Love Therapy (Stanton Falls #2) (14 page)

“Sweetie, don’t worry.
 Your mother and I are going to be here to help you out.  It took you
long enough but I’m glad you finally decided to let us be here for you and our
grandbaby.  You know a big city is nowhere to raise a child by yourself.”

Her father had looked at
her while he was driving and had seen the concern on her face.  He placed
his hand on hers and continued.

“I know it wasn’t part
of your plan to get pregnant at this point in your life.  That definitely
isn’t what we expected when you went off to school, but God knows what He is
doing.  You made some decisions and you have to live with them, but you
aren’t going to do it alone.”

His words took the sting
off of what she was feeling.  Her dad was one of the kindest people she
knew.  She was convinced she had the best parents in the world, with him
and her mother.  They supported her from day one, with her mother making
the two hour drive to spend weeks at a time with her and her little grandbaby.
 Even still, they were always telling her to come home and have family
around to help raise the baby.  She felt low at times.  She’d made
all the decisions that they had told her not to.

“Thanks daddy.”

She didn’t get how they managed
to still see her as their little girl.  The car pulled up to her parents’
house and she got out to her screaming sister calling out to her as she
sprinted out the door to give her a proper greeting.  

“Emily!”

Elizabeth was her younger
sister by two years and at times her very best friend.  Seeing her face
again, she was glad that Elizabeth had convinced her to move back to Stanton
Falls.  She had considered at first moving in with her sister instead of
her parents but ultimately decided it would be better to stay with her parents
since her mother didn’t work and--in her own words--couldn’t have enough time
in the world to pinch those precious cheeks.  She embraced her sister for
at least a few seconds.  She had missed that part of life.  Being a
pediatric nurse and a single mother, she couldn’t even remember the last time
she had hugged an actual grown up.  

“Liz!  I am so glad to see you sis.”  

“Sure you are.
 Anyway, it’s nice to see you too, although you took your sweet time in
coming back.  Common sense finally showed you where you belong. Now on to
bigger and better things.  Where is my little niece at?”

“Wow sis.  Not even
a three second greeting and my return is yesterday’s old news already.
 Yes, you are definitely my sister.  C’mon, she’s sleeping in the
back.  Help me grab her.”  

They walked to the back
seat of the car and stopped for a minute to watch the baby.  Liz whispered
softly to her about how she made a cute baby.  Her attempt at stealth went
in vain as Ashleigh’s little brown eyes blinked slowly a few times before she
yawned and reached out for her mother, requesting release from her restraint in
the car seat.   

“Well, she’s awake now
so get ready for a million questions.  She’s at that age.”  

“Wow.  I still
can’t even believe that
you
have a kid.  My big sister.  So
much has changed in the past few years.”  

“Not everything I bet!”
 Emily tickled her little sister and fought back her own side splitting
laughter as Liz jumped at least two feet away.  “Still can’t fight a good
tickle, can you?”

The girls laughed as
they unbuckled a laughing Ashleigh from the car seat, leading her into her new
home.  Their playfulness had triggered a feeling Emily hadn’t felt in a
long time and if her laughter was any indication, Ashleigh was going to have a
great time figuring out what all the fun was really all about.  The truth
was that Emily couldn’t think of a better place in the world to raise her baby.
  

***

Aaron sat at his desk
working on designs and support for the website changes he was planning on
making.  With so much data hacking going around in the news, he had been
researching and found some great ideas on new checks and balances to protect
information.  When he got a knock on his door, he tore his gaze from the
screen long enough to see Nick standing in the hallway.  He swiftly
returned his attention to his work, silently praying he would be able to send
him away without too much time wasted.  

“Hey Aaron, what’s goin on buddy.”

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