Page 50 of Once Upon a Summer Night

Hannah bit back a groan. This was precisely why she’d wanted to talk about T-ball practice with Chase before he brought it up. “But sweetheart, our home is in Illinois. And your school, and all your friends. And Swimmy. Don’t you miss your goldfish?”

“But we can bring Swimmy here. Please, Hannah? I want to play T-ball.”

“How about we look into signing you up for T-ball when we get home in a few weeks?”

The sulking that commenced in the backseat told her that was not the answer Noah was hoping to hear. So did his stomping into the house and his abnormally quiet bath time. When he turned down her offer to read him a bedtime story, Hannah nearly cried. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d passed on story time.

But when she tucked him in and made to leave, he grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle tug. Her sullen boy might not have been happy with her, but he still needed some cuddle time. Considering it progress, she eased onto Del’s old bed beside him and ran her fingers through his hair, brushing his bangs back from his smooth forehead.

“Can we please stay in Bourbon Falls, Hannah?”

She took in his puppy dog eyes and nearly said yes. But the decision wasn’t as easy as a yes or a no. There were new jobs to find, a lease to finish, and school to be registered for.

Oh, and a looming custody battle to win.

“I’ll think about it,” she said, and pressed a kiss to his nose.

That satisfied him for the night, and Noah soon dozed off. Hannah rose and came to stand at the doorway, a smile tugging at her lips as a tiny snore sounded from the little boy who had stolen her heart upon taking his first breath. He looked so small in that full-size bed, peeking out from beneath one of the many patchwork quilts their nana had made.

Is that what she’d looked like, once upon a time?

She pictured her mother standing in the old farmhouse’s bedroom doorways all those years ago, watching over her sleeping babies. Warmth spread through her. The memories she had of her mother had long ago grown too foggy to recognize. What she’d come to hold on to was more of a feeling than an image. Of feeling loved and safe from the world as her mother told story after story each bedtime, curled up beside her under a quilt just like the one Noah slept beneath now.

She wanted that for Noah, wanted him to always feel loved and protected. And though she had also lost her mother at about his age, she’d had the most amazing aunt in the world move back to Bourbon Falls and do all she could to help heal and care for their devastated family. Hannah had never considered how difficult it must have been for Aunt Faye, in those early days, trying to fill her mother’s shoes. Now, in this uncanny twist of fate, Hannah was attempting to do the same for Beth.

Her aunt came to stand beside her, and Hannah leaned into the solid rock upon which their family had rebuilt itself.

“How did you do it?” she whispered.

“What’s that?”

“Step into Mom’s shoes without missing a beat.”

Aunt Faye chuckled softly in the glow of the hallway night-light. “Oh, trust me, I missed many a beat. I’d never had children of my own and didn’t know a thing about how to pack school lunches or follow bedtime routines. Those first few months, I felt like a complete failure. Cried myself to sleep most nights.”

Her aunt had felt like a failure? There wasn’t anyone on this planet Hannah thought was more organized or competent than Aunt Faye. “Really?”

“Really. I can’t tell you how many times I apologized to your father. Or how many times I packed my bags, convinced I was doing more harm than good and should leave in the morning after you all headed off to school.”

“What made you stay?”

“You.” Aunt Faye’s cheek bumped gently against hers. “You tripped on the sidewalk outside the bookstore one day; your sisters had brought you into town to see me and then go get some ice cream. Your poor little knee was skinned up, your cheeks wet with tears. By then, I’d learned that skinned knees were commonplace in the Brooks household and that ice cream could cure all ailments. So, I sent Mia and Delaney on ahead to Frosty Falls while I got you cleaned up; it’d only been open a few months at the time. Just as I finished applying a fresh Band-Aid to your knee, in walked your sisters with your twist cone. I’ll never forget it. You were sitting on the checkout counter so I could better see what I was doing, and you threw your arms around my neck. ‘Aunt Faye,’ you said, ‘Mama sent us the best angel from heaven. You.’”

Hannah grinned. “I said that?”

“You sure did. And ice cream induced or not, it made me realize two things: one, that you girls didn’t see me as a failure, and two, that my new role was truly an honor.”

“And three, that ice cream was, in fact, a cure-all.” Hannah wrapped an arm around her aunt. Perhaps there had been more reason for her aunt to stay in Bourbon Falls all this time than she’d realized. “Thank you for that.”

“For the ice cream?” Aunt Faye asked.

Hannah laughed softly. “For the story. And the reminder.”

If her aunt, the seemingly unshakable matriarch of the family, had struggled in her role as mother figure to her nieces, then Hannah should allow herself some grace during her own transition period with Noah.

“He adores you,” Aunt Faye said. “And Beth couldn’t have sent a better angel to watch over him, either.”

Tears pricked the corner of Hannah’s eyes. She hugged her aunt tighter, drawing strength from the strongest woman she knew. If Aunt Faye had given up everything to come back to Bourbon Falls and raise her nieces, maybe it was time for Hannah to think about doing the same. Only, in her case, she wouldn’t be giving up everything, just her captain position in Kankakee. Lucky for her, there was always the need for firefighters across the country.

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