of her appreciation. Then she bought three more in different colors for the girls. With her luck, Natalie and Rebecca would spend the winter in Florida or California for their training, but like the old adage said, it was the thought that counted.
“Hey, it looks like y’all have got some of your shopping done,” Carmen said when they reached the barbecue wagon. “Diana got here first and saved us a table. Are we ready to get in line to order?”
“I always get a pulled chicken sandwich with a dill pickle and chips.” Tootsie set her bag on the table beside two others. “Smokey liked their brisket, so I can vouch for that, too.”
Carmen remembered that Eli loved smoked brisket-and-coleslaw sandwiches. She closed her eyes and made herself think of Natalie, who always thought her father’s sandwiches were gross. When she opened her eyes, she was looking up into the aqua-colored eyes of a soldier dressed in camouflage. For a split second, she thought it was Eli, with his close-cut hair and round face.
“Do I know you?” the guy asked.
“I’m sorry. The sun was in my eyes, and I thought you were someone else,” she stammered.
“Daddy, Daddy, look what I got!” A little girl with a swinging blonde ponytail danced across the path and tugged on her father’s arm. “It’s a purple unicorn. Mama got it for me for my birthday.”
“Unicorns aren’t purple,” he teased his daughter.
“Mine are,” she protested.
Carmen blinked away the tears that were welling up behind her eyes. There was a purple unicorn on Natalie’s bed at home. Eli had brought it to her the last time he was home. So much for forgetting about divorce troubles over the weekend.
“Hey, you all right?” Diana nudged her on the arm. “It’s your turn to order.”
“I’m fine. Just wool gathering,” Carmen said. “I’ll have a pulled pork sandwich, a pickle, and corn chips, please, and a tall sweet tea.”
She took her food to the table and sat down beside Tootsie, but her eyes kept darting back to the guy and his family, who’d ordered their food and were heading toward a table across the way.
“Looks a lot like Eli from a distance,” Tootsie said. “You want to talk about it?”
“Not until tomorrow night—remember the rules? But I do want to talk about this amazing little vendor who had handmade jewelry that she’d made from natural materials.” She dug around in her bag, brought out three small velvet pouches, and opened one. “Look at this beautiful blue necklace with brown streaks that I got for Natalie’s Christmas.”
“She’s going to love that. What’s that braided rope made of that it’s hanging on?” Joanie asked.
“I don’t know, but it sure caught my eye. They’re all so modern looking, and the girls might like something pretty to wear if they get to go out during their last weeks of training,” Carmen said.
Diana hadn’t gotten a lot of shopping done, other than a small cross-stitched piece for Joanie to hang on her wall in her new house. It simply said “Bless This Home,” but the fall colors and tiny leaves that were scattered around the letters would remind her of the time they all shared in Scrap.
Mostly, she’d wandered around or sat on a bench and watched the people, but that little piece of needlework brought to mind the difference in a house and a home. She’d done her best to keep a home for Rebecca, especially after the divorce. Now she’d have to be careful, or with just her rattling around in their place alone, it could easily turn into nothing more than a house.
Conversation among the four of them had come to a halt while they ate their food. That was fine with Diana because she was trying to analyze the maternal feelings that had washed over her when she’d seen a gangly little girl with dark braids and big brown eyes earlier. In that moment she’d wished that she still had a daughter in the house, one who’d throw her backpack down inside the door instead of taking it to her room and who never got the cap back on the toothpaste.
Rebecca had been gone only two nights when they’d left on their trip—and the first one, Diana had stayed at Carmen’s house. The second she’d spent packing and getting ready to leave, but when she got back to Sugar Run, she’d really feel the emptiness. Not that she was ready to change her mind about adopting a child or children. No,