I’ve looked for her everywhere.

“Ellie?” I call again as I enter the kitchen.

It’s just like we left it. Everything in its place like Bill could walk back in and settle down in his chair, flipping on an old Western. She doesn’t want to disturb it yet and that’s fine with me. It’s her call. But this disappearing act she has going on has to stop.

I’m about to head back into the living room when something catches my eye. Moving over to the window that overlooks the backyard, I see her. She’s sitting on a makeshift bench overlooking a garden that was probably a productive scene a few weeks ago. Everything is sort of overgrown now, some vegetables clearly rotting as they hang on their vines.

She’s sitting with her back to me, facing the setting sun.

The last day has been hard for her, harder than I can imagine. I’ve not lost a parent and she’s lost both. Camilla suggested I just stick around, offering to help in any way I can. It feels like not enough. Especially as she cried herself to sleep, finally, in my arms this afternoon.

The door squeaks as I go through and make my way around the corner of the house. If she hears me coming, she doesn’t move.

I give her shoulders a soft squeeze as she rests her head on my arm. “The sunset is pretty tonight.”

“Yeah.”

I take a seat beside her and watch the streaks of pink and purple blaze across the sky. “Are you okay?”

“I will be,” she says resolutely. “He’d kill me if he knew I was sitting here crying.”

“I think he’d understand.”

Her shoulders lift and fall. She toes a rock with her shoe before looking at me. “A lot of people looked at him like he was just another old man,” she says. “He didn’t finish high school. I’m not sure how well he could read, really. He used to have me spell the words when he’d work the crossword puzzles in the papers.”

She smiles to herself at the memory. “I get now why he was so chatty the last few months. He knew he was dying.”

“I think he wanted you to keep living your life and not feel like you had to baby him.”

“Probably.” She kicks another rock. “Speaking of babies, what are we going to do about ours?” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, a little grin sneaking up on her lips.

“I don’t want you worrying about anything, Ellie.”

“Fine.” She turns to face me. “I’m scared you’re going to leave me.”

My laughter fills the garden. “There’s no way I’m leaving you and you sure as hell aren’t leaving me.”

“But what about Barrett?”

“What about him?” I shrug. “If he needs my help, I’ll give it to him. Of course I will. But …” I lean close to her. “I hope I find myself as a married man in the next nine months and can bail out on the travel arrangements because my wife needs me at home.”

“Really? You would do that?”

“You think there’s a chance I wouldn’t?” I laugh. “Look, Barrett is my family and he always will be. That goes for all of my siblings. But, make no mistake, you and our baby are now the most important thing in my life, bar none. No one comes before you. Period.”

She blinks back a fresh round of tears.

“Come here.” I pull her into my side, kissing the top of head.

“I want to apologize to you,” she whispers against my shirt.

“Stop.”

“No, hear me out. I’ve told you I have trust issues and I’ve blamed them on you—right or wrong. I’ve pointed out all the things I want to do with my life.”

“Things you will do with your life,” I correct her.

“Will do. Yes,” she whispers. “We’ve both done stupid things and said dumb things and gotten scared for various reasons. I want you to know I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“Seriously, stop,” I say, squeezing her.

“It’s important for me to know you know that. That you know I recognize how amazing you are. You check off all my boxes.”

“Your boxes?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she laughs. “Thank you, Ford, for sticking with me.”

“Thank you for being so stick-with-able.”

She laughs, planting a kiss to my sternum. “We should be celebrating right now.”

“We will, but we have months to think about that. Right now we need to honor your father.”

“He didn’t want a funeral,” she says, her voice cracking. “I hate that. He felt so alone the last few years, and he just expects me to just toss him in the dirt.”

“I tell you what,” I say, “if you want to do a funeral, you do a funeral. He can’t tell you no.”

“What if no one comes?”

“Does it matter?” I ask. “It’s your way of showing him the respect he deserves.”

“Will you go with me to plan it?” She looks at me through her thick lashes. “I can’t go alone.”

“Baby, you never have to go anywhere alone again. It’s me and you.”

She turns to me and buries her head in my shoulder. “I feel really alone right now, Ford. I know you are here and I appreciate that so much. But … it’s just me. My parents are gone. I’m an only child. It’s …”

Pulling back, she wipes her eyes with her hand. “I don’t want our baby to be an only child,” she whispers.

“So you’re saying you want me to give you a houseful of children? Sold.” I grin at her and am relieved to see her smile back. “I’ll give you anything you want as long as you keep giving me those smiles.”

Her cheeks turn a shade of pink, and she looks back at the garden. “I don’t want you to think I’m just saying this because of what just happened with my dad …”

I’m almost afraid to ask. Almost. “What?”

Her looks at me with wide, hopeful eyes. “I’m sorry for not trusting you. For not trusting us.”

“Hey. It’s okay.”

“I laid in bed last night and thought about things. I thought about us and things my dad said and how I feel and the baby …” She hesitates. “This is my rainbow.”

I give her a confused look and she laughs.

“You and this baby are my rainbow, the pot of gold after all the rain,” she explains. “After we get through this, I’m yours. Completely.”

I chuckle. “Like you already aren’t.”

“You’re right,” she says, reaching out and touching my face. “I already am.”

Footsteps make us look towards the house to see Violet and Heath coming around the corner. Both of their faces are wet. Ellie runs to them when she sees them and they stand in a circle, hugging and crying.

I pad across the lawn. “Hey,” I say. Violet turns to me. “Are you going to be here a while?”

She nods.

“I’m going to go take care of a few things. Will you stay with her until I get back?”

“Absolutely.”

I kiss Ellie’s cheek and leave them to have some time together.