Page 62 of Unexpected Gifts

“I’m going down to warm up our dinner.” She had a lasagna ready for the oven. “It’s your favorite.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

These one-word responses were not the best, but what could she do? She couldn’t force her to talk. For now, Abby would let it go. Sophie would talk to her when she was ready. And really, Sophie was bound to have sad days, where grief ravaged her little heart. Perhaps it was best to give her space?

She kissed the child’s forehead before standing. “Dinner will be ready in a half hour. Come down when you’re ready.”

“Okay.”

Abby stifled a sigh and let the child be, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

17

LUKE

During the holiday season, Luke’s main focus for the family business was overseeing the packaging of Christmas gifts, a huge part of their annual revenue. Sap season would come in the deep midwinter, but for now he was more business manager than farmer.

By the time he walked into the production building, his team members had been hard at work for an hour, assembling gift baskets while gossiping and joking. Each basket was wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon, then put into a box to be picked up by the local UPS driver around three every afternoon. Although he couldn’t spare a lot of time, he made sure to pop in a few times a week and join them on the assembly line, so to speak. Luke enjoyed the hands-on work of creating the baskets. The rhythmic process was almost therapeutic, and it gave him a chance to connect with the team. He knew a compliment and gratitude meant a lot to his workers, so he made sure to give praise when it was due.

After an hour with the team, he left them to meet with his sales coordinator to review online orders and inventory levels. Kellie was a whip-smart young woman in her twenties he’d hiredlast year. Not only was she savvy on social media and marketing, but she also really understood the Hayes Maple Syrup brand, which was about family and enjoying the sweetest of life’s gifts together. One of his best hires, if he did say so himself. Kellie updated the farm's social media accounts with photos of their beautifully crafted gift baskets, snowy landscapes of the farm, and other interesting aspects of the daily work of the farm. They were having an exceptionally good holiday season so far, and he gave Kellie a lot of the credit. Sales during November and December guaranteed they stayed solvent during slower periods of the year. He thanked her before heading into his own office to take care of other necessary administrative tasks.

By noon, Luke had wrapped up what he thought of his “inside work” and escaped into the cold, clear day. He breathed in the crisp air, feeling a bit like a kid exiting school after a long day trapped in the classroom. Before heading to the house for lunch with his mother and the kids, he felt a sudden urge to walk through the sugar bush.

It was a fine day despite the bite of winter air against his cheeks. He stopped in the middle of the forest, the acres of sugar maples visible from every angle. Mostly bare of leaves after the unexpected early snow, the trees were as familiar to him as the faces of his family. When he was a boy, he’d imagined he could hear the tree’s voices calling out to him, graciously offering their sweet sap inextricably tied to his family’s livelihood. His heart and soul would remain here in the sugar bush long after he departed the earth, as they had for generations of Hayes men and women.

He closed his eyes, a soft, almost muffled quietness wrapping itself around him, much like a comforting blanket. As he breathed in the earthy scents of damp bark and fallen leaves beneath the snow, gratitude for his life and family and the landthey’d farmed for generations made his chest ache in the best possible way.

His thoughts drifted to Abby. The last few weeks had been some of the best of his life. The ease and affection between them was unlike his previous relationships. His marriage had always been plagued with strife and misunderstandings. It was only later, after Sarah left, that he came to understand how unsuited they’d been. Although it had taken a few months to stop waking up with a stomachache, therapy and focusing on Lily had eventually eased his pain. Regardless, the trauma of those days had changed him. Made him more sensitive and compassionate to others and himself. They’d also cemented in his mind what he wanted.

A family.

A wife who was a best friend in addition to a romantic partner and loved and appreciated his family.

A mother for Lily who had the capacity to love a child who wasn’t born from her own womb.

It didn’t take a genius to see what God had landed right into his lap, obnoxious dog and all.

Even Rufus had grown on him.

Life was as sweet as the sap inside his beloved trees.

Finally,it was the night of their first official date. He’d picked her up at six, and now they were in his truck headed to his surprise destination. At the end of their dirt road, he turned right onto Rabbit Run instead of the left that would have taken them into town. They headed north to his secret destination that had him as giddy as a kid.

“Where are we going? I’m dying to know,” Abby said.

“Won’t be long now. Be patient.”

“That’s not one of my best qualities.”

She didn’t ask any further questions, seemingly content to sit back and enjoy the scenery under a deep indigo canvas sprinkled with stars and the full moon that hung low on the horizon. Farmhouses dotted the countryside, many adorned with twinkling Christmas lights.

“We don’t have this in California,” Abby said.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Maybe I’ll take you and the kids out there sometime. We can go to the beach.”

“Making future plans already? I must be doing something right.”