He walked over and had no more than acknowledged Rae Lynn with a little wave when Sudie May pointed at her and said, “They’re wanting to leave.”
Rae Lynn lifted a hand coated with feathers and said, “That ain’t exactly right . . . it’s not that we—”
Del cut her off as if she hadn’t said a word. He looked confounded and said, “Want to leave?”
Rae Lynn was furiously plucking feathers and paused long enough to reply.
“I didn’t say that. We said we’d only . . .”
Del turned to Sudie May and said, “You ain’t told her yet.”
“Not yet, but I guess I ought to right now.”
Rae Lynn stopped yanking feathers and looked from one to the other.
“Ain’t told me what?”
Sudie May said, “Norma and Joey are going to be a big sister and brother, probably in early spring. I guess I thought I was done with babies with Joey being five, but here I am. Pregnant.”
Rae Lynn said, “Oh.”
Sudie May took hold of her hand, and a few feathers drifted to the ground.
She said, “Joey’s was a hard birth. It’ll do me good not to have so much on me around here. I need to rest as much as I can. I can’t if y’all ain’t here to help. At least till after the baby comes. Please?”
Del and Sudie May waited, both eyeing her expectantly. Sudie May looked like she might cry, depending on the answer. Del was motionless, watchful. He didn’t even blink. Rae Lynn finished plucking the feathers and dunked the bird again. They’d already been here well beyond what was proper. It didn’t seem right, showing up out of the blue and staying on and on. No one had pried her with questions, but she felt her lack of background only complicated matters. Sudie May dropped her chin to her chest. Rae Lynn thought she saw a tear fall, while Del’s extraordinary blue eyes remained on her in a way that made her squirm. It was as if he wanted her to stay as bad as his sister. Maybe more.
She lifted the plucked chicken from the pot and said, “Well. All right. Until then.”
Sudie May pressed her hands together over her chest, and Rae Lynn saw she had been crying.
“Oh, thank you, thank you.”
“It ain’t nothing. We should be thanking y’all.”
Del did something surprising to Rae Lynn. He reached out, rested his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a light squeeze.
He said, “I’m grateful to you.”
He dropped his hand and walked away while Rae Lynn stared after him.
Sudie May said, “This truly is the answer to my prayers.”
Rae Lynn had to admit she was relieved too. She had no idea where she and Cornelia would have gone.
She smiled at Sudie May and said, “Let me tell Cornelia; then I’ll come back and help you finish this supper.”
Rae Lynn found Cornelia in her room, sitting on her bed, doing nothing, like a child waiting on punishment from a parent. She tapped on the doorframe, but Cornelia didn’t turn around.
She spoke to the wall and said, “When?” her voice subdued.
Rae Lynn said, “Ohhh, probably not till early spring.”
Cornelia spun around on the bed.
“What?”
“Sudie May’s having her another baby. She needs us to stay. She said it was hard birthing Joey and needs to rest as much as she can.”
Cornelia jumped up, grabbed Rae Lynn’s hands, and spun them around and around the room. Rae Lynn giggled at the playful, unexpected reaction, and when Cornelia let her go and swirled away in a circle dance of her own, Rae Lynn was overcome by a sense of peace and the thought, We get to stay, we get to stay.
Summer gave one last belch of hot air in early October, the gift of an “Indian summer.” Fall crept in almost quiet-like until Rae Lynn noticed how they awoke some mornings with a nip in the air. Before long, the leaves adorning oaks, acorn, and sweet gum showed off their vivid reds, oranges, and yellows. With time, the events at Swallow Hill took on a dreamlike quality, some of the details becoming as faded as their sun-dried clothes. Not the ones of Warren, though. They remained sharp and clear in her mind, as prominent as Sudie May’s growing belly. In spite of it all, Rae Lynn became more like herself. Much of this had to do with Del’s sister. She was a rhythmic sort in spite of her pregnancy, up at the same time each morning and doing what tasks Rae Lynn or Cornelia allowed. Most of the time they made her sit, and worked around her. Rae Lynn loved the routine of running a household, the day-to-day steady schedule, no surprises, rarely any change with given days of the week set aside for certain chores, including certain meals.