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“Well, his mouth is shut, and he won’t let me get the spoon in there!” I shouted over my shoulder and then looked my son dead in the eye and tried to distract him with a funny face. It didn’t work. “Listen, Cole,” I bent down to his level in the highchair, “I was in Nam. I stayed alive in a jungle for a year, managed to dodge serious diseases, and now I fight savage beasts in the desert. Why can’t I get my one-year-old to eat green mush?” I complained loudly in hopes my wife would take pity on me.
He reached for the bowl and knocked it out of my hand with a proud giggle. I glared at Dr. Roberts, who had just come into the room to see what the noise was all about. He often came to visit us since Cole was born. I honestly thought he liked to watch me suffer as I tried to feed my son.
“Can’t you reason with him?” I huffed as I stood up to snatch a cloth from the counter. The doc laughed as he sat down and turned a page in his book. “I know you’re enjoying this.”
“Perhaps.” He smirked. “But reasoning with a one-year-old won’t do much. I think I’ll enjoy my book more in there.” He made a show of taking his book to the safety of the den to continue to read.
“I get it.” I lowered onto the stool with a huff. “Peas are disgusting.”
Cole made a string of noises and nodded.
“I know, but Mom insists, and we don’t have a dog here that we can feed them to. Maybe we need a dog.” I clapped my hands together. “Sue, Cole and I think we need a dog.”
“Come, now.” Sue clucked her tongue at us while she threaded an earring on. “Cole can play with the dogs at Shadows where they can’t eat his peas.” She laughed.
“Yeah, but they’re never at the house.” I scoffed, wondering how I could convince her. It certainly would help me when her grandmother visited, and I had to eat her meat pie. I quivered at the thought of trying to feed that rubbery steak and kidney concoction to Cole when he was old enough. Lord, I could barely choke it down.
“Abigail will be home soon. She’s back from visiting her sister at any moment, and we don’t need to look like we can’t live without her. You look like you’ve had a bath in baby food.”
“I have been, because your son doesn’t want to eat green mush. He wants normal food like a steak or a rack of ribs.”
“Yes, that’s just what a baby wants.” She laughed as Doc Roberts suddenly reappeared now that it was safe. “Doc Roberts, you haven’t met Abigail yet. She’s coming to spend a few months with us while she deals with her parents’ estate. You should stay for dinner.”
“Oh, yes, the famous Abigail.” He grinned, and I knew we often spoke about her.
We’d met Abby through mutual friends, and when her mom passed, she was here for a while, and then her dad passed, and she knew she’d need more time to deal with everything. We offered for her to come stay with us for as long as she needed so she wouldn’t have to drive so far in and out of town.
“I’d love to stay.” Doc’s eyebrows rose. “Just let me make a quick call to my sister to let her know I won’t be joining her for dinner. If you don’t mind excusing me for a bit.”
“Not at all.” Sue loved it when he stayed. He was like family, after all.
I was beyond thankful Abigail was coming back today. She had a real bond with Cole. She was quickly becoming family. I only hoped one of these days she’d decide to stay in Redstone for good.
Cole blew a spit bubble, and I popped it, earning me a belly laugh.
“Are you two done making a mess?” Sue asked with her hands on her hips. I could see the corners of her mouth were in a fight not to go up. When Cole belly laughed, the whole world wanted to join him.
“Yes, for the time being, I think we are.” I smiled down at the little stinker. “I can’t wait until you have to do this with your own little guy someday.”
Sue laughed. “Remind me to give a medal to his wife. She’s going to need it with his stubbornness.”
“Oh, yes, she’ll have to be one in a million to put up with you.” I poked his belly and got another giggle.
The doorbell rang, and Sue grabbed a wet tea towel and scrubbed Cole’s face then calmly went to answer the door. She glanced back at us before she opened it with abe goodface on.
“Welcome, Abigail.” Sue reached for her bags and motioned her inside. “Wow, that’s a lot of bags. How was your trip?”
“Great. June insisted we do some shopping. She loves fashion, so we got lost in those little boutiques in the village. I brought you something.” Abigail started to dig in her bag.
“You didn’t need to bring me anything.”
“Nonsense. There’s only so much you can buy for yourself before you grow bored. I wanted to shop for you. Ah, here it is.” She pulled out a deep red scarf. “It’s cashmere.”
“It’s so soft,” Sue cooed over the present, and I glanced at Cole and wondered how long before he’d get his grubby little hands on it.
“Five minutes before you do damage?” I asked him. “Ten?” He giggled, and I had no doubt he understood me.
“Thank you so much.” Sue shot us a look, and I stood a little straighter.
