Page 66 of Coastal Rewind

“She looks like a Marnie,” I whispered.

“Yeah?” Keegan asked, tears welling in her tired eyes.

I nodded and leaned into their space. “Welcome to the world, Marnie Kelly.”

twenty-eight

Mason

The last seventy-two hours had been a whirlwind. When Nolan got the call that Keegan was having her baby, he was on the next flight out of New York. We were due to travel home the next day anyway, and he got home before Keegan was discharged from the hospital.

Ryleigh was there for Keegan’s birth, but she had to leave to get MJ, which made me feel terrible. The moment I walked through the door, I expected her to run to the hospital to see her sister and the baby, but she didn’t.

Something about her was off.

She wasn’t in a bad mood, but her eyes didn’t have the same spark of life they usually did. When I pushed her to go see them, she slowly gathered her things and lingered a few minutes too long before heading out to see her family. I was surprised she wasn’t vibrating with excitement over the new family addition, but she almost seemed a little numb.

Maybe this reminded her of her mom—having a kid signified a new stage of life for the generation. That would be a hard adjustment for anyone who lost a parent so young.

It had been two days since Keegan got home from the hospital and I hadn’t seen much of Ryleigh since. She spent her days with her siblings, and crawled into bed at night, exhausted. We hadn’t really spoken and I was worried about her.

I was pulling on my batting gloves when Nolan walked onto the field. The entire lineup stopped batting practice and started cheering. Nolan beamed and took a bow as if he was the one who just had a child.

“How’s it feel to be an uncle?” Mack asked as Nolan approached us.

“A little surreal.”

“I can’t believe someone is going to let you mold young minds.” Zane clapped his shoulder.

“She’s going to be the funniest kid in her class. That is for damn sure.”

We all started laughing as Nolan picked up a bat and started tossing it from hand to hand.

“Saxley!” Coach Mitch shouted at me from the dugout, gesturing for me. I jogged over and took the few steps down to him.

“Sup, Coach.”

He handed me his cell phone with a worried look. I took it and held it to my ear before muttering. “Hello?”

“Dad?”

My entire body tensed. I left Coach’s number on our fridge in case there was ever an emergency and I was on the field. He knew to only use it if something was really wrong. It was about five in the evening, which meant Ryleigh had picked him up from camp and he should be home with her.

“Is everything okay?” I asked in a panic.

“Dad, something is wrong with Ryleigh. She’s on the ground crying and I’m scared.”

I was already moving for the locker room.

“I’ll be right there.” I tossed Coach his phone back and sprinted down the hallway. I didn’t even bother to change as I grabbed my keys, phone, and wallet and bolted out the door.

The entire drive home, I imagined the worst. What could have happened? Was she okay? Was this why she was acting weird?

Everything I could imagine rushed through my mind from a stomach eating parasite to her appendix bursting.

By the time I burst through the front door, I had convinced myself I was going to be walking into a murder scene.

MJ was crouched over Ryleigh’s body, sobbing. She was in a ball, holding her stomach in the middle of the kitchen. I dropped to my knees and ran my hand over her trembling body.