Free Let Me Love You Again (An Echoes of the Heart Novel Book 2) by Anna DeStefano Page A

time for him to settle in,” she said.
    The doctor was gone. The decision between the available surgical options was made: angioplasty, scheduled for ten o’clock that night. There was only the waiting now. The wondering if they’d made the right choice. And the worrying over their kids. Joe’s mind was preoccupied by family, same as hers, even now. The kids had always been their priority since the day they’d begun fostering.
    “Besides”—she smoothed salt-and-pepper hair back from her husband’s forehead—“when has Oliver ever settled in anywhere? From what he told you earlier, I’d be surprised if he’s stayed in one place all these years more than a few months at a time.”
    And now they had him home—their brilliant boy, all grown up, with his heart in his eyes each time he looked at Marsha or his father . . . or Selena. That fine mind was no doubt already fixated on getting away from them again. Which was unacceptable. She was done enabling his believing that being responsible to the family was all he had to offer. That sending home money was all the contact with life in Chandlerville he needed.
    Joe shook his head. “He’s not going to put up with much more meddling from you, love. Not if he doesn’t understand why.”
    “Then I’ll have some fast explaining to do at the house, won’t I?”
    After which she’d talk with the younger kids and get herself back here, to make certain Joe had whatever he needed.
    They’d scraped by without opting for bypass. But angioplasty was invasive enough. Kask and his team would attempt to widen the main artery leading to Joe’s heart without cracking his chest open to do it. And if they couldn’t . . .
    She brushed the backs of her fingers over the stubble of her husband’s beard. “I want our son back.”
    “I do, too. For longer than a few days. But he’s seen staying away as the answer for himself—and us—for a long time. He’s never been ready to—”
    “Give his whole heart away again? Have we waited too long?”
    “He reached out first,” Joe reminded her, “when he contacted Travis about sending money home. And we didn’t give him a reason
not
to keep that door open. He felt comfortable coming home again because of that. If we’d pushed for more, he might not have.”
    “He’d have been here for you.”
    “He needs to stay for more.”
    “And if he’s not ready to? I won’t be at the house after today, to make sure he sees what’s right in front of him, waiting for him to want it, too.”
    Joe eyed her. “So you’re going to cut to the chase this afternoon?”
    “He needs to know, before it’s too late and he makes a mistake he’ll regret.”
    “He’s a fine man. He’ll do the right thing.”
    “He doesn’t know what the right thing is yet.”
    “Neither do you.”
    “He still believes he’s let us down.” Marsha stared at the clock across from Joe’s bed until her vision cleared. “It’s breaking my heart to see how much being back means to him, and to know he’s already decided that being elsewhere as soon as possible is what’s best for everyone.”
    He
was
a fine young man with a bottomless heart that had refused to let him cut ties completely with the people who wanted to love him. He needed to give folks in Chandlerville a chance to see that—especially Selena. He needed to give himself the chance to finally belong to all of them.
    “The years away have taught him good things about himself,” Joe reasoned. “The next few days will teach him more.”
    “If he stays.”
    “He won’t turn his back on the promise he’s made.”
    Marsha wanted to believe that. “If anything can show him what’s still inside him, diving headfirst into helping with the kids should.”
    Her Joe’s eyes sparkled. He drew her palm to his heart, his hand trembling as it covered hers.
    “The kids get what they need,” he said.
    It had been their pact from the beginning of this crazy dream of theirs—to still have a