Chapter 4 Ella
ELLA
Ella scolded herself as she headed out to the north field with her mom by her side and Dalton Tyler trailing behind them.
She’d been in such a hurry to defend her father’s self-appointed job that she’d been sharp with Andy’s best friend, and she felt terrible about it now. The poor guy was only trying to be helpful. And he’d obviously worked pretty hard. Ella didn’t think she’d ever seen the kitchen that clean before.
What’s wrong with me? Why are my emotions still all over the place?
But she knew already that the answer wouldn’t help her. All she could do was try to be kinder and more patient.
The trouble was that every time that brilliant blue gaze landed on her, she felt like he was looking into her soul.
You’re just a little on edge, she tried to tell herself. You don’t spend enough time with people your own age.
Her parents always encouraged her to go out with her old friends from high school, or even date. But all Ella wanted was to hold her family close, and soak in every minute she could. She knew more than most that the future wasn’t promised.
“Looking forward to harvesting?” Mom asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
“I guess so,” Ella said.
“Gets us one step closer to wintertime,” Mom added with a wink.
Wintertime was the best. Of course they had plenty of chores to get the farm ready for next year, and Dad spent a lot of time scratching his head over the books to be sure the taxes were properly paid. But for the most part, it was an opportunity to rest, read, bake, and just relax.
“I do love winter,” Ella agreed, feeling better when Mom wrapped an arm around her.
“Now, Dalton,” Mom said, waving for him to catch up. “Here’s where we are with the sweet potatoes.”
He jogged up to walk by the women, his expression intent as he listened.
“We irrigated and cultivated really well already,” Mom explained.
Dalton frowned.
“Irrigating is basically watering,” Ella put in. “And cultivating is turning up the soil to loosen it.”
“I thought you did those things before planting,” Dalton said.
“We do,” Ella told him. “But we do it again before harvest to get rid of the weeds, and pull up the runners.”
“Those are sort of like vines,” her mother put in. “It helps make it easier to get the potatoes out of the ground.”
“Okay,” Dalton said. “I understand now.”
“Well, today is the fun part,” Mom said with a smile. “Today, we get to drive the harvester and turn up the potatoes.”
“That’s a machine?” Dalton asked.
“It sure is,” Mom said. “And thank goodness for it, because if we had to do the whole thing by hand, it would take a lot more than just us.”
“So, the machine just picks the potatoes?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s not quite that easy,” Ella said, laughing a little. “The machine digs into the ground and turns up soil and the sweet potatoes with it. But someone has to follow behind the machine, pull the potatoes out, sort them, and get them up to the barn to be washed and crated.”
She waited for Dalton to offer to run the machine. In her experience, young men viewed themselves as natural experts when it came to any kind of driving or machines. But running the harvester wasn’t easy, and where they really needed muscle was on the ground.
And he’s got muscles to spare…
Dad had taught Ella how to run the harvester, and she could do it in a pinch, but she insisted that Mom be the one to do the driving. Ella was happy to do more of the grunt work if it saved her mother a little heavy labor.
“I assume you’re in charge of the machine, ma’am,” Dalton said, looking to Ella’s mom.
“For heaven’s sake, call me Mary,” Mom laughed. “And yes, I’m the chauffeur, or at least I always have been.”
“So then Ella, can you teach me how to sort the potatoes?” Dalton asked.
“Of course,” Ella told him, feeling pleasantly surprised.
“Thank you,” he said.
Their eyes met again and she saw nothing but gratitude in those blue depths. He really was an easygoing guy, and Ella was relieved that he wasn’t holding onto any bad feelings over her harsh words after breakfast.
An hour later, she had him up to speed with all his important questions answered. Mom was getting ready to do a second pass over the first row with the harvester, and this time Dalton was starting the gathering of potatoes on his own since Ella needed to get Dove to school.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Mom?” Ella asked a little worriedly.
“Oh yes,” her mother replied. “He’s a hard worker, honey. It’s so nice we can keep going while you get Dove to school. We’ll wrap up the harvest a little faster this year, won’t we?”
Ella nodded and hurried off. Dalton was watching after her, so she gave a little wave, which he returned.
