Chapters (46)
- Cover
- Other Titles
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Friday
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- Saturday
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- Sunday
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- Monday
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No one says anything. Hamish makes a move to go after her, but Nicki glares at him and he sits back down. After a minute, Walter gets up and picks up London’s chair, setting it back into place. Ross crawls out from under the table and into his mother’s lap. Utensils clash against plates, teeth meet teeth. Katriina concentrates on chewing her steak, trying to figure out how to break the silence.
Shawn beats her to it. “Well,” he says. He takes a sip of wine. “I know it’s been a terrible couple of days for everyone. I think we could all use some good news.”
Katriina feels a knife slice through her chest, hot and sharp and nothing like the relief of the knife in her finger. No, she silently pleads, over and over again. No, no, no. Oh please no.
“We’re having another baby!”
No, no, no, no, no. Katriina smiles weakly as ten sets of eyes turn to stare at her. She resists the urge to run out of the room. “It’s true,” she says, shrugging in what she hopes is a blithe sort of way. “Eight weeks now.” She can’t even bring herself to look at Shawn, can’t bear to see his goofy grin, eyes wide, radiating hopefulness.
This is the moment he wants the most, she realizes. At least I can give him this.
“Oh, great,” says Petey loudly. “It better not be a girl.” The table erupts in laughter. Her darling Petey, the little comedian, unknowingly saving her once again. Everyone starts talking at once, congratulating her, patting Shawn on the back, teasing Petey about having tea parties with his new sister. Amidst the activity, she sees Finn turn to Shawn.
“I guess this means you’re not moving to Ottawa,” she says.
Katriina feels her heart explode like a bomb in her chest, the words moving to Ottawa like shrapnel ricocheting through her body. Moving to Ottawa. Moving to Ottawa. She excuses herself and goes to the bathroom, where she spends the rest of the dinner meticulously prodding at her wounded finger with a pair of tweezers, trying to figure out how to breathe again.
—
After dinner, Shawn tells Katriina he wants to go to the hospital to see Kate. “I’ll come with you,” she says, even though it is getting late and she is tired and she will have to go to the office tomorrow, even though it is a Sunday, because there is month-end and there is Krista Shepherd and there is everything and nothing all at once. There is her life collapsing while Kate is lying in a coma. She just wants a moment with Shawn, away from the rest of the family. Just one moment, to be with her husband, to remind herself that they are a team, that they are in this together.