Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Episode 11 (26 page)

Try not to fret about things.
It
’
s going to be ok.

I miss you,

Chad

***

The kitchen was warm and smelled heavenly as Chad burst in the door.
“
Hey, I brought
cold milk in from the barn
.
I drank the rest last night.
What smells so good?
”

“
Muffins.
I boil
ed a dozen eggs from the cellar—t
hey
’
re in that bowl
—
and I made the orange juice you brought too
.”
She paused as he slowly dragged off his coat and hung it on a peg by the back door.
“
You look tired
.”

“
I am
.
What kind of muffins?
”

“
Blackberry oatmeal.
They
’
re good.
I need to order grains.
I
’
m almost out
.”

Chad took the kettle from her and set it on the back of the stove.
With arms wrapped around her, he whispered,
“
Good morning,
”
into her ear.
Willow didn
’
t quite know how to respond.
She
’
d imagined frustration with her or even coldness
,
but this warmth was unexpected.

“
I could get used to this
.”

“
You
’
d better.
I intend to come home to some meal or another for a very long time
.”

Chad kissed her cheek, grabbed the kettle, and mixed a cup of instant coffee before he sank exhausted into his
“
usual
”
chair.
Though he usually savored his food and enjoyed table conversation with Willow, his extreme
weariness
pushed him to eat quickly so he could collapse in bed.

“
The kids still sleeping?
”

She nodded smiling.
“
They
’
re so cute.
The boys are sleeping facing each other
.
Tavish breathes out of his mouth
,
and it ruffles Laird
’
s hair.
Ellie is curled into a little ball at the corner of the bed like a puppy in a box
.”

“
Do you know where I put the air mattress?
”

“
I aired out my bed.
It
’
s ready for you to climb into.
There
’
s no reason to sleep on that thing when my comfy bed is empty
.”

After he rinsed his plate, drained his coffee, and washed his hands, Chad reminded her to have the children do their schoolwork before they went to play and climbed the stairs.
Seconds later, he jogged back down.
“
Do you know what I did with my sweats you washed?
”

“
They
’
re in mother
’
s dresser in the boy
’
s room
.”
Willow grinned mischievously.
“
Her pink ones are in there too if you prefer…
”

“
I am so going to get you
—”
H
e yawned.
“
—a
fter I wake up.
Night Willow.
See you at lunchtime.
If you want, don
’
t make anything
,
and I
’
ll go get subs from town
.”

“
Already have chili planned, but thanks
.”

As Chad climbed the stairs to Willow
’
s room, he wondered if he
’
d ever be able to get ahead of her plans.
Perhaps that was part of the problem.
Willow and Kari planned their ways
,
but who truly directed their steps?
He was too exhausted to think about it.
After a quick brush of the teeth and
a
change into more comfortable clothes, Chad crawled into Willow
’
s bed, pulled the covers over his head, and drifted quickly into a lavender scented sleep.

The children worked quickly on their schoolwork once they knew Willow was serious about getting it done.
At the kitchen table, with an extra leaf added for elbowroom, Tavish and Ellie raced to finish the required number of pages.
Willow
watched, amazed
at how quickly they flew through vocabulary lists, spelling words, capitalization corrections, and labeling the states and capitals.
Their reading books had ten comprehension questions that both children answered without reading the
book. When asked, Ellie confessed that they read everything the week before in hopes that they’d have more time to play at her house.

Laird
’
s work took a little more time
,
but he too managed to finish everything by eleven o
’
clock.
T
his time
, however, Willow was prepared.
She insisted that they pile their work on top of the center bookcase in the library, clean up their mess, and return upstairs to make their beds.
“
Tomorrow, be sure to do that before you come downstairs.
I didn
’
t think to tell you that last night
.”
As they rushed for the stairs, she added, “And do it quietly.
Chad’s sleeping.”

“
When will Uncle Chad be awake,
”
Laird asked eagerly.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, I just wondered when I’d get to see his apartment.”

“Oh.” She’d already forgotten that he wasn’t one of “her” charges.
“
Sometime around lunch, I think.
Why don
’
t you go check on the chickens and the plants in the greenhouse?
I
’
m going to check the ice and see if it
’
s ready to smooth
,
and maybe you guys can skate until lunch time
.”

Ellie watched, her face pressed to the window,
as Willow grabbed a strange looking metal thing with bars that attached to the garden hose and walked it back and forth across the ice
,
smoothing it as she went.
After fifteen minutes,
Willow pronounced it smooth enough for skating and sent Ellie upstairs to find skates for them all.

Her jeans
soaked, Willow crept into her bedroom to grab a new pair from her drawer.
Chad slept soundly as she found jean
s and socks
and readjusted the covers
,
before pulling the shade and tiptoeing back out of the room.
She
’
d planned to change immediately, but after seeing Ellie arrive with her skates as well, Willow decided that a few spins on the ice wouldn
’
t be such a bad idea.

They played ice tag, stick hockey, and follow the leader.
For nearly an hour, Willow played, taught Ellie how to skate with more confidence, and chased Laird more than once to retrieve her hat.
Exhausted, she coasted to the edge, removed her skates, and stuffed her feet in her mud boots.

“
I
’
m going to go and check on lunch.
Come on in when you
’
re done
,
and I
’
ll have lunch ready.
Leave your skates on the porch
.
There will be a towel out there—dry the blades off or they’ll rust.
”

She packed the stoves once she came in and decided
that
she
’
d better keep the upstairs stove going if the children might be playing.
Once in dry
,
warm clothes, she mixed cornbread and popped it in the oven
,
nearly salivating with hunger.
Cookies sounded like the perfect after skating treat
,
so while she waited for the cornbread to bake, Willow mixed a batch of oatmeal cookies and nibbled shamelessly on the batter.