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She wasn’t planning to celebrate Christmas either. Or maybe she would. She would celebrate the heck out of Christmas, decorating the West Wing from top to bottom. That would show Slate.
In the first couple of weeks after he’d left Hope Eternal Ranch, she’d tried calling and texting him. He’d responded a couple of times via text, but she hadn’t heard his voice in almost two months now.
A sigh came out of her mouth, and Missy said, “We’re almost done, Jill. Sorry the makeup is so intense for this costume.”
“Not at all,” Jill said. Missy would put on the wig they’d found online, and she’d be transformed into the perfect Morticia fromThe Addams Family. She leaned forward again. “Now, one more eye, and we can get the wig on.”
Missy turned into a statue again, and Jill finished the makeup with utmost precision. She helped set the wig in the exact right place, and Missy stood up and did a little twirl.
“It’s perfect,” Jill said. “Go stand right over there with your momma’s piglet.”
Missy obeyed, scooping Petunia into her arms and grinning.
“No smiles,” Jill said. “Remember how serious she is.”
“That’s going to be so hard for me,” Missy said, trying to straighten her smile. She managed it, and Jill snapped a couple of pictures with her phone. She studied them, her heart swelling with love for the almost-teen.
She looked up, her eyes filling with tears. “Thank you for letting me do this with you.” She drew Missy into a hug, and the girl held her tight. Jill let go before things got too awkward, though Missy was the most amazing child, and she would’ve let Jill hug her for a long time.
“Did you ever figure out what you wanted to be for Halloween?” Missy asked.
Slate’s girlfriend, Jill thought, but she just shook her head. “I think I’m going to skip it this year. I’ll go to my parents’ after work and eat sloppy Joes and potato chips with them. My mama makes these amazing ‘spiders’ out of these Chinese noodles and this butterscotch-peanut-butter mixture. She puts mini chocolate chips on for eyes and everything.” She smiled warmly at Missy. “She’s a lot like your mom. Amazing in the kitchen, and she always knows just how to make me happier.”
“I’m glad, Jill,” Missy said, hugging her again. “I know my mom has been worried about you.”
“I know.” Jill said, her voice tightening. “Sometimes I worry about me too.”
“How’s it going?” Emma asked, and Jill stepped back.
“Good.” She pulled in a long breath. “Look at her.”
Emma waddled forward and Missy handed her the piglet. “Wow, Jill is a master with those false lashes.” Emma peered at her daughter’s face. “And that eyeliner. Flawless.”
Missy grinned and struck a very stoic pose that had everyone laughing.
Emma groaned as she set Petunia on the floor. “I think I’m going to wear all white and say I’m a marshmallow.” She went to the couch and sighed as she sank onto it. “You did not afflict me like this, Missy, just so you know.” She rested her hands on her pregnant belly. She was about six months along now, and things had started to swell in many places in the past week or so.
Emma was actually worried about it and she had a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Ted came whistling into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready for work. He stopped short when he saw Missy. “Wow,” he said. “That is the best costume I’ve seen in…ever.”
“Thanks, Teddy,” Missy said, hugging him. “You’re not dressing up either, are you?”
He reached up and pushed his cowboy hat forward so it hid his face. “Sure I am. I’m a cowboy Rockstar.”
“That is not a thing,” Missy said, giggling.
“It is on Halloween,” Ted said, straightening. He stepped over to the back door and opened it. All four blue heelers trotted inside, two of them pausing to get a drink from the bowls Ted kept by the back door for them, and the other two going over to Missy. One went right up to her and the other stopped and stretched out, his nose working double-time.
“It’s just me, Ryan,” she said. After all four of them had inspected her and deemed her safe, they jumped up onto the couch with Emma, who chastised them at the same time she patted them.
Jill basked in the healthy, beautiful spirit of family and love that existed in this house. Her emotions surged, but thankfully, no tears appeared. Since Slate’s departure from the ranch, she’d spent an astronomical amount of time on her knees. The Lord had reassured her over and over that she was deserving of love and family, and that one day, she would get it.
Whether that was with Slate or not, she didn’t know. God hadn’t been as forthcoming about that, and Slate hadn’t come back to the ranch yet, despite Luke’s promise that he would.
Jill had no idea where either of them were, as she’d asked Ted, Nate, Dallas, and anyone else who might hear or know not to tell her. For the first month, she hadn’t trusted herself not to get in the car and drive straight to him, begging him again not to leave her behind.
Now, she thought she could probably resist that temptation.
“Happy Halloween,” she said. “I’ll see y’all later.” She left the cabin and went back to the homestead. Half an hour later, she loaded up with Missy and drove to town. She dropped the girl off to join the streams of teens entering the junior high in various forms of someone or something else.
When she arrived at Lana’s for her hair appointment, she sat down in the salon chair and said, “I’m ready for a huge change. Let’s dye it black.”
“You want to dye your hair black?” Lana looked at her with wide eyes. She had nearly orange hair today, as she’d dressed up as Lucille ball.
“Yes,” Jill said, determined to make a new future for herself. Maybe Slate would return. Maybe he wouldn’t. It was time for Jill to figure out how to be happy by herself, something she’d never really achieved in her life. “Time for a change. Make it black.”
