Chapter 17

Gerty paced in the kitchen, irritated that Mike continued to eat his Lucky Charms as if he didn't have a care in the world. "We have to talk to her today," she said. "She's going to put an offer in on that place in Willow Springs."

"We're talking to her this morning," Mike said without looking up from his phone. He put his spoon back in the bowl and started texting, which meant someone from work had messaged him. Gerty tried to be patient with him, because he'd taken today and tomorrow off at her request.

Today, so they could talk to Opal, and tomorrow for their son's first birthday.

She turned away from her husband and looked through the living room to the hall. Opal did not appear. West played on the living room floor, still in his pajamas. Gerty had given him mashed bananas and toast for breakfast and cleaned him up before plunking him down on the ground with his toys.

She'd asked Steele and Tag to tend to the farm that day, and she felt very blessed to be able to take time off, though she sometimes grew restless when she didn't have enough to do. Truth be told, she could be West's mom full-time and love her life, as there was always something changing when it came to her son.

"When is she going to get up?" Gerty complained.

"She's a night-owl, baby," Mike said. "You know what time she gets up." He grinned at her and lifted his bowl to drink the milk out of it. "You're here every morning when she finally gets up."

"How are you so calm?"

"Because we're not asking her to donate a kidney?" He quirked his eyebrows at her. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Because," Gerty said with plenty of frustration in her voice. "We should've talked to her about this a month ago. Then she wouldn't have wasted time looking for places."

"We'll be lucky if she says yes," Mike said. "Do you have your hopes up?"

"I know this is the right thing to do," Gerty said firmly. "She'll know it too."

"Who'll know what?"

Gerty spun toward Opal's voice. She'd come into the living room, and she dropped to the ground beside West. "Morning, baby." She gave him a kiss and smiled up to Gerty and Mike. "Double day off."

"Triple," Mike said. "You're not working today either." He got up and took his bowl into the kitchen, leaving Gerty to face Opal alone. Before she could begin, he returned to her side, and Gerty leaned into him to hopefully steal some of his strength.

"Opal, we want to talk to you about something."

Opal looked up from West, her smile fading away when she saw the two of them standing side-by-side. She got to her feet, and still wearing her pajamas, she folded her arms. "About what?"

Gerty looked at Mike, but he simply looked back at her.

"I'm moving out," Opal said. "I swear, I am. I'm going to get that place in Willow Springs, I think. I already have another appointment to walk through it again tomorrow, just to be sure."

She wore defiance in her gaze that almost made Gerty laugh. "I know I've lived here too long. I'm sorry. I'll be leaving soon—I can leave right now if I need to. I can stay with Jane or get a hotel."

Gerty started shaking her head about the time Opal apologized. "No," she barked out. "It's not that."

"It kind of is that," Mike said.

Opal looked between them, her dark eyes trying to find the answers she needed. "What?"

"We know you want to move out," Gerty said, everything she'd rehearsed now gone. "We agree that it's best for everyone, but we don't want you to take that place in Willow Springs."

Opal's eyebrows bent down. "You don't?"

Gerty shook her head and took a step toward her best friend in the world. "No," she said. "If it's so perfect, why do you need to go see it for the third time to be sure?" She ignored West as he screeched at one of his toys. "We want to give you five acres right here on the farm. You can build the exact house you want and have room for your vegetable garden and that big back lawn you want for your future kids and dogs and cats."

The words out, now Gerty just felt hollow from where they'd been caged inside her.

Opal stared at her and then switched her gaze to Mike. "Five acres?"

"It's not as much as you think."

"Yes, it is," Opal said. "Who's going to mow that much grass?" She shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Opal." A bolt of fear struck Gerty. "Is that a ‘no, thank you' to the acreage or the offer itself?"

Opal fixed her cool gaze on her now. "I'm not sure."

"Why don't you want to live here? It's close to us. Close to West. Jane and Cord will find something closer to us out here." She swallowed, not sure she should say the next thing. But Opal and Tag had been dating for almost two months now, and by all accounts, they were getting along really well.

"Close to Tag," Gerty said, lifting her chin, almost daring Opal to say she wasn't considering Tag while she'd been looking for a place to call her own.

"Okay, let's go there," Opal said with a bite of acid in her tone.

"Here we go," Mike said. He sank onto the couch with a sigh. "You guys sit down. We're not in combat."

Opal turned and walked over to her blow-up couch and sat. Gerty took the spot next to Mike, and she let him take her hand in his and work her fingers out of the fist they'd curled into. Maybe she was a little bit too tense.

"Let's say Tag and I get married," Opal said. "And I take you up on your five-acre gift. Is that going to be enough for Tag?"

Gerty caught on quick, and she threw Mike a worried look. "I don't know. That's something you'll have to ask Tag."

"I think he wants his own place someday," Opal said.

"Sissy, you can't predict every step before you take it," Mike said quietly.

"I'm not trying to do that," Opal barked at him.

"You like your plans," Mike said. "That's all I'm saying."

"Everyone likes to have a plan for where they're going to live," Opal said.

