The Secret to Hummingbird Cake by Celeste Fletcher McHale

Author:Celeste Fletcher McHale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

For New Year’s Eve, Jack planned a fireworks show at the Farm. One of his buddies owned a demolition company, and another one owned a fireworks company. I knew Sean O’Reilly, the explosives friend. Years ago he blew up a beaver dam on the creek behind the old barn, and blew off his little finger in the process. Jack assured me there would be no holes in the earth this time and that Sean had gotten much better at what he did now.

He was right. The show was spectacular.

The Farm had become the gathering place for close friends and family as the months had gone by. New Year’s Eve brought a huge crowd. While Ella Rae had once been reluctant to rub my belly, it never fazed anyone else. Thirty people touched my stomach that night. I had become accustomed to it, but I don’t think Jack ever cared for it. Around ten o’clock, he came and stood behind me and laced his fingers across my stomach.

I laughed. “Are you jealous?”

“I’m not,” he said. “I’d just rather not watch everybody in town lay their hands on you.”

“So you are jealous.”

“Probably,” he said. “Anyway, problem solved.”

The stroke of midnight came and we toasted with champagne, and for me, apple juice. This pregnancy had been relatively easy on me, except for the nausea early on. But for a girl who used to party until the wee hours, when ten p.m. came, I was ready to go to bed. So midnight was a stretch for me. I said good night to the crowd and climbed the stairs to our bedroom. Jack walked up with me and asked me if I wanted him to stay.

“No, not at all,” I said. “Go mingle with the peeps. I’ll be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

He nuzzled my neck. “What if I want to love on my wife when I come to bed?”

“You do whatever you gotta do, buddy.” I put my hands on either side of his face. “Just don’t wake me up.”

“Ouch.” He winced and held his chest. “You got me.” He popped me on the backside with his palm and slipped out the door.

I had just turned the light off when the bedroom door opened again. I didn’t bother to turn over. “Give it up, Jack Whitfield. No sex tonight.”

Laine giggled. “Come on, just one time.”

I flipped on the light to find Laine and Ella Rae standing in my bedroom, each holding a bottle of champagne and covered in confetti and streamers. “What are y’all doing?”

“What are you doing?” Laine said.

I sat up in bed and threw back the covers. “Ella Rae! Did you let her get drunk? You know she’s not supposed to drink while she’s taking pain pills!”

“Will you chill out?” Ella Rae said. “She’s only had, like, I don’t know, a half a bottle.” Ella Rae looked at her own bottle. “And I’ve only had, like, two.

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