Page 23 of Crow King Mate
We made our pass through all of the trees and then back to my mate’s old home. When she was born, we decided to keep both and to have our daughter see where her family came from, as well as where we were now.
When Denice and I got there, Corvus already had lunch laid out for me. Denice was still on her milk-only diet. The meal wasn’t anything fancy, just sandwiches, but it was perfect.
“What did you work on today?”
He’d been fixing up the house, repairs that had been neglected for a long time and intentionally. But no longer. He planned to bring this house back into its glory. I helped when I could, but work zones created a lot of dust, and that wasn’t the best for our little one, so other than when Orly came to get her baby fix, it tended to be a one-crow show.
“I replaced a window. That’s about it.” As if I could’ve managed that in the same amount of time.
“It’s coming along nicely.” We hadn’t decided exactly what we would do with it, if we would save it for Denice when she grew up, or if we’d eventually move over here ourselves. But for now, fixing it up piece by piece felt good.
“We had a nice walk among the trees before heading over,” I said. “It looks like it’s almost picking time.”
“I’m one step ahead of you. This morning, I put up a sign at the diner letting people know that we were having Peach Days on Saturday.”
“Do you think they’ll come?” I figured some would, out of curiosity if nothing else, but a single flier at the diner? Was that enough?
“I know they will,” he said. “You know how this town loves to gossip. That alone will have the news spreading like wildfire.”
“Do you think we need anything else, or just let them come and pick their fruit?”
“I think there will be plenty there, and all we need to do is host.”
My mate had been right about that.
On Saturday, people showed up with empty bushels for their peaches, but also with lawn chairs, card tables, and food to share. Kids played. The peaches were both picked and eaten, and with some families, an equal amount of both. Recipes were swapped.
It was one of the most wonderful days I’d ever had.
When everybody left for the day, our house smelled like our own bushels of peaches, and our sweet daughter was sound asleep in her crib, the light of the falling sun flickering through the charms I hung on her windowsill.
It wasn’t just my mate that made this place my home. It was the community, something I’d never had before. I loved that for our daughter.
He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his glimmer gone, his true form finally back. His head rested on my shoulder and I sunk back into him.
“It was a good day, mate.”
“It was,” I said, turning in his arms. “How about we go make it a good night, too?”
He scooped me up so fast.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I giggled as he carried me off to our bedroom.
