Maia happily chatted away to Dave and Diana, while Emmy pushed food around her plate in silence, at the breakfast table. Emmy's parents were excited to show off the new improvements around the grounds, and couldn't wait to see how the new willow fit into the landscape. They all finished breakfast and took tea and coffee into the family room and the women chatted the day away while Dave read the paper until the fog lifted. Finally, around one in the afternoon, the sun started to peek into the world below.
"Looks like the fog will be gone soon." Dave smiled at them. "You girls get your coats. It'll still be pretty chilly out." Maia jumped up and quickly left the room to head upstairs. Emmy apprehensively dragged her feet and followed.
Once the girls had closed the door to their room, Emmy hissed, "I can't believe you told them we'd stay to look at that tree! If I didn't think you cared about me, I'd almost think you were enjoying this."
"Well, I don't mean to be ambivalent to your crisis, but I'm kind of curious to see their reaction when they see your tree." Maia pulled on her coat and shoes and put her hand out to open the door. "You know, your mom may be more supportive than you think. She may even have some answers." With that she left the room and bounced down the stairs, leaving Emmy to stare after her. Emmy quickly shoved on her shoes and gathered up her coat and followed.
When everyone was bundled up they all trudged through the kitchen and out the back sun porch and into the back yard. Everyone's eyes were focused in the direction of the garden swing next to the brook. As they walked closer they started to see the true size of the willow.
"Hmm. It looks bigger than I thought it was when I saw it in your truck last evening." Diana mused. "How did you girls ever manage to carry it all the way back here by yourselves?"
Emmy released a sigh of relief for her mother's failing eyesight. "Oh, well, just good old determination, I guess."
She caught her friends's side long glance as Maia whispered, "She's gonna notice tomorrow."
Well, there was nothing they could do about that now. They couldn't very well tell her that she had not been mistaken, but that it was indeed bigger than she remembered the night before. She would never believe it until she saw it, so Emmy would just have to wait for the inevitable phone call tomorrow.
"This is a beautiful addition to our garden. I can't wait to see it once it's had time to take root." Just then Dave tripped over a rock and started to fall forward. He stretched his arm out and caught himself on the trunk of the tree. Everyone held their breath and waited for the young, newly planted tree to collapse under his weight. It didn't. He gathered himself up and looked at everyone. "What? I'm fine. Why are you all looking so shocked? Lucky this tree was there to catch my fall, eh?" Distracted, he put his hand back up to touch the tree and stared a minute before pulling it away. "Yes, this will be a majestic tree to swing under in a few more years."
Diana held Dave's hand as they took the girls on a tour of the rest of the property. They were both very proud of the new greenhouse, which was full of plant life including the herbs used to season last nights lamb. "This is beautiful, mom. So much bigger than the other one. Are you guys going to tear the other one down?"
"No. I can never have too much green house space. I think I'll just use the old one for flowers."
The couple took the girls to the barn to show them the latest addition, a new calf that was to replace the old heifer as their new milk cow. They stopped by the chicken coup and collected the day's eggs, and strolled down to the pond to feed the ducks and the swans some old homemade bread. Dave took the opportunity to pull Emmy aside.
"Have you noticed anything weird about that tree of yours?" He asked.
Emmy started. "Wh, what do you mean, Dave?"
"I'm not sure, exactly. It just seemed to vibrate under my hand. I chalked it up to the fall, but when I rested my hand back on the trunk, after I caught myself, I thought I still felt it. I could have sworn I heard faint music, too." Dave shook his head. "Maybe I'm going senile in my old age." They joined back up with her mother and Maia. Finally it was time for them to return to the warmth of the house and for the girls to head back into the city.
"You should come by and visit more often, Emmy. We miss you around here." Her mother enveloped her in a hug.
"Really you should, darling. It gets lonely with just the two of us pottering around here alone all the time." Dave said as he gave her another hug.
"Oh, I'm sure." Emmy replied with a grin. "When you two aren't busy hosting a neighborhood dinner, or popping over to another house for lunch and a chat."
Diana ignored her daughter. "You too, Maia. You're like a second daughter to me. You're always welcome. Even if Emmy doesn't want to join you." She said giving Maia a hug, too.
"I may take you up on that. I do love it out here." With that the girls climbed into the truck and headed back off to the city, and Emmy caught Maia up on Dave's experience with the mystery willow.
No comments:
Post a Comment