Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine. Any lines from the books are hers too.
AN: I wanted this arc over, but it's probably got another chapter to it. Sorry y'all.
Kaleidoscope, pt 16
Gale watches as Briar picks up the small turkey she's just killed, inspects it with a smile.
"I've traded enough squirrel this week, we should be able to keep this."
Nodding, Gale watches as she gently places it in her game bag, rambling on about trades she can make for berry preserves or thread.
She's been almost obsessively trading the past few months, gathering up things for the winter.
Berries and heavy material, peppermint for tea, anything she's read will help Daisy through the pregnancy.
It's her way of apologizing for the weeks she spent crying, calling her sister every filthy thing she could think of, and drinking herself into a disaster. She's not good with words sometimes, something Gale understands all too well, and he thinks she's doing an admirable job making things up to Daisy in her own way.
Thread's visit, and his less than graceful exit, had left her with a bruised face and a healthy dose of understanding.
She'd gone to the Justice hall the next morning, sat down and figured out how to fix the computers without the Capitol's help, only library books and fear to guide her.
When she came home that evening she'd announced Daisy and Barrows would be married first thing the next Sunday. She'd even gotten the little old ladies to open the department early for the occasion.
Judging by the sulky looks they'd shot her as she'd overseen their work, they didn't appreciate her brand of encouragement to get them doing their job.
"I don't think she ever realized just how fragile we are," Madge had whispered, pressed tight against him in their bed that night. "I hate seeing her wound up, but at least now she understands."
They aren't safe for being related to the Mayor. If anything, they're more vulnerable.
Gale only sighed, remembering how Madge had looked when he'd gotten home, the day Thread died
She'd met him on the front porch, eyes pink and swollen, thrown her arms around him the minute he was up the steps. He'd gotten the feeling she'd have liked to run out to him, but the fact that there were probably eyes on them froze her in place. Even if their children hadn't understood until that point, Madge knew what appearances meant, and she wasn't going to fall apart in the yard.
"I need you to listen," she'd whispered, her lips pressed to his ear. "Let me tell you everything before you start asking questions."
Gale had tensed at that, held her tighter as he glanced around, searching for whatever danger was lurking.
He was a little late.
"That bastard," he'd growled as he'd looked at Briar's cheek, still swollen and painful, then at the bust on Miles' lip from his scuffle with the Peacekeeper. If he were alive, Gale would kill him, and much less quickly. The man deserved pain for touching his children. "He wouldn't've come here if I-"
"He was threatening Papa," Briar pointed out. "I don't think you being here would've made much difference."
Much as he wishes she were wrong, Gale is sure she isn't. He would've been about as much help as Miles and Briar had been. Thread was there to make a statement, and no miner was going to change that.
Wren gave him a much more colorful commentary on the events, with her own unique interpretations of Lew's actions.
"He killed him for Briar," she'd explained. "'Cause he loves her."
"Wren…" Briar sighed. "Lew is a good guy. He'd done it for anyone."
While Gale didn't doubt that, he's seen Lew ignore plenty, he was hardly a guy angling for a better position with the Peacekeepers, he also got the feeling Wren wasn't entirely wrong. Briar has gotten more leeway with Lew than she deserves, more than most get, and Gale doubts it's simply because he's a 'good guy'.
He's seen the looks Lew gives Briar, and they aren't just friendly.
Briar either doesn't see them, or is doing a spectacular job of ignoring them.
Being his daughter, Gale assumes she's blind. He'd been oblivious to Madge for years.
Not oblivious, he thinks wearily, just afraid. Madge hadn't escaped his notice as much as he pretended, but she was the Mayor's perfect daughter and he was a minor. Ignoring her, or pretending she was beneath his notice, was safe. He'd had enough hurt for a lifetime.
That had come back to bite him in glorious fashion, and nearly cost him Madge and his life with her.
Gale isn't sure he wants Briar to stop ignoring Lew, or being ignorant. Even if it's clear he'd do anything for her, Gale isn't sure about him. If he's capable of killing Thread so easily, what if he got angry with Briar? He's no tiny man, and Gale knows his daughter's personality and temperament.
It'd be an easy enough thing for her to rile him up, and then what?
Lew seems like an easy-going enough guy, but Gale's interactions with him have been short and simple. Trade a few goods, discuss the weather, go their separate ways.
Much as he appreciates what he's done for them, Gale would like to keep any Peacekeeper eyeing his daughter at arm's length, especially when his temper is in question.
