“I’ll do daddy duty.” Jesse got up from the table and picked up one of the carriers. “Mia helped with baths, and she needs to go check on the new animals.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Mia said. “You’re the best. I promised to help with the bedtime duties tonight, but I really want to see the new cria and the kittens.”
Jesse shook his finger at her. “But if there’s not any cake left when I get done, you’re in big trouble.”
“Must’ve been nice growing up in this house,” Stevie whispered to Cody.
“Yep, it was, at least, part of the time, but we weren’t the Waltons. We had our fair share of problems,” he told her. “You had mealtimes with your family, didn’t you?”
“Not like this. Think about it. Mama, Daddy, and one child. We talked about our day, but when supper was over, Mama and I cleaned up. Daddy took care of whatever jobs needed attention around the place, and then we all went our separate ways. I did a lot of reading in my room,” she answered.
“I didn’t mean to be eavesdropping on your conversation with Cody, but you missed not having brothers or sisters, didn’t you?” Pearl asked.
Stevie nodded. “I really did, and it’s even worse now since Mama is gone. There’s no one to share the memories with, or to fuss about tattling when we were kids.”
“I’ll be your little sister,” Mia offered. “We’ve already got stuff in common. I like alpacas and cats, and so do you. And I can argue with the best of them. Just ask Mama.”
Addy and Jesse had each picked up a baby carrier and were headed out of the room, but Addy turned back and nodded. “She’s a professional at that for sure. But she’s too young to be your sister. I’ll take that job and she can be your niece.”
“Aww”—Cody nudged Stevie with his shoulder—“they’re fighting over you.”
“Too young!” Mia said. “There’s nineteen years between me and the twins. I bet there’s not that many years between me and Stevie.”
“See what I mean,” Addy said with a smile. “She’s good at arguing.”
“There’s probably about nineteen years between us too, but I’ve never had a niece.” Stevie remembered when she had first heard that Addy had a baby and that she wouldn’t tell anyone who the father of the little girl was. She had envied her for having that much backbone and for doing what she wanted, no matter what anyone else thought of her.
Mia raised her chin. “Then I’ll be your niece, Aunt Stevie. Does that mean you’ll spoil me since I’m the only one you have?”
“As long as you don’t expect me to give you my last bit of chocolate. I’m very stingy with that.”
Pearl giggled. “Honey, you could be blood kin to Mia if you like chocolate that much.”
“She does,” Cody said. “If it hadn’t been for two bites of a candy bar she had in her van, she wouldn’t have survived being stranded in the barn as long as we were.”
Stevie shot a dirty look at Cody. “I’m not all that bad, but I will admit to being a chocoholic.”
“Which would you rather have,” Mia asked as she carried her empty plate to the sink and cut herself a nice-sized wedge of the cake, “a cold beer on a scalding hot day, or a candy bar?”
“Candy,” Stevie answered without hesitation.
“Yep, we are kin, Aunt Stevie,” Mia told her and then asked, “want me to cut a piece for you?”
“Love one,” Stevie answered.
“And me?” Cody asked.
“Are you asking me for a piece of cake?” Mia asked. “Or are you asking Stevie if she loves you?”
Cody’s face turned scarlet. “Cake please.”
“If I’m going to be the waitress, I’ll put a tip jar on the counter,” Mia teased.
“I hope you aren’t planning on buying a new truck with all those tips that you’ll get for serving dessert,” Cody said.
“Pennies mount up to nickels, and nickels to dimes.” Mia shot a look toward Sonny. “Poppa told me that, and Poppa does not lie.”
“That’s my girl,” Sonny said with a broad grin.
Stevie remembered her mother saying those very words to her just before she slipped into a coma. She couldn’t recall what they were talking about just before that, but her mother’s last words had stuck with her.
The stars looked like diamonds on a bed of black velvet, and the quarter moon shone down on the white snow, giving the world an ethereal look that night as Stevie and Mia walked from the house to the barn. Stevie could tell that Mia was so excited about going to see the new animals that she didn’t even notice the beauty all around her, but then Stevie had been the same way when she was Mia’s age.
When they reached the barn, Mia flipped on the lights and hurried back to the stall where Maggie and the babies were. She was already inside and sitting on the floor when Stevie propped a boot on the lower rail and peeked over the top.
Mia gathered both crias in her arms like twin babies and began to rock back and forth. “If Maggie hadn’t taken her, I would have volunteered to take care of her. I wish I’d never gotten crazy and sold my flock of sheep.”
“Why did you?” Stevie asked.
“I thought I was in love,” Mia answered.
“We all do stupid stuff when we fall in love,” Stevie said.
“I bet you didn’t.” Mia looked up at her with eyes as blue as her daddy’s. “I can’t see you letting any guy lead you down the wrong path.”
Before Stevie could figure out what to say, Dolly slipped under the bottom rail and stretched out beside Mia. All three kittens tumbled over and under the rails to join the party going on up next to this new person in their lives.
Mia laid the crias over close to their mama and picked up the cat. “You are beautiful, Miz Dolly,” she crooned. “I can’t believe that Maggie isn’t screeching at you, but I’m glad she isn’t. And just look at these babies of yours.” She picked each one up and kissed its little nose. “This is almost as good as candy.”
Stevie was still thinking about what Mia said, and had to agree that no man had led her down the wrong path. She had taken that fork in the road all by herself. She realized in that moment that she had judged all the men she had dated in the past twenty years by Cody. That hadn’t been fair to any of them or to herself, and it was time to get past it and move on.
That’s my girl, her mother whispered softly in her ear.
With all the emotions of the evening lying on her heart, Stevie needed a little time alone to think about laying the grudge aside and really moving on with a clean slate. Cody would probably spend most of the evening with his family, so she could have the bunkhouse, and even better, that big bathtub all to herself.
“I’m going to go on to the bunkhouse,” Stevie said. “You going to be out here awhile?”
“Oh, yeah!” Mia answered without looking up from her lap full of cats. “I’m glad that things have worked out so you can be here with us until things thaw, Stevie.”
“Thank you,” Stevie said.