Page 8 of Pieces into Place
“All of us.”
“Forever,” Mason giggled, which caused Silas to stir awake. He cried softly as Mason gently touched Silas’s cheek. Silas turned toward her hand, making Mason smile. “He wants lunch.”
Handing Silas to Mason, Isla watched as she expertly lifted her shirt and latched him onto her breast. There was something so beautiful about watching her daughter with her son. Mason looked down at Silas with such love and he looked up at her with the same look in his eyes. She talked to him softly as he nursed and Isla soaked in the sight.
Isla rested her arm on the back of the couch as she twirled Mason’s hair around her fingers. Mason shifted to lean into her, putting her head on Isla’s shoulder.
“I’m so proud of you, Mace.”
“For what?”
“For everything. For being yourself. You’re an amazing kid and it’s been an amazing privilege to watch you grow into this extraordinary mom for Silas.”
“I learned it all from you.”
“And Mama,” they both added in unison, making them laugh. After a few minutes of silence between them, Mason cleared her throat as she looked up at Isla.
“Mom?”
“Hmm?”
“Blake will realize that too one day. I know she will. I know she didn’t get to experience what it was like to be a Mackenzie growing up, but she has all the love that comes with being part of this family. Eventually she’ll get it.She’ll be a Mackenzie one day and all the pain will have been worth it.”
Isla didn’t stop the tears from falling from her eyes as she pulled Mason closer to her.
“Thank you for saying that, baby.”
“I mean it too. It’s not just empty words to make us feel better.”
Mason’s use of the worduswasn’t lost on Isla. She had as much pain over Blake’s absence and reluctance to relate to them as Isla did. Their pain might look different on the surface, but underneath it was all a pain of Blake not being fully in their lives. Not the way Mackenzies were used to.
But for the first time in her life, Isla realized something that made her heart hurt even more. Blake had never been a Mackenzie. Not legally. She was a Calloway, then a Holland. It seemed like such a simple thing; it wasn’t as if a last name could change your life. Still, the reality hurt Isla.
DoesBlake feel the same way?
Isla almost asked Mason the question in her mind before Mason seemed to answer it.
“I think she wants that. To be a Mackenzie.” Mason adjusted Silas as she sat him up on her knee to burp him. “I can’t explain it, but I can see it. The way she’s always just on the outside of things. Family events, birthday parties, dinners. She wants to be more present, but something is holding her back. I think the baby will help her cross whatever line only she sees.”
“You do?”
Mason nodded. “I know how pregnancy affected me and made me want to be closer to you and Mama to learn everything before this one came out. I hope and pray every day Blake will be the same way.”
“Me, too, baby.” Isla kissed the top of Mason’s head as she tried to keep her composure. “Me, too.”
Chapter 4
Blake
Being holed up in her home office wasn’t Blake’s ideal way of spending an afternoon. Especially not one that was dark and gloomy and rainy. And especially not when Alexis and their friend Maddie Carlson were doing crafts with Archer and Reese in the kitchen. Judging from their excited giggling and chatting, they were having an amazing time together.
Blake, however, was not having a good time. She was trying to focus on getting more words onto the page, but they weren’t flowing like they had been. Her script was halfway done and her characters were smack in the middle of a huge argument. Which felt fitting, since everything recently seemed to set Blake off.
She’d been blaming her hormones for her attitude, but Blake knew they were only partially to blame. The anger and frustration she felt had been bubbling up for months—no,years—and it was all finally coming to a head. Whether or not Blake was ready for that. All the demons and unresolved trauma from her past were making their way to the surface, and Blake was going to have to face them sooner rather than later.
Later sounded like the better option to her. She had to focus on work and growing a baby.
The latter had been harder than Blake had expected. Alexis had handled pregnancy like a badass, and Blake had naively thought she could do the same. But every new milestone in pregnancy seemed to humble Blake more. Morning sickness had kicked her ass. Her expanding waistline felt tight and itchy all the time. And, to top it all off, she still felt disconnected from the baby inside of her.