"Okay." Gerty held up one hand. "Sweetie, this isn't us attacking you. We want you close. I want you here. I know you love West, and I know you think you're in the way, but you're not."

"I need my own space," Opal mumbled as she looked down at her hands. "There's something about being self-reliant and having something to take care of that human beings need."

"We agree," Gerty said quickly. "If you want to take some time to think about it, that's fine. If you decide to buy that hideous place in Willow Springs, I will swallow my ire and support you." She grinned at Opal as she looked up. "Okay?"

"You will not," Opal said with a dry laugh. "You'll be so salty, and you'll stomp around the house and bang closed cabinets in the morning just to wake me up."

"You're right." Gerty laughed too. "That's totally what I'll do." She sobered, and Opal's gaze turned intense again. "Just think about it. If you only want an acre, that's fine. We can identify some great places, and this place is eighty-two acres. We can spare a few for you."

"Might as well make it a whole Hammond compound," Mike said. "Call Jane up and give her five acres too."

Gerty whipped her head toward Mike to see if he was joking. He was, but…. "That's not a bad idea," she said.

"Are you kidding?" Mike asked.

"No," Gerty said thoughtfully. "Why can't this farm be a Hammond Family compound? We're at capacity for horses, and we grow plenty to feed them. If we lost ten acres, it wouldn't be a big deal. We'd just buy what we need in the winter."

With three Hammonds living here, that was six billion dollars worth of hay and feed they could afford.

"Baby, it's your farm," he said. "Tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."

Gerty looked back to Opal. "I want you to tell your sister to think about it. Really think about it. And then take the offer."

Mike sighed as if she'd asked him to drink fruit punch. The man hated the stuff, and he made this seem like the same kind of torture. "Sissy, just think about it. Really think about it, okay? Pray over it. Talk to Tag, and Momma and Daddy." He squeezed Gerty's hand. "We're sure you'll get to where we are in knowing that this is the right thing."

Opal wouldn't give in easily, Gerty knew that. "I'll think about it," she said. "And if I decide it's a good idea, I will be purchasing five acres from you." She scooted to the edge of the wobbly couch and stood up. "Now, I promised my hot boyfriend I'd make brunch at his place. It's the only reason I'm up so dang early this morning."

"It's eight-fifteen," Mike said as she headed for the hallway, presumably to get dressed.

"Don't remind me," Opal said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the depths of the farmhouse.

Gerty looked at Mike, and Mike looked back at Gerty. "All things considering," he said. "That went really well."

"Yeah." Gerty chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then forced herself to stop. She leaned into Mike's chest. "What do you think she'll do?"

"With Opal, she always does what she thinks is right." He touched his mouth to the side of her jaw. "Once she leaves, we'll have the farmhouse to ourselves."

Gerty smiled at his flirtatious tone. "Yes, we will," she said. "I have to admit, I am looking forward to it just being us again."

"Me too." Mike gently turned her head and kissed her. "West is gonna be one tomorrow. Are you thinkin' you want another baby?"

Gerty had thought no such thing, so she couldn't say she had. "I don't know," she said. "I love the farm, Mike, but…I love being a mom too."

"You could hire more help," he murmured. "Only work part-time on the farm. Have more babies."

She grinned against his lips. "I think we have time to have more babies."

"Yeah, we do, but he's just so dang cute."

Gerty looked at their son, and he was the most adorable thing in the world. Especially when he looked up at her, his brown eyes so wide and so innocent. "Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma," he said almost in a whine. He held a block to his ear. "Eh-o. Eh-o."

"He's calling you," Gerty said to Mike. "Call Daddy."

"Dad, Dad, Dad," West said.

Mike took a breath and let it all out. Then, because he was the best daddy in the world, he made the sound of a ringing phone. West's whole face lit up, and he lifted the block again. "Eh-o?"

"Hello," Mike said. "Is West there?"

"Weh, Weh, Weh," he babbled, and he toddled away to get another toy. Gerty sighed and leaned against Mike again, so glad to have him home today, really glad they had found a way to make their busy lives work, and beyond glad that she was his and he was hers—and that they'd finally spoken to Opal.

Now, she just had to wait and see what Opal would decide.

Help her to see how perfect it would be, Gerty prayed, because she wasn't above trying to get the Lord on her side.

"Okay," she said the next day. "Are you streaming, baby?"

"Yep." Mikey held up his phone, moving it slowly and steadily. "We're live."

Gerty grinned and picked up the birthday cake her grandmother had made. It had a single flaming candle in it, shaped like the number one. "All right," she said. "Here we go."

Opal had just finished snapping on West's bib, and she moved out of the way as Gerty walked slowly around the kitchen island and toward his highchair. "Happy birthday to you," she started to sing, glad when everyone else joined in.

It was a small party; her parents and half-siblings had come. Her uncle Matt and Aunt Gloria, though their girls were off doing something at the high school that night. Her grandparents, of course. Mike, Tag, Steele, and Opal. Cord and Jane.

