Chapter 13
“ W here is she?” Blue yelled as he came in the door. “Where is she? Indigo!”
Two faces peered out of the doorway to the den. “She’s in the sandbox, Dad,” Polly told Blue and pointed out the back door.
He went straight through the house, Polly and Toady following. When he stepped into the kitchen, Anne caught sight of him. “What’s wrong?”
“Look at this!” Blue held up the bag he brought his uniform clothes home in. Anne took it, opened it, and started to laugh. “It’s not funny!”
“Yeah, it kinda is!” she said, still laughing.
“No, it’s not,” Blue argued. But Anne kept laughing and before he could get out the back door, he was laughing too. “It’s really not funny,” he said, gasping for breath. “But it kinda is.”
The back door opened and he found himself looking down at his little daughter. “Hi, Da. Oo gah pesent?”
Anne, Polly, and Toady had gathered behind Blue to hear what the little monster had to say for herself as he said, “No. I don’t have a present. What I have is a bag full of clothes and mustard. Mustard, Indie. Where’d the mustard come from?” Blue asked her, trying to look serious.
She held her hands up and shrugged. “I nah know.”
“Oh, you don’t know. So who put the mustard in my clothes?”
“Powwy?”
“No, I didn’t, Dad! I swear!” Polly screamed. “Why are you lying?” she yelled at the two-and-a-half year old.
“I nah wye. I nah gah no wyes. Oo puh da musard in you cwothes, Da?” Regardless what her birth certificate said, a darling she was not, at least not in that moment.
“IndigoDarling Wallace, you put mustard in my clothes. Now they’re ruined. What am I supposed to wear to work now, hmmm?” Blue asked, trying hard not to laugh.
Indigo looked up at him, planted her feet shoulder width apart, and put her hands on her hips, then lifted one hand to wag a finger at him. “Now Da, oo gah ma da fada gah do fah fah. Oo know oo gah,” she said, her face serious and her brow furrowed, shaking that finger at him furiously.
“What did she just say?” Toady asked.
Blue shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea. No more mustard in my clothes, you understand?”
Indigo rolled her eyes. “Ootay.” Then she turned and ran down the back steps and back into the yard.
Blue looked at his wife. “Can you get that out of my uniforms?”
“Yeah, but they may still be stained.” On her way to the laundry room, she called back to him, “By the way, Patty’s coming for dinner.”
“Good! We haven’t seen her in a week,” Blue answered, reaching for an apple. He was chewing a huge bite of it when Anne came back, and she marched right up in front of him and gave him a big kiss. “What was that for?” he asked, grinning.
“For being the best-looking guy I know. Oh, and Delores called. She wanted to know if she could come by this weekend and bring the kids something.”
Blue was glad DeloresBingham had held to her word and was involved in Indigo’s life, and she treated Polly and Toady like they were her grandchildren too, even though her own daughter had only asked to see Indie twice. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her as long as it wasn’t full of sugar, that would be fine. She’s going to ruin their teeth,” Anne said, wiping apple juice from the corner of Blue’s mouth and licking her fingers.
“Yeah. Every time she comes by, they’re up until two in the morning burning off the sugar she’s put into them.” Blue took another bite, chewed, and swallowed, all while Anne stood there, her forehead resting on his chest. “You liking the new job?”
“Well enough. I miss some of the excitement of the evening work, but at least we’re all home together now.” Lifting her head, she looked up into his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about something.”
“Yeah?” He liked the twinkle in her eye that told him she was up to something, and he hoped it had something to do with candles and wine and putting the kids to bed early.
“Could we maybe take a nice family vacation?”
That wasn’t at all what he’d thought she might say. “Um, I hadn’t thought about it, but I think we probably could. Where would you want to go?”
“The kids have never been to a theme park. What about something like that?”
“Oh, so you want to take them to MouseWorld USA?” Blue asked, laughing.
Anne giggled. “That was kind of what I was thinking about. But we should do it soon.”
“Okay. But what’s the rush?”
“If I wait too long, I won’t be able to go,” she said, her face loaded with a grin.
“Why? Some kind of thing going on at work?” Blue asked, still not understanding.
Ann shrugged. “No. I just may not feel like wandering around all over a theme park, chasing three kids.”
Blue’s brow fell. “You sick?”
“No. But I’ll be tired and getting bigger,” Anne said, but Blue still didn’t understand. “And dealing with swelling and morning sickness.”
Blue’s brows shot straight up. “Are you… No! Seriously?”
“Yep. About five weeks!” she said and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Are you okay with it?”
“Okay with it?” Blue picked her up and spun her around.
“Oh, yeah. I’m okay with it. I’m really, really okay with it.
” When he set her down, he looked straight into her eyes.
“I love Polly and Toady, and I love Indigo. But having a baby with you? That’s the best news I’ve had in a long, long time.
I love you, babe. I love being married to you, and I love being Polly and Toady’s dad.
I never thought I’d have anybody who loved me.
And I never thought I’d have anybody to love.
You have no idea what this means to me.”
“It means we’re going to be busier than ever, that’s what it means,” Anne said with a chuckle.
“You’re sure you want a fifteen-year-old daughter and a baby too?” Blue asked with a grin.
She held his face in her hands and sighed. “More than anything else in the whole world.” Then her eyes went wide. “Oh! I almost forgot. You got something in the mail today.”
“What?” He waited while she left the room and came back with an envelope. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something from Nashville.”
Blue took the envelope, tore it open, and pulled out a folded card. “Huh.” He lifted the front of the card and the longer he read, the wider open his mouth dropped. “Oh. My. God.”
“What?”
Blue’s heart was beating in triple time when he turned it around and yelled, “We’re going to Nashville, baby! I’ve been nominated for songwriter of the year by the country music awards organization!”
“Oh. My. GOD! Brent! Oh my god! You’re kidding!” Anne snatched the card from his hands and read it over and over again. “Oh my god! This is incredible!”
It took two seconds for him to come back to earth when little hands pulled on the leg of his jeans and a little voice asked, “Da? Oo gah appa? I wah appa.”