Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The Hot Spring
The ride in the side-by-side was cramped and noisy. Lenni sat smushed between us. The road had several large rocks and deep holes and we were jostled about like popcorn kernels in a popper.
By the time I put the side-by-side in park, my stomach was queasy.
“That was fun,” Lenni said with a wide grin.
Archer opened the door and climbed out. “Where did you bring us?”
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my belly before getting out. “There’s a hot spring on Powell land. There’s a rumor that it has magical healing powers.”
Lenni held up her cast. “So, if I dunk this in the hot spring—”
“You’ll have to get an entirely new cast put on,” Archer said, shooting me an amused glance.
“Legend has it,” I said, taking Lenni’s hand and began walking toward the hot spring, “that Hadley and Salem’s great-great grandfather who found this land cut his leg really bad. The doctor told him they were going to have to cut it off, but he soaked his leg in the hot spring and voilà. Healed.”
“We don’t have swimsuits,” Lenni pointed out.
“I thought we could sit with our feet in the water,” I said.
Lenni shuddered and hunched lower in her coat.
“Sounds like fun to me,” Archer said.
He spread the horse blanket at the edge of the hot spring pool. We all sat on top of it and removed our shoes. Lenni rolled up her jeans to reveal her calves and then stuck her feet into the water.
“Oh, this is nice.” She wiggled her pink-painted toes in excitement.
Archer and I flanked her. We looked at each other over her head.
I nodded.
You sure, he mouthed.
I nodded again. I’d rather deal with the fallout now, before Poet’s wedding, so there was still time to piece Lenni together in time to be a flower girl.
“You came back too early,” Lenni said, shooting me a glance. “Poet and I never got to go shopping for my dress.”
“Sorry about that.” I tucked a strand of hair that had escaped one of her braids behind her ear.
“Yeah, about why we came back early,” Archer said.
“Because you missed me. You already said,” Lenni replied. “I am very missable.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Archer smiled.
When he fell silent, I glared at him into continuing.
“Lenni?” Archer asked.
“Yeah?”
“How do you feel about babies?” he asked.
I mentally smacked my forehead.
“They’re cute,” she said. “I’m excited for Hadley to have her baby. She says she’s due on Christmas. Wouldn’t that be fun? A Christmas baby?”
“Yeah, that would be swell,” he muttered. He raked a hand through his hair. “Do you know where babies come from?”
“Oh God, you are the worst at this,” I snapped at him.
“Yeah?” He glared at me. “You think you can do any better?”
“Yeah, I can do this better,” I informed him.
Lenni looked at her father, and then she turned her head to peer at me. “What’s going on? You guys are being weird. Like, weirder than normal.” She snorted. “Parents.”
“Yes, parents,” Archer blurted out. “We are parents. And, ah, well, we’re going to be parents again.”
“I’m having a baby,” I stated, ripping off the Band-Aid. “You’re going to have a sibling.”
It seemed as if Archer and I were collectively holding our breaths, waiting for Lenni’s reply—or meltdown.
“Do I have to share my room?”
“No,” I replied.
“Do I have to change diapers?”
My lips flickered with amusement, but I dared not smile. “No.”
“Do I have to share Mildred with her?”
“I had to share Mildred with you,” I pointed out. “Don’t you think your brother or sister would like a dog?”
“Sister,” Archer said.
I looked at him. “I thought you wanted all boys.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Why?” Lenni’s eyes dimmed. “Why do you want this baby to be a girl?”
I reached over and took her hand. “Because he knows how much I love Hadley, Salem, and Poet, and I think of them as my sisters. And your father wants that for you too.”
Lenni’s expression brightened as she looked at her father. “You do?”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly what I want for you.”
Lenni squealed. “Wyn! You’re having a baby!”
She squeezed my hand.
“This doesn’t change anything,” I informed her.
She rolled her eyes. “Wyn, this changes everything.”
I let go of her hand so I could wrap my arm around her shoulder and haul her toward me. She collapsed against my side. “I just meant, this doesn’t change how much we love you.”
“You love me?” She looked at me and then at her father. “You both love me?”
Archer swallowed, his eyes earnest. “Yeah, Lenni. We love you so much. I know there have been so many changes in your life lately. I don’t want you to ever feel like you’re ignored or not enough. You’re really okay with this?”
“Depends,” Lenni said with an irreverent grin. “Can I help name the baby?”
“We will take your suggestions under advisement,” I said with a laugh and tugged on one of her pigtails.
Lenni beamed. “I can’t wait to have a sister. And to answer your other question, yeah, I know where babies come from.”
“Oh, your mom already told you about it?” Archer asked.
Lenni shook her head. “Timmy Rutherford in the third grade. He walked in on his parents. He came to school and told us. He even drew pictures. Then I went home and asked Mom. That’s when we had the talk.”
“Oh.” Archer rubbed the back of his neck. “Any other, ah, questions?”
“Well, Mom did tell me that only married people could make babies. But that’s not really true, is it?
I mean, Uncle Brooks and Aunt Poet are getting married but she’s already pregnant.
” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her father.
“And you and Wyn aren’t married, and she’s having a baby. ”
“Lenni,” Archer began.
“And you and Mom weren’t married when she had me,” Lenni informed him. “So, I’m thinking my mom told a lie. And lies are bad, right?”
“Oh, good, the morality discussion,” Archer said under his breath. “I was hoping we could wait a few more years before we had to deal with this.”
“It’s true that unmarried people can have babies,” I said. “But your mom was probably trying to tell you that it’s better to have babies when you’re already married.”
