Chapter 19
nineteen
“ I will be livid if you cancel,” Molly said.
Hunter Hammond sighed and turned away from his wife. “Everyone will understand.”
“You don’t seem to understand that I need the bonfire to happen.” Hunter knew Molly hated being sidelined, but the truth of the matter was, she couldn’t do even one-tenth of the things she’d done three weeks ago.
She relied on Hunter and the kids, her brothers and sisters-in-law, her siblings, and her parents to bring her every morsel of food she ate.
The doctor told her she still couldn’t be trusted with a knife, as her vision blurred sometimes.
She absolutely couldn’t ride her horse, couldn’t go out to the lessons, and couldn’t watch TV for long periods either.
Molly’s life had become a set of couldn’t’s.
She thrived in the darkness, and while he suspected the jumping, blazing, blitzing flames would cause her problems, he’d already told her she could go for ten minutes. The doctor had not strictly forbidden bonfires.
He wouldn’t let her stay outside for the fireworks, though. On that one, Hunter would be the bad guy if he had to be.
Hunter didn’t mind helping his wife at all. He had no other job, and it was summertime. Their kids were always around, and due to the nature of running a very busy farm and a children’s equine therapy program, there were literally dozens of people to help at any time.
Of course, Hunter knew Molly hated that as well.
“I won’t cancel,” he said. “But you have to promise me that you will monitor your own health. I know you’ll want to be out there, and you can’t overexert yourself.”
“I promise, baby.” She got up from the couch and came over to where he stood in the kitchen putting together sandwiches for lunch.
Yes, it would be difficult to cancel that evening’s Independence Day bonfire, but it could be done with a simple text. People would be disappointed, but they’d find somewhere else to watch their fireworks.
The Fourth wasn’t until tomorrow anyway, but Hunter never liked doing the bonfire on the actual day, as there were so many town celebrations that people enjoyed attending—himself included.
“Go over the food again with me,” Molly said.
Hunter gave her a withering look and a long sigh.
“Your mother and Lara are bringing the hamburgers and hot dogs and all of the toppings for those. Jane has organized all of the desserts with various people from the farm and Pony Power. They’re bringing a few people from their neighborhood as well. ”
She nodded and picked up a slice of Muenster cheese.
“The cowboys have been out at the fire pit, raking out the new gravel and setting up stumps and chairs in rows for a couple of hours already.” He gestured toward the glass sliding doors that led out onto the back deck.
They had vertical blinds that Hunter and Molly had never closed before, but now they kept steadfastly shut.
“You could go look. Oh, but it will probably hurt your eyes.”
Molly gave him a withering look. “Your sarcasm is not appreciated.”
Hunter sighed and took his wife into his arms. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. It’s frustrating to me that you think taking care of yourself is a burden.”
“I just don’t want to be a burden to you,” she whispered.
“You are not, and have never been, a burden to me,” he murmured. “I love you. You’re my wife, and I will do anything to help you get back to full health as fast as possible. If that means I have to chain you in the bedroom when you overexert yourself, then that’s what it means.”
He pulled back and grinned at her.
She managed a soft smile too, and Hunter was grateful for that. “Good thing we don’t own any chains,” she said.
Hunter laughed, realizing a moment too late that his voice was too loud. Molly flinched slightly, and he quieted. “Sorry, baby.”
“Will you please let me make one pan of Rice Krispie treats?” Her voice stayed strong, but she wiped quickly at her eyes. “It will make me feel normal, and I need to feel like that now more than ever.”
Hunter considered the ingredients—marshmallows, butter, and cereal. He could supervise the use of the microwave, as he’d done for their four-year-old when Lisa had wanted to start making desserts at Molly’s side.
“All right,” he said. “The counting of the marshmallows might be good for your brain.”
“Yeah, or utterly exhaust me,” she said.
Still, she turned to the cupboard and got out the cereal and the marshmallows, while he pulled one cube of butter from the fridge. He got down a big plastic bowl from the cupboard above the fridge and unwrapped the butter into it.
She started dropping full-size marshmallows into the bowl, and when she got to forty, she stopped.
He grinned at her. “No slurring, no skipping.”
She shone like a new penny, and Hunter chuckled softly and swept his arm around her waist as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’re gonna get better really fast, okay, Mols?”
“I’m trying,” she said.
