“Yay! I’m so excited!” Karen said, and bounced out of the room carrying her phone.

“Me, too,” Larry said, curious to see what kind of man Hunter Knox had turned out to be.

* * *

It was a little before noon when Harold Franklin from the flower shop showed up in the ER carrying a vase of red roses.

“Delivery for Ava Ridley,” he said.

“I’ll call her up,” the receptionist said, and then got on the PA system. “Nurse Ridley, please come to the front desk.”

Harold turned toward the door leading into the ER, and a couple of minutes later, Ava walked through.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

The receptionist grinned and pointed.

“Morning, Ava. These are for you,” Harold said and handed them over.

Ava’s eyes widened. She set the vase on the desk, then pulled the card.

All my love, Hunt

She smiled, slipped the card into her pocket, and carried the roses back to the nurses’ desk. She knew they’d tease and grill her incessantly, but she wasn’t giving up anything but the name. And she was right.

“Oh my gosh! Ava! Are those yours? Who sent them? Is it your birthday?”

“They’re from Hunt,” she said, and set the bouquet out of the way on the desk and then went back to work.

But every time she walked by, she saw them and smiled. Hunt Knox loved her. All was right in her world.

Chapter 12

Danny Wilson, otherwise known in Blessings as Melvin Lee’s daddy, was the newest employee at Forbes Plumbing and glad to have the job at home rather than the pipeline jobs he’d been doing for so long. He had too many kids, and another one on the way, and was grateful to be working at home.

“That about does it for the day,” Danny said as he gathered up his tools. “When you get ready to install sinks and new fixtures, just give us a call.”

“Will do,” Hunt said.

The house was immediately quiet now that Danny was gone, but Hunt was satisfied by the work they’d done. The roofer and his crew would be here tomorrow to put on a new roof. It was ironic that his brother Ray worked for this roofer and would be part of the crew redoing his own mother’s house.

While the roofers were working, he and Billy Younger, the carpenter he’d hired, would begin tearing up the kitchen floor to fix whatever made it sag.

But that was tomorrow.