I also had real doubts about Annie eating an omelet, but I didn’t find many other options in the pantry. I tried to think of a way of making omelets fun for a kid, but I was coming up blank.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Devin asked slipping up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. The man was seriously tactile in nature. Not that I minded. Having his big body wrapped around mine was one of my favorite things.
I sighed and leaned back into him. “I’m thinking that omelets aren’t going to have much of a cool factor for Annie. She’s used to me doing things like unicorn cupcakes and love bugs, but I can’t think of a way to jazz them up.”
“I think she’ll be thrilled to see you no matter what you make, but you could maybe not roll hers and use the toppings to make a face.”
“Oh! Will she eat the grape tomatoes I found in the fridge? Tomatoes don’t go in the fridge by the way. They do best left out at room temperature.”
“Really? I didn’t know that. And yes, those are one of her favorite snacks. Those and the red bell peppers. She loves those things.”
“It’s great that she’ll try different things at her age.”
“That’s all my mom. Even when we were little, she had a rule that we couldn’t say we didn’t like something until we tried it. After that, she didn’t force us to eat it again if we didn’t. That, along with the fact that she’s a lot like you and always made food fun.”
“Your mom sounds amazing, and doing Annie’s that way makes sense. So omelets for us and a frittata for Annie.”
It didn't take long for them to arrive, but I guessed in a town the size of River Gorge it didn’t take long to get anywhere. Annie rushed in, and I was starting to think she never went anywhere any other way. She was always running. With that thought in my head, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard Devin’s mom behind her telling her no running in the house.
She rounded the corner and leaped at Devin. He swooped her up and planted kisses all over her face. I wondered if he realized how much trust she placed in him to always catch her. I knew he worried about her and what effects it might’ve had for her to spend the first couple of years of her life in such an unstable environment, but she knew she was loved and she felt safe with him. That was such a gift, and I fell a little in love with him at that moment.
He turned her in his arms so she could see me. “Frankie! You’re at my house.”
“I am.”
“Did you see my room? My walls have unicorns and rainbows and clouds and horses with wings, but they aren’t unicorns cause they got no wings. I tried to tell my Uncle David that those horses would be sad with no horns, but he said they wouldn’t because they have wings so they can fly.”
“My brother David is an artist. He painted a mural on her wall for me,” Devin explained.
“Well, Annie-girl, I didn’t see your room because you weren’t here to show it to me.”
“I was at Gran’s. We didn’t do nothin’ ‘cept cook with Mr. Grady, and he made sketti cause its my favorite. But it was still special even though we didn’t do nothin’ ‘cause we were with each other, right Gran?” She was obviously repeating what her grandmother had told her, but I felt my eyes water, anyway. I gulped down the lump in my throat and gave her my best smile.
“Sounds special to me,” I told her, and it did. On our ride back to River Gorge from Dallas, I’d told Devin all about my family. I had an on-again, off-again father who’d never grown up, and a bitter mother who didn’t like us because she thought we were the reason he never stayed. So while it wasn’t something I understood, seeing the love they shared warmed my heart.
His mother gave me a knowing smile and said brightly, “Now that Annie isn’t living with me, it would be easy to fall into the trap of making her visits into an event, but I like having her over too often to sustain that, so we’re working hard to make it clear that special doesn’t come from what we do, it comes from who we’re with.”
“That’s very true. That’s what made River Gorge feel so much like home even though it isn’t what I’m used to.” I smiled at Devin. “It’s the people I’m with here. Now, let’s get some breakfast, and then you”—I pointed at Annie—“can show me your room.”
Devin’s mother had been kind. There was no other word that fit. She was nice and she was pretty. She loved her son and granddaughter and jumped right in to help with the omelets. She’d plied me with questions and told me stories about Devin as a child. But the thing that stuck out most of all was her kindness. I could see now where Devin got it.
We invited her to go with us out to the ranch to play with the goats, and she’d agreed to come if we would give her time to change clothes first. We agreed to wait, and Devin said he would clean up the kitchen while Annie showed me her room. She took me by the hand and dragged me down the hall.
I hesitated as we went by the door to Devin’s room. I looked in and seeing the bed all messed up and rumpled from our night together made my stomach do little flips.
“Come on,” she said tugging on me. “That’s not my room.” We got to her door and she pushed it open, then she stepped inside and threw her arms out wide. “Ta da!” I gasped in exaggerated fashion and her face lit up. “I telled you. It’s ‘tacular.”
It actually was spectacular. Devin came up behind us and said, “David lives in Chicago. He’s making a name for himself as an artist. He even has his work in a pretty big name gallery up there. He’s so talented.”
“Maybe next time I have a cake show in Chicago you can come with me and we can see his stuff.”
“Maybe, or maybe we can take a vacation this summer and go,” he said, cautiously.
But he didn’t need to worry. The idea of planning future trips with this man didn’t scare me at all, it thrilled me. I already couldn’t imagine not being with him. “We could. We could take Annie to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I went there when I was at a cake show last year. She would love it.”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. “That’s a fabulous idea.”
“Uncle Cap, you kissed Frankie.”
“I did, and I’ll kiss you, too,” he said lunging at her. She squealed and scrambled away, hopping up on the bed, and laughing as she jumped. He swooped her up and planted a big kiss on her cheek.
She leaned back in his arms and put her hand on both sides of his face squishing his cheeks forward, and then pulling back again. “Kissy face, kissy face,” she said each time she moved them forward.
He laughed and put her on the ground. “Let’s get you some ranch clothes on so you can play with the goats.” He opened up her drawer and handed her a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. “You know where your boots are?”
“I do,” she said. “I put them in the closet like you tolded me.”
“Good girl, you get ready and then you bring your boots to the kitchen, and we’ll help you put them on.”
“Kay,” she said, placing her clothes in a very orderly fashion on the bed. We left her to it and went back to the kitchen.