Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Lark moved to Cash’s side when Bryce didn’t go on. She glanced over to him and found his eyes squished shut. Her pulse beat at her, and she looked to the main group still seated at the table. A couple of them—Harry and Boston—watched Bryce like a hawk searching for his next meal.
She cleared her throat. “Dear Lord,” she said.
“We’re grateful to be gathered here in this beautiful home, where we have shelter from the wind and weather outside.
We’re grateful for those who had to travel to be with us, and bless them they’ll be able to return to their homes safely when the time comes. ”
She took a breath, feeling more grounded than she had in months. Perhaps it was because she stood in a place—a home—where she’d often felt the spirit and had prayed many, many times, over many, many meals.
“We’re grateful for Thy bounty in our lives, and acknowledge Thy hand in all things.
We’re grateful for the skills of Cash, as he put this meal together for us, and I’m pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say I kind of want to eat dessert first, so I’m not too full later.
” She forced a giggle out of her mouth, glad when at least one or two others laughed too.
“But really, we pray for those who are lonely—” Her voice just quit on her, and Lark couldn’t believe she was going to get emotional in front of all these strangers. She quickly started spelling in her mind, because it centered her and allowed her feelings to release.
M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.
“Or who need a special witness of Thee and Thy Son this holiday season. We pray for comfort and peace for those who have lost loved ones and have to endure this difficult time of year without them. We pray for our pastors and our neighbors, that we can all be vigilant in watching out for one another and those in our sphere of influence.”
Lark needed to wrap this up, and quickly. Beside her, Cash sniffled, and oh, that would be her entire undoing. She had not given him credit for his twenty-six years on the earth, assuming that every day had been plated with golden sunlight and carefree candy.
“We pray this food will nourish us, and we pray we can enjoy one another’s company. Bring us closer together as friends and family, and bless us to find ways to turn our gratitude into actions. Amen.”
She immediately cleared her throat, opened her eyes, and lifted her head. Pure silence draped over the whole house, this moment solidified in time as if God Himself had walked through the door to join them for meatballs and raspberry-jam-filled doughnuts.
Holiness permeated the room, and Lark quickly reached up to wipe her eyes. She caught several others doing so as well, including Cash and Bryce.
“Thank you,” Cash whispered, and then he strode forward and looked at the table. “Am I right here?”
“Yes,” Harry said, but he rose to his feet and grabbed onto Cash in a tight hug. Belle followed, as did Joey, Boston, and Kassie.
“I’m getting in on that,” Bryce said, and he hurried forward and joined the others. Codi, Adam, Cora, and Reggie joined them, and Lark found tears streaming down her face as she watched them all fold Cash right into their center.
She wanted to be part of this group so badly, because then she wouldn’t be alone, and Lark moved forward and opened her arms to put them around Codi on her right and Reggie—whom she’d barely spoken two words to—on her left.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t know everyone here very well. Or any of them. The Lord had a mysterious way of knitting hearts together, and Lark needed this more than she’d even been able to express to Cash.
“All right,” Cash drawled. “I’m starving, because I’ve been working all day. Can we eat?”
“Yeah,” several people said, and Lark dropped her arms and moved back, so the group could break up. Part of her wanted to run down the hall to her bedroom until her emotions settled and she wouldn’t have to look at anyone with watery eyes.
But part of being close to someone meant she had to be vulnerable, so she stayed in the room while others picked up their plates and headed toward the food laid out buffet-style on the island.
“Hey.” Cash reached for her, and drew her into his chest. “I want you to sit beside me, okay?”
She nodded, pressed her eyes closed, and didn’t care who saw them.
Several minutes later, once everyone had their food, Harry raised his hand. “We sometimes do announcements at family things, and I have something I want to say.”
“Go for it,” Cash said, and Lark looked down a couple of people to the country music star she’d nearly gushed over when he’d arrived.
Harry took a long drink of his sparkling cider, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Belle and I are going to have a baby.” He grinned around at the table, finally lasering in on his wife and pulling her against his side and planting a kiss against her temple.
“We told our parents over the weekend, and now we’re tellin’ you. ”
“Congrats,” Bryce practically bellowed, and Adam got up and rounded the table to give both Harry and Belle hearty, back-slapping hugs.
Lark watched them, knowing there was more history between them than she knew about.