"-maybe I can get some yarn too, so mom can finish that blanket for Jessamine," Briar finishes as the fence comes into view.
Gale chuckles, imagining the newest member of the family.
The baby had come a few weeks earlier than they'd expected, which poor Abilene probably appreciated. She'd expanded miserably over the month prior to the delivery.
"Glad it wasn't over the summer," she'd laughed as she'd waddled into the living room to greet them the next day. "I don't know if I'd made it."
Jessamine is, in Gale's opinion, perfect.
Dark hair and big blue eyes, she gurgled and giggled, spit up all over Abernathy the first time he held her. Perfect.
"I think your mom said she had enough yarn," Gale tells her, holding the lower wire up for her to crawl under.
"We still need to make one for Scout," she reminds him.
Crawling under the fence, Gale laughs.
"You're fighting a losing battle."
Wren is convinced Daisy is having a boy, and she's dead set on Sawyer. Briar is certain it's a girl, and decided on Scout. Somehow, Gale thinks Wren is going to get her way with the name no matter what Daisy has. She's uncannily like her Nona Matilda in getting what she wants.
Not that Briar will care. She's dead set on being the best aunt possible no matter what the baby is or who names it.
Gale is happy for her change of heart, despite how it had come about.
Daisy is still very much a child, and she's going to need all the help she can get.
"She's so tiny," Daisy murmured when she held Jessamine the first time. "I forgot how little they are."
She'd been very quiet after that, no doubt because Wren had pointed out that, as small as the baby was, Daisy was much smaller than Abilene.
Even a small baby was going to be a strain for her, a thought that had started waking Gale up at all hours of the night.
"I keep remembering you lying there, all that blood, thinking you were dy-"
Madge cut him off with a kiss, pressed her forehead to his and sighed.
"She's going to be fine," she murmured, pressing another kiss to his lips and letting it linger.
She was trying to distract him from his worries, worries he knows she has too, and doing a damn fine job of it.
Most nights he lets her. He's sure she needs the distraction too. Other nights though, his memories of her pale and cool and on the cusp of death overwhelm him. All he can do on those nights is hold her, be grateful he didn't lose her.
Shaking his thoughts away, he and Briar come up on the house assigned to Daisy and Barrows.
It's on the same street at Sage's, much to Gale's relief.
"If anything happens, go to your brother's," Gale told her as he hugged her goodbye after the toasting.
She'd looked impossibly young, a little girl playing house, and Gale hadn't wanted to leave her. It wasn't right. Daisy was a child with no business being married, much less pregnant.
"I know," she'd whispered back, squeezing him tight. "Dad, I'll be fine. Between you and Mr. Abernathy I don't know who wants me out of this house more."
It was less wanting her out of that house and more wanting her home, but Gale bit his tongue.
So he'd left her there, reluctantly, listening for the front door to open all night, hoping she'd come home.
She didn't.
Gale and Madge checked on her the next day, and the next, for the first few weeks. Gale kept expecting to find her hurt, in tears, begging them to take her home, but Daisy had answered the door each day smiling, glowing.
Rowan fixed the roof the first day, managed to trade for a rough looking cradle a few weeks in, got Daisy a new pair of boots when hers stopped fitting, encouraged her to continue with school, is only ever polite and respectful with his new in-laws…
Much as Gale tries to find fault in the bastard, he can't.
He's apparently an attentive, loving, and kind husband.
For some reason that grinds Gale more than if he were a jerk.
Annoyed at yet another attempt to find something really damning about his son-in-law, Gale waits with Briar on the front porch after she knocks.
Soft footsteps preceded the clicking of locks, then the door cracks open and Daisy smiles out at them.
"Hurry, get in it's cold," she tells them as she ushers them into the warmth of the living room.
It's small, awkwardly shaped, but meticulously clean and bright, clearly a happy place.
Daisy has placed a few of Wren's drawings on the wall as decoration, in frames Barrow's made for them. Miles and Sage had spent an afternoon making her a couch from discarded wood at the mines, and draped across it is a quilt Madge made years ago. It's frayed at the edges, but still warm looking.
Her house is a home, despite Gale's thoughts on the matter, that the only home she needed was the one with her family.
Briar reaches in her game bag and pulls out a rabbit.
It's skinny, but it'll do, and Daisy will be able to use the pelt.
Taking it, Daisy smiles and gestures to the kitchen.
"I have the squirrel ready, if you want some."
"You need to eat that," Briar tells her. She points to the bulge hidden under Daisy's layers of clothing. "You need all the food you can get."
