A sudden thumping overhead broke the quiet moment, followed by the hurried patter of small feet on the stairs. Jewel burst into the kitchen, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright with purpose. In her arms she cradled a bundle of fabric—scraps trailing like streamers, edges frayed where they’d been hastily cut.
Charlie Grace turned at the noise, eyebrows lifting. “What in the world?—?”
Jewel held out the bundle proudly. “I brought blankets for the puppies!”
Lila leaned forward to get a better look, her smile forming before she could stop it.
Charlie Grace’s brow furrowed as she reached out and fingered one of the strips. Her face fell. “Young lady…these are my good towels.”
Jewel blinked. “But the puppies need blankets.”
“They need something warm, not Egyptian cotton,” Charlie Grace said, half amused, half exasperated. She held up one of the tattered pieces. “These were wedding gifts.”
Jewel looked genuinely puzzled. “You’re not even married anymore.”
Lila snorted into her coffee.
Clancy chuckled. “She’s got you there, honey.”
Charlie Grace shot him a look but couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “That’s not the point. We have plenty of old towels in the utility closet. Why didn’t you ask first?”
Jewel hugged the scraps closer to her chest. “Because the puppies were shivering, and I didn’t want to waste time.”
Lila leaned back, watching the exchange with quiet admiration. “She’s got her priorities straight.”
Charlie Grace sighed, her hands falling to her hips. “She’d give away the whole house if it meant keeping those pups comfortable.”
Clancy nodded toward Lila. “Didn’t I tell you? Just like her mama.”
Charlie Grace laughed again, shaking her head. “Enough out of you.”
Jewel’s eyes sparkled as she turned, already heading for the door. “I’ll be in the barn!”
As the door banged shut behind her, Lila stood and stretched. “Well, I guess that’s my cue.”
Charlie Grace followed her to the door, pausing to grab a basket of supplies she’d gathered earlier. “Come on. Let’s go see if those rocks my daughter adopted have started barking.”
The sun filtered through the trees as Charlie Grace and Lila made their way down the worn path toward the barn, the crunch of gravel beneath their boots mingling with the distant hum of a saw from the guest cabins.
Charlie Grace shifted the basket of clean rags and ointments to her other hip. “So… how’s Camille doing? She must be getting close now.”
Lila exhaled a soft laugh, shaking her head. “Seven months. Can you believe it? She’s finally slowed down enough to let me fuss over her, which is saying something. Last week she tried to reorganize her entire closet at the house, then had a Braxton Hicks scare and promised she’d sit still for at least a day.”
Charlie Grace smirked. “Sounds familiar. Like mother, like daughter.”
“She’s definitely got my stubborn streak,” Lila admitted. “But she’s good. Really good. Her cheeks are all rosy, and she gets winded climbing stairs, but she’s eating well, reading all the baby books I never finished, and she’s obsessed with figuring out the best kind of cloth diapers.”
Charlie Grace laughed. “Cloth diapers? Lord help her.”
“I know,” Lila said, grinning. “She’s convinced it’s better for the environment. She’s also convinced she can get by without sleep, coffee, or help, which—spoiler alert—she cannot.”
“Does she know yet if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“Nope. She wants to be surprised,” Lila said, glancing sideways. “Though if you ask me, that nursery’s looking suspiciously gender-neutral in a way that leans toward baby boy. Lots of sage green and navy.”
Charlie Grace nodded with a soft smile. “She seems more settled than I expected.”
“She is,” Lila said, her voice gentling. “Hard as it was, it’s like she’s made her peace with what’s coming—and she’s proud of herself. I am, too.”
