“Would you like to drive out there this weekend?” Merrick asked.
“I’d love nothing more.” Rebecca had just given birth to a baby boy, and Eleanor had been eager to return to the Whiteside farm to visit.
“Then we’ll make it happen.” Merrick smiled at her. Eleanor thought she’d never tire of seeing him happy. She loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned.
“Done now,” Davy said from across the table, drawing her attention away from her husband.
Eleanor glanced at his plate. He’d eaten most everything. “All right. Let me clean off your hands first.”
Merrick stood with Marigold while Eleanor wiped down Davy’s hands. The little boy went right back to his toy train. Eleanor cleared the table and reached for the baby.
“I’ll hold her if you want to clean the dishes without a baby in your arms,” Merrick said.
“Don’t you need to get back to work?”
“I’m caught up. As caught up as I can be, anyhow.” He reached out and laid a hand under Eleanor’s chin, running the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “I’m fine. You get your work done.”
He looked at her with such earnest concern that Eleanor forgot all about the dishes. Instead, she rose on her tiptoes, reached for the back of his neck to pull his head down toward her, and planted a kiss on his lips. “You are the most perfect husband.”
His face reddened, and she smiled against his mouth. After nearly two and a half years married, she loved that she could still have that effect on him at times.
“If I am, it’s only because I have the perfect wife,” he said. And then with one hand wrapped securely around their sleeping baby, he pulled Eleanor back toward him and kissed her until she had to duck her head to catch her breath.
“Those dishes aren’t going to clean themselves,” she said, her voice coming in wisps.
“That’s unfortunate, because—”
“Mama.” A hand tugged at Eleanor’s skirts.
She looked down to find Davy, holding up the locomotive from his train. “Davy?”
“Trains now.” He shook the locomotive.
Eleanor turned her gaze back toward her husband. “I should probably do those dishes. Apparently, there is very important railroad business that needs to occur afterward.”
Merrick tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before letting her go. “I can handle the railroad. Let me talk to the stationmaster.” He gave her a wink before shifting Marigold in his arms and dropping down to speak with Davy. “How about I play trains with you while Mama cleans the dishes?”
Davy’s eyes grew round with joy. “Yes!” He grabbed Merrick’s hand and tugged him across the room.
Eleanor clasped her hands together, watching them a moment before going about her work. This was her family, her own little family, as she’d always wanted. It wasn’t what she’d imagined years before, when she’d married David in Kentucky,but she’d made peace with his memory. The grief still came, every once in a while. She’d think about it a moment, giving it time to pass. And then she focused on what she had—which was more than she ever could have hoped for.
As Merrick smiled at her from where he sat with Davy and with Marigold in his arms, her heart filled. She was exactly where she needed to be, with her husband and her children, surrounded with love, and nothing could make her happier.
