Page 25 of She Autumn Be Mine

“They’ll have the best lawyers across both states. I have a measly three hundred dollars in a coffee can in the kitchen. Tell me how that works, Jake? It doesn’t.” I folded my arms across my stomach, still queasy.

“I have money saved. We’ll figure something out.”

“No. This is not your battle. You’ve already done so much. I cannot take one more thing from you.”

“Dadadadada,” Stetson added his favorite phrase and threw a stuffed ball across the floor. He grinned at us both, six teeth and all, completely unaware of how much his short life could get disrupted once again.

They could take him. The Eatons took what they wanted all the time. Brantley told me things about his parents, and I’d had my own run-ins with Marlene, watching her rearrange the truth how she saw fit on more than one occasion.

A big hand landed on the windowsill at my side. Jake leaned in, patting my back. How I wanted to lean into that hand for strength and warmth, but what I really needed was a miracle.

“I’m not going anywhere. And not because of a promise to Trig, but because I wouldn’t leave you to deal with this alone.”

“I just don’t know what to do now. It’s so… so overwhelming.”

“I’ll tell you what we do.” He paused, the corner of his mouth lifting, hand sweetly pressing a lock of my hair back. “We are going to the pumpkin patch opening today.”

I snorted. “I’m not in any condition or mood.”

“Under Ivy’s direction, we’ve been working on it all week. It’ll be fun. We’ll get out of this apartment, spend it outside on this sunny fall day. You could use the distraction. Besides, the first rule of a fight Autumn—don’t give your opponent the satisfaction. Stetson’s here. Tomorrow, we’ll figure things out. Today, they don’t get to steal your time away from him.”

“I don’t know, Jake. I think I’d just be miserable walking around there and bringing everyone down.”

“Would you trust me on this, for once? We’ll go for a little while, and can leave when you say so. Let me get you and the baby out of here for the day.”

Stetson chatted away staring at a stuffed doggie in his hands, so cute. No idea he was smack in the middle of a grown up dispute. Jake was right. Why should I waste a day? I needed to spend as much time with my son as I could—in case each day might be my last.

Jake might think I could win this. I had horrible, huge doubts.

“Okay. To the pumpkin patch,” I whispered, and wiped my tears.

“Good. Now eat up. I’ll get the kid bathed and ready.” He took me by the hand and led me back to the table.

As the sweet sounds of Stetson playing in the tub wafted through the apartment, I finally took a bite of the sandwich. I wasn’t sure about anything at all, but it turned out this grilled cheese was exactly what I needed.

Half an acre of the ranch’s east garden bloomed in gold and orange under the September sun. Pumpkins sat in displays everywhere, all shapes and sizes and colors. Eldon really had gotten carried away; what a beautiful way to start off Fall.

Ivy and Willow and the crew had built a whole world around it, including a hay bale maze, cider and coffee stand with cups sporting the Copper Cup logo, a fenced-in area where Colt and the guys led ponies around with kids holding on tight. There were fun games set up here and there too for families to play like pumpkin bowling, giant sling-shots set up to fling pumpkins into a field, and rubber ducky races in galvanized tubs.

Half of Forest Grove must have shown up, the crowd building gradually throughout the day.

It had been the distraction I needed. I added at least a hundred more photos of Stetson in the pumpkin patch. He met his first gourd and slapped it twice, even claiming it with a bite. From a nearby bin of mini-pumpkins, Jake became obsessed with finding him the best one to take home.

“He’s one, Jake. He’ll be happy with any of them,” I chuckled.

“Details matter. Aha.” He held up the winner, a pumpkin perfectly round and the size of an orange with a stem big enough Stetson could wrap a hand around. “This one.”

Stetson didn’t let that darn thing go all afternoon. And for a while, I managed not to think about the manila envelope sitting at home.

We ran into our friends… our friends. People who I’d come to care about this past year. But what if I ended up moving back to Wyoming? Or running away with Stetson? I hadn’t verbalized these thoughts to Jake this morning, but they were there in the dark parts of my mind.

Sage sold Jake caramel apples for later. Carter and Knox approved of the mini pumpkin. Ivy blew through with her clipboard, Colt in tow. Willow caught Jake by the sleeve and pointed him toward a stuck hay wagon. We stood by and watched the muscular man get it unstuck, lifting it out of a deep rut. I let my gaze wander over him and his muscles much longer than I probably should.

Willow caught me doing it and elbowed me, saying nothing.

When Jake came back to us, he had a little hay in his hair. I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.