1. Jenny #2
It was incredible how well you got to know someone when there was nothing but lonely time stretching out in front of you.
And out of that small group, she had bonded with Erik more than with any of the other kids.
She’d also had a fatal crush on him. And though he’d never given her the slightest hint it was returned, it never stopped her from fantasizing about how the two of them were meant to be.
But of course life had taken them on different paths.
“He’s marrying somebody called Goldilocks?” Gael asked, his eyes twinkling with suspicion.
“I think that’s just her nickname,” Jenny said, nodding.
“This says wedding and reception,” Gael said, his eyes back on the invitation with its beautiful golden swirls. “And it says no gifts, so we don’t have to worry about buying things. Where is Trinity Falls?”
“I think it’s on the far side of Philadelphia,” she told him. “Close to Amish country.”
“Amish country,” Gael said wonderingly. “Is that where they have horses and cows and all?”
“It is,” Jenny said. She couldn’t help smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm.
“Are you sure we can’t go?” he asked. His eyes were on the paper in his hand, but he was clearly seeing a whole lot more.
“Would you really like to?” she heard herself ask. “It will probably be pretty boring.”
“Darlene’s wedding wasn’t boring,” he said right away.
He said it with such authority that it took her a second to realize he was talking about something that happened on a TV show, not the wedding of someone he actually knew.
“Weddings on soap operas aren’t like real ones,” Jenny explained. “A real wedding probably just means a church service and reading the vows, and then a dinner after for the family and friends. No one will be objecting or kidnapping anyone.”
“Or changing their will and giving away the old peach orchard,” Gael said wisely.
“Exactly,” Jenny said. “Most kids don’t enjoy weddings.”
“I would,” Gael said right away. “I like church, and I like family and friends, and I love dinners.”
Her heart ached a little as she imagined a wedding from Gael’s perspective and realized that the little boy really would love the chance to have a meal with a great big family after a church service.
She had been feeling a little disappointed that she couldn’t afford to take him on a real vacation to a big amusement park or something else special to celebrate the adoption going through officially.
Maybe they could take this trip and spend a few days in the country instead, if that was something Gael was actually interested in doing.
“It’s a shame to get on an airplane just for a wedding,” she said, her resolve slipping away. “Should we look and see what else there is to do in Trinity Falls?”
“Definitely,” he told her, his eyes lighting up in a way that filled her heart.
“Let’s clean up, and then we can get out my laptop and do some research,” she told him.
“What about pie?” he asked plaintively.
“I was thinking maybe dessert afterward,” she said. “Since my belly is still full of dinner. What do you think?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “Mine too. Can we put the radio on?”
“Sure,” she told him.
He scampered off to turn the radio on, instantly filling the kitchen with the sound of Andy Williams singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
“That’s a good one,” he said with a smile.
A little knot in Jenny’s chest unlocked at his statement.
Last Christmas, he’d still been reeling after losing his grandmother.
The two of them had spent a low-key holiday getting to know each other very slowly.
Gael hadn’t really wanted to do any special Christmas stuff, and she could hardly blame him.
It was good to see him excited about the holidays this year.
Jenny got to work packing up leftovers as they hummed along. There was so much extra food that she decided to freeze some of it.
“Do we have enough to have all this again?” Gael asked, looking a little sad as the food disappeared from the table.
“We sure do,” she told him. “We’ll just grab the containers out of the freezer and heat them up.”
Once they had everything packed away, she started on the dishes. Gael carefully carried everything over to her and he wiped down the table and the counters himself.
He was such a sweet boy, a real credit to his grandmother.
“Thank you so much,” she told him when he came over to dry dishes for her. “I’m so lucky that you’re such a big help in the kitchen.”
“What did you ever do without me?” he sighed, making her laugh with his perfect imitation of what she had said so many times since he came to her.
When they were finished, she grabbed her laptop and they sat at the table together, shoulder to shoulder, reading about all the things there were to do in the tiny Pennsylvania town and the surrounding area.
It turned out that there was a farm that was open to the public, plus there were all kinds of holiday activities, and Amish country was right there too.
“How long can we stay?” Gael asked. “I want to do everything.”
“Let’s see what hotel options they have,” Jenny said, biting her lip and hoping against hope that there would be an affordable motel nearby somewhere.
But it turned out that the only real place in town was a local inn that didn’t even have a website.
“Should I call?” Jenny asked.
Gael nodded, his eyes wide with curiosity as she dialed.
“Thanks for calling the Inn,” a lady’s voice said warmly. “I’m Trudy, how can I help?”
Jenny explained that they were thinking of coming for the holidays, and mentioned the wedding.
Trudy hummed to herself as she checked the dates. And it sounded to Jenny like the lady was paging through an actual handwritten book, and not a spreadsheet on a computer.
Once she cleared the dates, Trudy gave Jenny a nightly rate that seemed too good to be true. Jenny wasn’t sure what to say.
“That includes meals,” Trudy said, probably taking Jenny’s pause as a hesitation over the price. “But my menu is pretty simple since I do all the cooking myself.”
Jenny did a quick mental calculation and then went ahead and booked a nice long stay. As she finalized everything, Gael scooted out of his seat and did a celebration dance around the kitchen, raising his hands high and silently pretending to whoop and yell.
“We’re going on a trip,” Gael sang out after she ended the call, wrapping his arms around her neck and giving her a squeeze. “We’re going on a trip. I can’t wait.”
The wedding is definitely going to be a little awkward, Jenny thought to herself as she squeezed him back. But it’s worth it to make my son this happy.