Keep My Heart

Chapter 7

Trey looked up at her. “Hmm?”

“Thanks for the ride today. It felt good to get out for a while. I know I can be a lot of trouble” she said shyly.

Trey drew his eyebrows close together. “Trouble? You were no trouble at all”.

Millie smiled. He had a way of making her feel good.

“Good night” she said.

“Sweet dreams”.

Millie had a feeling there would be. As she walked back to her room and shut the door behind her, she felt her heart skip a beat or two. It had been a strange day. So many mixed emotions she didn’t know what to make of herself.

It dawned upon her as she stood in front of the window, staring at the quarter moon.

Am I falling in love with him?

*****

Trey threw out the dark colored water from the pail and headed back inside the house. The wind cut through his shirt and chilled him to the bone, and he wanted nothing better than to crawl under the covers and sleep. But he hadn’t seen Quinn all day and figured he’d better stop by the nursery and at least watch his son sleep for a few minutes.

Silently, he crept into the nursery and over to where his son was peacefully sleeping.

What if Millie was right and he needed to put in more time with his son? Though it wasn’t fair for her to compare him to her father. Her father probably possessed a great deal of patience, whereas Trey did not. Her father had probably had a good father to give him advice when Millie was younger. That was another thing Trey didn’t have.

So basically the only thing Trey had that Millie’s father did have was a kid, and any fool could have one of those.

Trey sighed and looked out of the window. Blue streaks flew across the sky like shooting stars. He hadn’t seen a meteor shower since he was a boy. He wondered if Millie had ever seen one.

“Hey Quinn” Trey tapped on the boy’s foot.

Quinn’s eyes fluttered open, and Trey lifted him out of the crib and carried him to the window. Quinn slowly became aware of the blue streaks in the sky. Trey grabbed a blanket and wrapped Quinn up with it before carrying him outside. They blue streaks were everywhere across the clear, starry sky. He lightly tapped on Millie’s window, hoping she didn’t come out wielding a boot and a sharpened pencil again. She appeared at the window and stared at him, confused. She yanked up the window.

“Please tell me you haven’t been drinking again” she said.

“No. Come out here” Trey said.

“One second” Millie ducked back inside and came back in a moment with a shawl and boots on, her long nightgown preventing her from exiting the window easily. “What is it?”. She looked up and gasped. “What’s going on?”

“It a meteor shower. Ever seen one?” Trey asked.

Millie shook her head, a small ringlet bouncing down in front of her face. She wrapped her shawl closer around herself and took a few steps to the railing, leaning against the sturdy posts. “Will they come down?”

“Nah. Those are hundreds of miles away from us” Trey smiled.

“It’s gorgeous” Millie whispered.

Quinn giggled at that moment as he looked up at the sky. The bright night shone against his face, illuminating his eyes. Trey smiled.

This was his son.