Her heart tugged and she hurried back up to the house, wishing her emotions would ease off a little. She was feeling rubbed raw, almost like she had in the first days after hearing about Andy.
“Mama,” Dove said, as Ella came in the back door. “Grandpa got me all the way ready. We thought you might have to stay with Dalton.”
Ella looked over at her father.
He was smiling, but she could see by the tension in his jaw and his ashen complexion that he was in pain.
He helped Dove get ready because he didn’t get to cook breakfast, she realized, her heart sinking.
“I can drive her, honey,” he offered.
“Thanks so much, Dad,” she said. “But I’ve been looking forward to driving Dove to school all morning. And Dalton’s a natural potato picker, so no worries there.”
“Is your mother coming up for another coffee?” Dad asked.
“They wanted to keep going a little,” Ella told him.
He nodded, looking relieved.
“Dove and I will head out now,” she told him, knowing he was probably dying to put his feet up, but didn’t want to do it in front of her. “There’s a quick errand I need to run.”
“Okay,” her dad said gratefully. “Drive safely, daughter and granddaughter.”
“Bye-bye, Grandpa,” Dove said, dashing over to hug him.
“Gently, Birdie,” Ella said without meaning to.
Her father scowled, but Dove hugged him carefully and then flew toward the hallway.
“Love you, Dad,” Ella threw over her shoulder as she followed.
Ella and Dove pulled on boots and coats and headed out the front door.
“Grandpa’s back hurts,” Dove said softly as they headed to the car.
“Yes,” Ella said.
“He doesn’t like to talk about it,” Dove said.
“No,” Ella said. “But we can help him by being gentle and doing as much ourselves as we can, right?”
“Right,” Dove said. “But can the doctor fix him?”
“Some things are hard to fix,” Ella said.
Her dad had herniated discs in his lower back, and while injections had helped a couple of times, she strongly suspected that he was at the point where he had to think about surgery now. But of course he wouldn’t even discuss it.
She wasn’t sure if he was afraid, or didn’t think they had the money, or both. But it hurt to see him in pain and trying to hide it. He’d worked so hard all his life. He deserved to enjoy himself.
“Does Dalton live with us now?” Dove asked.
“He’s going to stay with us for a while,” Ella told her.
“What does that mean?” Dove asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ella admitted. “Is that okay with you?”
“He’s nice,” Dove said, nodding. “He let me put faces on the pancakes.”
“I told him that breakfast was Grandpa’s job,” Ella heard herself admit out loud. “It probably wasn’t very nice of me.”
“But Grandpa’s back hurts,” Dove said. “Maybe he needs a rest.”
“Well, I have a feeling Dalton’s back is going to hurt tomorrow,” Ella said. “I remember my first sweet potato harvest.”
She had woken up the next day feeling like she couldn’t move. And the only medicine for it was more harvesting.
“Can I help?” Dove asked.
“If you want to help out after school, maybe we can give some of the potatoes a bath,” Ella offered. Washing the potatoes was fun, and it helped them look nice in their crates at the farmers market.
“Yeah,” Dove said happily.
By the time they pulled up at the school, Ella was feeling better about things.
Dove gave her a big hug and then hurried off with her backpack, golden ponytails swinging with the rhythm of her sprint.
She’s getting to be so independent, she told Lee in her mind. I wish you could see her.
She pulled out onto Sycamore and made a left on Ambler. Her task in the village wouldn’t take long. She’d told her father she had an errand to run mostly to get him to take a break.
But thinking about how she’d felt after her first harvest reminded her of the perfect thing to grab while she was in town.
And maybe it’s a bit of an apology too, she thought to herself.
On the corner of Ambler and Park was Gabriel’s Pharmacy, the most iconic shop in Trinity Falls. Ella pulled into a nearby parking spot, put some change in the meter, and headed onto the sidewalk.
Trinity Falls was beautiful in every season, but Ella especially loved the fall and winter.
Right now, the sandstone sidewalks were decorated with fallen leaves, wet from the rain. The brilliant colors lifted her heart, even though they made the walkway a little slippery.
And there was nothing like the scent of damp soil and leaves to bring her back to her childhood.
Mom and Dad had brought Ella and Andy to the village for every fair and festival.
