They didn’t stop their ascent, but obediently called out, “Thank you!”
Rex stepped up to Sierra and hugged her. “Thank you for taking the kids and giving Amy and me some time together.” He let her loose.
Sierra smiled up at him. “Looks like you two put the time to good use.”
Amy shoved her sister toward the door. “Thank you. We appreciate it. Now take your kids home so Rex and I can say good night to our kids and finish what we started.”
Rex glanced at her, a gleam and hope in his eyes. “We’re not done?”
“I’m not done with you.”
“Lucky me.” He headed for the stairs. “I’ll say good night to the kids then. Bye, Sierra.”
“Bye, Rex.”
Amy stood in the open door as her sister stepped out onto the porch.
“I’m happy for you, sis.”
Amy thought about their earlier conversation. “I’m sorry I interfered in your relationship, Sierra. I should have listened to you and told you what I knew about Mason and his feelings for you. I withheld that from you because of my own selfish reasons. It wasn’t right. I was wrong. And I’m sorry.”
Sierra took a few second to absorb that before she closed the distance between them. “It was wrong. You did it for spite because you didn’t want me to have him even though you had Rex and had no intention of doing anything about that old crush. But . . .”
“But?”
“Mason should have come to me if he had feelings and wanted me to reconsider my decision to marry David. Instead of telling you, he should have told me. I was conflicted but I never went to him and said my piece, either. That’s on me.” Sierra gave her sister a hug good-bye, then stepped back. “Let’s leave this in the past where it belongs. Things are different now. We’ve all changed. I know how Mason feels. He knows how I feel. We’re both in a place where we make sense.”
“You two seem really great together.”
“I feel that way, too, which is why I’m going to start talking to the boys about how I feel about Mason and where I’d like to see us in the coming months.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. After everything we’ve been through, I keep asking myself what I’m waiting for. Why I am waiting at all when time is too precious to waste.” She headed down the porch steps. “Stop wasting time, Amy. Rex is waiting for you upstairs.”
Amy took her little sister’s advice, closed and locked the door, and headed up to the man who made her life so much better in every way because he got her kind of crazy and loved her anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sierra stood on the porch, holding the boys’ hands. Her mother stood beside them as Mason pulled into the yard, the truck cab filled with green balloons. So many that she couldn’t even see him through the passenger window.
“What are all the balloons for?” Oliver looked excited for a party that wasn’t going to be exactly joyous, even if they were celebrating. A different kind than they were used to, but a way that was necessary and simply part of life.
“We’re going to send messages to your father in heaven with them.”
Danny’s head whipped toward her. “What?” Tears gathered in his eyes.
She released Oliver’s hand and touched Danny’s wobbly chin. “Your dad passed away a year ago. I thought we should celebrate his life and how much we loved him by sending him our love up into the sky.”
A tear trickled down Danny’s cheek. “I thought you forgot.”
So Danny had been paying attention to the day. She should have known, though he’d been strong and gotten through yesterday without a word. She hated to think of him suffering his sadness in silence. It broke her heart and brought tears to her eyes.
At seven and five, she didn’t think they’d remember the exact date. Her mistake. One she’d never make again.
“No, honey. I will never forget your dad.”
“But you’re with Mason now, right?”
Oh yes, kids paid attention to everything.
She and Mason tried to keep their affection in check around the boys, but she knew they’d caught them innocently touching hands, had noticed the way Mason hugged her good-bye when he really wanted to kiss her, and how he paid so much attention to her.
“I like Mason a lot.” She tried to be low-key about it. “We have feelings for each other. We’ve been friends for a long time,