Free Sunset: 4 (Sunrise) by Karen Kingsbury Page B

When she reached Ashley, Elaine’s smile faded a little. “You feeling all right?”
    Kari laughed. “I asked her the same thing.”
    “A long weekend, I guess.” Ashley felt her heart relax a bit more. Elaine truly cared; she’d proven that time and again. She brought wisdom, maturity, and deep faith to their gatherings. No matter how sad it was that her father was in the position to remarry, Ashley didn’t need to be convinced that he had found a wonderful woman to spend the rest of his life with. Already Elaine felt like part of the family, enough so that it would’ve been strange to have a Sunday dinner without her.
    Not until they were seated around the table did the subject of the Baxter house come up. Cole was thoughtfully chewing a piece of chicken when he held his fork in the air. “Hey, what’s that sign out front, Papa?”
    “Put your fork down, Cole.” Landon was sitting beside him. “Be a gentleman, remember?”
    “Oh, right.” Cole winced and set his fork down. “Sorry.”
    Seated on the other side of him, Maddie giggled and gave him a teasing look. “Cole? A gentleman?”
    “Maybe not now, but someday I will be.” Cole jerked his chin up. “Right, Dad?”
    A smile played in Landon’s eyes. “That’s our prayer, buddy.”
    Ashley sat on the other side of Landon, and she put her arm around his shoulders. “All the Blake boys are gentlemen. I can vouch for that.”
    Devin was in his high chair, and he banged his fists on the tray, as if he understood and wanted to add his agreement.
    Ashley surveyed the table, Hayley on the other side of Maddie, then Peter and Brooke, Katy and Dayne, Kari and Ryan and their kids, and her dad and Elaine near the head of the table. There was nothing better than the full conversation of a dinner at the Baxter house. But for now all eyes were on Dad.
    “Well, Papa? What about the sign?”
    Ashley and Landon had talked about this a week ago, how it was time to tell Cole that the house was on the market. But her dad’s Realtor had said it could take months to sell the place. Ashley had been too consumed with the pregnancy test to think about telling Cole just yet.
    Her dad seemed slightly bewildered, as if he figured everyone already knew about the sign. “Well . . . that’s a For Sale sign. It means I’m trying to sell the house.”
    Cole’s mouth hung open. “You’re selling it? With all the birds and frogs and our new bridge across the creek out back and the best pond in the world?”
    Ashley’s heart broke for Cole. Landon tried to put his arm around their son’s shoulders.
    But Cole leaped to his feet and walked around the table until he was face-to-face with his grandpa. “Don’t you have enough money for it?”
    “You can’t sell it, Papa.” Maddie shook her head, her eyes wide. “This place has the best hide-and-seek ever.” She got up and joined Cole.
    “And I like Aunt Ashley’s painting room upstairs.” Jessie smiled in Ashley’s direction. The girl was fascinated with coloring and drawing, and Kari had already said she could see a lot of Ashley in Jessie.
    The looks on the faces of the other adults at the table said no one was sure who to feel worse for, their kids or their father.
    Deep sorrow colored their dad’s expression. “You know that Grandma Elaine and I are getting married in a few months, right?”
    “Right. So?” Cole was undeterred, as if that bit of news held no relevance whatsoever in the matter of selling the house.
    He glanced at Elaine, and the sympathy in her eyes was clear to everyone at the table. Then he turned back to Cole. “Grandma Elaine and I are going to get our own house. Somewhere closer to the university and the hospital.”
    “But you have lots of room for her here.” Cole gave Elaine a sheepish grin, probably worried that he’d overstepped his bounds somehow. “Right? There’s room here, right?”
    Peter cleared his throat. “That’s enough, guys. Why don’t you take your