Smiling weakly, Daisy nods, looks at Gale.
"You eat it," he echoes Briar. Glancing around, he frowns. "Where's Barrows?"
Normally he's home, encouraging Daisy to rest, eat, obnoxiously doting on her.
He's suspiciously absent today.
Resting her hands on the swell of her stomach, Daisy's eyes drop.
"His mom's place. She's getting worse."
Grimacing, Gale nods in understanding.
Pressley Barrows has apparently been ill for a few years. It's no wonder either.
Her husband and little girl had died during the hard winter when Miles was born, then she'd lost the baby she was pregnant with at the time, and her mother had died that next summer. Her own health had steadily declined since then.
She only has her son, and now he's grown, married, and expecting. Maybe she's just giving up finally.
It's a grim thought, but not unrealistic.
"I'll stay with you until he gets home," Briar tells her, tossing her bag away and shrugging off her coat before Daisy can tell her no. "You don't need to be here by yourself."
"I'm fine."
"You're-"
"Pregnant, not helpless."
She looks at Gale for support.
While he hardly thinks she's helpless, he doesn't like the idea of her home alone. She's far enough along that if she started cramping or bleeding, it would be a disaster.
During the day she's at school, the afternoons with Madge, evenings are supposed to be Barrows' time, but if he isn't around, Briar is a good replacement.
When Gale only smiles, silently agreeing with Briar she should stay, Daisy sighs.
"Fine, then you're eating." She brightens. "I made rolls."
#######
Gale stays until Briar is on her fourth roll, encouraging Daisy to drink more water.
"It's supposed to help."
"I'm already peeing every five minutes, Bri, I think I'm drinking enough," she complained, but drank another two glass all the same.
Briar snorted. "Well don't get pregnant and it won't be an issue."
Daisy brought out the hides from the squirrels after that, took Briar's boots and began chattering about lining them.
She's been making her amends the best way she knows how, repaying every kindness Briar shows her as best she can.
It only serves to highlight just how alike they are, even if they can't see it.
Re-lining her coat, making her new gloves, repairing every article of clothing in the closet, making sure to have fresh rolls ready when Briar is coming by, and not fussing too much when she's given advice over her pregnancy, of which Briar has plenty. Gale thinks Vick is probably beside himself with how much Briar has learned about pregnancy.
She'd read so much that when Abilene went into labor and the midwife was nowhere to be found, Briar had stepped in and delivered Jessamine.
"That was as disgusting as it sounded," she'd grumbled. "I'm never having children."
Chuckling at the memory, Gale hugged Daisy goodbye, kissed her forehead, and told Briar he'd see her later.
"Be careful," he warned her, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
She rolled her eyes. "I will."
Trudging through the cold, Gale speeds up when he spots home, windows bright with firelight and a curl of smoke from the chimney.
Knocking the dirt from his boots, he goes in, smiling when he smells stew cooking and hears Madge banging around the kitchen.
She hasn't heard him come in, so he quietly takes off his boots and sneaks into the kitchen.
Her back is to him as she stirs the stew, humming happily to herself as she scoops a small portion and tastes it, shakes her head and mutters to herself before reaching over and grabbing some of her dried herbs and tossing them in.
Gale leans against the entry wall as he watches her, smiling each time she taste tests the stew and finds it deficient, huffing and adding something new to the mix.
Finally, Gale silently goes up behind her and slips his arms around her middle, causing her to squeal when he presses a scratchy kiss to her cheek.
"Gale!" She wiggles enough in his arms to shoot him a look, trying and failing to seem annoyed. "You scared the life out of me."
Grunting, Gale trails kisses up her neck, letting one hand wander under the hem of her shirt.
"Kids gone?"
Madge leans back into him, tilts her head and chuckles.
"They're with my parents. Mr. Abernathy brought hot chocolate home for my mom and took them to have some."
Fingers toying with the band on her skirt, Gale nips at her shoulder.
"Briar is staying with Daisy until Barrows gets home."
Which means they have a few hours before they'll need to be ready to dinner. What can they do for a few hou-
"Where's Rowan?" Madge asks, turning in Gale's arms, expression tight with worry.
Annoyed that she's focusing on the wrong thing, Gale sighs, presses his body more closely to hers.
"He's at his mom's."
Madge's cool hands wrap around his, stopping his progress as she frowns up at him.
"Is she worse?"
Gale shrugs. "Must be."
But there's nothing they can do about it.
Eyes dropping, Madge sighs as she wraps her arms around Gale, cheek pressed to his chest.
