Chapter 8

Opal came running out of the farmhouse, her coat flapping behind her as she'd only put in one arm. She tried unsuccessfully to get the other one as she hurried down the steps, but in the end, she abandoned the quest. Tag's truck would be warm anyhow.

She didn't believe for a moment he'd put Boots in the bed, and sure enough, she found the crate on the floor in the back of the king cab. "Hey," she said breathlessly. "Wow, I've done more running for you in the past twelve hours than I have in twelve months." She gave him a smile as she finally got her right arm into its sleeve and reached for her seatbelt.

"You ready?"

"Yes," she said. "Sorry I was late. I was just…sorry I was late."

"No, finish that," he said with plenty of teasing in his voice. "Why were you late?"

"Because." She held her head up high. "I don't have to feel bad because I love West."

"Yeah, that baby has you wrapped around all of his chubby fingers." Tag chuckled. "He's a cute baby, so I guess I can't blame you."

"He was answering the phone," Opal said with such joy running through her. "He'd call, and I'd make this ringing noise with my mouth, right? And then he'd pick up the phone and go, ‘Eh-o,' and it's just the cutest thing in the world."

Opal sighed with such love, and West wasn't even her baby. She looked over to Tag. "Do you want kids, Tag?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind havin' kids," he said.

"You don't talk about your family much."

He gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. "I was—am—sort of this outsider in my family."

"What does that mean?" Opal truly hadn't heard him say much about his twin brothers, other than he had them, or his parents, other than they'd moved to Louisville after their sons had grown up and left home.

"I don't know," Tag said. "The twins always had each other, right? And I was quite a bit older than them, and I just always feel like I'm on the outside of whatever they're doing."

"And your parents?" Opal spoke in a soft, soothing voice, because she sometimes had to in order to get patients to talk. "They're still together?"

"Actually, no," he said. "Mama wanted to go back to Alabama after they moved to Louisville. Daddy didn't. They split up." He looked over to her. "They're in their mid-sixties. Doing good enough. I talk to my mama the most, but Daddy texts every now and then."

Opal looked out her window, her thoughts blurring by the same way the landscape did. Tag drove toward Ivory Peaks this time, as the vet was in another town just north of there. "I sometimes feel outside of my family too," she said. "The only girl, youngest child, all of that."

"Mm."

"I'm looking to buy somewhere around here," she said next, not sure why she'd brought this up with him.

"You are?"

"Well, I can't live with my brother and his family forever," she said wistfully. "Even if I want to."

"Around here?"

"Yes." She looked over to him. "Does that make you happy?" She gave a light laugh and took his hand in hers. "I don't want to go too far. Gerty still needs help with West, and now that Jane's—" She cut herself off, but the damage had been done.

Tag wasn't a dumb cowboy, and he met her eyes. "She's gonna have a baby?"

"It's a secret," Opal said. "I'm sworn to secrecy."

"I'll be sure Boots doesn't tell anyone," he said dryly.

Opal laughed then, glad things between them could happen so easily. So carefree. "I haven't told anyone but Jane about buying someplace of my own," she said. "So it's another secret I need you to carry for me."

"At this rate, I won't be able to talk to anyone." He chuckled and brought her knuckles to his lips. "Thanks for coming with me."

"You betcha," she said. "And we didn't even have to bring West."

A couple of hours later, Tag pulled up to the farmhouse again. "I can smell the cinnamon out here," he said, grinning.

"Christmas party planning time," Opal announced as she got out of the truck. She led the way inside, and Tag brought up the rear with Boots in his crate.

"He's okay," Tag called as he entered the farmhouse. "No infection, but we got an antibiotic in case one flares up. New painkillers, which he has to be on for fourteen days, and he has to be on cage rest that long too."

"I killed it with the stitches," Opal said, grinning at Tag. He bent to set down the crate in the living room, and she faced Gerty and Carrie in the kitchen. Mike's truck wasn't here, so he'd gone to work in the city. West wasn't anywhere to be found, so Opal assumed he was down the hall in his crib, taking his morning nap.

She wished someone would put her to bed and tell her not to get up until she was good and ready, but sleep would have to wait, because the sight of Carrie's cream-cheese frosted cinnamon rolls had Opal's mouth watering.

