Page 65 of And Then There Was Us
Oh my gosh. I’m a terrible girlfriend. What am I doing?He was doing something for Layla that she might never have the opportunity to do again. Maybe being romantic and thoughtful was simply who Hugh was, even if he was over-the-top. She touched her necklace and held on to his hand.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry,” she relented.
Layla stood in the center of the aisle again, beckoning them with one hand while smelling the corsage on the other.
“I promise, from now on I’ll run everything by you.” They took two steps and he stopped again. “I’d better amend that.” His voice deepened with a serious tone. “I promise that I’ll try to run everything by you, but honestly, I know myself, and there will be times that I forget, or I’m excited, or I want to surprise you both.” He wrinkled his forehead and curled his lips into a sweet, tentative smile.
How could she deny those dimples and such a kind heart? “You kill me with honesty,” she teased. “Okay. Deal.”
LAYLA SAT BETWEEN Hugh and Brianna. She bounced her feet as Tami, Mack’s wife, entered the stage wearing jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and in her arms she carried a large fake tree. She set the tree beside a chair and stood at the front of the stage.Tami?
Layla gasped. “It’s Tami! Tami’s here!” Layla jumped up to her feet and held on to the seat in front of her.
Brianna whispered to Hugh, “You brought Tami here? What story?”
“Layla wrote a story at the tavern. Remember?” Hugh winked.
Brianna knitted her brows. “What?”
Hugh took her hand in his, then put his finger to his lips and nodded toward the stage. “Watch. You’ll see.”
“This is the story of Sassy and the Bird, written by Layla Heart,” Tami began. “Once upon a time, there was a yellow cat named Sassy. She had a bell on her collar that she got from her owner, and she loved the bell.”
Kat crawled onto the stage on all fours. She wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt, yellow sweatpants, and a headband with two cat ears poking up from the top of her head. Tami shook a bell and thetinkle, tinklesound followed Kat across the stage.
Oh my gosh.
“Kat! Mom, it’s Kat!” Layla laughed.
Brianna’s throat tightened. She squeezed Hugh’s hand, and he moved into Layla’s seat and put his arm around Brianna.
Tami continued. “Every morning Sassy followed her owner outside.”
Jean walked across the stage wearing a pretty blue dress. She picked up a purse from a table and pretended to open the door to leave. Kat crawled behind her, scooting out the door alongside her.
“It’s Grandma!” Layla climbed into Hugh’s lap, and Brianna felt all the pieces of her world coming together.
“Sassy climbed a big tree where she could watch two baby birds play in their nest.”
Kat climbed on top of the chair next to the tree and perched like a cat on all fours.
Mack and his daughter, Karen, entered the stage with big painted wings strapped to their arms. They sat in a big wicker basket that looked a lot like an enormous nest.
Layla laughed. “Look, Mom. Mack and Karen are birds!”
Brianna couldn’t believe that Hugh had orchestrated the entire production without her knowing—and all for Layla.
Tami continued. “One day when Sassy was in the tree, one of the baby birds fell out.
Oh my gosh.Hugh pulled Brianna closer and kissed the side of her head.
Karen climbed over the side of the basket and yelled, “Ouch!” She held one wing up in the air.
“Sassy climbed down the tree as fast as she could.” Tami rang the bell as Kat climbed off the chair.
Layla yelled, “I wrote that!”
Hugh put his arm around her and whispered, “You sure did.”
