Page 2 of Unexpected Gifts

Even now, after all these years, the pain of that loss still lived in Abby’s chest. Losing one’s mother, no matter what age you were, left a hole that could never again be filled.

Abby had to take Sophie and Jack, even though she knew she would never replace their mother.

Another soft whine of support came from the back seat. Her good boy always knew just what to say to make her feel better. He was only a year old—a treat to herself when she’d finished her residency. He may still have been a puppy, but he had anold soul. Abby could swear he could read her thoughts and had crawled into her heart in that inexplicable way only dogs could do.

On Maple Street now, Abby passed the country store, then the elementary school. She slowed as she entered the main part of town. Sugarville Grove hadn't changed much, even if Abby’s world had been turned upside down. Same quaint brick buildings and adorable businesses. The town square had already been decorated for Christmas, with sparkling lights and garland strung around old-fashioned lampposts.

Wasn’t it too early for Christmas decorations? No, Thanksgiving was tomorrow, she realized. She’d lost track of the days on her long journey across the country.

She continued on Maple Street through town and turned left onto Rabbit Run Road. There was a sign for Little Bear Lake to her right, but she couldn’t see the water in the dark night. She vaguely remembered stopping at a produce stand with Ramona and her aunt somewhere along this road.

The thought of her cousin made her stomach lurch. How could she be gone from this earth? She’d been so young and vital. She’d been so needed.

And now there was no one, but Abby left. Her aunt was gone. Her mother. And now Ramona.

Not everyone, a voice whispered in her ear.The children are still here.And they needed her.

She passed farms on both sides of the two-lane road, their lights from windows and porches a welcome sight on this dark evening. Soon, the GPS told her to turn right onto the dirt road they shared with the Hayes family. She slowed to a crawl, bouncing along, her hands increasingly tightening around the steering wheel. Lights from the Hayeses’ maple syrup farm twinkled as if welcoming her. Did the handsome brothers still live in the area?

Logan had mentioned that his parents, Grace and Walter Hayes, had been looking after the children temporarily. She hadn’t thought to ask Logan if his brothers still lived in Sugarville Grove. Abby had crushed hard on the eldest of the brothers, Luke Hayes. Sadly, he hadn’t known she was alive. He’d been four years older than Ramona and Abby and had thought of them as little kids. Or they assumed so, anyway, since he never looked their way. Ever.

She and Ramona had discussed the four boys’ merits during long, warm summer days in the tree house, eating candy while keeping an eye on the happenings across the pasture. Luke had been the brooding, mysterious type who never seemed to stop working around the farm. Max, witty and outgoing, had a reputation for being adventurous, claiming he was going to travel the world. Logan had been assertive and the type to challenge authority, which made sense that he’d become a lawyer. Nolan had been easygoing and intelligent, with his head always buried in a book. The Hayes boys had been too busy helping their father run his farm to pay them any mind. But that hadn’t stopped Ramona and Abby from dreaming about someday marrying one of them.

As it turned out, Ramona had married a man from two towns over named John Ellison. He’d been like Ramona, good to the bone. Gone too soon.

At the end of the lane, it forked, with her family’s farm to the right and the Hayeses’ to the left. She turned right into the driveway and soon came upon the house.

“Here it is, Rufus. This is where Sophie and Jack live.”

They were waiting for her. God help them.

She gripped the steering wheel, thinking about what she knew about the children, which, frankly, wasn’t much. Sophie would be ten sometime in the next few weeks. Abby could never remember the exact date of her birthday, but it was sometimearound Christmas. Her little brother Jack was only six. He’d just started first grade that fall. Back in September, Ramona had texted their first-day-of-school photograph. Abby had smiled at the sight of the precious children, but it was from a distance, not only of miles but from an absence of understanding anything of what motherhood was all about. Ramona’s and Abby’s lives had taken such different paths. It was hard to remember how close they’d been as children. How similar.

The image of that photograph played before Abby’s eyes. Sophie took after her father—blond and blue-eyed. Whereas, Jack looked like his mother, with dark hair and big green eyes.

Abby had only seen them a handful of times. A few years back, Ramona had brought them to LA for a trip to Disneyland and asked if Abby wanted to join them for a few days of fun. However, it had been impossible to take time away from her residency. She’d been only able to spare a lunch. How she regretted it now.

Why had she not been more present? Kinder? Empathetic.

Remorse and guilt tightened her stomach and dried her mouth.

Despite her self-flagellation, she knew it was not as simple as that. Since she’d graduated from high school, Abby had been consumed with college, then veterinary school, and finally her residency. The days had been blurred from long hours with little sleep and a sense that she must survive the last years of her residency, and then she could begin to live again.

The old farmhouse looked as weary as she felt. There were few lights on, only a faint glimmer from the front porch and from the front windows. She turned off the car engine and sat for a few seconds in silence before opening the door and stepping into the cold air that bit her cheeks and almost immediately chilled her. Her California blood was not accustomed to the frigid temperatures.

“You can do this,” she muttered to herself. “I have to do this, right, Rufus?”

A soft bark and more tail wagging told her she had his full support.

She got out first and then opened the back door for Rufus to jump to the ground. He took off running, barking happily, right into their new life. If only she could be that brave and enthusiastic. She squinted into the darkness, barely able to see him relieve himself at the foot of a sugar maple that grew on the edge of the yard.

Rufus quickly returned, even though she knew he would prefer to sniff every inch of the yard.

“Come on, boy. They’re waiting for us.”

With Rufus trotting next to her, Abby’s boots crunched in fallen leaves from the white oak that she remembered from her youth. It had grown taller and wider in the years since she’d last been here. She remembered the wooden swing that hung listlessly from one thick branch. Abby and Ramona had taken turns pushing each other.

Higher, higher.