Page 26 of Stella's Christmas Rescue
I smile. “Thank you for being honest. What is it that keeps you from eating meat?”
“You’re a meat eater, Jordan,” she grins, “Trust me when I say, you don’t want to know.”
I laugh, before visions of slaughterhouses dance in my head. “Maybe. Why keep animals here then?”
“Well, the chickens make wonderful manure for my crops, but more importantly, they’re all animals that I rescued from the farms around here. Maybe a chicken was under producing or a goat kept getting into the garbage. If the family doesn’t need the meat, then they call me. And here’s your jacket.”
“Wow, good as new. I don’t even see the tear.”
She smiles, “I aim to please.”
“You have spectacular aim,” I say. She has always seemed wise or something, so I imagine she has some wisdom on life or love or maybe all of it. I ask, “Mrs. Black, how did you know Mr. Black was the right guy for you?”
She stares into my eyes, then her grin broadens. “You’ve met someone new, haven’t you? That Collins girl? She’s the only new person in town.”
I smile, too. I can’t help it. Mrs. Black’s smile is contagious. “Maybe. But how did you know?”
“I’mMrs. Black because when I first came to Floyd, people didn’t stop trying to set me up until I told them I’m a widow.”
“What’s that have to do with Mr. Black?”
“There never was aMr. Black.”
I laugh, “Are you kidding?”
“I’ve never married. Never much saw the point.”
“Then who are all these people on the walls?”
“My family.”
I smile. “I didn’t realize you have such a big family.”
“We’re not a traditional family, to be sure, but it’s not blood that makes a family.”
“True. My brothers from the Marines will always be my brothers.”
She nods, “We’re all spread out around the world now, but all those folks are my family from the good old days.” Her eyesglisten over, as she peruses them with me. “But as far as how you know if you’ve met your person or your people? I’m not sure. I think it’s something in your gut. Something that tells you that you need them for your happiness, and they need you just the same. To me, that’s what love is. Being inextricably linked to someone, interconnected to them for your truest, purest form of happiness.”
“That sounds dangerous. Like your happiness is tangled in them.”
She smiles. “Oh, it is dangerous. Loving someone else is always dangerous, Jordan. There’s no getting around that. If you want something, you have to give something up.”
“I’m not sure that I’m ready for that.”
“It’s not for everyone, certainly. But the rewards,” she gestures to the wall, “are immense and absolutely worth the risk.”
I take another look at the pictures. They are as varied as I could imagine. Some look like they are from the Old West, others are graduation pictures. “Well, that’s a fine family you’ve got there, Mrs. Black. And I won’t spill the beans about your preferred title.”
“I know you won’t, Jordan. You’re a good boy. Had my niece still been single, I would have fixed you up with her when you first came to Floyd. But the poor dear has gone and married some woman from Seattle, and now they’ve adopted these three kids,” she says, as she proudly points to a nice family portrait.
“She seems happy. And since she married a woman, I am certain I am not her type.”
Mrs. Black shrugs, “You young people don’t know how to draw the line for that sort of thing anymore, so I don’t put anything past anyone these days. Whoever makes her happy is what matters. But she and Annabelle have a good life together, so you’re off the hook.”
I laugh, “Well, I’m glad they’re good together.”
“Do you think you might be happy with Stella Collins?”
