Her smile, it’s bright, and her blue eyes are filled with happiness, none of the sadness from last night making an appearance. “Thank you, Kent.”
“It’s my pleasure, baby. Now go.” I point down the hall and watch her until she disappears into her room. I have to force myself to turn away and leave them. Just a few more days until she has my truth in her hands.* * *Forty-five minutes later, I’m pulling into her driveway. I leave the truck running as I jog to the front door and knock. Delaney opens the door with a smiling Kendrix on her heels. “Hello, ladies. You ready to go?”
“My belly is weally, weally angwy,” Kendrix says, pulling her hat on over her ears.
I bend and lift her into my arms. “Well then, we better take care of that angry belly. Momma, you ready to go?” I ask Delaney.
“Yes.” She grabs her purse and we step out onto the porch. I bounce down the steps, making my daughter laugh before strapping her into her seat in the back seat of my truck.
Kendrix chatters in the back seat about surprises and how mad her belly is at her. It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. Delaney and I listen to her ramble on, answering her questions when she asks. She’s full of energy, even with an empty belly.
“We’re here,” I say, pulling the truck into the lot of the local diner in town. “This place has the best pancakes around.” I turn to look at Kendrix. “Does your belly like pancakes?”
“Yes. And bacon. My belly weally likes bacon.”
“This kid.” I smile over at Delaney before climbing out of the truck and helping Kendrix out of her seat. “I wanna sit by you,” Kendrix announces as we make our way inside.
I glance over at Delaney, and she nods, a small smile playing on her lips. “All right, princess, you can sit by me.” We make our way to the back of the restaurant and find a booth.
“Welcome, can I start you off with some drinks?” the waitress asks.
“Milk, please,” Kendrix asks politely.
“You know what, milk for me too,” I tell her.
“And you, miss?”
“Orange juice, please,” Delaney tells her.
“You like milk too?” Kendrix asks.
“I do. I used to drink nothing but milk when I was your age.”
“My momma hates it.” She sticks her tongue out. “She says it’s like eating chalk. Do you like chalk, Mr. Kent? I never had it. My momma says it’s bad for you, but that milk is good for you. I don’t get it.” She shakes her head and furrows her little brow.
“Well, milk is very good for you. It gives you strong bones.”
“Yeah, I’ll be big like you.” She nods and then reaches for the small cup that holds a few crayons and begins to color on her placemat.
Our waitress delivers our drinks, and we all order pancakes with a side of bacon. I teach Kendrix how to play tic-tac-toe and, by the time our food is delivered, we’ve filled up her placemat and mine. The three of us eat and talk like this is our normal Sunday morning routine. Like we’ve been doing this for years. Maybe it’s a new tradition for us. I can only hope.
“All right, you ladies ready for your surprise?” I ask them once we’re back in my truck.
“Yes!” Kendrix cheers, and I feel her kicking her legs around on the back seat of the truck.
I glance over at Delaney. “This one is really for you, but I wanted her to see it too.”
She nods but doesn’t comment. The ride to the meadow is short. I enter in the back way so my parents don’t see us. I haven’t told them yet, about my girls. It’s not that I don’t want to, but if I’m wrong, and my gut tells me I’m not, I don’t want to hurt them. My mother has been asking for me to settle down since Knox was born. Funny, if Delaney had still been in my life, Kendrix would have been the firstborn of our little group.
“Here we are,” I say, pulling my truck into the middle of the open meadow and putting it in Park.
Delaney glances into the back seat. “She’s out.”
“Might be a good thing.”
“Where are we?”
“This is a spot we used to hang out at. Just the two of us. It’s my parents’ land. Their house is just through those trees. We used to come out here in the summer, kill the engine and the lights, and sit in the bed of my truck. We’d talk for hours, among other things.”
“Other things?” she whispers.
“Yeah. The night we met, we left the bar together, and this is where I brought you. It started pouring down rain, but thankfully, my old truck had a bench seat. It’s where I made love to you for the first time.”