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“Come on. We’ll start with the small animals and work our way up.” He started walking toward the barn, and Finn caught up to him and took his hand. J.T. glanced at Joey, who nodded. She seemed to know what the small gesture meant to him.
Their first stop was the chicken coop, and they found Ember inside collecting eggs.
“Oh, hi guys.” She smiled at Finn. “You must be Finn.” She got a nod from him, then she looked at Joey. “And you must be Joey. I’m Ember. Jake’s wife.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Ember looked back at Finn. “I’m looking for eggs. Do you want to help?”
Finn grinned. “Yeah. Like an Easter egg hunt?”
“Well, not exactly. We know where to look. They’re going to be in the laying boxes. Although, once in a while, Edith lays her eggs in the corner over there.”
Finn laughed. “Edith?”
“Yes. She’s the big red hen over there with the mischievous look in her eye.”
Finn ran to the corner and spotted an egg. “I see it.”
“Pick it up and put it in the basket.”
Finn picked up the egg in the corner, then he found three more eggs in the nesting boxes. Ember looked at the seven eggs she’d gathered.
“Not bad considering we got eight this morning, too.”
Finn looked at her. “That’s a lot of eggs.”
“It is. But we spread them around. They get eaten.”
J.T. opened the door to the pen. “Thanks, Ember.”
“I’ll see you at dinner.”
The three of them left and headed to the pens behind the chicken coop.
Joey glanced back. “Well, she’s beautiful. I met her that day in the beer tent. But I had other things on my mind. She can’t be that much older than you.”
J.T. nodded. “She’s twenty-nine.”
“Whoa. Go Mr. O’Connell.”
“Dad told us last night they’re having a baby.”
“Double whoa. How do you feel about that?”
“It’s great.”
She looked at him like she didn’t quite believe it. But he meant it. He was very happy for his father and Ember.
When Finn saw the pigs in the first pen, he ran and peered over the fence. “Cool! Pigs.”
There were three sows and twenty-five piglets. J.T. and Joey came up beside him and Joey nudged J.T. “Are these for E A T I N G?”
“Originally, that was the plan. But Sage had a fit when she found out, so they’re now basically expensive pets. We sell the piglets every year and don’t really have any control over what happens to them after that. But the three mamas are safe.”
She looked at the other pens. “As are the rest of these critters?”
“Yeah. The goats keep the brush down. And we sheer the sheep. My Aunt Genny actually spins the wool and sells it.”
