“Tell me,” I said. He only got like this when he had anemotional connection to something, and I knew I needed to consider it.
“Samuel,” he said. “For my dad.”
“Oh.” Virginia’s eyes instantly got wet. This was the first time she’d had any reaction to a name. “That’s ... well, Grace, what do you think?”
This meant a lot to them, and I knew how much Dean had loved his dad. There were times when I wished I could have met him. I looked at the sleeping baby in Dean’s arms, imagining calling him some version of that for the rest of my life. I knew my answer immediately.
“I love it,” I said. And I did. It was the only thing that felt right.
“Really?”
I nodded. The name fit him perfectly. It had a lot of nickname potential too. After calling him different pet names for the last few days, both Dean and I would love giving him something for just him. I gazed at our perfect son and realized I had everything I could ever want.
Then I was tearing up again. Dean walked over and silently rubbed my shoulder as I got myself together.
“We’ll have to fill out that paperwork from the hospital finally,” I said as I wiped my eyes. “I need to do that, and probably check my mail.”
“I’ll handle that,” Virginia said. “Be right back.”
“Thank God for your mom,” I said to Dean.
“She’s never gonna leave. I hope you know that. She’s been wanting grandkids since the day I was born.”
Most people would be bothered by that, but for the first time since Mom died, my house feltalive.
“You know, if the hospital bills and court cases aren’t that bad, which is a pretty big if ... part of the basement could be refinished into a mother-in-law suite.”
“You’re willing to let your future mother-in-law live here?”
“That would require you to marry me.”
“Oh, Mama, I have plans for that. I just need this one to not poop and throw up as much.”
I laughed and cleared my throat. Emotion was already back to clogging me up, and I wanted one hour where I wasn’t shedding tears. The baby blues couldn’t leave fast enough.
“To answer your question, no, I wouldn’t mind it. She’s the best mother-in-law I could ask for.”
“She’s amazing, and I know she’d love that. I think life was a little ... boring for her after Dad died.”
“Then let’s hope we don’t get screwed by all the bills we have.”
“Let’s hope,” he repeated.
“The mail is mostly junk,” Virginia said, walking into the room. “Though, this looks quite official. It was shipped overnight, which means it must be important.”
“Might be the first bill,” I muttered as I took it from her.
“I don’t think insurance processes that fast,” Dean said.
“With our luck, they did it immediately.”
Dean could only shrug. No one in the room could deny that we’d had our brushes with bad luck, and ever since Brooke tried to ruin things with us, nothing felt like it was going my way.
Opening the envelope, I braced for a large number.
But the first thing I saw was a letter.
To Grace and Dean,