"We've gotten so lucky."
Resting his chin on her head, Gale nods, his thoughts shifting.
Life in the Seam could've easily taken either one of them, five children offered plenty of chances for a loss, things could've gone bad so easily. Lucky barely covers how easily they've gotten off.
Thinking of his mother, a widow too soon, and Pressley Barrows, losing a husband, two children, and her mother in less than a year, Gale holds Madge tighter.
Closing his eyes, he sees her pale, breathing shallow, half dead, but it isn't her, it's Daisy.
They've been so lucky.
What if their luck has finally run out?
#######
Wren comes running in the door less than half an hour later, making Gale begrudgingly relieved he hadn't gotten his way in wheedling Madge into bed.
Miles follow after, hair pulled back, eyes watering from the cool wind.
"It's getting colder," he tells them as he pulls a small pair of hats from his bag. "Nona sent these with me. For Jessamine and Sawyer."
Madge picks up the tiny stocking caps and smiles.
They're lumpy, but fuzzy, they'll keep the babies warm. Her mom had done a better job at them than the one she'd made Gale when she was first learning.
Though he doubts Jessamine will be able to wear hers long. She's inherited a bit of a large head, which Gale blames entirely on the Mellark side.
"Her head is perfectly normal," Madge had told him when he'd pointed it out.
"It's a little big," Wren agreed with a whisper, nose wrinkled up.
Taking the hats from Gale, Madge smiles. "Now I just need to get the blankets finished."
They've barely sat down when the door opens again and Briar blows in.
"I made stew," Madge tells her unnecessarily, the scent is a dead giveaway. "And I made rolls for you."
Kicking off her boots and hanging her jacket, Briar carries her game bag to the kitchen and pulls the turkey out.
"Good day then," Madge says, eyeing the limp creature now residing on her cabinet.
Briar shrugs. "It was okay."
Snatching up a roll, she takes a bite out of it before crossing her arms and leaning against the counter, watches Madge ladle out some stew for her before speaking
"The turkey should be enough for us to have everyone over," she says.
Madge sets down the bowl. "Tomorrow?"
Briar nods. "Daisy said she was okay with it. I can tell Abilene before work tomorrow."
She sits with a plop, elbows to the table, and begins eating. Apparently Daisy hadn't gotten any dinner down her.
Wren grabs Gale's sleeve and makes an excited noise.
"We can have Ephraim over too!"
Gale stares at her, spoon halfway to his mouth. What the hell is an 'Ephraim'.
"He needs to have dinner with us," she adds.
Another boy, great. Hadn't Gale suffered enough damn boys recently?
Madge grimaces. "We do owe him…"
Though judging by her expression, dinner is hardly enough.
"Who's Ephraim?" Gale finally asks, certain he's missed something.
"Lew," Briar answers sharply before rolling her eyes. "He doesn't need to come to dinner, mom."
"Yes, he does," Wren tells her. "We can make him rolls, I bet he likes them."
"If you tell him Briar likes them he will," Miles snickers.
Shooting Miles a dirty look, Briar growls, "Shut up."
"He made Thread 'trip and fall' for you," Wren adds, oblivious to Briar's darkening color. "We owe him dinner."
It's the least they can do, if Madge's expression is anything to judge by.
Gale supposed he's been lucky, with Lew in the months since Thread died. Nothing has changed in their interactions, which Gale appreciates.
There'd been a silent agreement to just ignore what had happened. Gale would very much like to keep doing that.
Enough time has passed though. He supposes he's going to have to pay his due at some point.
Dinner is as good a starting point as any. The ramps he'd asked for seem paltry for what he'd done, even if Gale is suspicious of his motivation.
"I'll invite him," he grumbles.
"No," Briar mutters, slumping lower, closer to her stew. "I'll ask him tomorrow when I see him at the Hob."
Wren shakes her head. "Momma can ask him when he comes by for his socks."
Gale looks up, frowning at Madge as she avoids his concerned look.
"Socks?" Briar asks. "Why do you have his socks?"
Madge blows on her spoon of stew, shrugs. "He's been coming by and checking on us, and I offered to help him with some tears in his uniform. I've been helping him with some darning. His socks were awful."
Briar scowls. "He didn't tell me anything about it."
"Was there a reason to?" Madge asks. "I'm just helping him. He's a nice boy."
And she felt she owed him. Madge was paying her debt with kindness.
Gale understands it, but he doesn't like it. He especially doesn't like that a Peacekeeper has been keeping an eye on his family without his knowing.
