North Country(126)

“Great. Thank you.” Maybe there is a working heart in at least one Murphy chest cavity, after all. And the tip may not be much but it’s another piece of the puzzle. If Terry plays it right, it might just be another nail to stick in Matt’s coffin.

Axel lingers, shifting from foot to foot as he waits for his fueling to finish. I imagine the idea of helping the police is unpleasant for him.

“See you soon.” I smile. For once around a Murphy, it’s genuine. “And Axel?”

His eyebrows arch with wariness. “What?”

“This mess between your uncle Hank and Logan, I’d stay far away from it if I were you. No need to get involved with something he did years ago. Consider that solid advice.” I don’t want to tip my hand too much.

I leave Axel to heed that warning, dialing Terry’s number as I pull away.





Chapter 47





Logan




“Gosh, aren’t they perfect?” My mother hovers over the tiny, sleeping figures in the bassinets, staring at her newest grandchildren, two girls born within minutes of each other. “And they don’t even need the incubator.”

“Of course they’re perfect. They’re Sarah’s.” Jon leans down to kiss Sarah’s forehead. “You did so good.”

“Babe?”

“Yeah?”

She peers up at him. “You’re never touching me again until you get fixed.”

I burst out laughing.

And that’s how Emery finds us, hugging a bouquet of white daisies against her uniform shirt, the circles under her eyes heavy from lack of sleep.

“They’re letting everyone in, huh?” She eases into the room, sparing my arm a squeeze on her way past before setting the flowers on a table. She peers down at the babies. “Look how tiny they are!” Her smile is genuine, her face awestruck. “Have you named them yet?”

“Yes.” Sarah’s gaze is loving as she regards her twin daughters. “Eden and Lily.”

“They are carbon copies of each other. ”

“And here I was, getting used to telling Carson and Brooks apart.” I sigh.

“Maybe you can give them a shovel to play with.” Sarah shoots me a stern look, as if the scar between Carson’s eyes is my fault.

“Don’t worry, we’ll put a little spot of nail polish on one of their toes. Remember, that’s how we could tell the boys apart when they were born.” My mom smiles down adoringly at them. “Aren’t they so cute?”

“Not according to Egan.” Jon chuckles. “He isn’t handling the move from baby of the family to big brother well. He wants us to send them back to wherever they came from.”

Emery laughs, and it’s such a lighthearted sound. It’s nice to hear given all the heaviness in recent days.

“Do you want to hold one?” Sarah asks Emery. “They’re going to wake up to feed any minute, anyway.”

Emery’s eyes light up. “Yes. Give me a sec.” She rushes off to the little bathroom in the private room to wash her hands.

I’m tempted to follow her in, corner her, and ask her what’s going on with Holly’s case. I’ll never forget the look on Emery’s face when she realized that the Bale House bar owner was the man behind Holly’s disappearance and death. I thought she was going to collapse from shock at first, but then she kissed me and literally ran to those detectives, and I haven’t seen her since.

Sarah grins at me. “I think someone’s getting baby fever.”

“Don’t start …” I shake my head.

Emery reappears, moving swiftly to collect the sleeping baby on the left.

“That’s Eden,” Sarah notes.

“I remember when Isla was this little.” Emery cradles the tiny body. “It’s funny, when you’re in the thick of it, you want those days to hurry up. But now I wish I could have them back, even for just a little while.”

I watch Emery’s body gently sway left to right as she stares longingly at the bundle, and I’m bowled over by a conflicting swell of anger, regret, hope, and determination. I wish I could hit rewind and live all those moments with her for the first time, not as a bystander through letters while rotting in a prison cell. But at least I had that much, thanks to my mother’s unwavering determination to keep me connected.

And as lucky as I feel that Emery’s given me a second chance, at possibly great cost to her, there are moments like right now, when the magnitude of how much I’ve lost hits me and I’m overwhelmed by sadness.

While everyone else is focused on Emery, I catch Sarah staring at me.

“Logan, you should hold her,” she says softly.

Emery’s head snaps up. “What? You haven’t held one of them yet?”

“It’s fine,” I mutter.

“No, it’s not. You’re not missing this.” Emery glides around the bed toward me. “Come on.”

I comply and she carefully transfers the sleeping baby into my arms.

Eden flinches and her eyes open a crack, but then she settles just as quickly.

“See?” Emery’s green eyes shine with emotion as she peers up at me. “You’re a natural.”

Sarah catches my attention by mouthing “baby fever.”