The morning came brightly, an unseasonable heat settling over the earth. Lindsay had gotten up just before the sun, donning track pants and a sweatshirt and going for a long run around the ranch. Her feet pounded against the dirt and she cleared her mind, focusing on nothing but the road ahead of her. She hadn't gotten out to run in a long time, and as the crisp air pumped in and out of her lungs she began to almost giggle with joy.
Rounding the corner and hopping up the front steps, she collapsed into the porch swing, sighing and watching the sunlight dance over the yard.
"Hey baby girl," her dad said as the screen door slammed behind him and he stepped onto the porch.
"Mornin' daddy."
He sat down on the steps and pulled his boots on then looked up at her with a smile.
"You went runnin' already?"
"Yeah. Couldn't sleep. I'll take a nap later."
"Aren't your brothers takin' y'all to the lake?"
"Oh yeah. And they'll prolly throw me in like last time. Like all the times for that matter. Didn't you teach them boys no manners?"
"At least they know English better'n you."
"And how," she chuckled.
"Want to come help me in the barn?"
"For a bit. I'm starvin'."
"Your mama said she'd have breakfast ready in a while. Come pass the time with me."
She walked with him to the barn, breathing in the smell as they stepped inside. She'd always been the first to volunteer for morning duties when she was a kid, and despite the getting up at the crack of dawn, she loved it. Something about the fresh sunlight, the sleepiness of the animals, the coolness of the air and the sound of hay under her feet all came together to line the world up, to put it all in order.
They moved around the barn in silence, greeting the animals and doing the morning chores. It really didn't take that long, and soon they were headed back to the house.
"Daddy?" she began, stopping halfway there.
"Yeah?"
"I'm always going to be your baby girl."
"I know," he said with a smile and nod.
They went inside the house and were greeted by the smell of pancakes and eggs, bacon and sausage, coffee and biscuits.
"Your mama doesn't do nothin' halfway."
"No joke," she agreed as they entered the kitchen. Adam was sitting at the table reading the paper while her mom puttered around the room, putting the finishing touches on breakfast. Lindsay poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table pulling the newspaper down to look at Adam.
"Good morning."
"Morning sweetie. You went for a run?"
"Just a short one."
"Isn't it cold out there?"
"Not too bad. Might be windy at the lake later."
"The lake in October. Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?"
"A bad idea never stopped my children," Anne muttered, bringing a plate of pancakes to the table. "Especially this one right here."
"Oh mama," Lindsay said, rolling her eyes.
"You don't get to oh mama me. Not when you were the ringleader of the "I wonder what fertilizer tastes like" incident."
"Chemical fertilizer, not manure," Lindsay explained upon seeing the look on Adam's face. "The distinction really makes no difference, does it?"
"No."
"Or how about the time you thought it would be a good prank to hide great-grandpa's dentures?"
"He was too stubborn to wear them anyway."
"It was Easter and he didn't get any ham because you forgot where they were."
"I know, I know. No one is going to let me live that down. Even after I sat in the closet and bawled for an hour because I felt so bad."
Adam chuckled and shook his head.
"Careful, her penchant for getting into trouble rubs off on people."
"Yeah, I've been noticing that."
Lindsay rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.
"Why do you gotta pick on me?"
"It's my job," he shrugged, swiping her coffee mug and taking a swig.
"What about love honor and cherish?"
"We're not married yet."
"That means I still have time to change my mind."
"My life is a catch 22."
"It's okay. I'll go easy on you," she assured, patting his arm.
"Does someone have the fishing poles?" Lindsay shouted, jumping off the tailgate of her brother's truck.
"You're not gonna tie the fishing string around your toe and fall asleep under a tree with your straw hat over your face?"
"This isn't 1910, Danny," she replied. "Besides, you can't reel in if it's stuck to your toe."
"Maybe you're just not good enough."
"Oh and you are? Hey, leave one pole here, city boy claims he doesn't need it!"
"I never said that you punk," he scoffed, pushing her. She made a face and kicked him playfully in the shin.
"Kids, knock it off," Austin said, stepping between them with an amused expression.
"Your husband is infantile."
"Your best friend is immature."
"Danny, that's practically the same thing."
"Ah, you like fighting with me."
"It does keep my mental faculties sharp."
"You're welcome."
She chuckled and walked over to her moms' mini-van, opening the back hatch only to have Tessa and Hannah (who had become "bestest friends in all the world") jump out at her with squeals of laughter.
"Lindsay!" Hannah shouted, hugging Lindsay's legs. "Mommy said I could go to the lake too but it's too cold for me to go swimming."
"Okay."
"And Aunt Lin, daddy said I could ride in the van with Hannah," Tessa added, hopping from one foot to the other and clutching her hands together. "Is that okay? Can we?"
"Yeah that's fine. You guys can sit in the back with Taylor."
"Taylor's coming?" Tessa squealed, clapping her hands. "She always has the best games to play."
"Guess who taught her all those games," Lindsay said, rearranging the cooler in the back of the van.
"God did of course!" Tessa answered. Lindsay just shook her head as the girls ran off giggling.
