Chapter 17 – Mabel
Chapter Seventeen
MABEL
Ihad such a good time with my sisters and now, it’s time for my birthday dinner. I’m taking my sweet ass time getting ready for the celebration with the family. And without Jude. I don’t know why the fact that he’s not going to be there keeps sticking with me but I can’t seem to let it go.
Maybe it’s because I felt a flutter when we were at the market, to the point that I slipped up and asked if he was going to be joining us, something I should want like a case of crabs, and he turned me down?
I’m laying on my bed, dressed in my favorite pair of wide leg pants and a cropped tank top. I’ll throw on a little over shirt to be slightly more family friendly once I’m ready to go but for now, laying on my bed, I’m more than comfortable how I am.
I’m star-fished on my king-sized bed, doing my best to reminisce about the last thirty-one years without thinking about the time I was living on my own, off the Farm.
It’s been almost ten years since then, over seven since my dad died.
I never did tell him why I came back home. Not the whole truth, at least.
I don’t regret keeping that secret from him. My dad was a complicated man and we had a very complicated relationship. I’ll be the first to admit, once I hit my late teens, I was a wild child.
Throw that into the complicated mess of me not being interested in learning how to run the Farm like he expected and we bumped heads more often than not, it eventually grew to the point we got into a screaming match one too many times, eventually resulting in me declaring I couldn’t live like this anymore and moving out.
That’s when Maybe came out guns blazing.
God, I hate to think about her nowadays.
My hands come to rest on my lower stomach, pressing down softly, a move I’ve come to use to help ground me when the past threatens to overwhelm me. I imagine the changes that never came to be. I close my eyes as I feel the pressure of tears building behind my eyes.
I’m not going to cry on my birthday.
Not this year.
My wonderful family makes it easy to get over my birthday melancholy.
Dinner is delicious, Mama’s cooking always is, and Paul surprised me, coming home early so he could have dinner and celebrate with me.
It meant a lot, Paul’s handyman business was important to him and I had missed him while the sisters got pedicures.
It warms my heart and briefly stokes the guilt of not trusting his opinion on Jude but I push it away and focus on enjoying time with my family.
“Alright, you hooligans. Two more weeks until we head out to the cabin, any menu requests?” Mama asks us, a notepad and pen appearing out of nowhere.
“Anything you make sounds good to me.” Patrick offers and I can’t stop the bark of laughter when Elle fakes a cough and calls her fiancee a ‘kiss ass’.
It earns her an offended gasp which only causes everyone else to break out into laughter.
“Thank you, Patrick but I hope you don’t expect me to cook the whole time.” Mama raises an eyebrow at the newest addition to the family and I swear, all the blood drains from Patrick’s face.
“Nik wanted me to let you know she’d like to grill one night, if that works for everyone.” Paul’s voice is a little timid, which is unusual but I chalk it up to the fact that he’s talking about Anika.
Talking about Anika always brings out a different side of him.
Mama breaks any hint of tension with a wide smile, “Oh that would be so lovely, I don’t know what she puts on her hamburgers but I love them.” The conversation quickly moves along, with all of us suggesting different meals and Mama jotting them down, compiling a shopping list.
Eventually, the conversation moves on to Elle and Patrick’s upcoming nuptials.
It’s all hands on deck once we return from our trip to the cabin.
They’re getting married during the first weekend in September.
Elle keeps insisting she would be perfectly happy to head to the courthouse and be married already but the whole family shuts that down before she can even finish speaking.
Elle, and Patrick, deserved to be celebrated. Their love is one for the books and it took a lot for those two goofs to get together. It did require a little bit of push by yours truly but it all worked out in the end.
“We each have one last fitting and I was able to get it scheduled all together so we can get the full effect.” Elle announces.
“I’m excited to see what style you both chose.
” My darling sister hasn’t seen the dresses Lola and I picked, mostly because we’ve been struggling to actually pick something.
She’s been insistent that she didn’t care what we wore.
As long as we were comfortable and the colors matched we could pick what we wanted.
I can’t help a small squeal of excitement of getting to see Elle in her wedding dress again. We were all there for try-ons and the dress she picked was made for her. No dry eyes in the house once she walked out.
Paul would deny it but his eyes got pretty glassy seeing his big sister spin like a princess with a genuine smile on her face.
The evening’s dying down, Mama asking all of us our plans for the coming week, Paul the last to share as we’re cleaning up the remains of dinner. “I’m taking Henry, my bestie Bennett, and his son, Luka out. Boys day.”
“Boys day? And I wasn’t invited? What the heck dude?” Patrick’s tone doesn’t show any real hurt, but his face paints a fake aghast-ness paired with a hand on his chest shows that he’s not truly upset.
“You’ve got that game day, dude.”
“Ah, yes. Game day.” Patrick nods solemnly.
“Game day?” I love games and I might have plans but maybe I need to dramatically gasp for being excluded. “Yeah, a bunch of the farmhands are getting together for a game night at the Bunk House. Jude coordinated it.” I take a deep breath in through my nose at the mention of Jude.
“Interesting. Well, you all have fun. I’m going to enjoy my time out with my best friend and our little ones.”
“Happy birthday to you…” Mama comes around the corner, a candle speckled cake resting atop her hands. Everyone joins her and I can’t help the blush that burns my cheeks but my smile is wide, my heart full with love for everyone around the table.