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Stella chewed at it, stewed over it, and worried about it She was prepared to launch into another discussion regarding the pros and cons of an came to pick up the boys at noon

She kneas angry with her Hurt, too, she ih, she knew he&039;d be by - soet the kids He&039;d told them he would come, so he would come

A definite plus on his side of the board, she decided She could, and did, trust hiue, she knew They were both too worked up to have a calm, reasonable discussion over such an eood argus out She needed both if she was going to figure out the best thing to do for all involved

But when he hunted theons - at a quarter a wagon - he was perfectly pleasant In fact, he was almost sunny

"Ready for some man work?" he asked

With shouts of assent, they deserted wagon detail foractivities Luke proudly showed him the plastic hammer he&039;d hooked in a loop of his shorts

"That&039;ll come in handy I like a man who carries his own tools I&039;ll drop them off at the house later"

"About what ti they can stand up to the work" He pinched Gavin&039;s biceps "Ought to be able to get a good day&039;s sweat out of this one"

"Feel mine! Feel ed, given an impressed whistle, he nodded to Stella "See you"

And that was that

So she chewed at it, stewed over it, and worried about it for the rest of the day Which, not being a fool, she deduced was exactly what he&039;d wanted

The house was abnorot home from work She wasn&039;t sure she liked it She showered off the day, played with the baby, drank a glass of wine, and paced until the phone rang

"Hello?"

"Hi there, is this Stella?"

"Yes, who - "

&039;This is Trudy Kitridge Logan&039;s ive you a call, that you&039;d be home from work about this tian&039;s an told me and his daddy he asked you to marry him Could&039;ve knocked me over with a feather"

"Yes, e, we haven&039;t decided or I haven&039;t decidedanything"

"Woman&039;s entitled to some time to make up her mind, isn&039;t she? I&039;d better warn you, honey, when that boy sets hisHe said you wanted to meet his family before you said yes or no I think that&039;s a sweet thing Of course, with us living out here now, it&039;s not so easy, is it? But we&039;ll be coan for Thanksgiving, then our girl for Christrandchildren in Charlotte, you know, so ant to be there for Christmas"

"Of course" She had no idea, no idea whatsoever what to say How could she with no tian tells ot two little boys Said they&039;re both just pistols So randchildren back in Tennessee, too"

"Oh" Nothing could have touched her heartto say You haven&039;t even an has, and I raised my son to know his own mind He loves you and those boys, then ill, too You&039;re working for Rosalind Harper, I hear"

"Yes Mrs Kitridge - "

"Now, you just calldown there?"

Stella found herself having a twenty-an&039;s mother that left her baffled, amused, touched, and exhausted

When it was done, she sat liht, the dazed victian&039;s truck rumble up

She had to force herself not to dash to the door He&039;d be expecting that Instead she settled herself in the front parlor with a gardeningat her feet as if she didn&039;t have a care in the world

Maybe she&039;d mention, oh so casually, that she&039;d had a conversation with his mother Maybe she wouldn&039;t, and let hiht, it had been sensitive and sweet for hie the phone call, but for God&039;s sake, couldn&039;t he have given her so so she wouldn&039;t have spent the first fivelike an idiot?

The kids caance of an army battalion on a forced march

"We built a whole arbor" Grimy with sweat and dirt, Gavin rushed to scoop up Parker "And we planted the stuff to grow on it"

"Carol Jessmint"

Carolina Jessaarbled pronunciation Nice choice

"And I got a splinter" Luke held out a dirty hand to show off the Band-Aid on his index finger "A big one We thought we ht have to hack it out with a knife But we didn&039;t"

"Whew, that was close We&039;ll go put soan did already And I didn&039;t cry And we had submarines, except he says they&039;re poor boys down here, but I don&039;t see why they&039;re poor because they have lots of stuff in theot to ride in the wheelbarrow," Gavin took over the play-by-play "And I used a real haan co in?"

"No, he said he had other stuff And look" Gavin dug in his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled five-dollar bill "We each got one, because he said orked so good we get to be cheap labor instead of slaves"

She couldn&039;t help it, she had to laugh "That&039;s quite a proo clean up"

"Then we can eat like a bunch of barnyard pigs" Luke put his hand in hers "That&039;s what Logan said when it was ti-eating for when you&039;re on the job"

They were full of Logan and their day through bath-tih dinner And then were too tuckered out froenerally allowed thehts

They were sound asleep by nine, and for the first ti to do She tried to read, she tried to work, but couldn&039;t settle into either

She was thrilled when she heard Lily fussing

When she stepped into the hall, she saw Hayley heading down, trying to cory I thought I&039;d curl up in the sitting room, maybe watch some TV while I feed her"

"Mind company?"

"Twist my arm It was lonely around here today with David off at the lake for the weekend, and you and Roz at work, the boys away" She sat, opened her shirt and settled Lily on her breast "There That&039;s better, isn&039;t it? I put her in ot at the shower, and we took a nice walk"

"It&039;s good for both of you What did you want to watch?"

"Nothing, really I just wanted the voices"

"How about one more?" Roz slipped in, walked over to Lily to so!"

"Nothing wrong with her appetite," Hayley confiras, but - "

"What do they know?" Roz sprawled in a chair "They inside that baby&039;s head?"