"You should've told me," he mumbles, just loud enough for her to hear.
She simply smiles, gives his knee a squeeze.
"And worry you?" She shakes her head. "I know what I'm doing."
He doesn't doubt that. Madge knows how to navigate the weird avenues of social debts better than he ever will, better than most people, but he still doesn't like it.
"He brings me and Daisy candy from the sweet shop," Wren adds.
"Never brings me any though," Miles grumbles, trying to look annoyed.
"You're in the woods."
"He could leave me some."
They debate the finer points of candy courtesy as Briar silently finishes her stew, then excuses herself, and Gale and Madge clear the table.
Once they've finally decided that not bringing Miles candy is, at the very least, rude, not that Miles genuinely cares, they finally go to bed, and Gale gets a chance to voice his worries.
"He was just worried about us after what happened," Madge assures him. "It was sweet."
"It's stalking."
Madge crawls into the bed and curls around him, her cheek to his chest.
"He only kept coming back because I invited him," she adds. "I think he's lonely."
"He's got all his Peacekeeper friends," Gale grumbles. "He can hang out with them if he's feeling lonesome."
Madge tilts her head up, smiles sadly.
"That's like saying that I'm from Twelve, I should just hang out with other people from Twelve."
Gale frowns. "You don't really have much of a choice…"
Her eyes roll. "You know what I mean. He's not even from Two like most of them. His aunt got him into the program to keep him safe."
Gale grunts, tightens his arms around her.
She's probably right, but it still makes him uneasy.
"Don't pout," she gently warns him.
Huffing, Gale mutters, "Not pouting."
Laughing, Madge leans up kisses him, first on his rough cheek, then his neck, before finally pressing several long, lingering ones to his lips.
"Still pouty?"
He was not pouting. He was frustrated she was being uncharacteristically reckless.
When he doesn't respond she nips at his lip again and Gale growls, rolls and pins her between him and the bed, causing her to squeal in surprise.
"I take it that you forgive me for making a friend?" She asks between kisses.
Gale makes a positive noise, inches her nightgown up.
He can't stay mad at her.
"You make a compelling argument," he breathlessly tells her as his hands squeeze their way up her thighs.
"Compelling argument?" She snorts. "Gale-"
He cuts her off with more kissing, pulls the gown off and tosses it away.
She's probably right. They can discuss it later, when his mind isn't so distracted.
#######
Madge bounces Jessamine up and down, causing the baby to gurgle happily.
She's a happy baby, reminds Madge of Wren when she'd been tiny and new.
Frowning, Madge inspects her head. It isn't too big, Gale is being ridiculous.
"Do you think the turkey is done?" Daisy asks, opening the oven door and sniffing, drawing Madge's attention from her granddaughter's head.
The aroma is wonderful, fills the kitchen, even draws Wren in from the living room.
"I think so," Madge tells her, handing the baby back to Abilene. "And the others will be back soon."
Gale, Briar, Sage, and Miles had left early that morning for the woods, when Madge had put the turkey in.
Daisy had come a few hours later, carrying Jessamine for Abilene, with the news Rowan wouldn't be there until later.
"His mom is getting worse," she told Madge, eyes pink and puffy. "The healer thinks she's going soon."
It sounds cruel, but Madge thinks it's for the best.
Pressley has had more than her fair share of pain and suffering. Death will be a relief for her, Madge thinks.
There's a knock at the door that draws her from her worries about Pressley Barrows.
It's gentle, so familiar now that Madge smiles as she goes to answer it.
"I guess you got out of evening duty then?" She asks as she opens the door.
Ephraim shrugs, smoothes back his wiry hair, and gives her a small smile.
"Yeah...I just threatened Bas. He's kinda terrified of me now."
Laughing, Madge lets him in.
He's not wearing his uniform, making him look younger than he ever has. His hair isn't pulled back, but down, wiry and thick, and his expression is a bit anxious.
"I don't know, Mrs. Hawthorne," he'd said when she asked him to dinner. "I don't think Briar or your husband will like that very much."
Madge smiled. "They know I'm asking you, and they're fine with it."
He'd given her an appraising look, shook his head. "You're more dangerous than half the men in this district, aren't you?"
"I just know my family."
And she knows how to get what she wants from them.
Briar wasn't half as opposed to Ephraim coming to dinner as she pretended to be, and Gale could be persuaded.
"He's just a friend," Briar insisted, every time Madge asked about him. "He's nice. He's friendly. He-"
"Very obviously likes you," Madge laughed.
