She smiled at the idea that he’d known to bring apples even before they left the house.
As they followed the path past the paddock, there were pens of chickens and other birds just ahead.
“Oh, let’s go see the chickens,” she said. “If they’re on the way?”
“Sure,” Grayson said.
As they got closer, the scolding and clucking got louder. Leo began wiggling like he wanted to find out what was going on.
“They’re just sayinggood morningto each other,” Evangeline told him.
“Ahh-ah-oh,”Leo said.
“You want to saygood morning, too,” she laughed. “That’s very nice. Look how happy the chickens are.”
She was pretty sure that the chickens were mostly arguing about the corn a little girl had just thrown into the pen. And she wasverysure that Leo couldn’t really interact with them anyway. But it felt right to talk with him and encourage him to be interested in his environment, even if the noises were the only part he could really take in.
“He likes it,” Grayson said, sounding surprised.
“He’s a happy baby,” she replied. “I think he likes most things.”
“I got lucky,” Grayson said fondly.
“No,” she told him. “It’s not luck. I think he feels safe, even in new situations. And that’s because heexpectsto like new things, because you give him a happy life.”
Grayson remained silent for a moment, and there were only the sounds of the chickens and the little kids scampering around the pens, throwing in handfuls of corn.
She glanced up at him and was stunned to see naked emotion instead of his normally locked-down expression.
“That’s really nice, Evangeline,” he said, clearing his throat.
“I meant it,” she told him softly. “You’re a wonderful father. Anyone could see that.”
His jaw tightened and he looked away, as if he were searching the hill of Christmas trees for answers to a question no one had asked.
“Can we feed the pony now?” she asked him, not wanting to make him linger too long in feelings that were clearly uncomfortable for him.
“Yeah, of course,” he said, turning back to her. “Let’s get those apples out.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Grayson Ward,”someone called out in a friendly way before he could even retrieve the bag.
He straightened and Evangeline turned to see a family heading their way.
The woman had long, auburn hair and she was holding hands with a cute little girl. The man was tall and handsome, with what looked like a hearing aid ofsome sort in one ear. An enormous German shepherd walked beside him, keeping pace like it was her job.
“Chris, Grace, Izzy,” Grayson said. “This is Evangeline.”
“Hello,” Evangeline said. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“I didn’t even know you got married, man,” Chris said, turning to Grayson with a smile. “About time.”
“Congratulations,” Grace said warmly to Evangeline, her eyes going right to Leo, who was still strapped to her chest. “Wow, he looks just like you.”
“Oh,” Grayson said.
“I’m just the nanny,” Evangeline said quickly, and maybe just a little too loudly.
