The lumber is ready and waiting when we get to the lumber yard. Together Jaxon and I select the security system and get everything we’ll need to mount it. As a precaution, she’ll have a monitor and so will I.
Maura has dinner ready when we arrive. Grace is cuddling Reenie, one of the toddlers and Johah and Tilly, the five year old twins, are vying for attention while watching Reenie’s twin brother Daniel. At first being around so many kids was a shock to my system, but now I envy the chaos. Their happiness is contagious.
I pick up Daniel and Jaxon steps right in to enlist the older twins to help set the table. The meal is filled with laughter, kid jokes, and a feeling of contentment.
Grace looks a little wistful, but calm and content.
Jaxon and I set a time for the next day, and I lead Grace to my truck. “You need anything from town before we head home?”
“No. I called off tomorrow. They understood.”
“I thought it was your shop?”
“It was. Mine and Guy’s. But after he died, I couldn’t afford the rent anymore. Jaxon wanted to just let me stay and not pay. I couldn’t do that to him. It wouldn’t have been right. The people who bought the business kept me on to manage when they’re gone and to help recruit local talent for sales. It’s just a hobby investment for them. But they’re nice people.”
Pulling into her yard, I don’t like that there’s no lights on. “You don’t have a security lamp that comes on at dark?”
“It quit working a couple weeks ago. I just haven’t gotten a new one yet. The manual is in the studio. I need to look up the bulb information. I’m sure one of the guys from the fire department will help me change it once I do.
“When I get inside I can turn on the outside building lights for the studio. There’s one in the front and in the back.”
“Jax and I will look at the yard light tomorrow. With mountain predators it’s not safe to not have a working yard light.” Both four and two legged I think to myself.
She nods and climbs out of the truck. The light is on over the sink, and she flips on the ones for the main area.
The simple open kitchen with an eating area and conjoined living room is cozy. Three doors open off the far side. A bedroom in each corner and bathroom in the middle. “This is a really comfortable space.”
“It was my grandparents’ home. When my parents died, they took me in. It was comfortable. Would you like some herbal tea before you leave?”
“Sounds good.” Leaning on the counter I watch her carefully measure the ingredients and fill the tea kettle. She softly hums as she works. I wonder if she realizes.
“How old were you when you moved here?”
“I was thirteen when my parents died in a car accident. I was a late life baby, which meant my grandparents were already late seventies. I was the last of the line, so they left me this house and a few acres when they passed. I had just turned twenty-one.
“Guy was also an only child, raised by a single mom. His mother died in a fire at the plant where she worked. His uncle took him in. Both of us came to this town unexpectedly in our early teens. Being outsiders at that age, we bonded and clicked immediately.
“That didn’t sound right. Most of the kids accepted us. We were the ones who held back in the beginning. We felt different, being orphaned.”
CHAPTER 4
Grace
“Guy had spent the night with a friend and didn’t even know his mom had died until the next morning when he walked past the plant where she worked and saw the destruction and the fire crew still cleaning up. Three other people died that night. He decided right then and there what he wanted to do with his life.
“His uncle was a good man. He went and got Guy and moved him here to Kennedy. Later he helped him get into the fire department. Uncle Ben passed from cancer a couple years after we married. Then it was just the two of us.” I stare into my cup lost in my thoughts.
“How long were you married?” Caleb asks.
“Almost ten years. We were best friends and could talk about anything. We both loved art. He was a talented painter. His...dedication to saving lives required he give back first, so his painting was his recreation and release.
“We both wanted a big family, but that wasn’t meant to be. We found out after years of trying that he was sterile frommumps he had in puberty. We were talking about adoption when he...”
Oh god, I can’t do this. I can’t do any of this anymore. I’m so damn tired. I push from my chair. “I— I need to go to bed. If you turn the lock when you leave, it will catch. Thank you for all you you’ve done. I?—”
“I’m not leaving, Grace. I talked with Jaxon and the sheriff. We don’t think you should be alone tonight. I can sleep on the couch unless that makes you uncomfortable. If it does, I’ll be out front in my truck.”
“You don’t have to stay. It’s not necc...”I don’t want to be alone tonight.“Thank you. I appreciate you staying. I’ll make up the spare bed for you before I shower. And I’ll leave you a towel on the rack.”
