“Uh-huh.”
“Nuh-uh.”
Travis managed to tune them out for the few minutes it took to get to his parents’.
When he pulled down the dirt drive, the first thing he noticed was all the vehicles parked near the house. It was Saturday, so he knew this wasn’t a family dinner, yet he saw all the familiar ones: Kaleb’s Ford Expedition, Sawyer’s Chevy, Zane’s F250, Jessie’s Hyundai, Beau’s Escalade, Cheyenne’s Lexus. And a few more Travis would’ve been surprised to see on any given day.
“Everybody’s here!” Kade exclaimed. “Yay!”
If he had to guess, his son had already forgotten about planting the tree.
Travis didn’t bother reminding him as he got them out of the SUV, herding them toward the house, where his old man was sitting on the front porch, Kate in the rocking chair beside him.
“What’s all this?”
“It’s a party,” his daughter said easily.
“A party?”
She nodded curtly. “A tree-plantin’ party.”
“Is that right?” Travis looked at his father.
Curtis’s gray eyebrows popped once. “I’m just here for the food.”
Travis laughed, then passed Haden off to his dad and went into the house. Sure enough, his brothers were all there, significant others, too, plus all the kids. Amongst them, he noticed Brantley and Reese, Kaden, Keegan, and Bristol, Mack and Jeff, as well as Joe and Melissa.
“Before you yell at us,” Zane said, his face sober, “we’re here for support. And because we wanted to be a part of it. We loved her, too. Thought it might be a nice celebration if we were all here for the tree plantin’.”
Travis’s throat tightened as he nodded. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for that.”
“Plus, you know how we all love a good party.” Zane smacked him on the back, probably a little harder than need be, but that was his kid brother for you.
Travis peered past Zane to his cousin Brantley, who was standing in the kitchen chatting with Kaden and Keegan. As though he felt eyes on him, Brantley looked up, met his gaze across the room. His first instinct was to pelt Brantley with questions, find out where they were in the investigation, why so much time had passed and nothing was being done. It would’ve been easy to unleash on the man. Too easy.
But he wouldn’t. Not today of all days.
Which was why Travis offered a nod of his chin in greeting, received one in return before he turned and sought his husband in the room full of people. He found Gage sitting on the couch, Maddox on the floor at his feet. When he saw Travis, his eyes widened.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said, his voice a bit dramatic. “I got the tree, brought it here, and—” He waved at the chaos as though that said it all.
And maybe it did.
After all, this was what the Walkers did. They rallied for support, took care of one another. It was something Travis had relied on all his life, one of the things he knew his wife had loved about their life. They had this … so many people who cared.
“We’ve got food,” Kaleb announced. “Question is, do you want to eat before or after?”
Travis looked at Gage. “Up to you.”
“We should ask the kids, see what they think.”
“Good idea.” This was supposed to be a family thing.
He pulled Avery away from playing with Ethan’s triplets, then found Kate still sitting in the rocking chair. After he told them to stay put, he searched for Kade. It took a minute to wrangle him from where he was playing with Mason and Matthew. When asked about the tree, their unanimous decision was to plant it now.
“Where’re we puttin’ it?” Curtis asked Kade.
The little boy shrugged his shoulders. “Where should we put it, Pop?”
“I think I’ve got the perfect spot.”
Curtis carried Haden while Kate, Avery, and Kade trotted beside him down the steps and across the front yard. Travis grabbed Maddox while Gage helped Ethan and Beau by picking up Jack. The rest of the crew, adults and children, weren’t far behind them.
“What about right there?” Curtis suggested, pointing to an empty spot a few yards to the left of the big oak tree.
“Yay!” Kade squealed and took off running, more kids following him.
“That way Mother and I can watch over it every day.”
Travis felt his sinuses heat, eyes brimming. Because he didn’t trust his voice, he nodded his agreement.
The next hour was spent with everyone taking turns digging a hole despite the fact they had the machinery to do it in far less time. No one was in a hurry though, helping the kids scoop up dirt, toss it aside, each adult also taking a turn.
“How big is this tree?” Travis asked as he saw the hole continuing to get bigger and bigger.
“I figured we wanted somethin’ strong enough to weather anything.”
Just like Kylie, he thought to himself.
Once Gage was satisfied the hole was big enough, he disappeared, returning a few minutes later driving Pop’s tractor, a trailer hitched to the back and a good-sized magnolia tree with an enormous root ball strapped down.
It was when Travis’s brothers went to assist that Kate came over to hold Travis’s hand. He glanced down at his daughter, saw she had tears streaming down her pretty face. She was probably the only one of his kids who understood the real significance of this, and he hated that she did. He hated that they’d lost the most important person in their world.
But he hoped this would give them something to hold on to, something to remind them of her each and every day.
It took some time, but the tree was maneuvered into place, the root ball broken up some so that it would settle in like it should, then the kids were once again scooping dirt to fill the hole. Kate joined them then, a smile on her face.
“You realize there’re three more,” Gage said from Travis’s side.
He looked over at his husband. “Three? I thought there were two more.”
“I bought one for Jess. Figured we’d help her plant it at her house.”
Travis squeezed Gage’s hand. Leave it to him to think of others at a time like this.
As he stared at the tree, Travis sent up a silent note to his wife: Kylie, baby, I’m definitely going to marry him. Just like you asked.
It took the rest of the weekend for them to get the remaining three trees planted. With each one, there was a celebration and a toast, everyone coming together to celebrate the life of a woman who’d meant so much to them.
On Sunday night, after the kids went to bed, Travis moved his things back into their bedroom. He’d been sleeping in there for a week, but he hadn’t quite felt committed to it. Now it felt like where he was supposed to be.
He figured Kylie had something to do with that. Even gone, she was watching over him, ensuring he did what he was supposed to. It took a strong woman to wrangle a Walker, and he’d never known one stronger, with the exception of his own mother.
He was blessed to have had the time he did with Kylie, and it was time he lived up to her expectations.
But there was one more thing they had to take care of.
Chapter Twenty
Tuesday, March 2, 2021