“Hey, a new face in the family is fun, and besides, I’ve been needing a friend to talk to about some stuff. Not tonight though. Mind if I come see you sometime tomorrow?” Mia asked.
“Not one bit,” Stevie answered. “It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
With a wave over her shoulder, she turned and walked away. Heading toward the bunkhouse with only a little bit of moonlight to guide her way, she touched the locket around her neck and wished for the wildflowers of spring instead of all the snow and ice.
Chapter Eight
Well, son, you had enough layin’ around with nothing to do?” Sonny asked when Stevie had left.
“I kept busy, Dad,” Cody assured him. “I didn’t want Max to feel like we were eating all his food and using up his wood, so I chopped a whole stall full of wood, and Stevie and I cleaned the tack room for him.”
Jesse pushed back his chair and brought the coffeepot to the table. “And now Max won’t ever know what y’all did, because he’s going from the hospital to his son’s place.”
Cody held up his cup for a refill. “That’s a decision he probably should have made five years ago, and it’s all right if he doesn’t know about the work we did. Doing it made me feel good.”
“I’ll make a deal with you.” Jesse refilled all three cups. “I’ll use the tractor to get you to any patients you might need to visit if you’ll help me do chores the next few days.”
“I told you before that I’m willing to help any way you need me,” Cody said.
“I know that, and you have helped a lot, but I’m going to depend on you even more for a little while,” Jesse said in a low voice.
“Mia is worth her weight in gold”—Sonny lowered his voice too—“but all this cold has created extra chores—shoveling, chopping through ice on the water troughs—and I can tell it’s wearing her thin. I don’t want her to hear me, but I’m going to tell her that I need her in the house a couple of days to catch up on the computer work.”
“I understand. What time do you want to get started tomorrow morning?” Cody asked.
“Soon as breakfast is done,” Jesse answered. “It’s been taking me and Mia until almost noon to get everything taken care of, but I reckon the two of us can be finished a little earlier than that. The water pipes from the well froze up today, so tomorrow we’re going to have to carry water from the barn out to the pasture.”
“Thank goodness we got a little forewarning and moved all the herd to the forty acres behind the barn, or y’all would have been running all over the ranch trying to feed and water,” Sonny said. “I hate that I can’t help you guys.”
“You help us by supervising,” Cody said. “We were raised on this ranch, but we were gone for a long time. We still need some help from a wise old head like yours.”
“It’s old, all right,” Sonny chuckled, “but I’m not so sure about the wisdom in it. I’ll tell you one thing, there’s more smarts up here”—he tapped his forehead—“than that rotten weatherman has. Telling us we might not get more than an inch of snow, and then changing his mind just about the time the blizzard hit. Your mother was the one who said we’d better get prepared for a big storm. She’s the smart one in the family.”
“The storm made a sweep to the south that no one expected. Maybe Mama ought to take that weatherman’s place on the morning news,” Cody said.
“She’d do a better job, but rest assured, there’s a reason for everything.” Sonny’s tone was dead serious. “We might not know what it is right now, but in ten years, we’ll look back and see things clearly.”
“What do you see clearly, Dad?” Jesse asked.
“That adopting you three boys was the best thing that happened to me and your mother. It’s time me and Pearl went to our house, if I can drag her away from Addy. When we first moved to Henry’s house after he retired, it felt strange, but now it feels like we’ve always lived there.” Sonny picked up his cane and headed toward the living room.
“Need some help?” Cody asked.
He had thought his folks might move to the house on the property across the road—the ranch they had bought from Addy’s parents when they sold out and went out to the Panhandle—when Jesse and Addy got married, but they’d opted to take over Henry’s place that was still right on Sunflower Ranch.
“Not tonight but thanks.” Sonny leaned heavily on his cane as he shuffled out of the kitchen. “When I do, I’ll ask for it.”
“Just remember, we’re all here for you, and don’t be too stubborn to ask,” Cody said with a smile.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without being stubborn.” Sonny disappeared around the corner and into the hallway.
Jesse waited until he was out of sight to ask, “In your opinion, what happens next with him?”
“Who knows?” Cody answered. “MS varies with the patient, and like he said, stubborn has taken him a long way, but I would think that he’ll need a walker before long.” Thinking about not being home to help his dad put a lump in Cody’s throat. He believed that nothing should ever be more important than family, and yet he had let his job stand between him and those most important to him. “One day at a time. That’s all any of us get anyway.”
Jesse stood up and clamped a hand on Cody’s shoulder. “You might do well to remember that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cody asked.
“Just think about it,” Jesse said. “If you were a woman, your biological clock would be tickin’ pretty loud. If you had a child in a year, you would be retirement age before that kid got through college.”
“Old doctors are like old farmers,” Cody chuckled. “They never retire.”
“Who’s retiring?” Pearl asked as she and Sonny had passed through the room and stopped in the utility room that was right off the kitchen.
“No one,” Jesse said. “According to my brother here, old doctors and old farmers don’t know what retirement is.”
“I knew I’d raised some smart kids.” Sonny shifted his cane to his left hand so Pearl could help him with the sleeve of his coat. “See y’all tomorrow.”
Pearl slipped on her coat and then pulled a stocking hat down to her ears. “With all this snow, we’ve been coming up here sometime in the middle of the afternoon and having supper together, Cody.”
“You and Stevie are welcome to join us every evening. Addy and Mia appreciate seeing some faces other than mine since we’re all stuck in the house,” Jesse said.
Cody stood and headed toward the utility room, where he’d hung his own coat. “I know I’d love that, and I’m pretty sure Stevie would look forward to having someone to talk to other than me. I’ll see you in the morning, brother. And, Mama, if y’all need anything, we can be there in five minutes or less.” Cody turned back to Jesse. “Mind if I take a couple of slices of that cake with me?”
“Not one bit. Addy said she was making pies for tomorrow’s dessert,” Pearl answered and came back into the kitchen. She cut two wedges of the cake and put them on a paper plate, then covered it with plastic wrap. “Since she’s not been able to get out and go places with you and the doctoring business, she’s been keeping busy in the kitchen. We’ll all have to go on a diet when this snow is melted. And, son, you know you can drop in at our house anytime you don’t want to make food for yourself.”