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“Who’s Hope?”
“She’s my…” How should I label Hope?
“Is she your girlfriend? Or old lady?”
“Is there a difference?” This kid seemed to know much more than I gave her credit for.
“Yes, there’s a difference. Mommy says an old lady is more important than a girlfriend. Girlfriends come and go, but an old lady is for life.”
“You’re mom is right.”
“Hmm.” She smiled, nodding. “So which is it? Is Hope your girlfriend or old lady?”
“She’s definitely my old lady.”
Nova reared her head back with attitude. “Then why haven’t I met her?”
“Damn, you’re rough.”
She giggled and it was the best sound.
“Take a look at that.” I pointed to the wall where an A + K inside a heart was carved into the wood.
“What does it mean?”
“A plus K is your mommy and daddy. Cobra carved it with his pocket knife back when your mom was sixteen.”
“Sixteen years old? How old was Daddy?”
Oh boy. I wasn’t sure if I should continue this discussion. Her dad was nine years older than her mom.
“Nova, come here!” Cobra hollered from the porch. Judging by the bizarre joy on his face, the test must’ve been positive.
Once again, I was rescued.
“Okay!” She lit up brighter than the sun. “Come on, Uncle Hustler!”
“Let me get down first so you don’t fall.” The ladder on the tree needed some work. It moved a bit with my weight on it. I’d text Spectre later. He liked to build stuff and maintained most of the buildings on the property. Fixing a ladder would be easy as pie for him.
I hopped to the ground and assisted Nova. She ran to her parents with a massive smile on her little pixie face.
Cobra swooped her off the ground and the small family strolled toward the sunflower patch.
“Shouldn’t you get going? Hope’s waiting for you.” Lady M came toward me with a grocery bag. “The test was positive.” She nudged her head toward my brother and his family.
“I figured as much.” I took the bag from her. “Thank you for this.” I sniffed the contents: chicken enchilada bake and tuna noodle casserole. And, of course, cookies.
“I was happy to do it.” She pressed her hand to my cheek and gave it a firm pat. “When will you bring Hope over so your dad and I can meet her? And the others, of course.”
“She needs to rest. Stitch told me to keep her in bed for a minimum of seven days.”
“If you bring her here, I can help take care of her.”
“Don’t you already have enough people to take care of?” I put my arm around her back, giving her a squeeze.
“Never. I should’ve been a nurse like Piper. Instead, I had five babies.”
I cut my gaze at her waiting for her to realize her mistake. When she didn’t, I said, “Six. You had six babies.”
