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TESSA FOUND THE HOUSE easily, and she went to the door, noticing there was a little blond girl with big blue eyes staring at her out the window. She waved, and smiled when someone came to the door. “I still didn’t catch your name!”
The woman smiled, but it was a tired smile. “I’m Molly, and this is Abby.” She pointed to a girl who was hiding behind a chair.
“Hi, Abby. I’m Tessa, and I’m going to be playing with you.” Tessa held up a bag. “I have some games in here. Do you want to play some games?”
The little girl nodded, so Tessa looked at Molly. “Where can Abby and I play?”
Molly shrugged. “What’s best? A table? Or you could play in here.”
“A table is better if that’s all right.” Tessa could make anything work, but a table always made things easier.
“Absolutely.” Molly led her into their dining room, and Tessa sat down, pulling different things out of her bag.
“I have a lot of fun things in here, Abby.”
Molly bit her lip. “Should I stay?” She looked like she wanted to be there, but she was so tired.
Tessa could see that Molly looked exhausted. “Why don’t you get a quick nap. Abby and I will be just fine.”
As Molly walked away, Tessa pulled out a pack of flashcards. “Now these cards are to show me that you’re really smart. Can you show me how smart you are?” Tessa needed to make sure that Abby understood words were associated with objects first thing, so they went through the flashcards, and Abby pointed to the words that Tessa said.
By the end of the hour, Tessa had developed a rapport with the little girl. When Molly walked back, she was sorry to see her time end. “Do you want to play a little more, Abby?”
Abby nodded emphatically, and Tessa smiled at Molly. “Would it be all right if we did just a little more?”
“Absolutely!” Molly sat at the end of a table, and watched as Tessa got Abby to communicate with the flashcards she’d brought.
“Now, these flashcards are for you, Abby. Can you start showing pictures of what you want to Molly? That way she’ll know what she can do to help you.”
Abby immediately started digging through the flashcards and pulled out one they’d already looked at. It was a plate of cookies. Abby held it up to Molly, who laughed softly. “You want some cookies, Abby?” Abby nodded emphatically, making her ponytail hit the front of her head.
Tessa smiled. “So, you don’t have to talk, but you can still tell people what you want and need.”
Abby nodded again. She pulled out a picture of a house, and two people, who were meant to represent parents. “Are those your parents, Abby?”
Abby nodded.
“Do you want to tell me about your parents?”
Abby shook her head and began to cry. Tessa knew it was time to end their session. Pushing Abby would be bad at that moment.
“You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to with me. All right, Abby?”
Abby nodded. “I’m so glad you spent time with me today. I hope we can be good friends.” Tessa thought the cards would help Abby for a while, but she knew the girl would speak again. She could just feel it. There was no reason to teach her sign language or to start her speaking with an assist device. No, this little girl would be speaking soon.
Tessa stood up and picked up her bag. “You remember to use your cards so Molly understands you, okay?”
Abby nodded and walked with her to the kitchen. “Abby and I are finished. I’m leaving her the cards, so she can still talk to you. Could I come back tomorrow?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful. Same time?” Molly asked. She was obviously very concerned about the little girl not speaking. It wasn’t something most parents had to deal with.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you then.” Tessa reached down and squeezed Abby’s hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Abby nodded as Tessa walked toward the door, watching her carefully.
As soon as Tessa got home, she made a few notes on what she’d noticed about Abby, and then she started supper. She couldn’t wait to tell Bob about working with her. She was sure he’d be all for it after the way he’d talked to her about her working that morning.
She made a quick casserole for supper. She wasn’t one to make a complex meal for supper every night, and the sooner Bob realized that, the better for both of them.
She left her things in the room she’d taken, but she planned to be open to a relationship with him again, although he sometimes made her feel that she was living on an emotional roller coaster. The man turned hot and cold as fast as a water tap.
As soon as he walked in, he sniffed the air appreciatively. “What’s for supper?”
“It’s a recipe I found online called Grandma’s chicken casserole. I made it when I had busy days. Like today was.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“Your neighbor up the road, Molly, has a foster daughter.”
“Molly Pierce?”
“Yes! Well, Molly’s foster daughter, Abby, doesn’t speak. So, the principal asked me to go over and work with her a little today. I’ll be going there every weekday for a little while as I get to know her. I think she’s close to speaking.” Tessa nodded at the note she’d left on the table for him. “I even left you a note.”
“How old is the girl?” Bob asked. He was a little annoyed she’d left without talking to him, but he had to fight back the feeling. She’d done nothing wrong.
