Chapter 19 #2
Matt nodded, and Hunter couldn’t tell if he was pleased or not about that news. Others started arriving, including Matt’s brother, Boone, and his wife, Cosette. Both of their kids were still at home, with Amy being the same age as Lisa.
Poppy and Travis approached from the north, as they’d obviously walked over from their farm, which sat across the street and bordered Hunter’s.
Relief paraded through him when Molly did not come out. But Hunter realized then that he needed to bring the food out, so he excused himself from welcoming everyone as they continued to arrive and headed across the back lawn to do that.
Inside, he found Molly’s mother and Jane making final preparations on the trays of toppings, buns, and meat that they would soon take outside.
“Hey, ladies.” He hugged them both and did the same with Lara as she came down the hall from the bathroom. “Did you see Molly?”
“I just checked on her,” she said. “She’s still asleep. Is that normal?”
Hunter nodded. “Yeah. Deacon’s in there with her, right?”
“Yeah, he was,” she said.
“We’ll wake her up soon,” Hunter said.
The four of them got all the food outside, and more people had arrived in his absence, bringing bowls and trays and plates of deviled eggs, brownies, baked beans, pasta salad, potato salad, creamed corn, and bags of chips. So many bags of chips, in so many flavors.
Hunter snapped pictures of the people standing around chatting, so he could show Molly who had come.
He also wanted to send a text to his parents in Coral Canyon, who had decided to stay up there for the Fourth of July festivities.
Hunter himself had attended them many times over the years, as Daddy and Elise had taken their family to Coral Canyon every summer before finally moving there themselves.
Getting ready for the big bonfire, he said, before he texted both Dad and Elise the tables laden with food and the candid snapshots of those they knew—Matt and Gloria, Boone and Cosette, Travis and Poppy, Keith and Lindsay.
He’d just sent the photos when someone said, “Holy cow, Linds, are you pregnant?”
An uproar started from there as Jane put her hand on Lindsay’s obviously pregnant belly, her expression one of stunned shock.
“We didn’t want to make it a big deal,” Lindsay said.
“Sending a text would have been not making it a big deal,” Jane said. “Showing up wearing maternity clothes makes it a very big deal.”
“I knew,” Britt said, and she moved in to hug Lindsay. “Isn’t it great?” She stepped back and smiled at Jane. “They’re going to have a boy—like you did.”
Jane softened then, because sometimes she could be a little bit harsh without realizing it. “Yes, it’s absolutely wonderful.” She drew Lindsay into a hug, and a line of women moved to do the same.
“I don’t know if I want a boy or a girl,” Britt said.
“Well, it’s going to be one of those,” Keith said.
Hunter paused completely. Britt was pregnant too?
Jane had obviously heard the same thing he had, for she spun toward the white-blonde woman who had been a huge part of the farm and Pony Power for such a long time.
Britt currently worked in the counseling department here at Pony Power, and she was exceptionally skilled with children, dogs, and horses.
“Are you going to have a baby too, Britt?” Jane asked, her voice somewhat softer and less demanding.
Britt shone like the noonday sun as she said, “Yes.” She reached for her husband’s hand. “Lars and I are going to have a baby next year.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Jane exclaimed. “That is such great news, Britt. Congratulations.”
Hunter glanced toward the house, because Molly would hate missing both of these announcements—but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
The sliding glass door opened, and Mike came out, carrying West in his arms. Gerty followed with a tray of something, and Opal and Tag came after them.
“Howdy, brother,” Mike said.
“Hey,” Hunter said, as he met Mike halfway across the lawn. “Is Molly in the living room? Did you see her?”
“I didn’t see her,” Mike said, looking to the commotion happening back over near the fire pit “What’s going on out here?”
Hunter turned to see what his cousin did and found all the women congregated together, chit-chatting like chickens.
“Holy cow, Lindsay is pregnant,” Gerty said.
“How do you know?” Mike asked.
“Look at her baby bump.”
Gerty hurried away while Opal said, “I swear, men are so unobservant.”
Tag stopped with Hunter and Mike, and Hunter said, “PS, Britt is pregnant too.”
