Haven's Ridge

Part Two: The Pond

Author's Note: Whoops! I'm intending on updating roughly every two weeks, and this story ended up getting away from me. From here on out, I'll start setting some reminders in my calendar to help keep me on track. Sorry about that, my readers!

------

The bundle in Mary's arms let out a little fuss, so she brought the babe up over her shoulder and gently patted its bum. That seemed to do the trick, as the fussing quickly subsided. "It's nice to meet you, Shiloh. I'm Mary, this is Todd, of course, and this bundle of joy is little Ellie." The woman spoke while carefully picking her way down the stairs. Once she'd reached the stone path, she held out a hand for Shiloh to shake.

As she returned the gesture, Shiloh had the opportunity to peek at Ellie. She wasn't a baby expert, but guessed this one wasn't much more than two or three months old. She had a shocking amount of hair for such a little thing, a rather fitting auburn that seemed to mesh Todd and Mary's hair colours beautifully. Otherwise, she just looked like, well, a baby. Shiloh never understood how a baby could look much like either parent. Maybe it was because she had no children of her own, but they just looked like babies to her - pretty well all identical, minus maybe hair, skin, or eye colour. They didn't really start looking like their own person until they were maybe two or three, in her opinion.

"It's really lovely to meet you all, really." Shiloh responded with a soft smile. Mary seemed to have a knack for calming adults as well as babies. Even with the hard stare of the woman's husband, she could feel herself relaxing.

"Are you joining us for supper?" Mary's eyes looked to Stuart for a response now, and Shiloh felt better for the lack of attention. She tucked her hands into her back pockets and fiddled with the pop-it on her phone case. It wasn't a conscious effort, but she preferred not to be the center of attention and naturally shrunk in on herself to avoid it. The hairs along the back of her neck told her Todd hadn't taken his sights off of her, but she was determined to ignore him for now.

"Yes, that was the plan." Stuart responded, giving Shiloh one of his large smiles. She caught it out of the corner of her eye and offered a shy one in response. "Would you mind going down and asking the ladies if they wouldn't mind setting an extra place for her? Next to me, of course. I'm going to show Shiloh around for a while."

"Of course. We were actually just heading down. Anne had been saying earlier that she couldn't get much done with Bodhi clinging to her, so I was going to take him and Ellie over to hang some of the laundry that Atlee just finished." Mary glanced over her shoulder to Todd, who dutifully came down beside her. He gave her a tender kiss on the lips and a gentle squeeze of her shoulders before sending Mary and the babe on their way to the rec hall looking building.

"I was just waiting for you to come back so I could use the truck." Todd spoke, watching his wife walk away before turning to Stuart. He had finally stopped paying Shiloh any mind, but she resisted the urge to study him in case it brought those cold blue eyes on her again. He gave a little sigh, "Tractor's actin' up again, so I gotta use the truck to bring the feed out to the horses and goats. Nina was gonna slop the pigs after supper."

Stuart gave a nod, "Keys are in the sun visor." It was a dismissal as much as acknowledgment, and he gently placed a hand on Shiloh's upper arm to get her attention and steer her away. "I'll help lock them up after supper, before Shiloh and I head out." He called back before Todd gave a lazy wave and closed the truck door. There was a finality to the slam of it, driven home when the green beast rumbled to life and puttered off.

She hadn't realized she was still staring at the truck's retreating form until Stuart's thumb rubbed her arm. Shiloh started in response; she'd been so zoned out that she hadn't even realized his hand had never left her. Flashing a somewhat timid smile, she breathed out. "Where to first?"