Chapter 36
thirty-six
Opal Crow sat on her front porch, her precious Mari snuggled into her chest. She patted the baby’s bottom, though the little girl had been asleep for the past thirty minutes.
Her parents should be here any moment, and Opal’s pulse skipped though the scene surrounding her testified of pure country stillness.
Blue sky, rich earth that Tag had just overturned this past week in preparation for planting season, a gentle breeze through the new leaves that had just come back to the trees.
“It’s a beautiful day, baby,” she whispered to her infant daughter. “Daddy will be home soon, and Grandma and Gramps are coming today too.”
Opal looked down the lane, expecting to see her father’s big, black SUV. He’d traded in his truck for something a little easier to get into, and now that her parents were leaving the harshness of the Wyoming winters, they didn’t actually need a pick-up.
They did need single-story living, with accessible entrances and exits. They’d been staying in the cabin where Tag had once lived while they’d been in Ivory Peaks previously, and their house sat over around the bend from the stable where Gerty kept her rescues.
They didn’t want land of their own, but her parents had paid for the construction. They’d be closer to Mike and Gerty than Tag and Opal, and that was okay with her too.
She was just thrilled they’d listened to her and Mike and decided to move here. “Now, we just need Uncle Easton and Auntie Ali.”
Her younger brother lived and worked back East, and he and Allison had two children. Opal missed them, and she pulled out her phone and sent them a quick text, all with only the use of one hand.
Honestly, since Mari had been born, she’d gotten so good at doing everything with only one hand.
“Hey, honeybee.” Tag stepped out onto the front porch and swept his lips along her hairline. “They’re still not here?”
“Not yet.” Opal tossed another look down the lane. “You’re done already?”
“Gerty wanted to get back to the house to start dinner.” He sighed as he sat on the rocking chair opposite of her. “She’s really out.” He gazed fondly at their daughter, and Opal had never seen a more devoted daddy than Tag.
“Yeah.” Opal reached to un-strap the sling. “I’m getting hot. Do you want to go lay her down?”
“Sure.”
Opal passed the baby to Tag, who made no move to get up and take their daughter down the hall to her crib to finish her nap. In fact, he snuggled the baby and laid his head back, his eyes drifting closed as if he’d join Mari in her afternoon siesta.
Opal couldn’t be unhappy about that, and in fact, her heartstrings thrummed with pure love for her husband and daughter. She stayed in that moment for a few seconds, pure gratitude filling her for the good things God had given her.
Then she rose to her feet and swept her fingertips through Tag’s hair. “I’m going to go start the ice cream.”
His eyelids fluttered open. “All right, honey-darlin’.” He grinned up at her. “You want to kiss me first?”
Opal grinned at him. “I was hoping you would ask.” She leaned down and touched her lips to his, getting lost in the simplicity and perfection of her life.
She left them to snooze on the porch, and she went into the kitchen to get the ice cream base out of the fridge. She poured it into her electric freezer, plugged it in, and pressed a button to get it going.
It didn’t take ice or salt, but froze the bowl as it turned. She’d told Gerty she’d bring dessert to dinner that night, and then they’d all go over to the build site to see how the house was coming along.
She’d just put a sheet pan of blondies in the oven when the front door opened and the quick wail of Mari entered the house. Opal automatically looked that way and found her daddy holding and shushing his granddaughter.
Joy leapt into the back of her throat. “You’re here.” She quickly set the timer on the stove and went to greet her momma. “Mm, you’re later than I thought you might be.”
“Oh, your daddy had to stop for a hamburger.” She hugged Opal tightly, and tears pressed into Opal’s eyes for some reason.
Her hormones still felt a little out of control these days, and she told herself she was just so excited for her parents to be so close. She stepped back and smiled at her mom. “Is Hillie still there?”
“Yes,” Momma said. “And still a flirt.” She threw a glance over to Daddy, who paced in the kitchen, his mouth bent close to Mari’s ear as he whispered something to the baby. “Your dad eats it right up.” She shook her head.
“She wasn’t flirting with me,” Daddy said from the kitchen. He hadn’t even looked over to them, and Opal grinned at him. He wore his ten-gallon cowboy hat in his customary black, a pale yellow polo, and jeans.
Opal had never known her father as the power-suit who ran the family company as the CEO. To her, he’d always been super devoted to his family, present for everything, wise, and her biggest champion.