“Ah, that’s why I see so many tears,” Tag said. “Opal will be thrilled.”
“Did you bring Steele with you?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah,” Tag said. “And he’s got his girlfriend with him as well.”
“Oh, yeah, I heard he’d started dating someone,” Hunter said.
“She’s great,” Tag said. “But he noticed one of his tires was low, and he’s looking at it out front. So they’ll probably be around in a minute.”
“All right,” Hunter said. His phone chimed a few times, but he ignored it as he hurried away from the crowd.
He’d coordinated the bonfire with Cord and Mission, two longtime friends who’d worked here at the farm for many years.
He didn’t need to be out there to direct traffic, or get the flames going, or give any directions.
He’d just entered the house when Deacon came down the hall. “Oh, hey,” he said. “Molly’s up.”
“Great,” Hunter said. “I was just coming to check on her.”
“Everyone’s out back?”
Well, almost everyone , Hunter thought. Not his parents, and he suddenly wished that he’d been more insistent that they make the drive down for tonight’s bonfire.
But he hadn’t, and he couldn’t change that now.
He clapped Deacon on the shoulder as he moved by and waited for his brother to exit the house and cross the deck before Hunter followed him.
He stood on the edge of the deck above the activity happening twenty yards from him. He took several pictures in the evening sunlight, marveling that this many people knew and cared enough about him and Molly to attend this bonfire.
As he stood there and watched, another truck pulled up, and Tucker, Bobbie Jo, and Tarr spilled out of it. Tarr turned back and got down a dog that Hunter had never seen before, but he figured, What’s one more mouth to feed?
Steele and his girlfriend had joined the party, and Mission currently had his arm around Kristie and was saying something with his mouth close to her ear. She laughed, and Mission smiled.
Hunter’s heart continued to fill, and fill, and fill with love and joy and gratitude for these people who came to his farm and were part of his life.
He noticed Deacon moving over next to a brunette—one of the counselors whose name Hunter couldn’t remember in that moment.
He said something to her, and she looked like a scared rabbit about to bolt, but she nodded.
He did too, and then moved through the crowd, very much the politician, going around to say hello to everyone.
As he should, Hunter said to himself. After all, he owns this farm.
With that, he went back inside and hurried down the hall to show Molly all the people who’d come to celebrate the Fourth of July with them that year.
She gushed over the pregnant pictures of Lindsay and the news of Britt and Lars’s forthcoming baby as well. She knew exactly who Steele was dating—a woman named Hazel Monson—and when Hunter pointed to who Deacon was standing next to, she said, “That’s Judy Foster.”
Molly sighed and pushed her hair back. She hadn’t gotten out of bed yet, and Hunter would keep her there as long as he could. “He told me she’s having a hard time right now, and that he would keep an eye on her and report anything to me.”
“Oh,” Hunter said. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. And your daddy just texted.”
Hunter took his phone back and looked at the message from his father. We wish we could be there so much. But remember, we’re always under the same sky, being watched over by the same God.
Hunter didn’t know why, but tears pricked his eyes. When he’d first gone away to college in Massachusetts, he’d been so lonely. His daddy had always told him, We’re under the same sky, in the care of the same God. You’ll be all right.
He hadn’t said that in many years, but tonight, it was exactly the reminder Hunter needed. So he sent a text back to his daddy, telling him just that.
Then he helped Molly out of bed, carefully checking her back and ribs and tailbone the way he did every day when he got her up from her nap. “It’s actually looking really good, sweetheart,” he said. “That deep bruising is gone on your ribs.”
“You know, I feel a lot better,” she said. “Than even I did earlier today.”
“We’re still going to take it slow,” he said, as he let her exit the bedroom first.
“Right,” she said. “But if you can get me into a chair in the back row, I bet I can sit out there for a half-hour.”
That was twenty minutes longer than Hunter thought she should, but he would keep an eye on her and watch for any signs of exhaustion or distress.
Oh, and he’d set a timer, because he wanted his wife to get better as fast as possible, and he believed God would bless both of their efforts in her recovery.
So ten minutes went on the timer, and then Hunter would enlist the help of his sister or cousin to get Molly back in the house.