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“Okay,” I growl, lifting Shelby up and carrying the little nut-case to her car. “Never, and I mean never, swear at my wife again!”
I set her down and Ben is at my side. “I’ve got this, Dad.”
“You need a restraining order for this one.”
“For this one?!” Shelby shouts, and Rachel rushes up.
“Shelby! Look at yourself!”
Our daughter-in-law is stunned at the sharpness in Rachel’s voice, the anger in my own, and she is completely speechless now, the idea of a restraining order sinking in. “Fine! I’m going! And I’m taking my son with me!” She jumps into her car, the keys having been left in the ignition since we're in the country, so it starts up in a flash. Ben is already at his truck, intent on stopping her, and the two make so much dust fly on their exit any tornado would be jealous.
Watching them and waving the dust from her eyes, Rachel sighs, “I wish I could go back in time and not give him my blessing to marry her. I knew back then that he was rushing. That it was a knee-jerk reaction to what it happened with him and Gabriel. He was trying to prove himself, that he had found the one. But she is not the one. Oh Jaxson! What's going to happen?"
Alone now, I confide what I saw to her. “When I found them, they were making out in the shed.”
“They were?! Oh thank God you thought to look!”
“They had two sunflowers in their hands. They weren’t cut with scissors. Roots and all, Rachel.”
"Two sunflowers pulled from the ground? Do you think they were both from him?"
“Yeah. Of course. She doesn’t know the story.”
When Rachel and I were little kids, on the day of our first kiss, I had yanked a sunflower from the hard soil and handed it to her, roots and petals bouncing as we ran away from some guy who caught us. Because of this, sunflowers were her bouquet at our wedding, and then the name for this place — our favorite flower.
Ben knows the story, so that he would give them to Willow tells us all we need to know.
"He never gave one to Shelby," Rachel reminds me. But there's no need because I'm very aware of it. I always thought, back then, because he loved that story so much, that he would give a sunflower to his bride. To the woman he loved. I remember thinking it when we were met Shelby, but he didn't tell me the story of doing that, because he didn’t ever give her one that I know of. I didn't press because I figured he had forgotten.
Thoughtfully, Rachel says, “He just met Willow!”
"When I first met you, I told Jimmy that I was gonna marry you one day.”
My wife's beautiful eyebrows rise. “You did? You never told me that"
"I did."
"Did you tell Jett?”
“Remember, he was Jerald then, and no. I thought he would've laughed at me. Which he would’ve.” I pull my wife close, feeling hopeful for our son. "I don't know how he's gonna make this happen, but I hope he does. I like her."
"So do I.” But Rachel adds with a sigh, “I'm worried, Jaxson. Shelby isn't in her right mind.”
"Let's go home. We have to trust he has this.”
"I wish we could help.”
“Me too. We’ll do anything we can.”
“Yes.” She takes my hand and I lead her to our truck, open the creaky passenger door, and let her use my hand for support as she climbs up. “I wish I knew what was happening over there. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight.”
I shut her door, feeling the exact same way. Willow appears on the porch, tip-toeing. Upon seeing us, she stops cold.
“Oh! I heard cars leaving. I thought…I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Willow,” I tell her. “It’s just us.”
“I just wanted to get our sunflowers.”