“It’s only been a couple of weeks,” he said. “We just barely moved out of the first stage, and you can start to drive and do a few things around the house this week.”
“I know,” Molly said. “I just can’t believe I have to live like this for eight weeks.”
“It’s okay to be served,” Hunter said. “You don’t always have to be the one providing the service.”
Molly pressed her lips together and nodded. She picked up the bowl and put it in the microwave while Hunter wondered if he’d irritated her with his mini lecture.
“I better tell you something before tonight,” he said.
She turned to face him, a wary look in her eyes that he could barely see in the limited light they allowed in the house during the day.
“I collected a list of people who are willing to come sit inside with you,” he said. “So that you don’t have to be alone. Not everyone loves a huge party with a lot of noise.”
Molly folded her arms and cocked one hip out. “Who’s on the list?”
“Lisa,” Hunter said with a smile. “Opal. She says she can barely do anything after five p.m. these days.”
That got Molly to smile too.
“Lindsay,” Hunter said. “Apparently, she and Keith are going to have a baby in October, and they’ve only told the people they work with.”
“October?” Molly said. “Wow, she must be showing then.”
“I think that’s going to be a surprise tonight,” he said.
“Go on,” Molly said.
“Jane.” Hunter held up one finger and ticked it off.
“Deacon—you know he loves sitting with you. Kristie—she said she loves getting away from all the noise after a little while, and she always has something to do on her phone. You know she’s been sitting by Lady pretty much constantly these past two weeks. ”
Molly started to weep, and Hunter hated that she was in any distress at all. He moved over to her and gathered her into his chest, glad when she clung to him as if he were the anchor in the turbulent world that she needed.
“Your momma and daddy,” he continued in a whisper. “Lara and her husband. Every counselor at Pony Power who will be here. Cosette. Gloria. Matt. Boone.”
“All right,” Molly said in a tinny tone. “Stop.”
“The fact is, Mols, they all love you and want you to heal fast. And if that means you have to sit inside and have someone bring you a hot dog and one of the indoor s’mores, then that’s that.”
“I know,” she said. “Just don’t cancel it.”
“I’m not going to cancel it,” Hunter assured her.
The microwave beeped, and he released her to go stir her marshmallows. She did, then set the bowl in the microwave for another sixty seconds.
“Will you grease the pan?” she asked.
Hunter set about doing that while she measured out twelve cups of crispy rice cereal. He hated stirring it all together, but he loved how his wife put in extra marshmallows to make extra-gooey treats.
When she finished pressing down the cereal, he said, “Come lay down for an hour while I feed the kids. I’ll send them in one at a time to talk to you.”
“Okay,” Molly said.
The fact that she didn’t argue told Hunter how tired she had become by simply making a five-minute dessert where the microwave did most of the work.
He’d just gotten Molly settled when he heard Clay and Charlotte’s voices. He quickly moved down the hall to feed them, remembering that Ryder had been put on a fencing rotation that week and wouldn’t be able to come to the farmhouse for lunch.
His non-outdoorsy Lisa had a job at the fabric store in town, and Hunter had to check the calendar for her schedule. They lived and died by the Google calendar in their family, and he saw she wouldn’t be done with her shift until two.
He wrapped up the extra sandwiches and put them in the fridge, because Ryder seemed to have four stomachs and always wanted something to eat at the most inopportune times. Honestly, Hunter could relate.
Before he knew it, he’d completed the evening animal feeding on their personal farm and started pulling tables out of the shed to set up in the backyard.
The bonfire officially started at eight, but they roasted hamburgers and hot dogs for a couple of hours before that.
Then they would put on the big pieces of wood and build the fire up into the towering twelve-foot monster that had become a tradition here at the Hammond family farm.
“Howdy, Hunt.”
He turned toward the most familiar voice in the world—besides his father’s. “Hey, Matt.” He laughed and shook the man’s hand before pulling him into a hug. “How’s everything in your neck of the woods?”
“Going great,” Matt said.
“I know we’ve been keeping Gloria out here a lot,” Hunter said. “What with Lady and Molly being down and all.”
“No more than usual,” Gloria said, sliding her bowl of frog-eye salad onto the table.
“Did you bring the girls?” Hunter asked, looking around for Alma and Roxanne.
“Just Alma tonight,” Gloria said. “Roxy’s still in the city.”
“Oh, right,” Hunter said. “She’s doing the summer semester.”