She’d been filing questions away for hours now, since Boston and Cora had arrived, as they all knew so much more about one another than she did.
“Congratulations.” Codi hugged Belle too, then held onto both of her shoulders as she grinned at her. “When are you due?”
“The end of May,” Belle said, tears shining in her eyes. She hugged everyone, as did Harry, and then everyone re-settled back into their seats.
“So.” Bryce drew in a deep breath from where he sat almost directly across from her and Cash. With his back to the sliding glass door, the afternoon sun haloed him, and he put another chunk of meatball on his son’s tray, his eyes then zeroing in on Cash. “Any other announcements?”
Lark’s pulse froze right there in her veins. No one said anything, and she glanced down the length of the table to Adam and Joey, who’d just gotten married this past spring. Or Kassie and Reggie, who’d had their first baby almost two years ago, come Christmastime.
“We’re engaged,” Boston said, grinning at Bryce. “You mean like that?”
“I think Cash knows what I mean,” Bryce said coolly.
Cash had continued eating as if he’d gone deaf and couldn’t hear the conversation. Lark’s heartbeat thrashed against each individual rib as she waited for her maybe-boyfriend to say something.
She met Bryce’s eyes, and surely hers were as large as full moons. “It’s—”
Cash covered her hand with his, rendering her mute. She wanted to slink behind him and let him handle his family, but she straightened her shoulders and reached for her own glass of sparkling cider with her free hand.
“Lark and I are…exploring some options,” he said, his voice as neutral as Lark had ever heard it. “If there’s something to say, I’ll say it.”
“Fair enough,” Bryce said as he put a piece of roll on his son’s tray. “These meatballs are incredible.”
“Thanks,” Cash said.
“Yeah, can I get the recipe?” Kassie asked. “I’ve been trying to branch out from my main four meals that we eat all the time.”
“Sure,” Cash said. “They’re fast and easy.
” He pulled his hand away from Lark’s and cut a look to her out of the corner of his eye.
She hadn’t finished eating yet, so she put her head down and focused on that, wondering if she could escape to her bedroom for a few minutes before the doughnuts came out.
An hour later, someone knocked on her slightly ajar door. “Larky?”
She turned from where she stood at the window to find Cash peeking in. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
The door swung open lazily as he pushed it with a couple of fingers, revealing himself and a paper plate with a beautiful Long John doughnut on it. “You don’t need to come out,” he said. “I just wanted to bring you a doughnut before Adam eats them all.”
“Hey,” someone—presumably Adam—protested. “I had two.” Sure enough, Adam crowded into the doorway with Cash, neither of them entering her bedroom. He smiled at Lark. “And they’re delicious.”
“I’m making some of the Black Forest ones, but I didn’t think you’d want one of those.” Cash took a step into the room and slid the plate onto Lark’s desk. “I brought you the one with cream cheese frosting.”
“The white chocolate is pretty good too,” Harry said, shoving his way into the trio and blocking Cash from leaving the bedroom.
He licked his fingers and grinned at Lark.
She hardly knew what to do with these three tall, dark-haired, broad-shouldered men.
They’d clearly talked about her while she’d been gathering her chi, and she liked that they wanted her to feel comfortable.
“I said I’d come out when they were ready,” she said.
“Yeah, but he still doesn’t have your phone number to text you,” Adam said. “I told him I’d come get it from you, but he wouldn’t let me.”
“You said you’d be cool about this,” Cash grumbled, his face turning a shade of red that made Lark’s insides melt.
“Adam’s the picture of calm, cool, and collected,” Harry said. “He wouldn’t let me come by myself.”
“That’s because you’re a hot country music star who literally already dropped her jaw, and I can’t compete with that.”
“I’m married,” Harry said, rolling his eyes.
“You are still pretty hot for a married man,” Adam said, grinning at Harry.
“I knew I shouldn’t have come down this hall.”
“Why did you then?” Cash pressed his palm against Harry’s chest and pushed him out into the hall. “We’re fine here without you.”
Lark sat on the edge of her bed and waited for them to finish. Harry left; Adam looked at her, and Lark nodded. He seemed to know what that meant, and he clapped Cash on the shoulder. “Okay, well, I need another doughnut.”
“Do not touch the ones on the stove,” he said. “They’re for my family.”