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He rested his hand on her arm. “Relax, Rainee. I won’t say anything.” Michael darted a glance over toward Selina, then turned his attention back onto Rainee. “How long she been learning to read?”
“Ever since she arrived.”
Michael didn’t know why, but the thought of her trying to improve herself blessed him.
“Please, do not tell her I let it slip. Promise me you will not.”
“I won’t, Rainee. I promise. Now let me see that baby.”
She handed Haydon Junior over to him. Michael tucked him to his chest, and the hunger to be a father returned. His attention once again slid over to Selina. Maybe there was a chance for them to be a family after all.
“Okay. Give me my son back. I want to go see Selina.”
Michael did as he was told and watched Rainee walk away and inch her way into the crowd surrounding his wife. He continued to watch as Selina took his nephew from Rainee. She looked so natural holding a baby in her arms. He visualized her holding their child, and he smiled at the image.
The dinner bell rang. The ladies separated from Selina in search of their spouses. Michael strolled over to Selina and offered her his arm. They gathered around the table with the rest of their neighbors, family and ranch hands.
Haydon’s voice boomed as he spoke, “Let’s bow our heads.” When he finished praying, women bustled about uncovering dishes. Families lined up at the tables, filling their plates with a menagerie of foods.
Once he and Selina had their plates filled, they found seats.
Within seconds, Jake strode up. “Mind if I join you?”
Yes, he minded. What was with Jake coming around so much lately? Michael thought he meant no harm, but now he was beginning to wonder.
Selina nudged him in the side.
“No, no, don’t mind at all.”
Jake smiled at Selina as he lowered his bulky frame down. “You’re looking prettier every time I see you. Is that a new dress?”
“Yes.” Selina’s cheeks tinted to a light shade of pink. Was she blushing because of Jake’s compliment, or was she embarrassed by the attention he had just lavished on her? Michael wasn’t sure why Jake’s attention to Selina bothered him so much.
This time, however, Michael wasn’t going to be left out of the conversation. “Selina.”
She pulled her attention away from Jake and onto him.
“Back home, did your neighbors get together after harvest season?”
“Sure did, but we gathered together when the weather changed, any time someone had a baby or when the first frost gathered on the ground. Why, any excuse we could find, us neighbors used it to get together.”
“You had parties that often?”
A strand of her molasses-colored hair slipped over her shoulder. He wanted to reach over and slip it back, but not in front of Jake. Touching her always did funny things to him and he was afraid it would show.
“We sure did.”
“What were they like?” Michael asked before Jake had a chance to.
“Well…” She set her fork down. “Ain’t much different than this one. Except we always set up a wooden floor in the middle of a clearin’ or the meadow and had us a dance. Folks brought their fiddles, guitars, banjos. Some folks even made music blowin’ into empty moonshine jugs. Others would play spoons. Anythin’ that made music, they used it. Always had a heap of contests, too.”
“What kind of contests?” Michael found he really wanted to know.
“Contests to see who could toss an ax closest to the center of a circle. Horseshoe toss. Log sawin’. Iron skillet toss. Just about every kind of contest you could think of. Everything from gunnysack races, to berry pickin’, to corn shuckin’. Womenfolk entered their pies in the pie tastin’ and eatin’ contests. Well, one man did, too. Piney Baker. He’d enter his blackberry pie over and over again. And every time he lost on the count of his pie crust had the texture of uncooked grits.”
“What’s grits?” Jake piped in.
“Y’all ain’t never had grits?” Shock sang through her slow melodious voice. A voice he now enjoyed listening to. “You don’t know what y’all are missin’.”
“What is grits? What does it taste like?” Michael shot up his hand. “Not that I want you to make me any,” he added quickly, afraid she’d make him another crazy food he wouldn’t like. “I’m just curious what it is and what it’s like.”
“Well, it’s kinda bland. But it’s mighty tasty iffen you add lots of butter or cheese or sugar or syrup to it. Some folks mix it in with their eggs. Some pour redeye gravy on top. I never did that. Don’t care much for the taste of that stuff.”
