“Annie, the little girl, saw Thor—” Tansy used air quotes “—and ran to him. He panicked and asked me for help.” She took in their shock, then suspicion. “I know. He was surprisingly...” Handsome. Warm. Gentle. “Well-behaved and pleasant.” She paused, glancing at Auntie Mags. She had to tell her. “He also gave me a heads-up when Ida, Uma and Corliss showed up.”
Aunt Mags’s green eyes searched hers, one dark red eyebrow rising in question.
“And...” Tansy took a sip of tea. “Shelby was there.”
Aunt Mags set her teacup down. She rested her forearms on the table, hands clasped. “How was she? Did she see you? Did you talk to her?”
“Tell us everything.” Aunt Camellia nodded. “Don’t spare a single detail.”
Tansy nodded. “We said hi. I said something boring about nice weather. She said it was perfect festival weather and that she enjoyed festivals and small towns. I told her to come to Honey during the Honey Festival since it’s the best one all spring. She said she’d think about it.”
“Really?” Aunt Mags’s smile was small. “Did you... Was there anything else?”
“I asked if she was traveling alone and she said it was just her and Beatrix. That’s her daughter’s name. She goes by Bea.”
They all exchanged a smile over that.
“Her mother died two years ago and her father didn’t approve of her coming here to look for...for you. And she didn’t want to bring friends because she wasn’t sure what to expect.” Tansy replayed the afternoon. “I gave her my card and told her she was welcome to call or visit anytime. Then Dane showed up.” And she’d been happy to see him. She’d tried to convince herself that was a result of her scrambled-up emotions but she wasn’t buying it.Focus. “I hope that’s okay—giving her my card and all?”
“Yes. Thank you.” Aunt Mags leaned back and turned over the photo in her lap. She stared down at it for a long time before handing it to Astrid. “This is Shelby when she was a few hours old.” There was a sort of reverence on her face. “She is my daughter.”
It wasn’t a surprise. They’d all known. Still, Aunt Mags confirming it made itreal. Aunt Mags was a mother. And a grandmother.
Astrid stared down at the small photo, her smile sad. “She was beautiful. Sheisbeautiful.”
“She looks exactly like you.” Camellia covered one of Mags’s hands with hers.
“I appreciate you giving me time but now I... I...” Mags sniffed and sat up straight. “I was seventeen years old, young and in love and so naive.Hewas beautiful.” She shook her head. “Beautiful and sweet-talking and, as it turned out,horrible. He was big and strong... Hetookwhathewanted and left.” She took a sip of her tea and went on. “He’d enlisted and was gone before Poppa got to him.” She glanced at Tansy, then Astrid. “Your father was off at college already. I’m thankful for that. I think Poppa or your father would have killed him if they’d gotten their hands on him.”
Tansy took the photo from Astrid, listening as Aunt Mags shared. It was hard to hear, hard to know what her beloved auntie had endured. And this baby—Shelby... Tansy studied the picture. She was so tiny and helpless.She was perfect. Tansy’s heart twisted so sharply it hurt to breathe.
“Anyway. It...it was done and she was coming.” Her gaze darted to Camellia. “Times were so hard then. Poppa was talking about taking out a second mortgage on the farm and worrying over feeding us. Momma was just starting to struggle with her memory. I couldn’t bear adding to it all.” She smoothed her hair again. “Poppa tried, he did, but I could tell it was hard for him to look at me. No one outside the family knew about...what happened to me or that I was expecting. I wanted to keep it that way. I spent the last part of that summer with our aunt Gertrude and came back home after the birth. Shelby had a new family and good life and I came home to mine.” She reached for her teacup, turning it in its saucer. “But every day since, I wake up and wonder where she is—hoping she’s happy and well.”
Tansy’s tears blurred the image so she handed the photo back to Aunt Mags. From the corner of her eye, she could see Astrid crying softly and reached for her hand.
Aunt Camellia patted her sister’s arm. “And now she’s here.”
“Perhaps. But she’s still a million miles away.” Auntie Mags picked up the photo and pressed it against her chest.
“She is still here, Aunt Mags.” Tansy was pretty sure Shelby sticking around was a good sign. She hadn’t just stayed because of her love of festivals and small towns. “Maybe...maybe she needs a little more time.”
“Did she say that?” Aunt Mags’s green eyes fixed on her face.
“No. We didn’t have that sort of talk.” She nibbled on the inside of her lip. “It was a public place and it was all very superficial. She was nervous in the beginning. When she mentioned her mother had passed two years before, she almost left. I don’t think she’d intended to share that.” Tansy remembered the look on Shelby’s face. Guarded—but yearning. “I managed to get in a few more words and, when we parted, she wasn’t running or hurrying away.”
“That’s something, I suppose.” Aunt Mags frowned. “Poor darling girl. To lose her mother.”
All four of them understood that pain.
“And that’s when Dane warned you?” Aunt Camellia set her teacup down. “Did the ladies see Shelby?”
All eyes swiveled Tansy’s way. “Yes. Shelby left and he stepped in and blocked me from their view—I admit I was rattled.” Rattled, as in near crying. “He told me to take a minute for myself.”Because he owed me.He’d made sure she understood that. But for all his clarifications, Tansy couldn’t shake the feeling there wasmoreto it. Not that his explanation wasn’t plausible, it was. Still, there’d been something about him, something in his eyes.He probably had something in his eye.
All three of them were staring at her.
“I barely had time to exchange polite hellos with anyone before Dane said there was some urgent Junior Beekeepers information we needed to discuss.” And he’d taken a hold of her arm to steer her away. “I waved goodbye and he walked me back to our booth before anyone asked any questions.”Almostlike a rescue mission.
“We are talking about Dane Knudson?” Aunt Mags sounded incredulous. “Why would he do that?”
