Free The Wonder of You by Susan May Warren Page B

accident site, when they pulled out her parents, she named them but sounded so detached.” Amelia scooted a stoolnext to Yulia, setting her camera case on the counter. “Can I talk you into some macaroni and cheese for the local photojournalist?”
    “Oh, Amelia, did you get the job? That’s wonderful news!” Ingrid went to the stove and returned to the counter with a plateful.
    “I don’t know yet, but I got shots not only of the oh-so-exciting Girl Scout Troop 168 car wash, but also the events at the river.”
    “The whole thing is so sad,” Ingrid said. “Tourists just don’t realize how dangerous it is to wade in the rivers and creeks. Life turns ugly so fast. Makes a person want to hold tighter to the happy moments. The joy.”
    A beat of silence passed.
    Then Ingrid said, her tone brightening, “Max and Grace   —to what do we owe this surprise visit?”
    He glanced at Grace for cues, ready to announce the big news. But she wore a strange expression. “Uh, we thought, since Max’s season was over, we’d help with your Mother’s Day breakfast-in-bed event. Darek told me how you’re making cinnamon rolls for the guests, and . . . we thought we’d help. Right, Max?”
    She gave him a smile and for a second, the way the lie slid like honey off her lips made him doubt everything she’d ever told him.
    “Uh, yeah.”
    “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Ingrid said. “I’d love some help in the kitchen. In fact, I’ll even move aside and let you two Iron Chefs take over.”
    “You don’t have to   —” Max started.
    “Grace, help yourself to the fridge, and if you don’t want mac and cheese, then whip up something for you and Max to eat. I’ll make up Eden’s bed for Yulia with you and Amelia in the attic. Max, you have your choice   —the den or the boys’ room.”
    He glanced at Grace, who suddenly seemed to forget that, yes, they were married, because she said . . . nothing?
    He might regret marrying her, but hello, he had no intention of spending even one night away from his new bride.
    Except she met his eyes, a stream of panic in hers.
    Shoot. “The den sounds great, Ingrid. Let me help.” He thought it came out in a growl, but Ingrid seemed not to notice.
    “I’ll get the sheets,” Grace said. She wrinkled her nose in an I’m-sorry expression.
    But maybe she, like him, needed time to get her footing. Figure out how to tell her parents that yes, they’d finally jumped in, both feet, regardless of the sentence looming in front of them.
    And while John and Ingrid   —the entire family, probably   —knew about his diagnosis, he expected a hard conversation with John about how Max intended to provide for Grace when his body no longer could.
    Yeah, that conversation, in light of today’s tragedy, could possibly wait until tomorrow.
    But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to talk Grace into sneaking down to the den in the wee hours. For a moment, that very thought slid a smile up his face.
    Grace caught it as she returned with a stack of sheets. He retrieved them, their hands brushing.
    Then he winked, and deliciously, she blushed. As if she might be thinking the same thing.
    Oh, how he loved her.
    She turned, laughing at something Amelia was saying as she jogged up the stairs.
    “How about a slice of that chocolate cake,” Grace said to Max.Then she patted Yulia on the back, looked down at her, such tenderness in her expression it could stop time.
    And in that second, darkness rushed back with a force that felt like a check into the boards as Max figured it out. He didn’t fear the news of the elopement or even the future looming before him.
    Because he could give his wife everything   —his heart, his money, his strength, his faith. But he could never give her what she truly wanted.
    A family like the one she’d grown up in.

    As usual, her family had swooped in and taken over. Amelia tried not to let the way Grace tucked Yulia into bed, reading her a story as if she’d