Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
After we’d eaten a few bites, I refilled my coffee and returned to my chair. “Do you mind me asking what happened to your parents?” Asking the question was risky, but I really did want to get to know her better. To understand more about the brothers as well.
Kit took a bite of the bacon and mumbled, “They drowned. Their boat exploded.” She paused for a moment, and I regretted bringing up a subject obviously too painful to discuss. Her smile was so forlorn it tugged at my heart, and I was about to apologize, when she shook her head.
“I was seventeen. We were at the lake to celebrate my graduation but…” She paused for a long moment, but then, as if flicking a switch, she suddenly smiled. “But they were together and went to Heaven. It’s sad and I… I miss them, but they left my brothers here so we could have each other.”
I had been watching her closely over the rim of my coffee cup. I’d seen how quickly Kit went from sad to happy. Her way of coping was always turning things around to be positive. It was odd, unsettling, and different than what I was used to, but I couldn’t consider it harmful.
Reaching across the table, I took her hand. “I like you, Kit. You truly make me smile every day.”
“I’m glad,” she said, the light coming back into her eyes. “Life is too short to let even a single day go by without smiling.”
We sat in silence and finished our breakfast. Watching the way Kit could paint a bright picture with even the darkest colors was inspiring. With her, there was no self-pity. No negative thoughts. No… regrets. There was a lesson there, if only I could learn it. After we’d finished eating, Kit collected the dishes and took them to the sink. I grabbed a dishtowel and moved to her side, ready to dry the dishes as she passed them to me.
“Goldie? Do you like my brothers?”
Kit’s question startled me with how direct it was, and yet I didn’t even think about lying. “Yes, of course. They can be stubborn as goats, but I see that they really care about you. Seeing that sensitive side of them.... The important thing is they seem to really want to give you the best.”
“No,” Kit stated.
“No?”
“No. They want to give us the best. You’re included in this family, too, Goldie. I can tell they all really like you.”
While I rather doubted that, I smiled. “I hope so. Since Granny G’s passing, I’ve missed having a family. I really like this cabin and the land. It’s pretty.”
Kit nodded. “It’s been in the family forever. It’s old but nice. Though I do miss my parents being in it. You would have loved it. We were a really close and happy family.”
“You still are, it seems.”
“Not happy. That died with my parents,” she stated bluntly. Handing me the last dish, she wiped her hands on her apron, and shook her head. “That’s not true, well, not always,” she said. “I feel hope now, with you here… seeing my brothers working to build this land, to work at something not so… so dark. I believe we are all learning how to be happy again.”
I stood there, absently wiping the cloth across the dishes and wondered about what she’d said. Kit might look at the world differently than the average young woman, but I couldn’t help but think she was one of the most insightful people I’d ever met.
Was that what the brothers were doing? They’d said they were on the mountain in hiding. To protect Kit. But was it because they were searching for more? Happiness? And could a simple move truly provide that? Looking out the window, I saw a world they were working on bringing to fruition and yet for the first time, saw that despite the bounty it was capable of, it could also appear barren. The landscape would change as trees budded, the fields would be full of crops, the garden offering vegetables, the animals providing eggs and milk. But while all those things were certainly necessary to sustain life, providing a full belly and a sense of a job well done, none could compete with the feeling of happiness one felt knowing without a doubt there were people who loved them.
“Goldie?”
“Hmmm?”
The sound of laughter drew my attention to her. “I think that plate’s dry. Let’s put the clothes in the wash and then you said we can go work in the garden.”
I set the plate in the cabinet and smiled. Draping the towel over the lip of the sink, I turned to Kit. “Sounds like a plan.”
She clapped her hands and after grabbing the basket and taking a deep breath, telling myself it was just a basement, I followed her down the stairs. Kit chattered like a magpie as she turned on the faucet that would fill the washer’s tub and measured out detergent while I separated the clothes into two piles. The process required was far more labor intensive than shoving a machine full of clothes and flipping a switch, but it did work. It wasn’t until we’d pulled the second sheet through the wringer that I realized I was no longer thinking about anything but… happiness.