By Any Other Name

Chapter 18

The day of the picnic arrived and I was grateful that our worries over the weather had been completely unnecessary. It was an absolutely gorgeous day - the best we'd had yet, in fact. The sky was a perfect blue with just the right amount of fluffy white clouds scattered across it, and the temperature was pleasantly warm with an intermittent cool breeze.

I'd been right about the size of the party too. There were at least twice as many people as had filled the house in December. I was glad to note, that number included Grace, her husband, and little Matthew.

All in all, it was looking to be a pretty perfect day. There was so much food, and laughter from both adults and children as they played the many games and socialized.

I made a mental note to talk to Minnie about making this an annual event.

"Miss Annie!"

"What?" I turned to Cassie, shocked that she'd yelled like that.

With a glance in the direction I'd been looking, she attempted to hide her smile.

"I asked if Oliver could have another lemonade," she said, clearly wanting to laugh.

My cheeks suddenly felt very hot. She obviously caught me staring at Levi across the yard as he ran the three-legged race with Jack.

"Oh." I focused on the table before me and picked up one of the many cups of lemonade strewn across it, having to try extra hard not to spill it. I was about to hand it to Oliver, but stopped, regaining the use of my brain.

"How many have you had already?" I asked.

Oliver guiltily avoided my eye. "Three." He looked up. "But I'm still thirsty!"

"Just one more," I said. "After that, you can have water."

He nodded and eagerly took the cup I held out to him. "Thanks, Miss Annie!" he shouted, hurrying off to play.

When I looked at Cassie, she was still trying not to laugh at me.

"Alright," I said, hoping I wouldn't blush again. "Why don't you bring one of these to Minnie?" I handed her a cup in an effort to distract both of us.

It was a valid reason though. In order to ensure that no flying balls or excited children could crash into the food or drink tables, they were a bit of a distance from the rest of the activities. At the moment, Minnie was across the yard with nearly everyone else and I didn't want her to have to come all this way if she felt thirsty.

"Yes, Miss Annie," Cassie said with a wry smile.

When she left me alone, I took a deep breath and hoped that no one noticed me watching Levi earlier. I attempted to be discrete, but it had been hard to tear my gaze away as Elizabeth Thompson flirted with him. I didn't think Levi was encouraging her. He was probably just being nice, but he didn't try very hard to discourage her either.

Of course I had no right to be jealous. Levi deserved to fall in love with someone who was free to love him in return, but that didn't mean I wanted to see it. And I knew my face must have attested to what I was feeling at the time.

Vowing to be much more careful in the future, I allowed myself one last look at Levi. It wouldn't be prudent to have the children believing there was anything between the two of us.

I meant to tear my eyes away from him after only a moment, but having finished the race with Jack, Levi was being pulled by Oliver to do it all over again. He wore that patient and amused expression he usually had on his face whenever Oliver was around, and I thought again how adorable their relationship was.