She moved over to say hello to him, and she found Mari’s dark eyes wide open, staring up at her grand-daddy. She sucked on her pacifier, and her calm, sometimes a little too quiet, demeanor reminded Opal so much of Tag.
He’d followed her parents into the house, and now he stood in the kitchen, looking at the stovetop. “Honey, this timer isn’t on.”
Opal’s gaze flew to him. “Shoot. Take it down a couple of minutes, and start it for me, would you?”
“Yep.” Tag started doing that, and Opal turned her grin on her father.
“Did you bring me anything from The Burger Babe?”
He lifted his eyes to hers, and oh, she found his usual mischief there. “We’re eating dinner at Mike and Gerty’s.”
“And yet, you stopped.”
“We stopped for lunch,” Daddy said.
Opal glanced over to the clock on the microwave. “Daddy, it’s three-thirty.”
“That’s because he couldn’t stop accepting rounds of applause.” Momma joined them and started to take Mari from Daddy. “My turn, Wes. You can take Opal and Tag and get the car unloaded.”
Opal smiled at her mother as she melted into complete Grandma mode.
“Oh, hello, my beautiful girl,” she cooed to Mari.
“She can eat anytime,” Opal said. “There’s breastmilk in the fridge. It’s fifteen seconds in the microwave.”
“Mm hm.” Momma moved over to the recliner in the living room and eased into it.
“There might be an earthquake in a few minutes,” Opal said.
“Okay,” Momma said.
Daddy started to laugh, and Tag shook his head as he smiled. Opal shook her head too, and she moved over to Tag. “I think they brought some things we’ll need your muscles for.”
“Non-essentials,” Daddy said. “Christmas stuff, and winter clothing.”
“And we’re just putting it in the cabin?” Tag asked.
“Yeah, Mikey said we can use it as a storage shed.” Daddy grabbed onto Tag and hauled him in for a hug. “I didn’t even say hello to you.”
Tag chuckled as he clapped Daddy on the back. “I know who you guys are here to see, sir.” They both laughed, and Opal’s heart filled to bursting to see her husband and her daddy getting along so well.
Of course, Tag got along with everyone, and so did Daddy.
“Let’s go,” Daddy said. “We filled the SUV to the brim, and Gerty’s been texting up with a tempting birria.”
Opal let them lead the way out, and she stopped in front of her mother. “Momma,” she said. “There’s a timer on the oven. When it goes off, you have to get the blondies out, okay?”
Her mother met her eye. “Okay, I can do that.”
“The ice cream machine will stop when the ice cream is churned. You can take the whole bowl out and put it in the freezer in the garage.”
Her mom smiled at her. “I can do that too.”
“With Mari?” Opal raised her eyebrows. “You don’t have to carry her everywhere.” She indicated the swing and the sit-and-play. “She loves to stand in that, and if you feed her and put her in the swing, she’ll go back to sleep.”
“I just can’t stand to put her to sleep,” Momma said. “She has such beautiful eyes.”
Opal smiled at her mom. “Okay, but you have to finish the desserts for me if you want me to go unload your stuff. I told Gerty I’d bring it tonight.”
“I can do it,” Momma promised, and Opal went to join Tag and her daddy.
Her father drove back down the lane where, a half-mile away, sat Gerty and Mike’s expanded farmhouse. The walking circle, the stable, and two barns made up the main epicenter of the farm, with acres and acres of fields surrounding it all.
A half-circle of cabins sat behind the second barn, and that was where Momma and Daddy stayed. Steele and Hazel would live in one too, once they got married next month.
Opal loved this little community on this little farm, and her emotions threatened to overwhelm her again. Thankfully, Daddy didn’t turn to go back toward the cabins, but kept driving.
He went through the gate, made a left, and the construction site that Opal walked to everyday with Mari opened up before them.
“Ah, there she is,” he said fondly. “It’s coming along nicely.”
“They’re out here workin’ on it everyday,” Tag said.
Opal had watched them pour the foundation, then put up walls and attach a roof. Since then, it seemed like not much got done—at least from the outside.
She had to go indoors to see the forward momentum of the build, with sheetrock going up, being taped, and then mudded. The outline of appliances and cabinetry had gone in, but the windows had arrived, and they’d started on the back deck too.
“Only two steps up, Daddy,” she said, eyeing the wide, barely-there steps.
“Yeah, and only four inches,” he said. “Gray needs something like this.”
