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“I heard you’d had the baby,” she says. Her voice changes when she looks at Linc. Softens. “And wanted to come by.”

I swallow. “Would you—do you want anything? Water? Coffee?”

She shakes her head. “No, thank you. He’s beautiful,” she says.

My throat tightens. “Thank you.”

“May I?” she asks, nodding toward Linc. “Hold him?”

“Oh, sure,” I say in surprise.

I hand him to her carefully. She smiles down at him, and the smile grows when he sighs.

Evelyn’s eyes fill with tears she doesn’t let fall. She keeps her eyes on him while she speaks, like it’s easier that way.

“I’m so sorry,” she says quietly. “For the way things have gone.”

I don’t trust myself to say anything, so I don’t.

“I’m sorry Maverick has shut you out,” she continues. Her mouth presses into a thin line. “And Jennifer . . .” She trails off, shaking her head. “I don’t know what to say or how to make any of this better.”

Linc stirs, and Evelyn pauses until he settles again. When she looks up at me, her eyes are shiny.

“I know it would hurt the people I love if they knew I was here,” she says.

The room feels very still.

“But you’re one of those people that I love too, Iris,” she says. Her voice doesn’t waver. “I have from the time I brought you to the ranch after school and you chatted all the way home.” A tear drops down her cheek, and she gives me a wobbly smile. “And I want to be here for you too.”

For a second, I can’t breathe.

No one says they love me anymore. Hearing it from her—here, now—it’s almost more than I can take. I blink hard, but tears fall anyway.

“I love you too, Evelyn. Thank you. We don’t have to let anyone know you came,” I say, my voice barely holding together. “It just means the world to me that you did.”

Her smile is sad, and she nods slowly. “I’d like to come back sometime, if that’s okay.”

“I would love that,” I tell her.

She rocks Linc a little longer, humming under her breath. “He’s just perfect, Iris.”

My heart aches. Tears drip down my cheeks, and she looks up.

“Oh, honey.”

I put my head in my hands and bawl. She moves next to me on the couch and puts her hand on my back, while I wail.

“It’s going to be okay, honey. It’s going to be okay,” she says, her voice cracking as she cries with me.

When I’m all cried out, I grab a tissue from the side table and blow my nose.

“If you ever need me, I’ll be here. Okay?” She pats my leg. “I’ll try to work on my son and Jennifer . . .”

“I don’t want to put you in the middle.” I shake my head and clasp her hand. “It just means so much that you came. It helps to not feel so alone in this.”

She smiles through her tears. “I’ll be back.” She hands me the gift bag. “I brought a little something for this handsome fella.”

“Thank you.”