Page 72 of Blissful Devotion

Oliver holds his hands up in surrender, clearly seeing the error he just made as he rushes to explain.

“The scopolamine doesn’t appear to have had any lasting side effects on you or the baby, but the doctor wants you to rest as much as possible for the rest of the pregnancy. No flying, no stress, nothing.”

“For the next three months, you're not doing anything that could put the two of you in danger. We had the offices overhauled so that we can do most things from home. If you need extra help, we can call on Dale or some housekeepers. Whatever you need, all you need to do is tell us.” Father is in business mode, stern and composed, but I see through him.

He teeters on the edge the same way we all do as worry eats at him. Something tells me this will be our new normal, even after three months is up and the baby is here.

I’ll happily take it; I never loved going to the office.

“I’m fine. This isn’t necessary. You don’t all need to be home every second. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“You're not, never could be. We want to be here with you, with Addy and the baby. We aren’t giving up the business, just shifting our focus a bit. It’s long overdue, Cherry.”

I can see the fight brewing in her eyes, the worry that we will regret this or resent her.

If only she could see that would never happen; it couldn’t, not with how much we love her.

I want to be anywhere she is, even if that meant giving all of this up.

The sound of boots coming down the main stairs rings out before she can say anything, and considering we’re mostly all here, there’s only one person it could be.

Her head whips toward the entryway; one second she’s in the chair beside me, and the next she’s across the room in his arms. The shock on his face is almost funny, if not for the fact that it’s tainted.

I’d nearly kept them apart because I was jealous, unable to see past my own insecurities.

Vince stands frozen for only a moment before he wraps her up in his arms, pulling her close and breathing her in. There’s no resisting her, but even less so now, when we thought we might never get her back.

“You found me.” She pulls back slightly, craning her head back to look up at him, and my heart squeezes in my chest. It’s impossible to miss the sound of her sniffles, but even more so the awe in her words.

“I’ll always find you, Little Beauty,” he tells her, pulling her back into his chest and pressing a kiss to the top of her head in a show of more affection than I was sure he was capable of.

They stay that way for a few minutes, the rest of us looking on, unable and unwilling to ruin it.

She pulls back, quickly wiping her eyes as if embarrassed, then takes a step back, only to pause and look around Vince into the living room.

“I missed Christmas, didn’t I?” It’s a question, but I get the feeling she knows the answer.

Father stands and makes his way to her, sliding his fingers through hers and guiding her from the room, leaving the rest of us to follow or not.

As if any of us could resist the pull to follow her.

The tree was visible from the dining room, but not much more. As he leads her into the main room, her steps slow and her head swivels from side to side as she takes in the room.

The room that looks exactly the same as when she left, including the large stack of presents.

“We waited.” The words are out before I can stop them. I need her to know how much she matters, how much we missed her… that we were lost without her.

She turns to look at me, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks and a wobbly smile on her lips, then looks at the others one at a time, and I think maybe, just maybe, she might see it.

“Someone better go get our girl then. We have presents to open.” She gives a shaky laugh that doesn’t hide her sadness even a little bit, but the smile on her lips lets me know she’s okay, or she will be.

We’ll make sure of it.

Everything is normal, calm even.

Life had been so crazy for a while there; I wasn’t sure this would ever be possible. At first, I worried we might never have a chance to simply be, that Kat might be gone to us.

Then, by some miracle, we’d managed to get her back, only for her to look at us like we were strangers.