the trees, harvest a pecan still in the green hull, and scamper down to the ground to dig a hole and bury it.
“I wish I could bury a lot of things like that,” she muttered.
Tootsie sat down beside her. “Amen. I had to get away from all those people. It brought back too many memories of the dinner we had after Smokey’s funeral. I’m feeling like I’m next in line.”
“Don’t get in a hurry.” Diana laid a hand over Tootsie’s. “Drag your feet a little. Heaven is timeless, so Smokey won’t realize how many years it takes you to get there.”
“I never thought of it like that,” Tootsie said.
“A sweet little elderly lady at church told me that when my folks died while I was in college. I went into a depression, and she brought brownies over to my apartment. I told her how I felt, and she really gave me a lecture that ended with that idea. That my parents were in a place where there were no clocks or calendars, and they’d want me to live a full life so that when I joined them, neither they nor I would have regrets. But sometimes these days I feel a lot overwhelmed, so I know you do, too.” Diana picked a few yellow leaves from Tootsie’s hair.
“I guess I’d better get back in there before I’m missed, but thanks for the encouragement. Maybe I will drag my feet since I’d really like to stick around long enough to see all of y’all become grandmothers.” Tootsie stood up and headed back toward the house.
That grandmother business is a long, long time in the future. Rebecca is only eighteen. Diana frowned.
You were only twenty when she was born, Diana’s mother’s voice reminded her.
“What are you thinking about that’s so serious?” Luke sat down where Tootsie had been.
He startled Diana so badly that she jumped and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. She quickly righted herself, and he released her.
“Being a grandmother,” Diana admitted.
“How do you feel about that?” Luke asked.
“I have no idea,” she said.
“You’re still young enough to have more children, so maybe you’d rather start all over and refill your empty nest.” He brushed the falling leaves from his dark pants.
“Not me. Been there. Done that. Have several T-shirts to prove it, and I’ll get used to the empty nest,” she answered with an inward shiver. She missed Rebecca so much that her heart ached, but the idea of starting over again at her age almost made her break out in hives.
“That sounds pretty definite.” He sat down beside her again.
“It’s the truth. What’s so funny about it?” She pulled her cardigan tighter around her body.
He removed his leather jacket and draped it around her shoulders. “It’s not really funny—but it is. I’ve never been a father and never will be. Mama didn’t believe in vaccinations, so I had the mumps and a high fever to go with them before I ever started school. That’s one of the reasons I’ve never been in a really serious relationship. Most women want a family . . . I didn’t see a reason to start something that I couldn’t finish.”
She inhaled, and the aroma of his jacket—something woodsy and masculine—put a few extra numbers on her pulse rate. “Are you sure that you can’t have kids?”
“Yep.” He nodded. “Had the test run, and they said I’d have about a one-in-a-million chance of ever getting a woman pregnant.”
“Why’d you even have it done?” she asked.
“Mama always felt guilty about not letting the doctor give me the vaccinations.” He shrugged. “When she was on her deathbed, I told her the doctor said there was a chance I could have a family. That seemed to help her, and it wasn’t the worst lie. You ever told one like that?”
“Oh, yeah.” She smiled. “When did you lose your mama?”
“When I was in college. Yours still living?” he asked.
“Lost them, her and Dad both, when I was in college, too,” she answered.
“So there you go.” He moved closer to her and took her hand in his. “We’ve got a lot in common. No parents. You don’t want more children. I can’t produce babies. Evidently, that’s why we’ve escaped out here to a pecan orchard free of sadness. I’d tell a joke just so we could laugh, if I could think of one. They say laughter is good for the soul.”
She glanced over to find him staring at her. She felt as if he were seeing