“Thank you, but I won’t need it for a long, long time.”
“Never know when the good Lord might knock on the door.”
She turned the page to see that every single recipe was handwritten. “This is priceless. It belongs in a museum. Oh, my goodness, so that’s what makes your ham so sweet. You pour blackberry wine over it before you put it in the oven.”
“And cook it real slow. Don’t hurry good food. Now, burgers and hot dogs and fast food is another thing. And, honey, you got to promise me that this book will always be kept in our kitchen,” he said with seriousness.
“I promise. Thank you, Uncle Zed. I’ll cherish it forever and take care of it like the gem it is.” Harper covered the distance and hugged him.
“Now don’t go gettin’ all sentimental on me. Finish your doughnut, and if you want another one of them maple ones you’d better grab it, because I see Dana and Brook comin’ this way.” He picked up the recipe book and carried it with him back to the kitchen. “This will be on the first shelf of the old cash safe back there. Combination is taped under the table since I have trouble rememberin’ it. We don’t use it for much anymore but your granny’s will and letters, since everyone pays with credit cards.”
“Uncle Zed.” She touched her heart and bit back the tears. “Thank you so much.”
“Hey, doughnuts!” Brook squealed. “That chocolate one on the top is mine.”
“You better not get both of the chocolate ones,” Tawny yelled from the doorway. “Guess what—I’ve got a date.”
“If it’s with Marcus Green, I’m going to use my executive power as the oldest sister and have you locked up in a convent,” Dana teased.
“Nick?” Brook asked.
Tawny reached for a chocolate doughnut. “Yep.”
“I knew it before you did,” Brook singsonged. “He told his family that he was going to, but he was afraid you’d say no.”
“Well, I didn’t.” Tawny bit into the doughnut.
Harper picked up a broom and swept the floor even though it didn’t need it. The conversation concerning what all they were going to do that Saturday was a distant buzz as she let her mind wander back to March 15 and the mistrust between them when they’d all arrived at Annie’s Place. So much had changed in such a short time, and most of it had been for the good. Little blonde-haired girls didn’t send her to the liquor cabinet anymore. She would never forget the baby that she’d given away, but she was beginning to feel a little less guilty.
Granny Annie used to say that love conquered everything. That could turn out to be her most profound statement, because there was a song in Harper’s heart since Wyatt had said those three words to her the night before. It wasn’t something that she could hum along to or one that even had words, but it was a song of joy and peace. Then Zed had put the icing on the cake that morning when he gave her that book, giving her his trust to keep it safe but also his confidence in her to take care of the café when he was gone.
“And that’s going to be a long, long time from now,” she echoed her earlier words.
“What did you say?” Tawny asked.
“That it just dawned on me that Monday is Uncle Zed’s birthday. I saw it on the calendar in the kitchen yesterday—in Granny’s handwriting and he’d drawn lines through it like a canceled appointment,” she said.
“Let’s do a surprise party around the fire pit and make him start another story,” Brook whispered. “And have cake and ice cream. What’s his favorite food?”
Harper leaned on the broom. “I bet I can find out.”
Zed’s face popped up in the window. “Find out what?”
“Your meat loaf is my favorite food. What’s yours, Uncle Zed? I don’t think we ever talked about what you like.” Harper went back to sweeping.
“Hot dogs. That was a real treat when I was a little boy, and me and Annie always got us one at that little drive-by joint when we went to the doctor. I like mine with sauerkraut and she likes hers with mustard and relish.” He sighed. “I mean, liked hers. It’s still so hard to think of her gone.”
His face disappeared from the window, and in a few seconds the aroma of bacon wafted through the whole dining area. Harper winked at Brook and went back to sweeping.
The breakfast rush had died down by ten o’clock, and Harper had been gone to help out for at least an hour to the laundry room until the lunch run started arriving. Zed pulled out a couple of chairs. Sitting in one and propping his feet on the other, he thought about his birthday on Monday. He and Seamus and Annie had run up and down the Neches River together as children, but he’d never been invited to their birthday parties. He’d asked them to come have his mama’s carrot cake and homemade ice cream with him one time, but they didn’t show up. That might have been the first time any of them realized what that big word prejudice meant.
Annie had been truthful when she told him that her daddy said she couldn’t go to his house. He’d never forget what she said next: “But someday I’ll be a big person and then I’ll do whatever I want and we’ll eat ice cream on your birthday.”
And they had, many, many times. When he came home from the military and went to work in the café, she never forgot his birthday. Not one single time. There might not have been home-churned ice cream like his mama made when he was a child, but there was always ice cream and a store-bought cake that said “Happy Birthday, Zed” right on the top. Chocolate ice cream and white cake. Annie would laugh and say that was symbolic of their friendship.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t hear Brook come into the café. When she spoke, not a foot from him, it startled him so badly that his old heart came nigh to jumping out of his chest.
“I came to get us a couple of to-go cups of sweet tea. It’s hot in the laundry room this morning,” she said, unaware that she’d almost given poor old Zed a heart attack.
When opportunity knocks, you invite it in for chocolate cake. You don’t slam the door in its face and then have to chase it down the road for a mile.
“I’ve got something for you, honey. Been meanin’ to give it to you for a while, but it kept slippin’ my mind,” he said. “Come on back here in the kitchen with me. I keep it in the safe.”
“What is it, Uncle Zed?” She danced along beside him, sniffing the air. “There’s nothing like hot, homemade rolls to make a place smell like home. Save a couple for when me and Tawny come over for lunch. What is this surprise? You should be the one getting the presents since your birthday is coming up.”
“It is, but there’s not much an old man like me needs except happiness. You girls have brought that to me this past month. Don’t know how I’d have gotten through Annie’s passing without y’all around me.” He slung open the safe and handed her a pretty hair comb with pearls scattered over the top. “It’ll look real good in your hair on your weddin’ day.”
“Uncle Zed,” she giggled as she took it from his hands. “That’s eons away. You should keep this until that day gets here and then you can put it in my hair right before you walk me down the aisle at the church.”
Tears as big as dimes rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.