The older woman smiled with such love, and Opal thought of her mother. She wasn't quite as old as Gerty's grandmother, but she had the capacity to open her heart to anyone and draw them right in. For some strange reason, Opal's eyes filled with tears.

"The vet replaced Opal's stitches with canine-strength thread, but that's all," Tag said. "He said it was well-cleaned and tended to. And he should heal up just fine. We've got an appointment in ten days to go in and have the stitches removed." He sighed as he pulled out a barstool and sank onto it. "Carrie, you're sent straight from heaven."

She laughed and swatted at his hand as he reached for one of the sausage links. He managed to take it, and Opal took the moment to blink her tears back where they belonged. She felt outside herself, perhaps from her restless night of sleep despite the strength and security of Tag's arms around her. Maybe from the constant thoughts of finding somewhere to live, or of when she could get dressed up and go out with Tag again, or when she should tell her parents of her plans.

Time to tell them, she thought, and she completely missed the first cinnamon roll being served to Tag. He'd chosen the one right in the middle of the three-by-three grid, of course, and it was ooey and gooey and exactly what she knew him to love.

"All right," she said as she turned toward the bookcase in the kitchen. "I have sketched out a few ideas for the menu for our Christmas party." She sat down at the counter too and flipped open the binder. Carrie put a plate with a cinnamon roll on it in front of her, and Gerty poured steaming milk into mugs.

Everything about this country farmhouse spoke to Opal's soul, and she once again fought her emotions. Only by focusing on the words she'd typed up and printed could Opal get her tears to stay dormant. Thankfully, Gerty had more questions for Tag about Boots, and instead of starting the party planning for the Christmas shindig happening here in only three weeks, they chit-chatted about their plans to go to Coral Canyon next week.

"You can watch the dogs and West, right?" Gerty asked.

"Yes," Opal said, looking up from her binder.

"Steele is coming for an interview on Thursday." Gerty wore a brief look of worry. "I'm hoping to get him here by the weekend, and then we can take him through our minimal chores, and he can tend to the farm while we're gone." She sighed and picked up a knife to cut into her cinnamon roll. "If he can't, I'll ask my daddy to come, and Mike can do a little bit too."

"I can feed horses and cats and the chickens," Opal said.

"No, you can't," Tag said, shooting her a look. "You shouldn't even be here alone with West."

Opal blinked at him, half-irritated that he'd reminded her of her weakness and half-overjoyed that he was watching out for her. "It's not until next week. I'm feeling better and better by the minute."

"Grandpa can help too," Carrie said.

"We'll only be gone two days," Gerty said, watching Opal with an edge in her eyes too. "As long as everyone gets fed and watered, we'll be fine." She cut a bite of cinnamon roll and put it in her mouth. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Opal didn't want to talk about much of anything anymore, and she closed her binder and pulled her cinnamon roll and mug of warm milk closer. She stirred in two heaping spoonfuls of hot chocolate powder, and she let her spoon swirl around and around almost mindlessly.

"You're not going to start the meeting?" Tag asked playfully.

She gave him a small smile and shook her head. "No, I think I just want to enjoy this amazing food and then go take a nap."

"You never answered my text from earlier," Tag said just before he took a large bite of his sugary treat.

Opal glanced over to him, her mind suddenly blank. "What text?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. "We'll talk about it later."

Opal caught Gerty and her grandmother exchanging a glance, but she simply didn't have the energy to call them on it. Her and Tag's relationship wasn't a secret, and Opal's memory fired at her. He'd wanted another date with her, and she hadn't answered.

Yes, they could talk about that later, when there weren't any other eyes or ears around.

Later that day, after Tag and Gerty had gone back out to the farm, and after Carrie had cleaned up her delicious brunch and gone back to the generational cabin, Opal lay on the couch in the farmhouse. She'd just gotten West down for his afternoon nap, and he lay on the floor only a few feet from her, Max curled up next to him on the dog bed.

Boots had likewise squished his eyes shut, and Opal was the only one still awake. "Time to send some texts."

She started with Tag, because right now, those would be the easiest messages to get out. It's Monday today, Opal said. You're not going to Coral Canyon until next week. Again, I babysit my nephew during the day, and I throw feed to chickens twice a day, and I might have a date with the barn cats I'll have to move around, but I think I can reschedule with them.

