Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
K ate hummed softly as she and Lilly knelt down in the storage shed, elbows deep in one of the boxes that she'd opened.
Lilly had started chattering, like a normal child her age, and Kate listened, nodding and smiling and commenting when she needed to.
Lilly went on about her day, her friends, what she'd done with Mrs. Abernathy the night before, and how she used to play in the storage shed when her mother was still alive.
Whoever had said that once the dam broke, the words would come gushing out, had been absolutely right.
Kate was curious as to whether Lilly would ever tell them why she had chosen not to speak for three entire years, but she supposed it didn't really matter.
From a clinical and professional standpoint, she would really love to know the reasoning, because perhaps if she could understand why, she could figure out how to break another child's silence.
Although she knew no two children were alike, still, as a professional, she was curious.
As Lilly's potential mother, she just loved the little girl.
"Look, that's Mommy's old cookbook," Lilly said, interrupting her monologue about the frog they'd seen at recess.
"This?" Kate asked in disbelief. It didn't look like a cookbook.
It looked more like a photo album. She'd been avoiding picking it up because as much as she was interested in seeing Jack when he was younger, she wasn't sure she wanted to see him embracing another woman.
She knew that was a part of his life before, and she accepted that, but perhaps she just didn't want to rub her face in it.
Any more than Jack would want to see pictures of her snuggled up to her ex-fiancé, whom she hadn't thought about in a long time, interestingly.
When she'd come, part of the reason she'd taken the job was to get away from everything, and she'd thought that it would be a long time before she got over him.
It was funny that she took one look at Jack and her ex-fiancé had vanished from her head.
"Mommy had some really good recipes in there. She said someday we would make them all. She said there were some that she hadn't made in years, and others that she had never made."
"Some she had never made?" Kate asked with interest as she pulled what looked like a photo album out of the box.
"She said great-great-grandma used to make some of them, and someday we would make candy canes like great-grandma."
Kate was a little confused about how many great-grandmas there were, but it didn't really matter, because she understood the implications—the recipes in this book hadn't been seen for generations, and they were perfect for what Jack wanted for the festival.
It would bring attention and, hopefully, sales.
"I think your mama was saving this book for a special occasion, and I'm pretty sure the festival is the exact special occasion she had in mind," Kate said as they carefully opened the book and turned the pages of the handwritten recipes that were placed in the photo album and protected by the plastic page protectors.
"Are they good recipes?" Lilly asked, looking at the recipes and then glancing up at Kate's face.
"I think we'll let your dad be the judge of that. I'm pretty sure he's going to be excited to see this. Shall we take it in to him?"
"Yeah. You carry it. It's too heavy for me."
It was a big book, but Kate was excited and barely noticed as she climbed up, dusted herself off, and held Lilly's hand as they walked into the back of the shop.
"Daddy! Daddy! I think we found something that you're going to want to see!"
"Oh really?" Jack asked, coming to the doorway where the back room met the shop, with a towel in his hands, drying them off. "What's that?"
"This!" Lilly said, theatrically pointing to the book Kate held.
"I don't know if these are what you are hoping for or not, but I wanted you to take a look at them."
Immediately interest lit Jack's eyes, although there was still a glow in them—maybe from last night, or maybe it was just the way he was going to look at her from now on—but it made her feel like he loved her and was happy to be with her.
"Let's see what you've got." He walked a little closer, throwing the towel over his shoulder, his eyes on the book. "I don't think I've ever seen that before." He took it from Kate's hands. "Where'd you guys get it? In the storage shed?"
"Yeah," Lilly said.
"It was in the back, in a blue tub."
"A blue tub?” Jack scrunched up his nose, thinking.
“When her mother moved, she gave us a bunch of stuff of her great-grandmother's and said that it was antiques and the like.
Lauren said she'd get to it eventually and stuck it in the back.
Anything that didn't have anything to do with the candy shop, she wasn't interested in. "
"I could see how she might have missed it. I didn't think it was anything special either. It looked like a photo album. But Lilly said that her mom said that it had some good recipes in it."
"That's what she told me in my dream."
Kate and Jack exchanged a look.
"Which dream was that, honey?" Jack said, sounding curious but not concerned.
"The one I had when I fell asleep at her funeral. She said I wasn't supposed to tell anyone until it was time."
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone until it was time for what?" Jack asked, his hands still, his eyes on his daughter.
"I don't know. She just said until it was time. And I didn't know when it was going to be time, so I knew I couldn't say anything."
Now it made sense. Jack lifted his eyes, and he shared a look with Kate that stretched between them, understanding dawning on both of their faces. That was why Lilly hadn't felt like she was able to talk—because she had a secret to keep, until it was time.
"Well, I think you did a good job. It's definitely time for us to know about this. Thank you for waiting like your mother asked and for letting me know now." He paused. "Next time, maybe you can let us know while you're still talking."
"I forgot how much I like to talk. I don't think I'm ever going to not talk again," Lilly said, which made Kate laugh.
"Please don't ever stop," Kate said.
"I agree. We love to hear you talk." Jack glanced at Kate, and they nodded together. Then he continued to open the book.
Kate held her breath while Jack perused the recipes.
It didn't take long to see the glowing excitement on his face and know that they had stumbled into something really good.
"Thank you, guys. This is exactly what we need."