“Did they decide to move here?” Opal asked. “I never saw the end of that conversation.” Opal was a full-time mom and hadn’t done much with her medical foundation either. So she definitely had time to keep up with the family texts, though sometimes they came in at a furious pace.
“Yeah,” Daddy said. “They’re going to come back.” He smiled at her in the rear-view mirror, then opened the door and got out. He pulled open her door too, and Opal slid to the ground and stepped into her daddy’s arms.
“I’m glad. Then you and Momma won’t be alone,” she said.
“We’d come without them,” Daddy said.
“I know.” Opal stepped back and went with her dad toward the back of the SUV. Tag beat them there and pressed the button to open the lift-gate. “But you’ve loved living in Coral Canyon with your brothers.”
“Yeah, I have.” Daddy gave her a smile that told her it would be hard for him and Momma to move here. They’d lived in Coral Canyon for over thirty years, and all of Momma’s friends were there.
“Uncle Gray’s decided to stay until their house sells.” Daddy pulled out a duffel bag and handed it to Opal. “The market in Coral Canyon has cooled considerably, so it could be a while.”
“But that’s okay,” Opal said. “Right? I mean, they don’t have anywhere to live here either.”
“They could stay at the farm,” Daddy said. “Or Twilight Fields. They’d have a place.”
“Sure, of course.” Opal led the way toward the cabin, the grunt of her husband behind her telling her he carried something much heavier than her. “But they want to be on the farm, right?”
“Right,” Daddy said. “And the cabins are full.”
“Well, they’re not full here,” she said, an idea forming in her mind.
“They’re going to move into the generational house. It’s what it’s for, after all.”
“What about Deacon?” Opal asked, surprise running through her as she dropped the duffel bag and turned back to her father. She didn’t think for a moment that Deacon would move into a cabin here to run the farm he owned ten miles north.
“He’s the one who’ll build himself a new house.” Daddy smiled. “We’re goin’ over there tomorrow for a little bit. He wanted me to help him scope out a plot of land for his house.”
“So they’ll have two homesteads,” Opal said, not really asking.
“Deacon needs it,” Daddy said. “And Hunter and Molly still need their house too.”
“Hey, I’m all for it.” Opal watched as Tag slid the box he carried onto the dining room table. They made a couple more trips from the SUV to the cabin, and then Opal’s phone rang.
“It’s Momma.” She swiped on the call and turned her back on the men. “What’s goin’ on, Momma?”
She expected to hear Mari wailing, but she didn’t.
“I’m just wondering if you have any more of that Mexican vanilla.”
Opal’s pulse bounced strangely in her chest. “I’m sure I do…why?”
“Oh, I thought the blondies needed a few more minutes, and well….”
“You burnt dessert.”
“It just got away from me, and there’s time to make another batch.”
Opal sighed and shook her head. “Are you holding Mari?”
“It’s fine,” Momma said. “I’ve made thousands of brownies in my life.”
Opal suppressed her sigh, suddenly wondering if she could survive having her parents living so close.
Of course you can, she thought. She loved her parents and wanted them here for as long as God would let her keep them.
If only her mother could take blondies out of the oven when the timer went off. But did it really matter? Opal had more butter, brown sugar, and yes, Mexican vanilla.
“The vanilla is that slim cupboard between the microwave and the fridge, Momma.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Opal heard some scraping, but Mari once again made no noise. “
“Yep, here it is.”
“Remember, Momma, it’s stronger, and you don’t have to use as much.”
“Right,” her mom said, about the same way she’d promised to take the dessert out the first time. “Thanks, Opal.”
Mari squawked then, and Momma added, “Oh, she must finally be hungry. Gotta go.”
The line went dead, and Opal lowered the phone and looked at it. “Unbelievable,” she whispered.
“Everything okay, honey?” Tag looked at her phone and then her.
“Yeah.” Opal watched as Daddy pulled out a rolled-up rug and hoisted it onto his shoulder. “Baby, go help him with that.”
Tag looked over to her father, then took off at a jog, calling, “Wes, let me do that.”
Opal sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “Really, Lord? Is this what I’m dealing with now? A father who thinks he’s half his age, and a mother who’s so distracted by a baby she can’t pull blondies out of the oven?”
If so, Opal wouldn’t have it any other way—and she really couldn’t wait for her parents to be here permanently, and now, for Uncle Gray and Aunt Elise to join them.
After all, Momma and Elise had been best friends for decades, and surely that would soothe Momma a little bit.