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He pulled her to him. “I’m glad. You belong here. You’ve always belonged here.”
“I almost lost you, Brady.”
“Nope. That’s impossible,” he objected.
“How did I get so lucky? How did I manage to find the right person in the whole world for me?”
“Well, that’s because you were made for me, perfect in every way, except stubborn. The first time when I thought I’d lost you I was afraid I’d stop wanting to live. But the second time, I knew there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to bring you home.”
“I want you to teach me how to love you, Brady. Show me about your gardens; instruct me on raising chickens. I want to help you build fences and repair the watering system. I have so much to learn. Teach me all of it, will you?”
“Nothing would bring me more joy.”
Maggie turned her head, hearing something.
“Come on. I have something to show you. But you have to promise to pretend I didn’t because Emma is going to want to show you all over again. Be surprised, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, laughing as he took her hand and led her to Emma’s room.
They walked through the door to the bathroom.
“This is my new project. Emma’s new project.”
In the bathtub were the baby chicks Brady and Emma had purchased the day Maggie left.
“Emma has a name for every single one of them, she knows their personality, and she can tell them apart. She loves these guys, Maggie. She spends most of her waking hours petting them, holding them, talking to them, and kissing their heads. It’s so cute.”
Maggie kneeled down and leaned over the tub, picking up an orange one.
“Look at how fat these guys are. They’re just all big and fluffy. They’re beautiful, Brady.”
The baby chick sat in the palm of her hand, feeling the warmth of her skin.
“What does Tate think about all this?”
“Well, we don’t quite know yet, but so far, we haven’t had any accidents. If he really wanted to get inside, he’d probably open the door handle with his teeth.”
Maggie laughed as she set the chick down.
“I can see her loving these guys. Watching them grow and learning lessons about life.”
“Yeah, I’m sort of dreading the day when we discover we got several roosters, which means they have to go back to the pet store or you know they get made into dog food.”
“Oh, don’t even say that, Brady. I don’t even want to think about that.”
“Well, it is one of the lessons of life. But we’ll see. One thing I’m going to insist on, though, is only one rooster, maybe two if we have to, but one is prime.”
“I’m good with that. Just like us. Only one rooster in the house, right?”
“You bet, honey.”
With his arm around her shoulder, he took her outside. Tate waited for them on the back deck. He showed her the vegetable garden the buck had partially destroyed, the greenhouse, and the transplants of papaya Emma did.
“She loves doing this. She waters these little transplants every day, sometimes twice. I never have to ask her.”
“Where does she get all this energy?” Maggie asked, amazed at the things Brady showed her.
“I’ll bet you were just like her when you were little, sweetheart.”
