“How are you feeling?” Danni asks.
“I’m good. I get headaches and my mind gets a little lazy once in a while, but I’m not sure if that’s the lingering effects of the concussion or if it’s the pregnancy hormones.” I lean in closer. “John is so excited about all the baby gifts. My Aunt Birdie and Aunt Louisa sent some baby clothes and a newborn wrap carrier, and he acted like it was Christmas. He’s already tried the wrap on and made sure it fits him.”
“Oh my goodness, that’s so cute,” Emma exclaims while Rena chortles.
“Tell him that. He loves it when someone calls him cute.”
“You may have noticed this already because Fox is so great with Ava and Hudson,” Danni says, “but he’s always been really good with kids. Bear told me that he used to call Fox the Lacy whisperer. After their mother died and Bear brought his sisters here to set up May Ranch, Lacy was having tantrums and nightmares. Bear, Tank, Fox, and Ned juggled caring for Lacy when they were working long days together, but whenever Lacy would have a tantrum?—"
“Are you talking about me?” Lacy plops down on a chair and scoots in closer.
Danni grins. “We were talking about how when you were having a tantrum, Bear, Ned, or Tank would call Fox, and he’d calm you down right away.”
“Yep.” Lacy takes a sip of lemonade. “I remember that.”
“What did he do?” Emma asks. “Because when Hudson would have a tantrum, it was the end of the world for a good hour.”
Lacy shoots a quick glance over her shoulder toward the door before hitting Danni with a hard stare. “I’m sworn to secrecy for life, but if you don’t tell Bear, I’ll tell you.”
Danni bites her lip.
“I mean it,” Lacy says.
Danni finally nods.
“He’d slip me M&M’s.”
Everyone is laughing when John pops his head out to check on me. “Need anything?” he asks.
“Good dental insurance.”
“Huh?” he quirks an eyebrow.
“Nothing. I’m great.” I smile at him before he pops back inside.
“He did buy a lot of M&M’s at Greene’s,” Rena tells us. “Those little packets he could slip in his pocket. I just thought he had a mighty big sweet tooth.”
“I’m going to have to make sure that once our little guy’s old enough,” I tell them, “John gets him in for frequent, rigorous dental cleanings.”
Lacy smiles at Danni, Emma, and Rena. “Did you hear that? Honey just said ‘ourlittle guy.’”
Danni grins from ear to ear. “I know. I just fell in love with her even more. I think she meant he’sourlittle guy also.”
“Yep,” I tell them. “I’ll be sharing. Especially when he has colic and he’s teething.”
When everyone leaves, they help haul gifts back to John’s house. He lays out all the baby gifts on the table in the sunroom—including the tiny cowboy boots from Bear and a soft as butter “beginner” cowboy hat from Lacy.
“I have to help Bear with a sick calf in the far pasture,” John tells me. “You think you can manage without me for a couple hours?”
“It’ll be difficult.” I pull him to me and hug him so long and hard that I have to remind him of the sick calf and push him out the door when I’m done.
I sit out on the front porch with a piece of paper and a pen. I’ve read through each one of the letters in the shoebox.They’ve all hit me hard in different ways. Their struggles, their accomplishments, their encouragement to the women they knew would read their letter. I’ve had to keep a box of tissues nearby. But with each letter, I feel a little stronger. A little more ready to move on. Even though Trey dropped John’s lawsuit, and Trey’s PR firm and his agent dropped Trey like hot lava rocks after “someone” sent them the whole video and parts of it were leaked, I find myself still looking behind me sometimes. And I’m still adjusting to being loved so thoroughly and so sweetly by John.
I pick up the pen and start writing.
To you. Yes, you.
My sister has always told me to search out and savor the small, good things in my life. When my life was demolished by loss, she reminded me again to find and relish the small, good things to get me through the now, until I found a big, good thing that can anchor everything. That’s what kept me going for the last couple years, when things got so tough I thought I was shriveling away into nothing. Your small, good things are going to be different from mine, but I thought I’d tell you some of mine that I found here in Paradise Springs.
