Page 58 of Silver Lining Love

But that also meant that if Wyatt could compartmentalize his relationship with his family, move away, and never look back, and I couldn’t spend a day with them without falling in love and wanting to plan my return visit before I left, I was in even deeper trouble than I thought. Because if he could do those things with his family, he could easily do the same thing with the kids and me.

He would compartmentalize and never look back. And I’d be left in love and wanting more.

26

WYATT

“You’re always one decision away from a totally different life.” ~ Gamma Mary

By five in the morning, I gave up trying to sleep. There was just too much on my mind. I decided to start my day. My dad would have already been up for at least an hour by now. Farm life starts well before the crack of dawn. He always liked to say that by the time the rooster crows, half the day is gone—the rooster in this case being Kurt Clucksell, who was not a happy camper since Moose stole his woman again.

As I passed JJ’s old room, I saw that Michael wasn’t in his bed, and it was made. I grinned, thinking about how he’d made my dad promise to wake him up before heading out to do the morning chores.

When I walked into the kitchen, I wasn’t surprised to find my mom in a fluffy blue robe curled up in the breakfast nook drinking coffee. For as long as I could remember my dad always had a steaming hot pot of coffee waiting for my mom when she woke up. They always did sweet things for each other. And it wasn’t big things, it was little things.

My mom would play interference so that my dad had ten minutes to unwind after coming in from a hard day of farm work, before being bombarded with questions, and the chaos of having nine kids. My dad would always notice when my mom had dark circles under her eyes from trying to do everything and be everything for everyone. He would announce to the kids that it was “Mom’s night off.” That meant from sundown to bedtime, we kids were not allowed to complain, ask for anything, or even argue amongst ourselves to give my mom a break.

Over the past few months, I realized that all my life I’d taken my parents’ relationship for granted. But now that I saw how difficult it was to even have a conversation, much less any sort of intimate time with three kids in the house, I marveled at how they’d been able to keep their marriage not just together but thriving with nine kids in the house.

When I reflected back on their relationship, just like this town and my childhood, I saw it through a different lens now. My parents didn’t just love each other, they were a good team. It didn’t hurt that my dad adored my mom and he couldn’t keep his hands off of her, either. I remember one Sunday after church we were having lunch and Harmony and her two besties Cara and Destiny, both of whom were now my sisters-in-law, were giggling at the end of the table. My mom asked what was so funny and they said my dad had walked up to my mom while she was talking to the pastor and had given her a little pat on the backside. The girls thought it was hilarious, my mom did not.

The funny thing was, neither of my parents even realized it had happened. It was such a normal thing for my dad to be affectionate and playful with her that my mom hadn’t been aware of it happening in church, and neither had my dad. But after my mom was aware of it, she caught him red-handed the next week and told him that she’d made a new rule: no butt-patting in God’s house.

My dad agreed to do his best but couldn’t make any promises because my mom was “just too cute.”

That was the sort of relationship I’d always wanted. One where, after decades of being together, I couldn’t promise not to be inappropriate in public because I was still so attracted to and in love with the person I was with. And I found that, with Whitney.

“Mornin’.” I smiled as I grabbed a mug out of the cabinet.

“Morning, sunshine. Looks like you had a rough night.”

Dolly Briggs didn’t sugarcoat things. I’d barely slept in the past forty-eight hours and I was sure I had the dark circles and bags under my eyes to prove it.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Did Benji keep y’all up? I heard you making a bottle around midnight.”

Of course she did. Even though her and my dad’s bedroom was at the opposite end of the house. Nothing happened under this roof without my mom knowing about it, to the great dismay of most of my brothers when they were teenagers.

“No, I think that’s the only time he got up.” I poured myself a cup of coffee and lowered down into the seat across from her. “So birthday girl, are you ready for your big day tomorrow?” I asked.

Her birthday and “surprise” party were tomorrow. Everyone was still pretending that she didn’t know about it, which I found funny.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied with wide-eyed innocence.

I grinned.

“Whitney and the kids are pretty great.” She smiled widely.

I nodded. I’d loved seeing everyone together yesterday. It felt like one part of my family was meeting the other part of my family. Because sometime in the past ten months, Whitney and the kids had definitely become my family.

“What are you going to do about that?” she asked in the way that only Dolly Briggs could ask.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I repeated her response before taking a sip.

“Have you told her that you’re in love with her?”

Her question caused me to choke on my coffee. Of course, I’d known that my mom would grill me about Whitney and the kids, but I’d just thought that maybe she’d start off with a softball question. Maybe ask me how things were going with us not have you told her that you’re in love with her. I should have known better.

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