AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Glad you added the almost.”
He spun her around to pull her fully into the circle of his arms. “This is going to be so much bigger and better than I had imagined.”
“The fundraiser or the program?”
“Both.”
“Jared.” Jake came running up to him. “Can I help tie the ribbons on the calves? Tim says I have to ask you first.”
Letting go of her, Jared took a step back and ruffled the top of Jakes head. “Sure.”
The little boy glanced in the direction of the house. “What about MeeMaw?”
Jared’s gaze followed the little boy’s up to the house and where he and Jared both knew the boy’s grandmother was most likely sitting in her wheelchair, watching every move from the guestroom window. “It’ll be okay. Go on.”
The kid ran off like any other little boy.
“Do you think all the kids who come through here will be transformed like Jake?” Jared kept his arm around Eve’s shoulder but his gaze on Jake.
“I sure hope so.” Eve leaned into him. “I’ve always heard horses are excellent therapy animals, but never considered how much we all learned about love and responsibility by growing up with these glorious animals.”
Jared bobbed his head. “Ditto.”
Hand clapping sounded behind them moments before Lila Baron appeared smiling and sweetly spouting instructions. “Places, everyone. Our guests will begin arriving any minute.”
Turning his wrist, Jared glanced at his watch. “Dang, the morning flew by.”
Eve’s gaze shifted from her own watch to the miscellaneous booths and entertainment set up. “Where are you stationed?”
“Bounce house.”
Her cheeks pulled her mouth into a delighted smile. “Imagine that. So am I.”
“Mm. Imagine. Didn’t Mrs. Baron make up the work schedule?” Jared asked.
Nodding her head in a resounding motion for yes, Eve didn’t bother holding back a laugh. “We need to rewrite the old song from Lola to Lila.”
“Old song?”
“You know, the one from that baseball movie, ‘whatever Lila wants, Lila gets’ and my grandmother wants great-grandchildren.”
“Right.” He shook his head, and holding her hand, made their way over to the bounce house set up close to the patio off the main residence.
“Do you think Mary is still watching out the window?” Eve unzipped the front flap of the massive contraption.
Jared shook his head and tied back the flap. “Nope. She’s probably arguing with the nurse right now that coming down to the festivities isn’t too much for her.”
“I’m still amazed that after all that time in the hospital, despite the doctor’s estimate that she’d need at least a week or two before she moved on to rehab, she was released in what, six days?”
“Five. That woman is a mama bear personified. Come hell or high water, she was coming home to check on her cub for herself.”
The families were beginning to amble around the carnival-like set up. All the Barons were helping in some place or other. Paige was at the Corn Hole section, already on her haunches showing a pair of little ones how to toss the square bean bags. That sister of hers probably should have been an elementary school teacher instead of a vintner. She always had the patience of a saint.
“And there you have it.” Grinning from ear to ear, Jared gave safety instructions to the two kids who had raced straight for the bounce house, while Eve ensured they’d removed their shoes into the wall of bins set up at the side. Jared lifted his chin toward the house and still smiling, shook his head.
Sure enough, with the day nurse at the helm, Mary came bouncing across the green landscape in her shiny new wheelchair. The woman was certainly feisty. When Eve had heard that Mary refused to go to rehab, she’d been a tad concerned. It was her grandmother who had done the best job of reassuring Eve that Mary would get better attention at home with private physical and occupational therapy than in a huge facility where the nurses were too overworked to give a patient the kind of care the family would want. Fortunately, what Mary’s insurance didn’t cover, the Golds happily did. From what Eve could see now, the decision had been the right one. The woman had been home less than a week and she already seemed to be holding herself straighter in the seat and waving one arm with more vigor than when she’d left the hospital.
As for what Mary was waving theatrically about, Eve had no idea and wasn’t sure she wanted to. Helping another little girl untie her shoes, Eve looked up in time to see Mary’s wheelchair pivot left and change trajectory now heading toward the corral with the horse rides—and where Jake’s assigned task was to help reassure the younger kids who had never been around horses. “Uh oh.”
