brother you’ve got there,” he told Shea.
Apparently over her earlier angst at no longer being the only bird in the nest, Shea smiled brightly and nodded in happy agreement. Callie hugged her step-granddaughter, her own eyes full of tears.
“He’s the best,” Shea murmured.
“Congratulations,” Hutch said to Callie. It was, if he recalled correctly, the first word he’d ever said to the woman, even though he’d always known her. It wasn’t that he’d judged her—he supposed she’d loved the old man once upon a time, since she’d had a child with him—but Hutch’s mother’s heartache and rage over the affair was still fresh in his mind. Until Trace, acknowledging Callie would have seemed like an act of disloyalty to his mom, as crazy as that sounded. After all, she’d died when he was twelve.
“Thank you, Hutch,” Callie said, dashing at her wet eyes with the back of one hand.
“You look skinnier every time I see you,” Opal put in, giving Hutch the once-over and frowning with devoted disapproval. To Opal, everybody in Parable was her concern, one way or the other. “You need me to come out to Whisper Creek and cook for you for a couple of weeks. Put some meat on those bones. And who ironed that shirt—a chimpanzee?”
Hutch grinned, though he felt a thousand years old all of a sudden and bone-weary in the bargain. “Nobody ironed it,” he said, even as he wondered why he’d risen to the bait. “It’s permanent press.” He’d taken the garment out of the dryer and pulled it on just before leaving the house to drive back to town.
“There’s no such thing as ‘permanent press.’” Opal sniffed. “A shirt ought to be ironed.”
That seemed like a good time to steer the conversation in another direction. “I appreciate your offer, Opal,” he said honestly, “but Joslyn’s going to need you to help take care of Trace.”
“Joslyn’s mama is on her way to Parable as we speak,” Opal replied succinctly. “She’ll provide all the lookin’ after that family needs, at least for a week or two. I’ll be at your place first thing tomorrow morning with my suitcase, so be ready for me.”
Hutch opened his mouth, closed it again.
There was no point in arguing with Opal Dennison once she’d made up her mind, which she obviously had. If she meant to take over his house—or his whole life, for that matter—she’d do it. She was about as stoppable as a tornado gobbling up flat ground.
Best to just get out of the way and wait for the dust to settle.
“See you tomorrow,” he finally said.
“Pick up some spray starch on your way home,” Opal ordered. “And a decent iron, too, if you don’t have one.”
He pretended not to hear and walked off toward the elevator.
* * *
THE ELEVATOR DOORS opened, and Kendra came face-to-face with Hutch when she stepped out.
Even after spending much of the day in his company over at the Pioneer Cemetery, she felt startled by the encounter. Unprepared and very nervous.
“Where’s Madison?” he asked, his gaze drifting lightly over Kendra’s cotton print sundress, which she changed into after the picnic, and then back to her face.
Kendra found her voice. Stepping past him, she remembered that she’d come to the hospital on a mission—to see her best friend’s brand-new baby for the first time. “Downstairs,” she answered automatically. “The receptionist is looking after her.”
“I’ll say howdy to her on my way out,” Hutch replied.
He entered the elevator. The doors whispered shut between them and Kendra was left with the odd sensation that she’d imagined the whole exchange, if not the whole crazy day.
Had she really entered—and lost—a three-legged race at a cemetery picnic?
Seeing Callie and Shea and Opal in a happy huddle, she joined them.
“How’s the new mama?” she asked.
Shea rolled her eyes. She was flushed and twinkly with excitement, like a girl-shaped topiary draped in fairy lights. “Would you believe Joss wants to go home—right now? Dad and Opal are making her stay the night, though—just to be on the safe side.”
“So I guess that means Joslyn’s doing just fine,” Kendra said, smiling.
“She’s amazing,” Callie put in. “And so is little Trace. Lordy, he looks just like his daddy. Slade Barlow in miniature, that’s him.”
“Dad’s walking about a foot off the ground,” Shea said, pleased.
“Hutch’s mama would roll over in her grave if she saw him wearing that wrinkled shirt out in public,” Opal fretted, her gaze focused on the closed elevator doors. “She took pride in things like that.”
Kendra blinked, confused.
“Don’t mind Opal,” Shea said in a conspiratorial whisper, slipping an arm through Kendra’s. “She’s suffering from a laundry fixation at the moment—it’ll pass.”
“Oh,” Kendra said, no less confused than before but allowing herself to be swept into Joslyn’s room.
Her friend was sitting up in bed, hair brushed, face scrubbed and glowing, eyes lively with joy. “Did you see him yet?” she asked, her tone happy and urgent.
Kendra laughed. “Not yet,” she admitted. “I just got here a minute ago.”
That dazed feeling, as if she couldn’t quite catch up with herself, was still with her.
There were flowers everywhere, making the small quarters look and feel more like a garden than a hospital room.
Joslyn beamed. “I can’t wait to have another one,” she said.
“Whoa,” protested Slade, from the doorway, grinning. “We just got out of the delivery room a couple of hours ago, woman.”
“Come here and kiss me,” Joslyn told him.
Shea laughed and made a face. “Gross,” she said fondly.
By that time, Slade had crossed the room, bent over Joslyn, and touched his mouth to hers. The air crackled with electricity.
Kendra, still befuddled, remembered the bouquet of yellow carnations she was carrying and found a place for it among the tangle of color filling the room nearly to overflowing.
A nurse brought little Trace in then and placed him gently in Joslyn’s waiting arms. The sight of the three of them—father, mother and child—was a poignant one to Kendra and she felt a warm twinge of affection—along with a touch of envy. The latter was followed by a swift plunge into guilt, because she loved Madison so fiercely, and wanting to bear a child of her own seemed almost greedy.
Joslyn’s gaze over the baby’s downy head rested warmly on Kendra for a moment and the kind of understanding only close friends can share
