Page 19 of The Wedding Toast (The Hamiltons #10)

“Come on, little missy. You want to help me find Chuck?”

Darlene had spotted Jacob and Bentley, and Bentley’s mom and her man headed up toward the house.

She was looking forward to seeing Ria DuPont again; she hadn’t expected to like the woman at first, but she was good people in her own way.

Her man, Russ, was a former Marine. So of course, Chuck thought the world of him.

But Becca had told her that Jacob wanted both Alexandria and Elena to be with him as kind of mom figures for the wedding, and while Elena was here in the kitchen they might all get a chance to talk about it – if she and Zia took themselves out of the way.

The child looked up at her with wide eyes. She was cute as a button with glitter all over her hands and in her hair. Elena had given her a sticker book and glitter, and Darlene had a feeling they’d all be eating sparkly cereal in the morning.

“Did you lose him?” she asked as she got to her feet. “He’s probably with the flowers; they’re his friends, you know.”

Darlene huffed out a laugh. “Oh, I know. Let’s go see, shall we?”

“Okay. I’ll bring my ribbon – he might like it.”

Darlene had a feeling that her dear hubby wouldn’t be upset if he never saw another ribbon in his life after Becca’s wedding was over, but she smiled at the girl.

“I think he’ll like to see you. Let’s get going.”

Elena gave her a puzzled look as they left.

“Just need some fresh air,” she explained. “Might as well take the little ’un with me. Let you have your kitchen to yourself for a minute.”

“I don’t mind sharing with you,” Elena told her. “And I never thought I’d say that to anyone.”

“I know what you mean – I’m the same, but if we can get you to Kansas one of these days, I’ll be happy to share my kitchen with you, too. Oh, here comes Jacob and some people. We’ll go out the side steps and leave you to it.”

“See you later.” Elena waved at Zia.

Darlene was surprised when Zia slipped her hand into hers as they walked down toward the garage.

“Are you worried about him?”

“About Chuck?”

Zia nodded.

“No, why – do you think I should be?”

“Oh no. He’s happy really. He likes it here, but it’s not his place, is it?”

Darlene chuckled. “It sure isn’t.”

“But the flowers love him – they like him and my mom the best.”

“Flowers always like him, flowers and anything that grows.”

Zia nodded sagely. “They can tell who loves them and he does.”

Darlene eyed the girl as they walked. “You been talking to him then?”

“Only a little bit. He liked it but he didn’t know what to say back.”

“I reckon you’re right about that. We’ve been married over forty years, and I could say the same thing – well, I couldn’t ever say that I only talked to him a little bit.

Give and take we can do, but when it comes to talk and listen, we have different strengths.

Anyway … did you give him a name?” She’d been waiting for the kid to name Chuck – and to see how he might react.

Zia nodded solemnly. “He is Sir Strongheart – the Keeper of the Fields.”

Darlene had to swallow a couple times. “Aww, that’s… beautiful.”

“It’s just true.”

“You’re right. It is. It fits him perfect.” Darlene might have been hoping to be able to tease him about whatever name the child gave him, instead she was deeply touched.

“Did he like it?” she had to ask.

Zia grinned up at her. “He did. He didn’t say so, but I could tell by the way his eyes crinkled.”

Darlene laughed. “Well thank you, little lady. I reckon you probably made his day with that – and mine too. I’ll have to start calling him Sir Strongheart, it suits him. I probably shouldn’t ask – I’m afraid to hear what you’ll say but … did you come up with one for me yet?”

“Oh yes. You’re Lady Darling. You are the mother of the Queen of the Cornflowers. And you are Sir Strongheart’s lady.” Zia gave her a sassy smile. “And the first time I heard your name I thought you were called Darling – I think it suits you.”

Darlene squeezed the girl’s hand. “Well, thank you, sugarplum. I love it.”

They’d reached the greenhouse but there was no sign of Chuck or Walt. “What do you think, should we go see your mom at the garage?”

Zia sighed. “Yeah. I was supposed to go check in so that she knows I’m okay – and that I’m not annoying people.”

“Aww, we can let her know that you’re good on both counts, why don’t we?”

Alara had been working so hard on building the arch it wasn’t even funny.

Darlene hadn’t been inclined to like her at first – what kind of woman let her child run wild to be taken care of by strangers while she worked?

She was happy to have been proven wrong though.

Alara had made clear that she was only happy to let Zia run free on the estate because she knew it was a closed environment, there were good people around – and there was security on the front gate.