"Hey Linds?" Stella asked, fiddling with the GPS from Mac's rental car. "Mac says you drive too fast and he's going to lose you, so he wants the GPS to know where he's going."
"He knows there's no speed limit here, right?"
"I think he's incapable of going over sixty," Stella said with an eyeroll as Lindsay keyed the lake location into the electronic device.
"Here. If you get lost you can call me. We should still get service up there."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Hey."
"What?"
"You look happy."
"Yeah. Must be the fresh air and the impending nuptials."
"And?"
"It's just good to have him back. Really, really back."
Lindsay nodded in understanding. She'd heard rumblings of Mac and Peyton's break-up, and even outside the realm of Stella being her friend, she was happy. Not that Peyton had been a bad match by any means, but she didn't seem to fit in with the whole team well enough. They liked her, but they didn't love her, and anyone brought into the team directly through a job or indirectly through a relationship had to be loved. That was the harsh truth.
"Hey, are we going to get on the road or are you going to stand there and jaw all day long?" Jake asked, hanging out the window of his truck.
"Jake, you don't even have all your kids in your car! You could have one of them under your tire and you wouldn't even know it."
"Shuddup."
She stuck her tongue out at him and finished loading the van. It wasn't long before the convoy was ready to roll. Lindsay's parents were staying behind as they had a farm to run, and Adam's parents were going to stay in town and take advantage of having a day all to themselves.
"Aunt Lin, when are we getting Taylor?" Tessa asked from the back seat.
"Dude, chillax. And we're leaving right now."
She climbed into the seat and adjusted the mirrors while Danny and Austin chuckled.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Is this about me being short?"
"No… it's about you driving a mini-van."
"Shut up, Messer."
"Come on Lindsay. It's tradition."
"Riley, it's too cold."
"Every year we go through this. It's not too cold, it's just windy, are you really that much of a baby, put on your big girl pants and get over here. Now that we've had the argument we can go."
Lindsay sighed from her spot on the ground where she had been playing a perfectly civilized game of Slapjack with Adam.
"I am not jumping in the lake."
"You're going in whether you want to or not."
"Adam, you'll make him go away, right?"
"Nah, but I'll be here when you get back."
She stood up and sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she was going to go in the choppy water in the middle of October on a windy day. She had a change of clothes, but only one, so she was going to have to make sure her brothers got all their "let's get sister wet again!" urges out of the way before she changed. As it stood now, she was in a jean skirt and black leggings with a white tank top under a flannel. Not exactly the best outfit to be jumping in the lake in, but it could have been worse.
"I'll jump, but I swear if you guys get me sick before my honeymoon, I will kill you all."
"Yeah, whatever," Riley said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards the water.
Adam watched with a grin as all four siblings made their way down to the dock. They stood there for a while and it looked like Lindsay was changing her mind about the whole ordeal. From fifty feet away he could see the look on her face, and wasn't surprised when she shed her flannel and did a flying leap into the water. Her brothers cheered, then jumped in with her, scrambling out of the water almost as fast as they had gone in.
"Big buncha wimp-os!" was all Adam heard from Lindsay as she slowly swam back to the dock. "It's not that bad! Now bring me a towel."
There was much hemming and hawing over who was going to have to find her a towel and finally Eli dutifully ran off, bringing her a huge beach towel upon his return. She pulled herself out of the water and wrapped the towel around her, then headed back to where Adam sat on a big blanket in the middle of the grass.
"They can talk you into anything, can't they?" he asked as she pulled an extra towel from her bag.
"Well, it is tradition," she answered with a shrug.
"You're not going to change?"
"I'd rather not risk it. I saw the look in Jake's eyes. If I let my guard down, I'm going in again."
"I love how you plan ahead."
"Survival. It's a jungle out here."
He chuckled as she tried to dry off, then gave up and wrapped a blanket around herself.
"Can I sit in your lap?" she asked, jutting her lower lip out and batting her eyes.
"Yeah, c'mere."
She smiled and snuggled into him, and he kissed the end of her frigid nose.
"So Mac and Stella are playing Badminton against Danny and Austin," he started. "So far Austin has hit Danny with the racket twice on accident and once on purpose, and Mac and Stella have run into each other almost three times. I think the game might be called on account of bloodshed."
"That sounds like good entertainment," she said, watching the game. "Just wait until they decide to switch partners."
"Yeah, I don't think Austin and Mac would do well on a team together."
"That's why it would be hilarious."
Two hours later Adam and Danny were arguing about the best way to barbeque the burgers for lunch. Mac was the one actually doing the barbequing, but Adam and Danny were standing there driving him nuts. The girls were lounged out on the quilt in the grass, basking in the sunlight.
"Hey Linds," Taylor said, flopping down on the quilt and laying her head in Lindsay's lap.
"Hey doll face," Lindsay replied, tucking Taylor's auburn hair behind her ear.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"What do you think about Thaddeus Cornwell?"
"You're too young to be askin' me about boys. Especially Cornwell boys."
