Anna Rose brought the coffeepot to the table and refilled all their mugs. “And me. I want in on this deal. Now that that’s settled—Taryn, have you made up your mind which one of us you are going to live with?”
“Not yet,” Taryn answered. “Maybe I’ll just buy an old trailer and move it out there so neither of you will have to put up with me.”
“That’s crazy,” Anna Rose fussed. “We’ve got three bedrooms in each house. You can live with me if you don’t want to listen to Jorja reciting Bible verses.”
“Or you can live with me if you don’t want to find one of Anna Rose’s strange cowboys in the kitchen every morning,” Jorja shot right back.
“I’ll make up my mind about which house to live in later,” Taryn said. “Don’t y’all think we should wait until Nana Irene and Ruby come back to the shop? Someone needs to be close by if—”
“Clinton lives upstairs,” Anna Rose argued. “He can keep an eye on things after work hours. That’s what he always used to do.”
Taryn glanced over at Jorja. She was wearing tighter-fitting jeans that day and had put on a bit of makeup. “Are you really going to send in your resignation and live here, even after the news that Amos let out of the bag?”
Jorja finished a bow and started another one. “I sent it in yesterday, and it’s been accepted. I called Mama and Daddy last night and explained the whole story to them. Mama cried, and Daddy said thateveryone pays for their sins at one time or another and that he was glad that Ford got outed at the funeral. I feel like a little bird that’s been let out of its cage—so the answer is yes, I’m really going to live on the farm. I figure that Forrest can teach me and Anna Rose about farming at the same time. You should start learning about the bookkeeping. Forrest says that it’s all on the computer, and you are a whiz at that. I don’t want to have to sit behind a desk and input data into a machine.”
“Okay, okay!” Taryn said. “I’ll move whenever y’all are ready, but ...”
Anna Rose raised both eyebrows. “Does thatbuthave anything to do with Clinton?”
“Thatbuthas to do with not moving until we know that Nana Irene and Ruby are doing okay in the shop without us.” Taryn gave her a dirty look. “We need to think about this for more than a day. What if we don’t like growing watermelons? What if we hate living in Twitty? Not a one of us has ever lived more than a few blocks from a grocery store. All this has fallen in our laps too fast. We need to take a step back and—”
Jorja threw up a palm. “Like Ora Mae said, I intend to get up every morning with a positive attitude. I won’t have to worry about what to wear to work, if I’m going to have problems with the kids—or worse yet, the administration or parents. If you think I’m going too fast, then you are wrong.”
“Again,” Anna Rose said with a grin, “what Jorja said. Only my new career won’t involve having to deal with publishers and hoping my books sell enough to get me royalties.”
“Good mornin’,” Clinton said, coming through the back door with Zoe in his arms. “Look who has come home.”
At first, Taryn couldn’t believe her eyes. Surely, she had to be dreaming, but then Clinton turned the baby around, and Zoe smiled at her. Taryn slid off the stool, and Clinton met her halfway across the room. She took Zoe from him, and the baby snuggled down against her shoulder.
“Oh, you sweet little darlin’,” Taryn whispered. “You can’t know how much I have missed you.” She looked up at Clinton. “How long can she stay?”
“Forever, I guess,” Clinton answered.
Taryn took a really deep breath and let it out slowly. “Don’t joke with me.”
Clinton slung an arm around her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I’m not teasing. Rebecca is on her way to California, and she made it clear that she doesn’t ever want to be tied down with a baby—not Zoe or any others. Grandpa told me once that there are some people you can’t help. I didn’t believe that was possible, but I do now. She signed all the legal papers to allow me to adopt and raise this baby. I’m still in a bit of shock over it all.”
Anna Rose motioned toward his barstool. “You’d better sit down and explain what has happened. Don’t worry about Zoe. Taryn isn’t going to let her go for at least an hour.”
“Maybe longer.” Taryn couldn’t believe that Zoe could possibly be there forever.
“Rebecca called late last night and told me that things weren’t working in Arkansas, and she hated it there. She’d been in touch with a friend she had when she was in foster care who wanted her to come to California and work with her in a café.” He sat down on the barstool and motioned for Taryn to do the same. “I asked her if she wanted me to keep Zoe until she got settled, but she said that she didn’t need temporary help.”
Taryn shook her head. “I don’t want to sit just yet. I’m afraid if I do, this will be a dream and I’ll wake up.”
“She was”—Clinton paused—“was going to ...,” he stammered. “I can’t hardly say the words.”
“Spit it out,” Anna Rose snapped. “Was she going to leave the baby at that commune?”
“No, she was going to drop her off at the nearest fire station or hospital, and she had found one five miles from where she was when she called.”
“No!” Taryn’s voice was high and squeaky in her own ears. The room took a couple of spins, and for a moment, she thought she would faint. After several deep breaths, everything came back to normal, and she sat down on her barstool.
“Are you all right?” Jorja asked. “Your face lost all color for a second there.”
Taryn hugged the baby closer. “I’m fine now. I couldn’t bear not knowing if this precious child was all right. Why would Rebecca do that?”
“Her story is that she wasn’t ready to be a mother when she got pregnant. Her own mother took her to a fire station when Rebecca was a couple of days old, and she’s always had abandonment issues,” Clinton explained.
