Page 91 of The Rebel

“I want to thank you two for coming,” Mom said. “When all this happened, I couldn’t even get my thoughts straight. Luckily, Annelise was here. She took the reins.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Mom didn’t deal well with crises. Dad was always the one managing them. As a teenager, I’d stepped in once or twice, too, when things went haywire and Dad wasn’t here. Mom simply panicked in difficult situations.

“Does she know you’re here, dear? She’s coming tomorrow morning to help me with feeding. The Tanner boys are already doing so much; they can’t take this over too. Annelise will help me set up the machinery. It’s all electric with settings and such, as you know, so I need to figure it out for the coming months.”

Crap, I could already hear the concern in Mom’s voice.

“I didn’t tell her,” I realized. “I’ll text her now so she doesn’t come at the crack of dawn.” I let go of Anthony’s hand to take out my phone and texted her.

Daisy: I just arrived with Anthony. No need for you to come tomorrow morning. I’ll take care of everything.

Annelise replied right away.

Annelise: Girl, way to spring this on me. Anthony’s with you? I might drop by tomorrow anyway, just so you can fill me in and spill the tea.

“Rosalie, anything you need,” Anthony said, “I’m here to help as well. Just say the word and I’ll make it happen.”

Mom’s mouth hung open. If a perfect stranger showed up in my house and said that, I’d be shocked too. To be honest, I was quite surprised. I hadn’t expected any of this from Anthony. I knew he was thoughtful and caring, but this was taking things to a whole new level.

“That’s very considerate of you. How are you liking the apple pie?”

“It’s fantastic,” Anthony exclaimed. “We don’t eat apple pie nearly enough in my family. But once I tell my grandmothers I’ve had the best apple pie here, I’m sure they’ll want the recipe. They’re both chefs, by the way.”

Mom was about to burst with pride. The man had skills. She was going to love him in no time at all. And that was quite all right because he’d already wormed his way into my own heart.

“I’m happy to share the recipe,” Mom said. “All right, since you two finished the pie, do you want to rest?”

“That would be great,” Anthony replied.

“Daisy, I prepped your room. It’s ready. There are enough towels for the two of you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I wanted to cuddle a bit with my sexy man, but I was so bone-tired that I had a hunch I’d fall asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

CHAPTER 21

ANTHONY

The next morning,I woke up before Daisy. It was seven o’clock. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t manage to. Half an hour later, I decided to get up. Since we’d showered last night, I just put on fresh clothes before going downstairs.

I heard noises from the kitchen, so I headed straight there.

“Oh, honey, you’re … Oh, Anthony, it’s you!” Rosalie said.

“Morning, Rosalie.”

“Is Daisy up too?”

“No.”

“Hmm… the animals need to be fed in twenty minutes. I was just about to make Daisy’s favorite breakfast: omelet with tomatoes.”

“Last night, she set her alarm clock to ring with plenty of time,” I assured Rosalie. “The two of us can do it together if you prefer.”

“No, I… Well, I’m ashamed to say this, but it’s my husband’s domain. I’m not good with all that tech stuff.”

“And your farmhands can’t take it over?”

“No, they both have their hands full with everything else.”