"Logan asked me to marry him"

She didn&039;t knohy she blurted it out - hadn&039;t known it was pushing froue

"Holy cow!" Hayley exploded, then immediately soothed Lily and lowered her voice "When? How? Where? This is just aweso"

"There&039;s not a lot of every anything He asked me yesterday"

"After I went inside to put the baby down? I just knew so was up"

"I don&039;t think he meant to I think it just sort of happened, then he was irritated when I tried to point out the very rational reasons we shouldn&039;t rush into anything"

"What are they?" Hayley wondered

"You&039;ve only known each other since January," Roz began, watching Stella "You have two children You&039;ve each been e fro sigh "Exactly"

"When you know you know, don&039;t you?" Hayley argued "Whether it&039;s five reat with your kids They&039;re nuts about hiht to make both of you understand the pitfalls or whatever I don&039;t get it You love him, don&039;t you?"

"Yes And yes to the rest, to a point, but it&039;s different when you&039;re young and unencumbered You can take more chances Well, if you&039;re not me you can take more chances And what if he wants children and I don&039;t? I have to think about that I have to know if I&039; another child at this stage, or if the children I do have would be happy and secure with hiaa to walk into anotherdecision But I think, if I could have fallen, just tue, one who made me happy, who cheerfully spent his Saturday with my children, and who excited ladly"

"But you just said, before, you gave the exact reasons why it&039;s too soon"

"No, I gave the reasons you&039;d give - and ones I understand, Stella But there&039;s so else you and I understand, or should And that is that love is precious, and too often stolen away You&039;ve got a chance to grab hold of it again And I say lucky you"

She dreaarden, and the blue dahlia It was ladened with buds, fat and ripe and ready to burst into bloo floayed electric in the quiet breeze Her garden, though no longer tidy and ordered, spread out fro buan was beside her, and his hands ar and exciting as it feasted on hers In the distance she could hear her children&039;s laughter, and the cheerful bark of the dog

She lay on the green grass at the garden&039;s edge, her senses full of the color and scent, full of the man

There was such heat, such pleasure as they loved in the sunlight She felt the shape of his face with her hands Not fairy-tale handsome, not perfect, but beloved Her skin shivered as their bodies ainst angle

How could they fit, how could they lorious whole, when there were so ed with his, joined, and thrived

She lay in the sunlight with hi the thunder of her own heartbeat, knew bliss

The buds on the dahlia burst open There were soshaded, crowded The garden was a juressive and prolific

It&039;s fine where it is It&039;s just a different plan

But before she could answer Logan, there was another voice, cold and hard in her mind

His plan Not yours His wants Not yours Cut it down, before it spreads

No, it wasn&039;t her plan Of course it wasn&039;t This garden wasspot, a quiet spot

There was a spade in her hand, and she began to dig

That&039;s right Dig it out, dig it up

The air was cold now, cold as winter, so that Stella shuddered as she plunged the spade into the ground

Logan was gone, and she was alone in the garden with the Harper Bride, who stood in her white gown and tangled hair, nodding And her eyes were mad

"I don&039;t want to be alone I don&039;t want to give it up"

Dig! Hurry Do you want the pain, the poison? Do you want it to infect your children? Hurry! It will spoil everything, kill everything, if you let it stay

She&039;d get it out It was best to get it out She&039;d just plant it soht, so care with the roots, the floent black, and the blue dahlia withered and went to dust in her hands

Keeping busy was the best way not to brood And keeping busy was no proble down, the perennial sale at the nursery about to begin, and her best saleswoman on maternity leave

She didn&039;t have ti dreams or worry about a man who proposed one minute, then vanished the next She had a business to run, a fahost to identify

She sold the last three bay laurels, then put herthe shrub area

"Shouldn&039;t you be pushing papers instead of ca very well she&039;d worked up a sweat, that there was soil on her pants, and that her hair was frizzing out of the ball cap she&039;d stuck on And faced Logan

"Isure our stock is properly displayed What do you want?"

"Got a new job worked up" He waved the paperwork, and the breeze from it made her want to moan out loud "I&039;m in for supplies"

"Fine You can put the paperwork on " He shoved it into her hand "Crew&039;s loading up so to take that Japanese red maple, and five of the hardy pink oleanders"

He dragged the flatbed over and started to load

"Fine," she repeated, under her breath Annoyed, she glanced at the bid, blinked, then reread the client information

"This is my father"

"Uh-huh"

"What are you doing planting oleander forin a new patio, too Your step new furniture for out there And a fountain See to buy so about it when I left the other night"

"You - ere you doing there?"

"Having pie Gotta get on We need to get started on this if I&039; to make it houy tonight See you later, Red"

"Hold it You just hold it You had your ht out of the blue"

"How&039;s it out of the blue when you said you wanted us to meet each other&039;s faht now, so the phone call seemed the best way"

"I&039;d just like you to explain" Now she waved the papers "All this"

"I know You&039;re a derab her hair, crush his h, I&039; Later"

"Then he just walked away, leavinghours later, Stella changed Lily&039;s diaper while Hayley finished dressing for dinner

"You said you thought you should meet each other&039;s families and stuff," Hayley pointed out "So now you talked to his mama, and he talked to your daddy"

"I knohat I said, but he just went tra oes off, at the drop of a hat" She picked up Lily, cuddled her "He getsstirred up that way" She turned sideways in the e she was carrying "I guess I thought, even though the books said different, that everything would just spring back where it was after Lily ca a baby But you&039;re young and active You&039;ll get your body back"