Hello, Again (Book 2)

Birthday

Katherine

Steaks sizzled on the barbecue while I was scorching under the sun—and the weight of expectations. A month. One month had gone by, turning April into May, and no answer for the letter to my father. Jonathan Greenfield.

"Do you think he got it?" I leaned over to Matt as he turned the steaks over.

"Yeah. Erland understands the responsibility of being in the trust." Matthew grinned over his shoulder. "Even if he does look silly playing with water balloons with his friends right now."

"Not Er." I shook my head. "But we can talk about him later. I meant Jonathan."

Matthew's expression tightened, and he hesitated. "I don't know, Kat. Any number of things could've happened with the letter."

"Maybe he threw it out..."

"Definitely not that." Matthew speared a raw steak and slapped it on the grill. "And I don't think Andrew would've intercepted it either. He would've sent something back to you, or Erland."

"Grace might've shown it to him, if she wasn't at that place." I frowned in memory of the ride to the airport, and her tears at going back to the reformatory school. At least, if I did the math right, she would be done in a month or so. Hopefully her only stay at a place like that.

Matthew studied my expression. "It's not up to you to decide."

"What do you mean?" Defensiveness reared in my chest.

"Grace isn't your daughter. Her parents know what's best for her... just like how your mother knows what's best for Erland." He gave me a look, though not without warmth. "I know you love your brother, but he's an adult now, and I know he'd appreciate it if you treated him like one moving forward."

I glanced over his shoulder at Erland, who had gotten into a tickle fight with Bella. He squirmed away from her touch, twisting out of her reach, before grasping her around the middle and using her as a human shield from their friends' water balloons. She laughed and shrieked, and Erland finally let her go. They said something back and forth, but Matthew was talking again and I jerked my attention to him.

"—got a good head on his shoulders, you know." He glanced at me, then nodded back at Erland. "Let him grow up. You'll see what he can do. He's even given me some good perspective with some of my cases."

I frowned. "We weren't talking about Erland before. You changed the subject."

"I made a good point." Matthew closed the lid of the grill, wiped his hands on the kitchen rag, and turned to me now. "If he comes, he comes. You can't force anything to happen."

I crossed my arms. "What happened to letting me decide?"

"I said pray about it." He flicked the rag at me. "Which you did, or so you say. All you can do now is trust God. Let it go." He pressed a kiss to my temple. "See what happens."

I clamped my lips shut. He was right, but I wasn't ready to say so.

Bella roped me in to the next water balloon fight, girls against guys, and we lost. It didn't help that Matthew threw a balloon from the porch. "No fair!" I'd called up at him.

He laughed. "It's girls versus guys. No one said you had to be on the grass to play. Put the game aside for now, everyone, lunch is ready."

Lunch was full of laughs and a few more water balloons, but it passed quickly, and by the end, Erland was rushing upstairs to hop in the shower. "He sure is ready," said Mom leaning over to me.

I laughed. "It's only his name on a piece of paper. He can't pull anything out without either Matt, you, or I signing off. And I'm not about to sign off on a new car, if that's what he's thinking."