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There was another house not far off to the side, a neighbor’s. There was a chicken coop in the yard, but the chickens had wandered over to graze in Derek’s grass. Their clucking sounds gave a nice ambiance to the scene.
I had never pictured myself settling into a house with a white picket fence out in the middle of nowhere, but if I had…This was exactly what I would have wanted it to look like.
Suddenly, the screen door creaked and slammed against the side of the house. A little girl came bursting out, running towards me. A saggy old grumbling basset hound was running beside her with his jowls and ears flopping behind him.
“She’s here! She’s here! She’s here!” the sweetest tiny little voice yelled out, causing quite a stir with the chickens. They bawked and flapped their wings, scattering out of her way.
Derek came out, walking slowly behind her with a big smile on his face.
“She’s been waiting for this all day,” he laughed, kneeling down beside her. “Em, this is my friend….”
“Melody! I know. He told me your name,” she smiled. “I like your name because it’s like a song, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” Derek nodded. “Just like a song.”
I was taken back for a moment with so many different emotions. To see Derek standing there, but now he was a dad. His little girl was right next to him, and she was the cutest little redhead with big bright blue eyes, just like he described her. He forgot to mention the freckles on her nose, though.
And at the same time, my heart broke. I knew this little girl had lost something so precious and important, her mother. She seemed so small and innocent, to be without something so crucial.
“Wow. You rode a bike here!?” she marveled, looking over my shoulder.
“I sure did,” I nodded. She walked over and ran her hand down the sky blue painted metal frame. “It has a basket and everything!”
“Do you have a bike?” I asked her. That was a thing to talk to kids about, right? Most of them had bikes.
“Yeah, but it has training wheels. And Dad says it can’t go on the big road until I learn to ride without them. We’ve been practicing, but I haven’t got the hang of it yet.”
“I’m sure you will soon. If I can do it, I know you can,” I smiled. “Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you something.”
I reached into my bag and pulled out the stuffed bear that I had found in the attic of the lake house. It was old and shaggy, which made teddy bears that much more special. The older, the better. I was going to donate it, thinking I wasn’t close to anyone with kids. But giving it to Em seemed meant to be.
Her eyes widened at the sight of it. I had even found a pink ribbon to tie around its neck. She rubbed her fingers over the pink silk, then across its black eyes and nose.
“I love it!” she exclaimed, hugging it tight and swinging it back and forth in her arms. “I’m going to put it on my bed with my other animals. Do you want to come see?”
“Why don’t you give Melody a little time to settle in first?” Derek chuckled. “Sorry. She gets a little over-zealous when meeting new people sometimes.”
“It’s okay. Really. We all do. In our own way, right?”
I followed the two of them up to the wooden porch, then through the screen door. The wood floors of the house were old. Everything about the place seemed old but loved and cared for. I liked that.
“It smells delicious in here.” I closed my eyes to take it in. There was the smell of dinner cooking, of course, but mixed in with the scent of the old house musk and wood.
There was a long carpet leading through the foyer to the staircase, with a hallway to the side of it. To the left was a living room with a grandfather clock ticking back and forth. To the right was a dining room with an adjoining kitchen.
I don’t know what I thought Derek’s place would look like, but this wasn’t it. It was better. It felt like a home, and it smelled like one. It was like crawling into a warm blanket. How had nothing in New York ever felt this way? Not since I had left my childhood home.
“Em, maybe you can set the table for our guest while I go check on dinner?” Derek asked.
His voice was different when he talked to her. It was stronger, more assured, and deeper. I had to admit, it was just as sexy as it was sweet.
“I can help you!” I offered. Her face lit up at the prospect.
Emily liked to talk, a lot. But she was so adorable, it left you hanging on every word she said. She showed me where they kept the plates, napkins, and silverware. She bragged about how they belonged to her mom’s side of the family, and they would be hers one day.
“I have a lot of things my mom left to me too,” I told her, pointing out the turquoise ring on my hand.
She admired the ring but had a surprised look in her eyes. “Is your Mommy gone too?”