She remembered bobbing for apples at the Halloween Hop and sitting under a big tree on the library lawn while volunteers read stories.
Whenever there was a spooky one, Andy would hold Ella’s hand, knowing she would be scared.
You’re still with me, she told her big brother. I’ll never forget a moment of it.
She felt another twinge of sorrow that Dove didn’t have a brother or sister to share her life. She and Lee had wanted lots of kids, but he’d gotten sick not too long after Dove was born, and growing their family then had been out of the question.
She slipped into the store and headed for the aisle she had in mind.
“Little Ella Bennett,” a lady’s voice called out.
Ella MacLaren, she wanted to correct them, but of course people here mostly knew her by her maiden name.
She turned to see Ginny Davies standing behind her. The older lady was smiling and holding a small plastic Christmas tree.
“Hi, Mrs. Davies,” Ella said. “How are you? How’s Sylvester?”
Ginny’s daughter-in-law and grandson had moved to Trinity Falls last winter. And no one had been happier than Ginny when Cora remarried. She and Jared Webb were super happy, and Sylvester seemed to get a real kick out of being with his new stepdad.
“He’s doing just fine,” Ginny said with a big smile. “I get to see him all the time now.”
“Dove and I are happy to be home too,” Ella told her.
“Why would anyone ever leave Trinity Falls?” Ginny wondered out loud.
“Ginny,” another lady called out impatiently from the next aisle.
“I’d better go,” Ginny said. “We’re picking up a few things to decorate the teachers’ lounge over at the school.”
“That’s wonderful,” Ella told her. “It was nice to see you.”
Ginny and her two best friends, Betty Ann and Shirley, had been practically running the town ever since Ella was a schoolgirl.
From town events to fundraisers to organizing help for families that needed it, the trio seemed to have the whole town in the palm of their hands.
Ella wasn’t a bit surprised that it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet and they were already making plans to brighten Christmas for the teachers.
She hurried to grab what she needed from the shelves and even impulsively picked up something extra off an end-cap display.
“How’s it going, Ella?” the checkout girl asked politely.
Ella knew it was one of the Jones granddaughters but couldn’t remember which one to save her life.
“Great,” she replied. “How are your grandparents?”
“Awesome,” the girl replied as Ella paid. “Getting ready for Thanksgiving.”
With her purchases tucked in a bag, Ella hurried back out to the car.
Dalton would be working hard, but he was still new to the harvest, so she didn’t want to miss much time in the field. If Mom was right they might have a real chance to get things done a little faster this season with a third set of hands.
If he sticks around that long, she reminded herself.
She drove back through the village, past the community college with its gorgeous pin oaks and sweet gums blushing peach and red, and the brilliant yellow of the sugar maple leaves drifting down like snow.
The suburban homes north of the campus spread out and melted into farmland as she turned onto Route One and thought about how many times she had taken this trip since childhood.
How long can things stay the same?
But of course things didn’t stay the same, not really. People moved through your life, and other things changed all the time. The highway was coming in, and soon the little town might grow in ways that made it unrecognizable.
The thought gave her all the more reason to enjoy things as they were right now.
Harvest time was hard work, but it meant a chance to spend weekends at the farmers market. And of course she would bring Dove to Cassidy Farm for pumpkins, and pies, and pots of the brilliant chrysanthemums Mom loved to have to brighten the front porch of the farmhouse.
They would have a nice Thanksgiving at home too.
She found herself wondering if Dalton would still be with them.
The man was such a mystery.
Why was he here? How long would he stay?
When we go around the table, what will he say he’s thankful for?
But she was nearly home and there was no time to ask silly questions while there were still potatoes in the ground.
She pulled her little car up by the house and got out with her purchases, quietly slipping in the front door and placing the bag on the hall table to give to Dalton later before tiptoeing out again so as not to rouse her father.
As she walked out past the house to the fields, she noticed that Mom and Dalton had made some real progress.
Even more interestingly, Mom was smiling up at Dalton and talking with him, her hands dancing in the air the way they did when she was really happy about something.
Maybe he’s good for us, Ella thought to herself as she headed out to join them. Maybe it doesn’t matter how long he stays.