As they walked by the point where the driveway split, Darlene was surprised to see not one, but two planes parked near the hangar. As she scanned the area around them, she smiled when she spotted Trick and Elliott.

“Look who just landed.”

Zia followed her gaze. “Landed?” she asked with wide eyes.

“The pilots,” Darlene said with a conspiratorial grin. “Jacob has a plane, and his best friend has one too. They’re helping to bring in all the guests. Those two fly Jacob’s plane.”

Zia’s eyebrows lifted. “They fly the plane?”

“Sure do. They’re real-life pilots. You ever been in a plane before?”

Zia shook her head slowly, eyes still locked on the two men approaching. “Are they always so tall?”

Darlene laughed. “Well, sugar, the sky’s a big place. Maybe it stretches ’em out.”

Zia straightened up, suddenly focused. “They’re the Flying Ones.”

Darlene smiled indulgently. “You could say that.”

“I will say that,” Zia replied, already setting off toward them, cornflower ribbon trailing from one hand. “I need to see what they’re really made of.”

~ ~ ~

Becca stopped the Range Rover when they reached the front gate and put the window down as Slade came out to meet them with a smile.

She and Callie laughed when he saluted and said, “Greetings, Queen of all the Cornflowers.” He gave Callie an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, do you have a title? I’ve been trying to keep track of everyone, but I haven’t heard yours yet.”

Becca leaned back in her seat so that he and Callie could see each other as she said in the most formal voice she could manage, “Greetings, Sir Growly Dragon. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Lady Sunshine, also known as Miss Callie Clay.”

Slade laughed. “Aww man, you get two names? That’s not fair.”

“It kind of is since the second one is pretty much my real name. My last name’s Claiborne,” she explained.

“Ah, I thought it was to do with your work.”

“So did Zia,” Becca said with a laugh.

Slade shook his head. “That kid’s got us all twisted around her little finger.”

Becca nodded thoughtfully. “Did Ava say anything about her? You had your afternoon with her earlier, didn’t you?”

Slade picked Ava up from school two days a week normally, but since school was out for the summer, they’d decided that they wanted to keep their regular timeslots to just hang out – Becca loved that for both of them.

“She hasn’t met her yet. And I don’t know if it’s a good idea to introduce them. You know what Ava’s like – she’s quieter, tries to stay out of the spotlight. It’d be a shame if she felt overshadowed by little Zia.”

“It would,” Becca agreed. “We should get them together.”

“I was thinking more like keep Zia out of her way,” said Slade.

Becca smiled at him. “That’s because I’m a third-grade teacher and you’re not. If we introduce them, Ava will probably get a lot out of it. If we don’t, then all she’ll know is that everyone loves this other little girl who isn’t like her.”

“Ah, right.” Slade nodded. “They can both come and hang out here with me if you want. I know everyone else is busy getting things ready.”

“That’s okay,” said Becca. “You have enough to do with deliveries. Although now that there are outside people starting to come in, I should talk to Alara. She was okay to let Zia wander around the estate because she knew that there was only family around. I don’t think she’ll like it now that we have all the setup crew coming in. ”

Slade grinned. “You know I’m always happy to trade gate duties for babysitting duties. I could hang out with her and Ava and Scooter – John’s good to cover the gate.”

“That might not be a bad idea,” said Becca. “You just might have to convince my mom and Elena – they’ve both taken a shine to her as well.”

“Well, let me know,” said Slade. “Oh, and Willow said she’ll meet the rest of you ladies at Molly’s tonight – don’t wait for her. She had something come up at work so she might be a bit later.”

“Aww, I hope she’ll still come.”

“Oh, she’ll be there – you know Willow; work might slow her down sometimes, but nothing will stop her from doing what she wants to do.”

They left Slade, and Becca drove up toward the house. Callie frowned when an SUV appeared, coming toward them.

“If you want me to keep an eye on Zia, I will,” she said. “I don't think it's fair to let her mom think that she's fine to run around by herself anymore.” She jerked her chin toward the approaching SUV. “There are going to be more and more people coming and going now.”

Becca smiled and waved when she recognized Xander driving and Tori sitting beside him, waving back at her. “Those two are family – that's Xander and Tori.”

“Jacob's brother, and Bentley and Willow's sister, right?”

“That's right. But I agree. There are going to be deliveries and caterers and all kinds of people around.

Maybe we should have a word with Hannah and see if she'd mind keeping Zia with Ava – it might work out well for both of them.

Ava won't have time to get nervous about the wedding while Zia's around.”

“That's not a bad idea,” said Callie, but she frowned.

“What?”