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Olive stretched. Memories from last night vaguely came back to her, although she felt so tired. Like she just couldn’t get enough sleep, but she wasn’t sleepy. She was pretty sure she had gotten up with Livvy once, and then she vaguely thought that perhaps Doyle had gotten up with her once too. She seemed to remember him standing in the doorway in the dark, asking about how much formula to feed.

She couldn’t even remember what answer she had given.

Hopefully the right one. Hopefully she answered him. Or was it just a dream?

Her limbs felt like they weighed a million pounds, though she could tell from the sunlight streaming in her window that it was midmorning. She could hear Livvy across the hall in her crib, happily gurgling to herself.

She felt like a terrible mother for not being up and taking care of her, for leaving her alone in her crib. She spent enough time alone in her young life. But she was just so tired.

Rolling over, intending to grab her phone, she saw a piece of paper sitting on her nightstand, and before she even picked it up, she knew who it was from and she smiled.

Doyle.

Good morning, Olive.

I don’t know if you remember, but you were up to feed the baby once, and then I got up and you told me what to do. You seemed kind of groggy, so I just wanted you to know that the last time Livvy ate was around 4 AM. After I fed her, I checked on you, and then I figured I better go back home.

But first I wanted to write this note, just to let you know what happened last night and also to let you know that I’m planning on picking you up at twelve today. The wedding is at three, and you said you needed to be early. If you need me to pick you up at a different time, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll see you then. If you need me to bring you anything, I can do that too. I took care of returning your car, and I know you don’t have one now.

Your friend,

Doyle.

He had “friend” underlined. Which made her smile. He was letting her know that he was being her friend. He had always been her friend. A far better friend to her than she had been to him.

And that little extra underline, that little extra communication, warmed her heart, because it made her feel like they were talking without words. And that he remembered their earlier conversations. That he cared. That was the thing. She felt like she was with someone who cared. Not that her sisters didn’t, because she knew they did.

She’d been plenty of places in the world, alone, by herself, with no one who cared, so being back in Raspberry Ridge, being with Doyle, knowing that he cared, meant a lot to her and gave her the feeling of home like nothing else could.

She guessed that he had left a note because he hadn’t wanted to send a text and risk waking her up.

She picked up her phone and pulled up his text.

Twelve is fine. Thank you so much for last night.

She hoped she could be ready by twelve. She didn’t have a whole lot of clothes to choose from, so she hoped her clothing choice was okay too.

Now, she just needed the energy to get up and actually get herself ready. Plus, get Livvy ready too. No sooner had she thought that than Livvy’s happy gurgles started to sound like fussy whimpers.

It wouldn’t be long until those fussy whimpers were full-on loud baby cries, and it would be really nice if she could get out of bed and go to the bathroom at least before she needed to take care of her baby.

Children were so hard.

Or maybe it was just being a single mom that was hard, because last night wasn’t so bad. She had someone helping her. For the first time since she left the hospital in Ecuador.

Pulling herself out of bed, feeling like her legs were going to buckle underneath her at any second, panting because it was so much harder than she expected, she did what she needed to do before she went over and tried to muster the strength to pick up her baby. Deciding that it would be best for her to have a bottle made first, she changed course and saw that Doyle had left the formula and a bottle sitting at the top of the stairs.

She could have kissed him right then.

So grateful she didn’t have to go downstairs, she almost cried.

She was able to make a bottle and pick up Livvy before she really started to go at it. Immediately when she saw her mom’s face, her cries turned to a watery smile.

It was the smile that always did her in. She just couldn’t resist it. Her daughter was adorable. If she did have to say so herself.

Thankfully she still had almost three hours, and she was able to feed her baby, get a shower, and get dressed by the time Doyle pulled in, fifteen minutes early.

She couldn’t tell how relieved she was. She had never been this exhausted before in her life, and she wondered if it was just a side effect of being sick for so long, or if there was something else going on. Maybe she should take a vitamin.

Whatever was, she didn’t want Doyle, or either one of her sisters, to worry about her, and she definitely didn’t want to ruin Mertie’s big day. She had a feeling that Mertie would only be married one time in her life, and this was her day. She wanted it to be special.

“I wasn’t sure if you would be up and ready or not,” Doyle said as he gave a perfunctory knock on the door and then stepped in.

It was a relief that she didn’t have to get up and go answer it.

“I almost wasn’t. I am kind of tired.” That was an understatement, but she could live with that. It was true. She was definitely tired.

“I would like it if you could take some time to rest. I think it would benefit both you and Livvy if you could do that.” He paused for a moment, and then he said, “You can tell me if I’m pushing too hard, but I’d really like for you to let me take care of you for a few days. I think you’d feel better if you just allowed someone else to do most of the heavy lifting.”

“Let’s get through today. I’m not going to stay in bed on my sister’s wedding day.”

It wasn’t a yes, and Doyle’s flattened lips showed that he knew that, but he nodded.

“Fair enough. Today we celebrate, tomorrow you stay in bed all day.”

“Can I sit on the porch?” she asked, knowing she still hadn’t agreed but wanting to know how serious he was about not letting her do anything.

“I take care of the baby all day, you do no work. You can sit on the porch, lie on the couch, or stay in bed all day, I don’t care. You’re just not to do any work. Deal?”

