Jesse sat down in one of the rocking chairs in the nursery. “Six months ago, I didn’t have any children, and now I have three, plus a gorgeous wife.”
“Seems only fair that you get double diaper and feeding duty this time around,” Addy teased as she dropped a kiss on his forehead. “I figured it would take at least a year for us to get into even the foster program. It’s a miracle that we got to go straight to adoption this quickly.”
“Thanks to Cody and his connections.” Jesse grinned. “My brothers are good for something after all. Of course, now he says that he gets to be the favorite uncle.”
“Seems fair to me, but Lucas may have other ideas,” Addy said. “I think they’re going to have your blue eyes.”
“Of course they are,” Jesse said. “I’m their daddy.”
Every chair around the dinner table that day was filled. Sonny said grace and his eyes got all misty as he glanced at the table full of food and at all the folks gathered for the holiday. “I’m thankful today for every one of you. It’s good for an old man to live to see his grandchildren and know that what he’s worked for his whole life will go on in good hands.”
“I’m grateful for family, too,” Pearl said. “And to finally have a daughter.”
“I’m thankful that Addy and I are getting the practice up and going,” Cody said.
“That I’m coming home to stay next summer.” Lucas smiled. “I’m tired of these short visits when I barely get here until it’s time to go again. Besides, after coming home for a couple of days in July when Dad had that episode, I’ve been downright homesick.”
“For Addy,” Jesse said when it was his turn to speak up.
Addy kissed Jesse on the cheek. “Thank you, darlin’. I’m grateful for my life with Jesse, my children, and all y’all.”
“I’m thankful that I have two new brothers and not a child of my own, and that I have a father,” Mia chimed in. “Now, can we please eat? I’m starving.”
“Look!” Cody pointed at the window. “It’s snowing. I hope it doesn’t get too slippery. After we eat, I’ve got to go up to a little cabin on Coffee Mill Lake and check on Tommy Jones. He called this morning and said that he had a cough that wouldn’t go away. I’m not surprised. He’s living in a little cabin with a wood-burning stove, so he’s probably breathing in smoke.”
“Need me to go with you?” Addy asked.
“I can take care of this one,” Cody said. “You can stay inside with the babies.”
“I won’t argue,” Addy told him. “Be careful, though, and call in if you need help with anything, and I’ll drive up there. But I’d rather stay here all cuddled up with my husband and watch the snow fall.” She leaned over and laid her head on Jesse’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re a cowboy now and not a soldier.”
“I’m glad I’m a husband now and a father.” Jesse kissed her on the cheek.
Don’t miss Cody and Stevie’s story,
Texas Homecoming
coming in early 2022
Small Town Charm
Chapter One
If the punishment for being a curvy woman was being sent to live in a big city, then Cricket Lawson would have had to make peace with her maker, because she would surely die if she ever had to move from Bloom, Texas. She’d always been slightly overweight, and she’d tried to lose weight more times than she could count on her fingers and toes. Then she’d come to the realization that diet was a four-letter word—and those were a sin to think or even say out loud.
The thermometer on her porch said it was past ninety degrees, so when she got home from working all day in her secondhand bookstore, Cricket changed into a pair of cutoff jeans and a chambray shirt, which she tied up under her breasts, leaving her midriff bare. For the past two days Bloom, Texas, had had rain, rain, and more rain, so she kicked off her shoes at the edge of the garden and waded out in the mud in her bare feet. No one else was within a mile of the huge vegetable garden where Cricket picked tomatoes and beans that hot evening.
“Romeo,” was blasting through her MP3 player, and Cricket sang right along with Dolly Parton. When Billy Ray Cyrus began to sing his part in the song, she did a few line-dance steps. Mud flew up and stuck on the backs of her legs, but she didn’t care. She lived so far out of town that no one could see her. If they could, it would sure enough give everyone in the town something to talk about.
She put her hands on her knees and did a little twerking. “That would really set their tongues a waggin’,” she giggled. “Someday, my Romeo will come along, and he’ll sweep me right off my feet, but the way I look right now, I hope it’s not today.”
It seemed like an omen when the next song on her player was “Something to Talk About.” Holding a cucumber as a microphone, she sang along with Bonnie Raitt and danced around a half-bushel basket almost full of green beans. She’d just finished doing a little two-step with an imaginary partner when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.
Her brother Rick and sister-in-law had just taken their two kids on a vacation to the beach the day before and wouldn’t be home for two weeks, so it couldn’t be either of them. She whipped around too fast, slipped in the mud, and fell flat on her butt. Dirty water splashed all the way up her bare midriff and across her arms. She didn’t even try to get up but just sat there and stared at the man standing at the edge of the garden.
“Hello, I’m Bryce Walton,” he said. “Were you practicing for a country music video?”
“No, I’m taking a mud bath,” she snapped at him. “What are you doing on my property?”
“Lettie gave me your phone number, but there was no answer when I called. She gave me the directions out here and told me you could sell me some fresh vegetables,” Bryce explained.
“How do you know Lettie?” Cricket’s tone softened a little.
“I bought the Bloom Pharmacy,” Bryce said. “Today was my first day to work, and I’m renting Lettie and Nadine’s garage apartment until I can find something to buy. Do I need to give you a résumé to buy okra and tomatoes?”
Cricket knew that the pharmacy had sold—everyone in Bloom knew that two hours after the papers were signed. But she hadn’t expected the new pharmacist to be so young—or so tall. She’d thought he’d be middle-aged, bald, and wearing bifocals perched on the end of his nose. Lettie had told her that he’d moved into the apartment, but Cricket was so busy that she hadn’t even gone to the pharmacy to get her daily limeade that day. Now she wished she had.
Bryce had clear blue eyes, a full head of dark hair, and was probably about her age of thirty-one. He wasn’t muscled up like a weightlifter, and maybe looked a little soft in his belly, but all in all, he was a good-looking guy.
“I’m Cricket Lawson. I’d shake hands, but I don’t think you want a fistful of mud.” She got to her feet and made her way out of the garden. She picked up the water hose, sprayed the mud off her body, and then asked, “How much okra and how many tomatoes do you want?”