"He shouldn't," was Briar's only response.
She's afraid of getting burned again, Madge can sense it, and she understands. This mess with Rowan is too fresh, too raw, for her to even consider thinking about moving on.
Gale had felt the same way after Katniss. He'd done things he's not proud of over it.
Madge supposes she should be grateful Briar hasn't followed in his footsteps that closely.
She just hopes she doesn't close herself off and never open up again.
In the meantime, Madge does like Ephraim, and genuinely thinks it'll do him good to spend time with them. Besides, it never hurts to have a friend in the Peacekeepers.
"Ephraim!" Wren shouts when she spots him, rushing out and grinning. "You look different."
He shrugs, grins. "I showered."
"You should do that more often."
"I'll take that into consideration."
Taking his hand, she drags him into the kitchen, telling him about Jessamine as they go.
"She's not much fun," she admits, once she's seated him, shooting the baby a bored look. "All she does is cry, and eat, and poop, and sleep. Goat does more than that."
"I think that's all they're supposed to do," Ephraim points out
"That doesn't make her any less boring."
"You were a baby once, be nice," Daisy reminds her.
Wren looks unimpressed. "But I'm not anymore."
"Are you trash talking my kid again?" Sage asks as he appears in the doorway, smiling as Abilene gets up and kisses him, passes the baby into his arms.
"I'm describing her," Wren tells him simply. "Don't worry. She'll be interesting someday. Hopefully."
Sage rolls his eyes and leans down, kisses the top of Wren's head.
"What a relief."
He bounces Jessamine and laughs as she grabs for his nose, kisses her tiny fingers.
"She's perfect," he'd told Madge as he cradled the baby that first day, gently passing her to Madge. "She's terrifying."
Madge laughed, kissed his cheek.
"I feel like I'm going to break her."
"You won't," she promised. "Kids are a lot more resilient than you think."
He'd looked dubious, but nodded all the same.
Watching him now, months into Jessamine's young life, she thinks he understands a little better. He's not going to be a perfect dad, but that won't ruin his daughter.
"Give her here," Gale tells him, taking the baby before Sage even has the chance to pass her off.
"How's my sweet girl?" He asks as Jessamine gurgles happily, lets him smother her in kisses.
Reaching out, Sage claps Ephraim on the shoulder, drops into the seat beside him.
"Got roped into dinner, huh?"
Ephraim laughs, settles back in his seat and shrugs. "You never eaten barrack food. Doesn't take much roping."
They settle into a low conversation, discussing the mines and Sage's job with the corps as Briar plops into the seat across from them, pretending not to care as she begins eating a roll.
Daisy vanishes, appearing minutes later with Rowan, hands twined together.
His expression is grim, but he manages a smile.
He's a good boy, a bit clueless at times, but he loves Daisy.
"I won't hurt her," he'd promised both her and Gale, the night before the wedding. "I know you hate me for not realizing-for thinking Briar was okay with being friends, but I promise you, I love Daisy. I'll do whatever I have to for her, for the baby."
And he's done his very best to keep that promise.
Daisy never goes hungry, even without Briar she'd be better fed than most in the Seam. Rowan makes sure she stays warm and dry, listens to every ounce of advice he's given about what he needs for when the baby comes, started bringing Daisy books from the library when she got too far along to go on her own.
He may not have been the best friend to Briar, but he's been a good husband so far.
"He better be," Rory grumbles when Madge mentioned it. "I see so much as a scratch on Daisy and I'll have Lew help me dump his body in a stone grinder."
Madge doubts it'll ever come to that, but she supposed it's the thought that counts.
Watching as Gale reluctantly hands Jessamine off to Miles, Madge smiles as he comes over to the turkey.
"You want me to carve it up?"
Madge nods. Even after all these years, there's something about cutting up a poor animal she doesn't care for.
Reaching for the knife, Gale pulls the turkey toward him, tasting a sliver and making a satisfied noise.
Laughing, Madge turns and looks at the table.
Daisy has settled in beside Briar, taken her sister's hand and placed it on the swell of her belly, laughing when Briar's nose wrinkles.
"That's weird." Madge hears her mutter. "I'm never having kids."
Rolling her eyes, Madge looks past Sage and Ephraim, to Miles, now holding Jessamine up to Rowan's face as Abilene laughs. Apparently her diaper is dirty.
Sighing, Madge leans into Gale, rests her head against his shoulder.
Things aren't perfect, but they're getting better.
They've been so lucky, luckier than they probably know.
Maybe their luck hasn't run out quite yet.