She nodded. Staying in bed all day sounded heavenly right now. Her feet felt like they were so heavy she could barely lift one in front of the other.

“Deal.”

“All right. Let’s get this show on the road.” He laughed a little. “I was going to say the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get home, but that’s probably not true.” She smiled. “Also, Cassie made a sandwich for you.” He held up a sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil that he’d been holding in his hand and she’d not noticed.

“I’m so hungry,” she said. She had been working on getting herself something to eat. Or at least thinking about it, but she had been so tired, all she’d done was think about the easiest things that she could make, and since they had no cereal, everything else required more than she thought she could handle.

“I think we have enough time for you to go ahead and eat this. I’ll trade you,” he said, indicating Livvy.

“I think you like her,” she said, and maybe she just said that because she wanted to see his reaction. She wanted him to like her.

“She’s grown on me. I actually feel like I can relate to her a lot. She likes to eat, and she likes to sleep, and we have all that in common.”

Olive laughed. “I have that in common with both of you too.”

“What you need to do is sleep.” He didn’t say anything else, but she got the feeling that he was going to insist that she take it easy for a bit. And she really appreciated that, honestly. She knew she’d been pushing herself too hard and she hadn’t been fully recovered from everything she’d gone through. Today, it had really caught up to her.

Too bad the wedding wasn’t a different day, because she would gladly stay in bed.

Doyle held the baby, chattering with her, little bits of nonsense that made her laugh and reach for his nose while Olive worked on eating the sandwich. Even eating felt like too much work. And she only made it through half the sandwich.

“I’m full. I don’t think I can eat another bite.”

“That wasn’t very much,” he said, looking at the half sandwich and then eyeing her like she might have been hiding something from him. “Are you sure you feel okay?”

“I feel fine.”

“I’m going to touch your forehead and see if you have a fever.”

She was going to protest, but then she figured it would turn into an argument and she just didn’t have the energy. Instead, she leaned forward a little and closed her eyes.

She waited. It took longer than what she expected, and then finally, she felt a featherlike touch along her temple as he moved his finger up across her skin. It was a gentle touch, light and easy and exactly what she needed. It rested her weary soul somehow, like the gentle stroke was all her exhausted body could handle.

He allowed three fingers to rest on her forehead for just a few seconds, and then his light touch went down the other side, to her temple, touching her hair for just a second before he moved his hand away.

It took her a few long moments before she opened her eyes.

“No fever,” he said softly.

She swallowed, wondering if she would be able to find her voice. “I didn’t think I was sick. I honestly am just tired; I admit, very tired.”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do about leaving early, although I understand it’s your sister’s wedding, and it’s not like today is going to come around again. So, I know you want to enjoy it.”

“I totally forgot about bringing anything to eat. Oh, I’m the worst sister in the world,” she said, putting an elbow on the table and dropping her head into her hands. How could she have not remembered that she was supposed to make something? All the guests were supposed to bring something to share.

“I have us covered. I asked Cassie to make something. She’s pushy and makes me uncomfortable, but she’s an excellent cook. She actually made two dishes, her Parmesan-crusted carrots, which I think are my favorite of everything that she makes, and then a casserole that I’m not exactly sure what’s in it, but it smells really good. She’s borrowing Fran’s car and bringing them.”

“You’re amazing. I really appreciate it. I...totally dropped the ball.”

“Give yourself some grace. You deserve it. You can’t be on all the time, especially when you just got back, and you were sick.”

“But I’ve spent a decade ignoring my family, living for myself. And here I am back and I’m still not doing what I want to do.”

“But you’re working on it. And you did something pretty amazing with Cassie. She’s backed off completely on me, and I think she’s thinking about what you said because she asked me a couple questions about what the Bible said about different things, mostly the blood sacrifice and why Jesus was qualified to make it. She wasn’t sure she believed that he was God’s son.”

“Wow. If she is questioning things, she’s thinking. That’s really exciting.” She lifted her head up and felt her heart lighten, even if her body still felt heavy.

“I thought you were nuts for walking away from her the way you did and leaving because she asked you to, but you definitely left the door wide open for her to draw closer to Jesus. It was a sacrifice on your part, and while I know God convicts people and draws them to Him, we can help that process along, or we can hinder it. I’m ashamed to admit that probably more than I’d like to, I’ve hindered it, because I haven’t shown Jesus the way I should have.”

“Same for me,” she said simply, because it was true.

“Are you ready to go?” she said, realizing that it was twelve o’clock, and they hadn’t left. She should be early, in plenty of time, but she didn’t want to be late for Mertie’s wedding. It was a huge celebration, and she was so happy for her sister.

“I’ll put Livvy in her car seat. Do you have anything else you need to bring?”

“Just a baby bag, which I have packed. And by the way, thanks for letting that formula and bottle sit at the top of the steps. It was a godsend this morning.” Maybe someday she’d tell him exactly how exhausted she was, but she didn’t think right now was the right time. She didn’t want him to decide that she needed to stay in bed after all.

“Glad you saw it. I almost put it in the note, but I was running out of room on that piece of paper.”

“I appreciated the note too.”

They smiled, and then she pushed herself out of the chair and they walked out of the house, heading toward her sister’s wedding.