Page 79 of The Caretaker
She held a bunny in her arms. A bunny shehadn’towned twenty-four hours ago.
“Gav stopped by after you fell asleep last night,” Solace explained with an apologetic shrug. “He wanted her to have it when she woke up. It’s what she wanted for her birthday.” His brother was in town for the party but had opted to stay at the farmhouse because we had too many animals for his liking. How ironic.
Our daughter loved animals, insects, and bugs. The last two were technically the same but worth mentioning twice.
“The birthday girl is awake!” I exclaimed, scooping her up and kissing her chubby cheeks until she squealed. Solace extracted the bunny from between us.
“I’m tree!” She struggled to get that third digit up.
“You don’t look like a tree to me,” I said, tugging lightly on one of her pigtails.
“I’m tree with a H.” She nodded decisively.
“It’s the best Gav and I could do,” Solace murmured.
Our girl was beautiful, just like her daddy. And like Solace, she was kind and sweet and had the prettiest set of blue eyes. Penelope was our blessing, and the reason we would soon outgrow our home, because Solace didn’t know how to tell her no.
“Girls are different,”he’d said after bringing home the second rescue kitten.
“What’s your bunny’s name?” I asked when she reached for it. I set her on her feet so Solace could hand the fluffy animal over.
“Penelope,” she answered, stroking the white fur.
“Perfect,” I responded sarcastically, because two cats already being named after her wasn’t enough. Solace coughed to camouflage his laugh.
“Uncle Yasper is getting me a turtle,” she said, mispronouncing Jasper’s name.
“A turtle?” I said with a tight smile. “How nice of Uncle Jasper.”
“Animal Planet said turtles are low maymanants,” she informed me, botching the last word.
“Animal Planet lied, honey. Turtles areextremelyhigh maintenance.”
“Daddy said calling people a liar is not nice,” she said in a firm tone with a shake of her head.
“Of course he did.” I glared up at him from my stooped position. My gaze promised retribution for this. The kind that would leave me collecting the eggs the next day because he wouldn’t be able to move from our bed.
The cats spread out at her feet as Pete panted with his tongue hanging out from close by. The two pups barked their hellos at the coop.
“Jasper and Cole are taking her home with them after the party. She’ll be gone the whole weekend,” Solace said as I stood, letting me know we’d have the house to ourselves for a couple of days.
He and Jasper had become close after meeting. They were the most similar of our friends, in looks and temperament. We’d even crowned him Penelope’s godfather. Leland too.
“A whole weekend?” I asked, then said pointedly, “I’ll have to pace myself, then.”
Solace backed away before I could grab for him, his bottom lip tucked between his teeth as he picked up his felled basket. “Come on,” he said for everyone to hear—cats and dogs included. “We’ve got…” He stopped to count what had survived the fall. “Five eggs. Let’s go make breakfast. I’ll call Uncle Gav to come over.”
“Can Baby Brother come too?” Penelope asked.
“Yes, Melanie is on her way,” Solace replied, brushing a few blond tendrils out of her face.
Melanie was our surrogate. We were one month away from welcoming a baby boy into our tribe. Baby Brother attended every function, even if he wasn’t here yet.
“Where’s your camera, Papa?” Penelope asked. “We need to take pictures of P.” She held up the bunny.
Solace’s shoulders sagged. “Not the camera,” he complained. In my rush to track him down I’d forgotten it on the nightstand.
“I’ll run up and get it now, honey,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Solace. Penelope loved when I took pictures of her and the animals.