So maybe not that small. But Mikey's parents couldn't be there, because it was a long drive for a five-minute thing where West would get help blowing out his candle and then mash his face into the chocolate cake. A long drive in the winter, where the wind blew against the glass, angry it could not get to the flame and snuff it out.

The song finished as Gerty set the cake—a miniature of the one Grams had made for everyone else—in front of West. He stared at it with wonder, and Gerty's heart filled with love time and again. And then again.

In that moment, Gerty realized how God felt about her. About all of His children. She'd thought she'd fail at being a mother, that she wasn't nurturing enough, that she couldn't tolerate crying over silly things. And she really couldn't. But that didn't mean she didn't love West completely—and exactly how he needed to be loved.

"You blow it out, baby." She bent down and looked right at him. He looked back at her with complete trust in those big eyes. "Momma will help you, okay?"

He started to reach for the flame, and Gerty held up her hand to protect him from it. "No, you don't touch it, West. You blow on it. Watch." She gave a quick puff of air, and the flame went right out. West flinched backward.

A thin stream of smoke lifted from the candle, and Gerty giggled as Opal handed her the lighter again. "Okay," she said. "Your turn." She relit the candle and smiled at her son. Maybe she did want another baby.

Most days, though, Gerty could barely operate under the guilt of leaving West with Opal while she tended to chickens, horses, fences, and fields. How would she deal with walking out on two children every single day?

So maybe she wasn't ready for another baby.

"Blow on it," she coached gently.

West leaned toward it, and at least he didn't try to grab the moving, dancing, flickering entity. He opened his mouth and did what Gerty had done, but not enough air came out. So Gerty extinguished the flame for him and clapped her hands. "Happy birthday, baby."

Everyone else cheered, and Mikey brought over the phone. "Look, Westy," he said. "Say hi to Grandma and Grandpa." He held the phone for West, who took it in his chubby hand. It weighed more than one of his toy blocks, but he managed to lift it right up to his nose.

"Eh-o," he said, his favorite thing to do.

"Hello," Wes and Bree said on the other end of the call. "Is this West? The birthday boy?" Bree sniffled, and Gerty's emotions got yanked left and right too.

"Weh," he said. "Ma-Ma." He almost threw the phone as he pointed it at Gerty. "Dad-Daddy."

"Let's have some cake," Gerty's daddy said, and because his voice always seemed to carry more than others, it helped Gerty pull on the reins of her runaway feelings.

"I'll take them," Opal said as she took the phone from West before he could drop it. "Time for cake, Westy."

Gerty pulled out the chair right next to West and sat down. Daddy brought her some cake, and she smiled gratefully up at him. "Thank you, Dad." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Love you, Gerty-girl." He beamed at West like no brighter star had ever shown. "And you, little man. I love you too." He kissed West as he growled playfully, and West giggled and shrieked out laughter.

Mikey sat down with them, and Gerty met her mom's eyes. "Would you take our picture?" She wanted to remember this version of her family forever. Her, Mike, and West, on his first birthday. She had no idea what life would bring her, if they'd stay on this farm forever, or if they'd be blessed with more children.

But she wanted this moment to live on. So she leaned into West in his high chair on one side while Mikey did the same on the other, and her mother took their family picture. She handed Gerty her phone back with, "You guys are my favorite family."

Gerty looked at the picture while Mikey encouraged West to dig into his cake with his bare hands, and as she looked at herself—so pale and blonde and light, she smiled. Mikey was her opposite, with all dark hair, the sexy beard, and those shining-from-within eyes the color of good, rich earth.

And right between them, smiling like the charmer he was, sat West. With Mikey's brown eyes, but Gerty's blonde hair, he bridged the gap between both of them. Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them back as she stuck her phone in her back pocket.

"Send me that picture, love," Mikey said. "Would you?"

She met his eyes, and she knew he'd just seen everything brewing and boiling inside her. Alarm crossed his face for just a moment, and then it smoothed away into a soft smile. "Not so nurturing, huh?"

She just shook her head and smiled. Then she picked up her cake and took a bite while she took in the rest of those she loved in the farmhouse. Tag touched his lips to Opal's in a quick kiss, and for some reason, that startled Gerty.

"They're getting along," she said across West's tray to Mikey.

He looked over to where Opal stood laughing in Tag's arms. Neither of them had cake yet, as Daddy was still cutting and serving up slices. "Yeah," Mikey said. "Seems so."

"I'm glad," Gerty said as a sense of supreme satisfaction streamed through her. "Opal needs someone like him in her life."

"Maybe he needs someone like her."

Gerty studied Tag for a moment. She'd liked him from the moment he'd walked into Mike's office here at the farmhouse for his initial interview. "Yeah," she said slowly. "Maybe they both need each other."

"Guess we'll see how it works out," Mike said just as West yelled.

Gerty looked at him, because it wasn't one of his usual happy yells. He wore a wild look in his eyes as he grabbed a fistful of cake and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. Gerty blinked and then burst out laughing.

"You get that cake, buddy," Mikey said between his chuckles. And West did exactly that.