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She smiles, her hand in mine. “I'm doing all right. It's been a good week, actually. Thank you.”
“I love your outfit,” Fig says. “I'm Fig, by the way, Rye’s littlest sister. Did you get the outfit at the clothing boutique down on Snug Street?”
Prairie nods slowly. “Yes, I did. I went shopping there today with Leila. She's a social worker in town.”
Mom's nods along, taking the information in. “Well, Leila is a very wonderful woman. I always had a good feeling about her. She has a good head on her shoulders.”
Prairie nods. “Yeah. We met when I was first admitted to the hospital. She gave me my evaluation, but I guess we're friends now.”
“Well, that's lovely,” Mom says, stirring a big pot of her Sunday sauce. She’s wearing an apron, and Fig is spreading garlic butter on loaves of French bread. Mac has been relegated to the dishwasher, where he is unloading it.
“I’m Mac,” my brother says, a stack of clean dinner plates in hand. “Rye’s youngest brother. Though I’m twenty-one and not that young.”
“It's good to meet you,” Prairie says. “I've heard so much about everyone.”
I look around. “Where's everyone else?” Just as I say that, Bartlett and his wife Abby come through the door with Rueben and his little girl Plum. Introductions are made as Lemon and Graham come in too. Soon after, they're arguing about some speeding ticket Lemon got, and Graham, being the local cop, tells her if she doesn't want a speeding ticket she shouldn't go over the speed limit.
Prairie is quiet, listening, and I wrap my arm around her shoulder protectively.
I know Mom and Dad are watching every move we make.
But I'm not going to change how I treat Prairie to make them more comfortable. She's my priority now. She's going to be my wife.
Bartlett's wife Abby comes over to Prairie, introducing herself. “I'm so happy to meet you. I'm an outsider to the family too. I just married into this lot about a month ago. Lucky me.”
“Well, congratulations,” Prairie says. “Where did you get married?”
“In the barn here at the back of the property. It's a gorgeous place. I’ll have to show you sometime.” She gives Prairie a wink.
Bartlett gives me a long look.
Graham comes over and asks Prairie how she's holding up.
“I'm well, thanks. It's nice to see you out of uniform,” she says with a smile.
Plum comes over too. “Hi Prairie. My name is Plum. I'm the granddaughter. The only granddaughter. What's your favorite kind of insect?”
Prairie smiles widely. “I would say a butterfly.”
Plum nods, taking this information in seriously. “Perfect choice. Mine too.” Plum laughs, skipping away.
Lemon takes her spot. “So how's it going, Prairie? You doing all right? I heard you've been up in the cabin with my brother all week.”
Prairie’s eyes widen, looking over at me for help, but before I can drag her away from an interrogation, Mom interrupts.
“Anyone hungry? Dinner is served!”
As we walk to the table, Prairie pauses at some family photos on the wall in the hallway.
“Who's that?” she asks.
Lemon is right behind her. “Oh, that's Uncle Luke. He was my dad's best friend. He died about a year ago. He was the most wonderful man in the world. Well, right next to my father. That's all of us out at Stout Lake. Our family has a lake house out there. It's about 90 minutes away.”
“Wow,” Prairie says. “Sounds nice.”
At the mention of Luke my body tenses, head to toe. I don’t want to think about him, think about what happened to him, right now.
“What's wrong?” Prairie asks, taking my hand.
