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“It’s no intrusion. I’m happy to have you. Mathias and Marlowe are in the kitchen with a snack. Just some fruit and cheese, nothing that will spoil their dinner. They are so sweet, very polite and friendly. And their names! I love Mathias and Marlowe. So unique, and they suit their personalities.”

Maggie’s enthusiasm washed over Bridget like a healing balm. “My sister chose them. She saw them in a book she read in high school and knew then those were the names she would have for her children. You two would have definitely bonded over your love for unusual names.”

Maggie laughed. “Oh, I didn’t choose their names. David did. He liked the idea of having all of their first names start with the same letter. When I was pregnant with Zoe, I shared with him every name I loved, and he rejected every single one. I went to the hospital in labor without a name for my baby. On a whim, David put the baby name book in my overnight bag when we brought it to the hospital.

“The moment he laid eyes on Zoe, he was in love. While I slept, he sat in my room and held her for hours. The nurses told him he was going to spoil her, but he didn’t care. He told me he stayed up the entire night and read every name in the book to her, and he swears when he said the name Zoe, she opened her eyes wide and stared at him with such love, he knew that was the name she liked. I believe he was sleep deprived, but it makes for a nice story.”

“Do they all have stories like that?”

“No. As you can imagine, outside of Zoe, there aren’t many names which begin with Z that are common. David was determined, though, and researched for as many names as he could find. I can’t say I minded the ones he chose.”

“He sounds like a wonderful man.”

“He was very special.” Maggie’s eyes softened, and she seemed lost somewhere in her memories. Bridget felt like an intruder, stumbling into a private moment she was unaware of.

“I, uh, I should go and check on Mat and Lowe.”

“Of course, but I promise you they’re doing fine. If you want to take a minute to yourself, I can keep them occupied. They can help me finish with dinner.”

“I should be with them. They’re probably worried about me, and I want them to know I’m okay.”

Maggie’s gaze intensified as she watched Bridget closely. “Are you? Okay? I don’t know that I would be.”

“I have to be.” Bridget surprised herself with the admission. Something about Maggie had her letting her guard down.

“Not here you don’t. Here, you feel what you need to feel. If you want to go into the bedroom and sob or throw things or punch the wall or scream into pillows, then you do that. Do all of it if it’s what you need.”

The tears reappeared, pricking the back of her eyes, and Bridget blinked them away. “I don’t have the luxury of falling apart or being a mess.”

“It’s not a luxury, sweetheart. Sometimes it’s a necessity for us to pick ourselves up and carry on.”

“How much has your son shared with you about my situation?”

Maggie’s demeanor never wavered. Bridget saw her acceptance and compassion in the gentle set of her face, the softening of her eyes and the motherly way she stood, as if ready to embrace Bridget at a moment’s notice.

“Not much. He shared with me a bit about what happened this morning, so I’d know why you needed a place to stay, but that’s all. We’ve learned not to ask questions when it comes to his job, but I don’t need details to offer to help a friend. I hope we can be friends and that you can find friendship with my girls. You don’t have to share a single thing with any of us for the offer to stand.”

The tears fell then. Maggie lightly gripped Bridget’s arm and shepherded her into the guest room. She gently pushed Bridget to sit on an accent chair. Bridget swiped the moisture from her face as Maggie disappeared into the adjoining bathroom. Once she returned with tissue which she passed off to Bridget, she settled on the edge of the bed. The two sat without talking, the sound of Bridget’s sniffles the only noise breaking the silence. Bridget was thankful Maggie didn’t feel the need to fill the quiet with platitudes like “it’s all going to be okay” because they both recognized them for the empty promises they would be.

Bridget felt compelled to share more with Maggie, as if her kindness deserved an explanation. “I’m under a microscope. Mathias and Marlowe’s grandparents have hired some shady people to prove I’m an unfit guardian, so they can fight for custody. I feel so stupid. I agreed to go on the breakfast date with Seth because I thought he would be above reproach. My dating a doctor would prove I’d changed from the woman who liked to go to nightclubs and dance with strange men until the sun came up. Instead I gave them ammunition to use against me. They can use it to prove my judgment can’t be trusted.”

“That’s ridiculous. He assaulted you in your own home. Nothing about that is your fault, and it doesn’t prove you make poor decisions.”

Bridget sighed. “He should never have been at my house. My kids were there. If Zane hadn’t shown up, I hate to think…”

“Don’t do that. You can play the ‘what if’ game. What would have happened is irrelevant. What did happen is not your fault. I can’t understand why their grandparents would go to so much trouble to prove that it was. They should be helping you, not working against you.”

“They’re grieving for their son. They never approved of my sister and our family. They acted like we were beneath them. They love Mathias and how much he’s like his father. But Marlowe makes them uncomfortable. It’s why Dean and Jennifer didn’t appoint them as the kids’ guardians. They wanted someone who would love the children for who they are and support them.”

Maggie’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “She makes them uncomfortable? I have never heard anything so…so…so crazy!”

Bridget smiled through her tears. “I think so too. Marlowe lives inside her brain. She reads all the time and is always wanting to learn new things. She studies things by taking them apart to see how they runs and then puts them back together. She tested at a genius level, but she doesn’t judge the people in her life if they aren’t as smart as she is. She views everyone and everything as something new to learn. Of course, with her big brain comes a lack of social skills, so I think it created a disconnect between her and the Williams’. They’ve never understood how to act around her.”

“Her parents embraced her intelligence and curiosity, didn’t they? And you have, too. I think that’s wonderful. I could tell she was special, but I had no idea how much. She is a lovely girl. I can’t imagine anyone not loving her and her big brain.”

Bridget was surprised when the laugh escaped her throat, but Maggie’s acceptance of her niece chased away her melancholy. “I think they love her. They aren’t sure how to be around her. Their plan was to send her to a boarding school to mold her into a well-rounded young lady. Their words, not mine. Then Mathias would stay here and become a stand-in for the son they loved and lost. I don’t even know if they realize what they’re doing. Mathias is a lot like Dean, but he’s his own person. And Marlowe is so fun and gives a whole new perspective on life. She views life in a way that’s so different from the rest of us. It’s refreshing.”

Maggie moved to kneel in front of Bridget. She grasped Bridget’s hands between her own and stared into her face with a smile as comforting as an embrace from her mother. “As one single mother to another, I can tell you that you’ll make mistakes. You’ll never make the right decisions every time. It’s okay because you love Mathias and Marlowe for who they are. You support them and encourage them and give them wings to be the people they are meant to be. It makes all the difference in the world.”