She tapped back to her texting app, where she had a family thread. It included Mike and Gerty, Easton and Allison, and Momma and Daddy. And Opal. The single one. The outlier. Tag's words about feeling on the outside of his family struck her heart like a gong. Even her pulse reverberated through her body.

They hadn't texted on the string in a couple of days, and Opal didn't always respond to every message her brothers or parents sent out. Allison and Gerty sometimes sent pictures of the kids, and Opal would long-hold and add a heart to those.

I have some news, she said, and once she got going, Opal's fingers could fly, fly, fly. I have decided not to return to my job in Burbank. In fact, I quit several months ago; I'm not on sabbatical.

She took a deep breath, hoping her father didn't call and imply she'd lied. She'd started on a sabbatical; she just hadn't continued it, and she hadn't told anyone otherwise.

I have decided to move to the Ivory Peaks area of Colorado. I don't know what I'll do, but there are hospitals and colleges here. Right now, I'm helping Gerty with her baby and spending my evenings with chickens, and I'm looking for a place of my own so Mike and Gerty can have their house back.

She sent that, then realized she'd told another small fib. Nothing she couldn't fix.

Actually, I'm hoping to be spending less evenings with chickens and more evenings with Taggart Crow. We finally went out over the weekend for the first time, and he's asked me on a second date.

She hit send on that and read back through her three messages. "Anything else?" she asked herself. She didn't think so, and she exhaled heavily as she let her cell fall to her chest. Exhaustion pulled through her from her night on the purple blow-up couch. It currently rested against the wall behind her, and Opal imagined herself there, wrapped up in Tag's arms.

Her phone beeped once, twice, three times in a row, and Opal didn't immediately lift her device to read the incoming messages. Mike would give her nothing but support. Easton and Allison too, because they lived all the way across the country, living almost completely different lives than everyone else.

Opal wasn't worried about her siblings or their spouses. No, Daddy was the one Opal feared hearing from, and Momma might even text something that seemed supportive but actually held a lot of questions.

Her phone rang, and Opal couldn't put off answering it. She'd literally just texted, and everyone knew she'd been put back on rib-rest, because Gerty had texted them after her appointment last week.

Daddysat on the screen, and Opal swiped to answer the call. She tapped the speaker icon to get it to play through the speaker, and she set her phone on her chest as she said, "Hey, Daddy."

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes," she said with a smile, because he always asked if she could hear him, as if he didn't trust cellphones to work. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," Daddy said. "Momma's on the call with me."

"Of course she is." Opal didn't mean to sound so belligerent. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

No one said anything, and Opal certainly wasn't going to start. They'd called her. "Opal-baby," Daddy started, so he was going to tiptoe around her.

Opal couldn't have that. "Daddy, I'm not a little girl. You're not going to hurt my feelings."

"I'm surprised you quit your job," Daddy said. "You were—are—such an amazing doctor. You loved living in California."

"Yes, I know," Opal said. "You're right. That's all right."

"So…help us understand why you're moving to Ivory Peaks."

"Because," Opal said. "God told me to."

They couldn't very well argue with that, she knew, and she added, "I resisted Him for a long time, but Gerty's baby was the impetus that gave me enough courage to finally do it. And it turns out that I love that baby, and I love this farm, and I love being close to Mike and Gerty, and Jane and Cord, and I want to stay here."

A long pause filled the space between them, and then Momma said, "That all sounds right too."

"I'm happy here, Momma," Opal whispered. "I'll find a nice place to live, and maybe I'll start thinking about some foundation or starting a business. You know, use that money you guys blessed me with. I still haven't done that."

"You're my absolute favorite daughter," Daddy said.

Opal smiled. "I'm your only daughter."

"We love you," Momma said. "We'll see you in a few weeks for Christmas."

"Yes," Opal said. "Love you guys, too."

The call ended, and Opal rolled onto her side and let her hand dangle over the edge of the couch. She rested her palm against baby West's belly, feeling him breathe in and then out, and Opal smiled to herself.

"You've made the right decision, Opal," she whispered. "You belong here in Ivory Peaks." Her eyes drifted closed, and she simply relaxed into the comfort and peace that God had led her here, and she'd listened.

She dozed until her phone buzzed, and when she checked it, she grinned all the wider when she saw Tag's text that said, How about dinner at my place tomorrow night?

That'll do, she told him, and she said out loud, "That'll do just fine."