She hadn’t believed that he could ever climb out of the hole he was in, and who could blame him? Who could even judge him? To lose his wife and child the way that he had... It was horrible. Beyond horrible. She wasn’t sure if she would have been strong enough to make the decision to keep on going. But he had.
In the grand scheme of things, what she was going through was nothing. Particularly by comparison to the things that Griffin had endured.
The first thing that came into view was a small cabin, which she knew that Griffin was going to mention. And she knew that he was going to ask why she wasn’t renting it. And then she was going to have to have an honest talk with him about... Everything. That was the problem. She had been interested in his life, in his recovery from his pain when he was out here hiding from the world, and he wasn’t going to be any less interested in hers. That cabin, he had explained, was where he had lived while he was slowly building the house that he had never really intended to finish or live in.
Griffin had first purchased this lot of property when he was married to his previous wife. They’d had plans to leave California and move to Oregon, live in a house at the top of the mountain. When she died, Griffin had taken it upon himself to build the house as a memorial. Or rather, a punishment. Taking himself off-grid so that no one could get in touch with him, embroiling himself in a project he would never be able to finish. And then, Iris Daniels had come along, and somehow had pulled him out from the grave he was living in. He had finished the house for her. Had brought a whole team of men out to finish it, because the house was no longer a punishment, but a symbol of hope.
And it was a beautiful house. Modern and glinting in the sunlight, large floor-to-ceiling windows that were made to bring the view outside in. Nothing like the little place she was staying in. But then, she hadn’t spent any of her adult life living in any kind of luxury.
Her parents had a very nice house.
And if she ignored the shame she could feel seeping out of the wallpaper, she could focus on the fact that she had grown up in a very privileged, plush surrounding.
But then she had gone out and gotten a job, and had spent the entirety of her adult life supporting a man-child.
She gritted her teeth. Thinking of all the start-up businesses she had invested in. All of the promises he’d made, and she would just have been so desperate to believe them.
She parked her car and shoved that to the side, and as she got out and stood there in her brother’s driveway, she realized that she probably should’ve called. There were two cars in the driveway, which meant that Iris and Griffin were probably home and hopefully expecting her since she’d talked to Iris earlier.
She didn’t want to watch them in any sort of compromising position.
She heard voices coming round from the back of the house, and stopped. And then she heard laughter. Griffin’s laughter. That was when he and his wife rounded the corner, holding on to each other, their hair wet. So they had definitely been out doing... Something. They both stopped when they saw her standing there.
“Mallory?” her brother asked, frowning, looking at her as though she might be an apparition.
“Yes,” she said. “That would be... Me.” She looked at Iris, who was looking apologetically at her husband.
“I wanted her to tell you she was here, especially since I didn’t have details,” Iris said.
Griffin looked at his wife, then back at Mallory. “What are you... Doing here? Are you with...”
Mallory sighed. “Let’s go inside.”
Griffin and Iris exchanged glances, like they were reading each other’s minds with that simple look that passed between them. It made her feel... Strange. They hadn’t been together all that long. Only a few months, and they could already communicate that way. She’d been with a man for years, and he could never anticipate her moods or her mind.
Or, he just didn’t care.
She shoved that to the side. She was bogged down. In thoughts, and feelings. She hated it.
They walked up the front steps and into the house without saying anything, and then Griffin gestured to the couch. “Have a seat. Do you want a drink?”
“Beer if you have any,” she said.
“Of course.”
He walked across the large, open-plan space into the kitchen area, opening up the fridge and taking out a couple of bottles of beer. She noted that Iris didn’t have any. She locked eyes with her sister-in-law, who smiled.
“Really?” Mallory asked.
“Yes,” Iris said. “But it’s early. So we’re not telling anyone yet.”
Her brother looked proud, but she imagined he was a little bit afraid. Griffin was more than familiar with just how hard life could kick you in the teeth.
“Congratulations,” Mallory said, springing up from the couch and hugging them both. “That’s wonderful. It’s wonderful.”
And she would be here. She would be here for her sister-in-law having a baby. She could deliver the baby. She loved pregnancy and birth. She loved the process of it. Medicine meeting miracle, every single time. And yes, it could be a little bit of a high-stress job, but it was part of the fabric of the world. It was the thing that made her feel truly connected to life. It was the process of humanity.
And this... This was an even more personal experience of it.
Her niece or nephew. Her throat went tight. Because she would never forget the first time she’d become an aunt. And even though her niece was gone, it didn’t change the fact that she was the one who had made Mallory an aunt. It didn’t change the fact that Mallory loved her.
“Yeah,” Griffin said. “It’s about that many feelings.”
Griffin was eight years older than her, and their relationship had always been one of... Well, hero worship on her end. He’d been out living life while she’d still been growing up. But he was one of the people she wanted to emulate most in all the world. One of the people she wanted to make proud.
When he’d lost his wife and daughter five years ago, the grief she’d felt for him, for herself and their family had been unbearable. And then he’d taken himself away too. It had been like losing him as well.
Her parents hadn’t known what to do, and Mallory had done her best to try to reach him. It had felt almost necessary to be the one to accomplish dragging him back from the brink.
To bring him back to them.
But he’d met Iris. And she’d transformed him. And now... Now they were having a baby. Starting a whole new life, which she knew he would never have thought possible when he’d been down in the depths of his despair.
“Well I’m really thrilled for you. And I’m glad that I sneaked up here so that I could find out before anyone else.”