“She’s five. Sweet little thing. I showed her how to use some flashcards to communicate for now, but I think she’s close to a breakthrough.” She pulled the casserole from the oven and served them each a portion. “I hope you’re hungry, because I made a lot.”
“Always hungry. And always willing to eat tonight’s leftovers for lunch tomorrow.” Bob tried his best to be a considerate husband, but he found it just didn’t come easy.
“Oh, good, because I think I made enough for each of us to eat tomorrow for lunch as well. So, let’s talk foods,” she said as she sat down at the table with him. “What are your favorites?”
Their meal was a discovery of tastes. “This is really good,” he finally said. “There’s more?”
“Lots more. Get some more if you want it.” Tessa took another bite, enjoying the casserole.
Bob nodded, getting up to get his own food, though his Grams would have done it for him. But he had to remember his Grams wanted to do things like that for him. Tessa was wired differently. “I think even after I get more there will be enough for our lunches tomorrow.”
“Good. Saves me some cooking.”
“Do you like to cook?” he asked.
“Hate it,” she responded. “I do it, and I do it well, but only because I need to eat.”
“When school starts, I’ll do all the cooking then. I like it. As long as you help me come up with what to eat, I won’t mind cooking at all.”
Tessa smiled. “Deal! I love that idea. I’ll do more of the cleaning, if you’ll do the cooking. I’ll even do the dishes every single night.”
“I’ll tell you what, if you have the dishwasher emptied before I cook, then I’ll load it after supper. Fair share of labor and all that.”
“You know, Bob, you’re turning into a decent husband after all.”
He smiled at that, wishing he could tell her about his dream visit from Grams. It didn’t make sense though, and he was sure that she would be as confused by it as he was. “Thank you!”
“I’ll do the dishes tonight, because I’m only working a couple of hours a day. How would you feel about sitting on the porch swing after? I want to hear if you found a stallion to sire the colt you were after.”
“I’d like that.”
As soon as she’d finished the dishes, they went out to the porch swing, and Tessa leaned against Bob as he talked to her about the stallion he’d found to sire the colt they were wanting. “He’s in Wyoming, and his owner will drive him here for a fee, and he has to be part of the breeding process, which is something a lot of owners do. I don’t mind either way.”
“Does everyone just stand around while the horses...you know!”
He grinned. “I always watch to make sure my mare isn’t injured in the process. A lot of owners do that, but not all.”
“Sounds weird. I’d sure hate it if Dr. Lachele watched us. I mean, she did sort of breed us...”
He laughed. “I don’t think that’s how she thinks about it, but speaking of all that...do you want children?”
“I do. I’d like to wait a year after marriage before we have them, but I’d like two or three. What about you?” She couldn’t believe they’d been married for over a week and hadn’t even discussed children yet.
“I’m thinking a half dozen or so.”
“Umm...that’s a lot of babies!”
“That’s true. But I grew up with five siblings, and I loved it!”
“You’re allowed to,” she said, shrugging. “If I enjoy the first three, we can discuss more at that time. I’m twenty-eight, though, and I don’t want to be having babies forever.”
“And you need to be able to work as well, so too many would make that a lot harder on you.”
“You’re okay with me working now?” Tessa asked. She knew she shouldn’t, but his about face was confusing to her.
“I am. Well, I’m getting there anyway. You should be able to follow your own dreams, and not mine. Besides, you’ll be home for three months every summer, and you’ll be working the same hours the kids are in school. We’ll make it work.”
She turned toward him, and kissed him. “You get sexier every minute you talk about being okay with me working,” she said, grinning at him.
“Well, I don’t want to waste all that sexy out here,” he said. “Let’s go to bed, and you can see how sexy I am in a more appropriate place!”
She laughed. “I don’t think it would be so terrible to make love under the stars.” She felt like they were very isolated there in their little corner of the ranch.
“It wouldn’t, but we should move first, because here we’d be making love under the porch light.” He grinned at her, happy to see her smiling. “You really enjoyed working a little today, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “I truly enjoy helping children. Abby needed someone to teach her to use her voice. She needs to learn to express herself all over again. I don’t know what happened with her parents, but she hasn’t spoken since their death.”
He frowned. “That’s so sad. You need to keep me updated on her.”
“I will.” She got to her feet and pulled him to his, leading him through the house into his bedroom and the big bed that waited for them there. “So, I figure talking is overrated when you’ve only been married ten days.”
He laughed, and pulled his shirt over his head. “I am not going to argue with you, when you have something a great deal more pleasurable than talking in mind.”
Together, they stripped off their clothes and fell into the bed together, both of them laughing.
When they had finished, she snuggled against him with her head on his shoulder. “Sex is even better than teaching kids to talk.”
“I think it’s better than anything.”