandson is a healthy ball of energy.” He beamed with pride.
“That’s great news,” Andrea replied, pleased.
After a few more talks about their children, Donny finally asked for the check.
The two walked hand in hand toward Donny’s car. Andrea was grateful for the extra warmth their connected palms provided. Even though she had on her tweed jacket, the biting cold still seeped through, making her a bit chilly. She noted it was considerably colder at this end of the island than it was back in Oak Harbor.
Donny turned on the heater the moment he started up the car, a welcome reprieve for her.
Andrea looked over at him while he drove. He turned to her, his look questioning before his eyes were front and center once more.
“In case I don’t get to tell you. I had a wonderful time tonight,” she informed him.
A smile graced his lips. Without taking his eyes off the road, he reached for her hand across the console and joined their fingers. “I had a really good time too,” he confirmed.She leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder as a smile of contentment settled on her lips. However, that contentment quickly disappeared into alarm at the blaring red lights coming from the main house, putting her on high alert. She exchanged a worried look with Donny.
As soon as his car stopped right behind the ambulance parked right at the porch steps, Andrea rushed out, her heart beating wildly. An ambulance here could only mean one thing— her mom. She froze in place when she saw the stretcher pass through the open door, but her petrification quickly turned to confusion when she saw Cora holding the hand of a crying Julia as the paramedic wheeled her out.
“What happened?” Andrea asked the minute she got to them.
Cora glanced at her, but no words came from her mouth. The look on her sister’s face knifed through Andrea.
“Ma’am, we gotta move now,” the paramedic advised. Cora looked from Julia to her, her expression helpless.
“Go,” Andrea encouraged. Everything will be okay. Cora followed them up in the van that closed immediately after she sat, and right after, the van hurtled down the pathway, the siren announcing that they had an emergency case.
Andrea turned back to the door to see her daughter standing with her hand across her chest, a helpless expression on her face. “What happened?”
Her question seemed to snap Rory out of her stupor as she turned to focus on her. “Aunt Cora found her on the bathroom floor…she was doubled over in pain and…and bleeding.”
Andrea’s heart slammed against her chest. She felt a soothing hand against her back and looked up to see Donny staring back at her in concern. A wave of guilt flooded her.
She should have said something to Cora this morning.
ChapterEighteen
Rory wiped at the tear that had escaped to fall down her cheek as the final credits of the movie she’d been watching with her family began rolling. It had been a good movie, but it had a bitter-sweet ending.
“I thought they would have ended up together,” she heard her aunt say from beside her with melancholy.
“Me too,” her mother agreed from her other side. Rory looked over to see Andrea swiping at the tears that were falling over each other as they cascaded down her flushed face.
A rueful smile graced her lips as Rory nodded her agreement, unable to voice her own sentiments, even though it had been touted as a romance movie, the main characters, although madly in love, in the end, chose different paths that led them away from each other. Sometimes love really wasn’t enough, and people ended up fighting a battle that they would eventually lose. However, love also made letting go difficult. Her mind flashed to James, and her heart squeezed tightly against her chest.