“Why?” she asked in confusion.
“Because,” Archer said.
Lenni sighed. “That’s adult speak for stop asking me questions I don’t want to answer.”
“Right you are,” Archer said, moving to get up. “Can we go now? My feet are turning into raisins and I’m getting hungry.”
“We’re not done yet,” Lenni intoned. She pointed to the spot next to her. “Stay.”
Archer raised his brows but did as she commanded.
“I have one more question and then we can go,” she said.
“I’m listening,” Archer replied.
Lenni nodded. “When are you and Wyn getting married?”
A moment of silence fell upon us.
Lenni wasn’t looking at me, but at her father. I stared at him too, amusement stamped across my lips.
“You are getting married, aren’t you?” Lenni pressed when Archer still hadn’t said anything.
“Yes, we’re getting married,” Archer said, his gaze snapping to mine. “But we haven’t discussed when yet.”
I cleared my throat. “That’s because you haven’t technically proposed yet.”
“Archer,” Lenni admonished. “You haven’t even proposed? What about a ring? Did you even get her a ring yet?”
“She’s defending my honor,” I quipped. “I kind of like this.”
“You don’t need her help,” Archer stated. But then he addressed his daughter. “I could use your help though.”
“With what?” Lenni asked in excitement.
“We can’t talk about it in front of Wyn,” he explained. “It’s just between you and me.”
Lenni nodded eagerly and pulled her feet from the hot spring. She stood up and used the horse blanket to dry her toes before donning her socks and boots. “Let’s go.”
Lenni was already in the side-by-side by the time Archer and I had put on our boots. He lifted the horse blanket.
“I’m guessing you’re going to rope your daughter into helping with your proposal,” I said, taking the end of the blanket and stretching it out.
“Picked up on that, did ya?” He winked.
“I don’t need a big to-do, Archer,” I said, bringing the folded corners toward him.
He took them from me. “A big to-do?”
“Yeah, I mean, you don’t have to go crazy with the proposal. No horse and carriage. No grand gestures. Just something sweet and simple.”
“Horse and sleigh.”
“What?”
“It’s winter. It wouldn’t be a carriage, it would be a horse and sleigh ride,” he corrected. “And why the hell don’t you want a grand gesture? You deserve grand gestures.”
“Deserve? Maybe. Want? No.” I looked at him. “I mean it, Archer. This isn’t me saying I want one thing when I secretly want you to do the other and then I get mad at you. I’m already getting everything I want. And I know you’ll propose when the time is right.”
“You’re killing me,” he muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I believe you, when you say you don’t want anything big. But God, Wyn, proposals are supposed to be big.” He put the horse blanket under one arm but didn’t make a move to head back to the side-by-side yet.
“For some people.” I shrugged. “But I don’t need a big proposal to be happy, you know. You want to drive us back?”
“Sure.”
We ambled toward the side-by-side, and I climbed into the passenger seat next to Lenni. Archer started the engine, and we drove in silence all the way back to the main house. He parked and we all spilled out.
“Oh, hey,” I said to Lenni before she got too far away. “We’re not telling people yet that we’re having a baby.”
She frowned. “You told me.”
I tugged on her braid. “You’re Lenni. You’re not people.”
Her brow unwrinkled. “Oh.”
“We don’t want to upstage Poet’s wedding,” I clarified. “So, we’ll tell everyone after.”
“Which means you gotta keep this a secret,” Archer added.
Lenni smirked. “I keep a better secret than you guys do.”
“What do you mean by that?” I demanded.
“Oh please,” she said with an eye roll. “Everyone knew you guys had the hots for each other. It’s not a shock that you guys got together. I’m gonna see if Muddy needs help with anything.”
She traipsed away toward the front porch, leaving me with Archer. I looked at him.
He nodded. “I know. She’s too smart for her own good.”
“I’m suddenly getting the feeling that Lenni is an old soul,” I stated. “And that she and Muddy are two peas in a pod.”
“Lord help us,” Archer muttered.
The front door to the house opened and Muddy came out, carting a milk crate. Lenni shut the door behind her, but not before Mildred escaped.
“Open your truck,” Muddy called to Archer.
He went to the back door and opened it and then took the crate from her. “What is this?”
“Ginger beer,” Muddy said. “For Wyn’s belly in the mornings.”
“Shhh,” Lenni said to Muddy. “It’s a secret.”
Muddy mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key. “We’re cutting down our tree tomorrow. I usually like to get the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, but everything has been kind of insane. You guys want to come along and find a tree with us?”
“Cut down a tree?” Lenni asked in confusion. “What for?”
Muddy smiled at her. “A Christmas tree. We do it every year.”
“No way,” Lenni said with a laugh. “We can pick our own tree?”
“What time would this be happening?” I asked. “Lenni’s got school.”
“I know she has school.” Muddy smiled. “You pick her up after school and drive on over. Does that work?”
“School is always getting in the way of fun,” Lenni muttered.
“Don’t I know it,” Muddy said. “Your brain can only do about four hours of intense work anyway.”
“Then why is school eight hours?” Lenni asked.
“That’s a deep, involved conversation,” Muddy said. “One your father should probably navigate.”
“Thanks,” Archer stated.
“Let’s get home,” I suggested. “I’m wiped.”
“Yeah, you’re looking a bit tired,” Lenni said, taking my hand and leading me to the passenger side of the truck. “We need to take care of you.”
My lip trembled and I hastily turned my face away.
Great. The hormone avalanche has begun.