"I'm sixteen, Lindsay."
"Exactly."
Taylor sighed and rolled her eyes.
"You're no help," she muttered, sitting up.
"Hey wait, get back here, I wasn't done."
"What?"
"Is it just this particular boy or boys in general?"
"This one."
"And why him?"
Taylor shrugged.
"He makes me feel good. He takes care of me. He knows about my mom. He's cuter than his brothers."
"Well I guess I can only give you the same advice I've been giving your for years."
"If it's stupid, don't do it?"
"Exactly."
"Okay. Another question?"
"Sure."
"You're getting married, so you don't need a room at your parents house anymore, so can I have it?"
"Tay…"
"I know. You always tell me I need to work out stuff with my mom or move in with my dad, but my mom is too selfish to care and my dad is always out of town on business. I'm at your parents house like two nights a week already. I have a job and I can pay rent, plus I'm graduating a semester early so I'll be gone to college soon."
"Did you talk to them about it?"
"A little. Your dad said okay, your mom said to talk to you."
"Did you talk to your mom?"
"Sure Lindsay, she's around and sober enough to have this conversation."
"You're still her kid. Not to mention your dad does get a say in this."
"They don't care. They never have. You know that as well as I do."
"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm just saying that you need to do this the right way."
"Life is hard."
"Dig it, man."
"Can you just move back here and run my life?"
"Sorry kiddo."
"But I love you!"
Lindsay laughed and shook her head.
"I love you too."
"Okay, I'll be an adult about this. Again."
"Hey. You know that I'm proud of you all the time, right?"
"I know."
"Now go answer that phone of yours. I'm sure it's a boy."
Taylor smiled and got up, answering her phone with a high and happy voice.
"I wish I woulda had you around when I was a kid," Austin said. "Knock some sense into me."
"I wasn't always this good," Lindsay remarked, standing up and stretching. "I only tell her stuff like that because she listens to me."
"Yeah, I never woulda listened to you."
"Austin, you never listen to anybody," Stella noted with a grin.
"Very true."
"Yeah, you're kinda-" Lindsay's insult was cut off when Jake grabbed her from behind and threw her over his shoulder. "NO!"
She kicked a little, trying to get away as he headed back to the water.
"I just got warm!"
"Well that sucks."
"A bunch of people who carry guns for a living and you all just stand there?" she shouted.
"See ya later, Lindsay!" Mac said with a wave. She glared at him and tried to wrestle out of her brothers arms.
"I hate you all."
Those were her parting words as Jake ran down the dock and tossed her into the lake. She came up sputtering and glaring at him.
"Is it out of your system now?"
"Yep."
"Help me out?"
He reached down for her hand and hauled her back up to the deck where she wrung out her hair and glared at him.
"I love you, little sister."
"I'll pound your face."
"Yeah, just try."
He saw a flash of something in her eyes, but didn't have time to react before she used her entire body weight to launch them both into the lake once more.
"These were my only clothes!" he shouted as they surfaced.
"I ain't as good as I once was," she retorted, sticking her tongue out and climbing up on the dock once again.
"Hey sis?"
"Yeah?"
"Come home more often."
"I'll try."
Day turned into night and the cold swept in again, forcing them to build a bonfire. Lindsay had changed clothes and managed to stay out of the water for the rest of the day, and she was now comfortably tucked into Adam's lap, stealing bits of marshmallow from the middle of all the s'mores he was eating.
"Brudder," Hannah started, tugging on Adam's sleeve and rubbing her eyes.
"What's up buttercup?"
"I'm tired. Can I sit in the chair with you guys?"
"Yeah, if we can all fit."
They carefully rearranged themselves and pulled Hannah up with them, letting her nestle herself in however she was comfortable.
"What's all this junk you've got in your hair, Hannie?" Lindsay asked, pulling a twig from Hannah's braid.
"Probably leaves. Me and Tessa was wrestling the boys."
"They need to be taken down a notch every once in a while."
"Yep," she agreed, yawning again.
"Do you want to go sleep in the van?" Adam asked.
"Scary in there," Hannah replied as her eyes slid closed.
"And she's out. Think it'll last?"
"Kid sleeps through anything. We could probably leave her here and go for a walk," he suggested with a little grin. She nodded and they managed to get Hannah tucked into the camp chair where she curled up and snored softly.
Adam took Lindsay's hand and tugged her away from the laughter of friends and family, and into the still of the night. Their feet crunched over leaves and twigs and he pulled her to him suddenly, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. She leaned into him and sighed as his fingers ran up and down her spine.
"Forty-eight hours."
"That's so crazy," she chuckled.
"Are you ready?"
"Yup. You?"
"Have been for months."
He kissed her deeply and she held tightly to him, her head almost spinning.
"Lindsay?"
"Hmm?"
"I just want to tell you something. Before I swear it in front of everyone, I want to make this just between us. I love you more than anything else on this earth. And I am always going to love you, and I'm never going to leave you. There is nothing that will ever change that."
Words failed her so she kissed him instead, heart pounding in anticipation of the day when the rest of their life together would begin.