“Then let me do what any best friend would do in this situation.” As they talked, Evan rocked the baby in his office chair, patting his back until Holden was out cold for his morning nap.

“You’re good with him.”

Evan looked down, seeming surprised to find Holden asleep. “Check me out.”

“You’re going to be a great dad someday.”

“I’m kinda looking forward to that day.”

“What the hell’s happened to the two of us?”

“The best possible thing,” Evan said.

“You said it.”

“So we’re cool about me coming on Tuesday?”

“Yeah, we’re cool. Thanks, Ev.”

Evan waved off the gratitude as if it was no big deal to put his life on hold to be there to support Owen at the trial.

“While I have you,” Owen said, anxious to change the subject, “I’ve figured out what song I want you to play when Laura and I have our first dance at the wedding.”

“Lay it on me, brother.”

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

After Owen left with Holden, Laura tried to go back to sleep for a while. The vomiting always took a harsh toll on her, but with so much to be done before their trip, she couldn’t seem to turn off the busy brain that refused to get onboard with the fact that the rest of her was a hot mess in need of more sleep.

She reached for her cell phone on the bedside table and made an appointment to see Victoria Stevens, the local midwife-nurse practitioner before the trip on Tuesday. Luckily, the clinic was open seven days a week in the summer, and she was able to book an appointment with Vic late tomorrow afternoon. Laura had resisted Victoria’s suggestion that she take something for the nausea, because she was convinced she could power through it the way she had with Holden. She also hated the idea of taking something that had even a small chance of harming her unborn children.

But there was no way she could “power through it” and accompany Owen to Virginia, too. Desperate times indeed called for desperate measures. She got out of bed and took a shower, hoping her stomach would calm down enough to allow her to be productive. She thanked God every day for the fact that Sarah was with them and could manage the hotel as efficiently as she could herself, but Laura still felt guilty about deferring so much of the responsibility to Owen’s mother when she was collecting a paycheck from his grandparents.

She forced herself to consume a handful of saltine crackers and some weak tea before heading downstairs, where the smells of breakfast coming from the dining room had her heading directly for the ladies’ room, where the crackers and tea came right back up.