“Why don’t we go inside the house and grab some coffee,” Ellis suggested. “Mary can get the planner out. Oh, and your restaurant friends, Ellie and Dan, have asked if they can up their egg order. I’m toying with getting us a few more hens.”
Courtney smiled. Something else to thank Logan for. “Great. Why don’t I do some investigating? Maybe even talk to them about the different type of hens we could get? There are some Marans I like the look of.”
“That sounds good to me,” Ellis said, shuffling toward the house. She walked next to him, trying not to notice the way each step he took looked like it was an effort. He seemed to feel the cold so much more nowadays. It was like it froze all his joints and made walking painful.
The fire was roaring when they walked inside the house. Mary looked up from the kitchen table where she was sewing, a big smile on her face. “Look at you two,” she said, pushing herself to standing. “All bright eyes and rosy cheeks. Sit down and I’ll pour you some coffee.” She inclined her head at the pot. “And I have a cake cooling on the rack.” She pointed at a hearty-looking apple cake. “You want some?”
Courtney smiled. “Yes please.” It was funny how she never turned down cake anymore. She had the baby to thank for that. “Can I help with the coffee?”
Mary frowned, and shook her head. “Oh no, you sit there. This is my domain.” She switched on the coffee pot and pulled out three chipped mugs. “How was Boston?”
“I’ve already asked her that,” Ellis told his wife, giving her a wink. “She said it was good.”
“And did you ask her anything else? Like whether the flight made her feel sick, or if the restaurant was beautiful?” Mary’s eyes met Courtney’s. They were full of humor, as though she was enjoying teasing her husband. “And how is Logan? Did I tell you I saw his aunt at church on Sunday?”
“You haven’t seen her to tell her, you silly old woman,” Ellis muttered. Mary slapped the back of his neck lightly, and he grabbed her hand, pulling her down to kiss her lips.
They had the ease of a couple who’d grown up together. Dating at sixteen, married at eighteen, their first child in their early twenties. They’d been known to complete each others’ sentences on more than one occasion.
“There was something else that I wanted to talk to you about,” Courtney said, when Mary had placed the coffees in front of them, and was slicing up the cake. “I’ve been thinking about selling the cottage and finding somewhere a little bigger.” She took a deep breath, not wanting to hurt them at all. “Logan and I were thinking of buying somewhere together for once the baby’s born.”
Mary looked up, putting the knife down. “I thought you might,” she said. “And that’s a good thing. Babies should be with both parents. Will you be moving to Boston, or a little closer?”
“Oh no, it’ll be close to here. I’ll still come here and work every day,” Courtney told her, taking a sip of the bitter coffee. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
Mary and Ellis exchanged a glance. “We weren’t sure you’d want to continue after the baby comes. You’re going to have a lot of things to juggle then.” Mary looked back at Courtney. “Please don’t feel like you need to do that on our account. I’ve taken a look at the numbers, if we scrimp on a few things we can afford to pay for extra help.”
They couldn’t. Not for more than the few weeks to cover her maternity leave. Courtney knew that from looking at the accounts herself. “No,” she said quickly. “There’s no need for that. Though we might need to hire a temporary worker for a few weeks after I’ve had the baby, I’m planning to be back and working after that. I’ll bring the baby with me, or look for some childcare.”
“You’d be more than welcome to leave the baby here,” Mary told her. “We still have Carl and Shaun’s old crib somewhere. And it would be easy to stop in and feed him or her if you needed to.” Mary smiled at her warmly. “And I know I’d enjoy having a little baby around.”
“You’d do that?” Courtney felt her throat tighten.
“Of course. It’s important that you trust whoever looks after your little one. And this way you’ll be able to pop in all the time. We can even decorate the spare bedroom if you want. Make it feel all homey and nice.”
Another reminder of what good people Mary and Ellis were. Embracing the baby that had no blood tie to them. This was why she’d always do whatever she could for them. Why she’d work for them while taking as little pay as she could get away with.
“That sounds wonderful.” She gave them a warm smile. “Thank you.”
Courtney switched off the television and stood, rolling her shoulders to loosen the tightness in her muscles from two hours of sleeping on the sofa when she should have been in bed. It had been almost a week since she’d been in Boston. A week of late night phone calls from Logan, when he called during stolen moments in his car, or while visiting one of his restaurants. Yesterday he’d called her early in the morning, just after six, his voice low and warm. She’d fed the chickens with a smile on her face that morning. One that only he could put on her lips.
Crazy how much she was already missing him.
At nearly sixteen weeks pregnant, and it wasn’t only her
